He sighs. “You’re too good, you know, that’s why I love you,” he says, lacing our fingers together. “I don’t like it, but I get it. When are you meeting him?”
“I’m going to see him tomorrow.”
“Will you be alright?”
I nod.
He smiles down at me. “Okay.” He brings our entwined hands up to his mouth and kisses my fingers.
I'm sat in our usual booth at Terry’s, nervously tapping away at the table with my fingertips.
I have no idea how this is going to go, I can only hope he'll hear me out.
The door swings open and Aaron walks in, spotting me immediately. He heads towards me, his poker face on point. I can’t tell how he’s feeling or what he's thinking.
“Hey,” I say, offering him a smile.
He slides into the booth across from me, his elbows resting on the table. “Hi,” he replies awkwardly, a faint, short smile touching his lips.
“How are you?”
“Good, I guess. You?”
“I’m okay.”
We sit in an uncomfortable silence for what feels like eternity, not really knowing what to say to each other. In all the years we’ve been friends, we've not once fell out this badly before, we’ve always made up the next day, but not this time. I haven’t seen him in over three weeks, it’s the longest I’ve ever gone without speaking to him, and I hate it.
I hate feeling this way, like I’ve hurt him.
“Aaron, I'm sorry.” My voice cutting through the air that is thick with tension. “I hate what happened between us, how we left things. I hate the fact we fell out, that we fought, and that I hurt you, that’s the last thing I wanted to do.”
“It isn’t you who should be apologising, it's me. The way I came onto you, kept pushing and pushing, I just… I can’t believe I did it. I was a dick, and I am so, so sorry for hurting you and making you feel uncomfortable, when you fell, I...” He inhales sharply.
I reach across the table, taking his hands in both of mine. “Hey, it’s okay, really, it was an accident.”
“I’m so sorry.” He squeezes my hands.
“Aaron why didn’t you just tell me how you felt?” I ask.
“I didn’t know how to, I was scared if I told you how I felt that I’d lose you, that having that truth between us would cost me your friendship.”
“Never. Aaron no matter what, I’ll always be your friend.”
He nods, a faint smile touches his lips. “Are you and him…?”
“We’re back together.”
He releases my hands and leans back against the chair. “Why, after everything he’s done?”
“Because I love him, and I forgive him for everything, he had his reasons, in his own way, he was doing what he thought was right at the time.” I sigh deeply. “Aaron, I’m not asking you to like him, I know that will never happen. You’re my best friend and I never want that to change, but I'm happy, he makes me happy, I just want you to be happy for me, too. Please.”
“I only want what’s best for you, Hayley.” His voice softens.
“I get that, I appreciate the concern and I love that you care so much, but you don’t have to worry about me.”
“I’ll never be okay with it, with you being with him, but I don’t want to lose you. I'll always love you, Hayley, and I’ll always be here for you, always.”
“Thank you.” I smile.
“If friendship is all you can offer, I’ll take it.” He smiles. “Come here.” He rises from the booth and stands, his arms open for me.
I slide out of the booth and step into his open arms, he wraps around me tightly, resting his chin on the top of my head.
“Aaron, promise me you’ll find a girl that loves you the way you deserve to be loved.”
“I promise.”
“I’m just sorry I’ll never be her.”
“Me too.”
Chapter 49
Hayley
“I want to see him,” I blurt out as I’m sat on the couch in Kyle’s apartment, curled up into his side as we watch a movie. I look up to see his brows knitting in question. “Payn... Myers, whatever his name is.”
He stiffens beside me, taking a deep breath. “Why?” His jaw clenches.
“I don’t know... closure, I guess. I just feel like, like I need to see him, behind bars, knowing that he’ll never get out. I think that seeing him like that will somehow help me get past everything.”
He doesn’t speak, he just stares out of the window as if deep in thought. He removes his arm from around my shoulders and leans forward, his elbows resting on his knees.
“I get that this is sudden, and probably a stupid idea. I don’t particularly relish the idea of seeing him again, but his face has haunted me ever since. I want to be strong enough to face him, to look into his eyes and not recoil in fear,” I explain.
He nods slowly. “Alright.” He turns to me and takes my hands in his. “If it’s something you feel you need to do, then I’m in.”
I smile, burying my face in his shoulder. “Thank you,” I whisper.
He kisses my forehead.
“Kyle, this is a really big ask, and I understand if you say no, but... will you come with me?”
He tenses again, clearly the thought of coming face to face with him, fills him with as much dread as it does me. He nods slowly. “I’ll come with you.”
“Really?”
“Do you really think I’d let you face that bastard alone?” He cups my cheek. “Not. A. Fucking. Chance.”
