Being With You (The Redemption Series)

by St James, Hazel

  Tristan pulled into Peyton’s driveway and wasn’t really surprised that her car wasn’t there. He’d worked himself up into having it out with Caleb anyway, and felt this was as good of a first step as any.

  After pounding on the door for a good minute, Tristan was starting to think that he wasn’t home. But there was music coming from somewhere inside and he assumed it was Caleb’s. It was some hardcore pounding metal music and he knew that Peyton didn’t listen to any of that shit, not willingly at least.

  Not wanting to be deterred, Tristan worked the door knob, and was relieved it was open. He yelled inside, “Caleb? Peyton? You in here?”

  No one answered, so he stepped in to the front door landing, and repeated it, this time a little louder. He waited and waited, and finally decided to check the downstairs because that was the direction the music was coming from.

  Peyton had an issue with the basement level of the house when they were dating, so he’d never been down to this part before. He could see it from the landing to the front door, but Peyton would only come down here to do her laundry and then run back up. They passed through here on the way to the sunroom for their last date, but she didn’t take the time to show him any rooms or anything. There was something about this floor that scared the hell out of her, but it wasn’t something she was ready to share with him. Not yet…hopefully someday. He wanted to know everything there was to know and help her with some of the inner demons that haunted her, just like she’d done for him. Tristan was bound and determined that this time around, things were going to be more equal and they could lean on each other, not everything to be so one sided.

  Lost in his thoughts as he walked into the last room, trying to find the source of the music, he didn’t notice the door shut behind him, but he heard the click. He spun around on his heel to see Caleb standing there, in just athletic shorts, with sweat pouring down his face.

  “Well, looks like I’ve been given a sparring partner for today,” Caleb said with a menacing laugh.

  Tristan held his hands up in mock surrender. “I’m not here to fight, Caleb. I came here to talk.”

  Caleb shrugged. “Peyton’s not here, so that leaves you with me, and I’m not in a talking mood where you’re concerned, dickhead.”

  Before even finishing the sentence, Caleb lunged at Tristan, knocking him off his feet with a shoulder into Tristan’s middle. The pair went flying backward and landed on something fairly soft. To get his bearings, Tristan looked around a bit as he pushed back on Caleb’s head, realizing they were in a homemade workout room with mats in the corner they’d flown into.

  His focus was obstructed again as the much larger man pinned him down and held him there by his throat. He’d risen up and growled, “You hurt her…I hurt you. Simple as that.”

  Knowing what he had to do, Tristan pulled up his knee to clip Caleb in the groin, but he was easily blocked. It put him off balance long enough for Tristan to slip out of his hands and try to scramble away to the side. Caleb didn’t waste time coming after him, he just stood up and paced toward him like a panther stalking its prey. The bastard had a fucked up smile across his face, and it was making Tristan nervous…fucking scared for his life right now, was closer to it.

  “Okay, Caleb,” he said with his hands risen up in surrender, “I get it. You hate me. But I’m trying to make things right with her, man.”

  Before Tristan could even react, Caleb was standing toe to toe with him, and his fist connected squarely with Tristan’s eye socket. The resounding thud was heard before the deafening pain reached his brain. He was fucking pissed off now, and mentally readied himself to launch back his own fist. Even if the man was military and could crush him, there was no way he would go down without a fight.

  Rearing his arm back and focusing on Caleb’s position, Tristan stopped dead when he heard it. “What the fuck are you doing?”

  Caleb turned to face his sister, and Tristan dropped his hands. Peyton looked from her brother to him and she gasped while pulling her hands up to cover her mouth.

  “Pey, relax. I wouldn’t have killed him, I was just showing…”

  With a stomp in her step to rival any German soldiers, Peyton pushed past her brother and yelled, “You’re a fucking lunatic, Caleb!!”

  She stood in front of Tristan and gingerly reached up to touch his face. “Your eye is going to swell shut. Let’s go get some ice on it.”

  Without a word in response, Tristan let Peyton take his hand and lead him from the room. His eye was swelling fast, and it hurt like a bitch. She stopped when they were at the door, looked down at their joined hands for a second, and then back up to Tristan’s face. “I’m sorry if I’m being an overbearing pain in the ass, but you’re gonna have to suck it up right now. I can’t let you possibly lose your eyesight because of my dipshit brother.”

  Tristan laced their fingers back together and used the knuckles on his free hand to tenderly brush across her cheek. “Peyton, I came here to talk to you about all that. I just got sidetracked by Mr. Personality there,” he used his head to motion behind to Caleb. “You don’t need to change who you are for me. Let’s go upstairs and talk.”