∞∞∞
We’re sat in front of a glass screen in a booth separated from the other visitors with a partition, waiting to see him. I haven’t been able to settle all day, the apprehension of seeing him again has me on edge, only managing a few restless hours sleep. My knee bounces nervously, my heart pounding so hard it’s all I can hear in my eardrums.
Kyle’s hand covers mine, squeezing it gently. I look up to his face as he sits next to me, he smiles softly, and a fragment of my fear is washed away. “I’m right here. We can leave anytime you want.”
“I have to do this, for me.”
There’s a sound of a buzzer, and inmates filter in through the iron gate. We wait and watch as a man comes to a stop behind the chair on the other side of the screen opposite us. I look up into his face and I gasp. It’s him. Nicholas Payn. The man that has haunted me for four years, the face I so desperately wanted to rid from my mind, is stood only a few meters away from me.
He looks so much older than I remembered, he’s so much thinner, a little too thin, sickly thin. His eyes have sunken into their sockets somewhat, his cheeks hollowing, and his hair is completely grey, it’s clear that prison life hasn’t been good to him.
He pulls back the chair and takes a seat. He leans his elbows on the table in front of him. “To what do I owe this visit?” he asks.
“Do you know who I am?” I ask, trying my hardest to keep my voice steady.
“Should I?”
“Four years ago, you let yourself into my bedroom while my dad was passed out downstairs and raped me.”
One corner of his lips twitch a little. “Raped you? Well, sorry darlin’, that’s not how I remember it.”
Darlin’. How can just one word have such an impact on me, the one word that has stuck in my mind since that night?
“Cut the bullshit. I know you know exactly what you did to me.”
“Is there a point for you coming to see me, or did you just come to revisit that beautiful night we spent together.”
My body tenses. My heart is beating so fast it feels like I’m having a heart attack. Kyle’s grip on my hand tightens, running his thumb over my knuckles.
“I just want to hear you say it.”
He sighs deeply, resting back against the chair, folding his arms across his chest. “Say what? How we made love? How beautiful it was?”
“It wasn’t like that and you know it, I didn’t want to.”
“I don’t rememb
er you telling me no.”
“You never gave me chance to.”
He smirks. “Admit it darlin’, you enjoyed it, I know I did. That beautiful tight pussy… best fuck I ever had.”
“You shut your fucking mouth!” Kyle shouts beside me, slamming his fist down on the table.
Payn’s eyes flick to Kyle, shining in recognition. “You,” he says. “I know you.”
“1993, Sara Godfrey, mean anything to you?”
He shrugs. “Should it?”
“Yeah, it should. That night, she got pregnant after you raped her.”
His eyes widen.
“Nine months later, I was born. Hello Father. Surprise.”
He shakes his head. “No. You’re lying.”
“You really think I would lie about that? You think I’m thrilled to be your son?”
“Why are you telling me this?”
“Because I want you to rot in here for the rest of your life knowing that your own son put you there, where you can’t hurt anyone else.”
"I knew I knew you. You were there when I was arrested."
"You're goddamn right I was."
“You know, I came here to see you where you belong, behind bars, something that should have happened a lot sooner than it did,” I begin. “Seeing you in here is the best feeling, knowing that this is your reality for the rest of your life. People like you are just cowards who get off on control and fear, but what I realised, is that you only have that control as long as I allow you to, and I don’t, not anymore. I’m not afraid of you and you have no power over me anymore.”
I stand up and hold my hand out to Kyle, who rises from his chair and takes my hand.
“Goodbye Nicholas Payn,” I say before turning and walking away.
Chapter 50
Hayley
2 months later
It’s New Year’s Eve, the new year is nearly upon us. I’m stood looking out of the floor to ceiling window of Kyle’s penthouse, eagerly awaiting the spectacle of fireworks across the city when the clock strikes midnight.
The past couple of months have been among the best of my life, the shadow that Nicholas Payn cast over my life for four years has long since passed over, now all I can see a long bright future, one that includes the man who’s arms are wound tightly around my middle as he stands behind me, his chin resting on the top of my head as we slowly sway to a silent song in the empty quiet suite. After seeing Payn in prison, Kyle and I have never been closer, we have closed that chapter of our lives and left it behind us, ready for a new chapter, a fresh start as we enter the new year.
Kyle decided to throw a last-minute New Year’s party downstairs in the casino for friends, family, and colleagues, only we’ve probably spent more time hiding up here in his suite than at the actually party itself. The party was really just a way for Kyle to create new business opportunities, for the past month or so he’s been on the hunt for a business partner, someone who can share the work so he can take a step back from the company every now and then. As much as he wanted to keep the company in the family, it wasn’t possible, once Luke had graduated College, he would have become Kyle’s partner.
Since Luke’s funeral Kyle has tried his hardest to keep it together, but I can tell his misses his brother terribly.
“Did you meet that guy, the one you mentioned about becoming your partner?”
“Yeah, Zachary Gilgunn. He’s head of Gilgunn Enterprises, pretty impressive. His company has had a tough year but aside from that it’s a solid company. We’re thinking of merging, he seems like a good guy so looks like he’s my new partner. Just need to get it through the board of directors, but I can’t see it being a problem.”
“What’s he like?”
“Sick of me already, baby?”
“Never.” I giggle, resting my head against his chest. “What time is it?”
Kyle checks his watch before replacing his hand on my waist. “Eleven fifty-six.”
I tilt my head back to look up to his face. “Kiss me at midnight?”
He smiles. “I can go one better than that.” He kisses my forehead before unwinding his arms from around me and turning me to face him, both my hands in his.
“Hayley... Luke’s death put a lot into perspective for me. I can’t remember the last time I told him I loved him, I can’t even remember the last time I spoke to him, and he was gone before I could say goodbye.”
He exhales deeply, his hand moving up to cup my face.
“I love you. Those three words will never do justice for how I feel about you, they're just not enough. Before I met you, all I could see was this dark, endless tunnel, with no light at the end, that changed when you came into my life, finally I could see the end, a future that was bright, and hopeful and happy, you are that light... Hayley, I can’t see a future without you in it.”
He takes a deep breath before shifting down onto one knee in front of me, pulling out a small black velvet box from his suit jacket pocket and opening it to reveal a ring.
I gasp, my heart beginning to thunder against my rib cage.
Oh my God.
Is this happening?
He takes the ring out of the box and holds it in between his fingers. A beautiful emerald stares back at me, the stone is surrounded by tiny diamonds, the band is shaped in an infinity twist that winds all the way around.
“Marry me.”
The world around me stops spinning. I’m stunned into silence.
“W-what?” I gasp, barely able to form the words.
“I want you to marry me, Hayley. I want to spend the rest of my life by your side, as your husband. I can’t think of a better way to grow old, than next to you. Will you be my wife?”
Tears well in my eyes, threatening to fall.
“Yes. Yes, I'll marry you.”
A wide smile spreads across his face as he guides the ring onto my finger and rises to his feet, pulling me into his arms and crashing his lips to mine as he lifts me off the ground, twirling me around, just as an explosion of fireworks are released across the city, lighting up the sky in an array of colour, but I don’t care, not anymore. The only thing that matters to me is that I’m here, in the arms of the man I love, the man that’s going to be my husband. I lock my legs around his waist, breaking the kiss briefly to catch my breath.
“Kyle,” I pant against his lips. “Take me to bed.”
Chapter 51
Kyle
We fall onto my bed, with me on my back and Hayley straddling me, my fingers digging into her thighs as she rolls her hips on top of me, grinding into my crotch, making my already hard cock, even harder. Her hands are pressed into the mattress either side of my head as she holds herself up, our lips fused together.
She sits up, bringing her shirt over her head, throwing it to the ground, followed by her bra.
Fuck she’s so beautiful. And all mine.
She begins unbuttoning my shirt slowly, too slowly.
I want to rip of our clothes as quickly as possible so I can be inside her, but I like that she’s taking control, that she feels confident and comfortable enough to do so, so I let her carry on.
She reaches the final button and opens my shirt wide. She dips down and kisses across my chest, as she continues grinding against me, a deep groan escaping my lips from deep in my throat.
She pushes my shirt off my shoulders, all the while working her way down my body, kissing a path down my stomach until her face is level with my crotch. She undoes my jeans and frees me of the constraints of my jeans and boxers. I'm completely naked, lying on the mattress, my legs dangling over the edge, my cock hard and ready.
She reaches for her own jeans and slides them down her legs, along with her panties.
All the air leaves my lungs at the sight of her.
She’s perfect.
She rounds the side of the bed and reaches into the nightstand, returning shortly with a condom. She's back on top of me in a flash, tearing open the small foil packet before rolling the condom
down over my length.
“Fuck,” I moan as she grips me, pumping me a few times before guiding herself down onto me, she’s so wet, and I slip inside her with ease.
We both moan as she slides down on my cock until I’m buried deep inside her.
My hands reach out to grip her thighs as she begins to move above me, slowly rising up and down on top of me.
“That’s it baby, ride me,” I groan, eliciting a whimper from her.
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