  Peyton nodded her head solemnly and her head snapped back up to glare at Caleb as she said, “I know that we share ownership of this house, but I can’t live with you here. I’ll be out as soon as I can find a place to live.”

  There were tears rolling down Peyton’s cheeks and she was swiping them away as she walked up the stairs. Tristan followed behind and into the kitchen where she let go of his hand and opened the freezer. It nearly broke his heart when a sob broke through as she pulled a bag of frozen peas out. Seeing his girl so hurt by her own family was making it hard for him to remember they weren’t officially a couple, but he was here to correct that. Without another thought, he pulled a trembling Peyton into his arms and cooed in her ear. “Don’t cry, honey.”

  Peyton automatically nestled into his arms and tucked her head under his chin; he could feel the wetness against his shirt as she cried. “I’m so sorry he hurt you,” she kept repeating.

  Finally, she pulled back and wiped her eyes with the backs of her hands and sniffled. She gave him a timid smile and winced as she saw his mangled eye. “It will help if you’re lying down, so the best place to rest will probably be my room. Why don’t you go lie down on my bed, and I’ll be right in with some supplies, okay?”

  Tristan could tell that Peyton was fighting everything inside her to order him to go and fuss over him like was in her nature. She’d fumbled a bit with the words, and it nearly broke him to see her trying so hard to be someone else…for him.

  “Okay, but I still need to talk to you, so I’d love it if you lay down with me, Peyton.”

  She nodded and he leaned down to softly kiss her lips; she didn’t hesitate in letting him. “Okay, I’ll be right there, sweets,” she said with a smile. Not just the friendly smile she gave acquaintances or people in general. The sweet as hell, full of promise, I’m yours, smile that she’d reserved only for him.

  He didn’t realize how much he’d missed it, until he saw it again…reminding him of what he needed to feel complete. Peyton was his home, his shelter from the storm, his life…

  Chapter Twenty One

  Within minutes, Tristan was lying down on Peyton’s big fluffy bed, his eye covered with an extremely cold bag of frozen peas. He’d taken the pain killers she’d offered him because his head was already throbbing and he knew the pain was only going to get worse. He’d had a few black eyes from different scuffles in his life, but this one was going to be a doozy. The swelling had already closed his eyelids together, and his good eye was light sensitive. Peyton had dimmed the lights, and was lying on her side next to him, deep in thought.

  “Wanna tell me what’s going on in that pretty little head of yours, Peyton? I’d like to talk about you and I, if you’re ready.”

  Peyton took a deep steadying breath and smiled. “I was thinking about where I’m gonna go…”
she closed her eyes and was fighting back tears.

  Tristan rolled to his side as far as he could and still have the make-shift ice pack stay on his eye. He reached out to touch her quivering lips. “Don’t worry about that right now, honey. I think I have a solution for you. But first, let me tell you something I realized…”

  Peyton sniffled and nodded to him. She sat up on her knees to get directly in his line of vision and grabbed a hold of both his hands.

  Tristan smiled at the contact, and started, “You were right, Peyton. Susy has become more than a friend for me, and I was scared to lose her. It felt good to be needed and she got me in a way that no one else ever has. Anyone else except you. I think my biggest hang up with our relationship was that I was so dependent on you, and felt so inadequate…like I was just a piece of shit guy you had to take care of, and wasn’t worthy of you.”

  Peyton was trying to interrupt him, but he stopped her with a finger across her lips. “Let me finish, fancy pants.” He smiled when he said her nickname. “I was wrong and I know that now. But I needed to see it for myself…no one could just tell it to me and I’d be able to believe them. Meeting you and then being separated from you was the best thing that could’ve happened to me, Peyton. I feel better than I’ve ever felt in my whole life. I’ve got a good job, good friends, my head feels clearer, I have money to spare, and hopefully I’ve got a beautiful girlfriend again.”

  Tristan added with a teasing smile, “If she’ll date a homeless guy that only has a few pots and pans to his name. I may have to sleep at Gabriel’s again until I find another place.”

  Just as he finished his sentence, they both heard the front door to the house slam shut and tires squeal as Caleb obviously peeled out. Peyton laughed nervously. “I might have to do the same.”

  She was completely serious-faced when she told Tristan, “I’m not living here with that whack-job for a brother. He has some serious anger issues and they’ve gotten worse since he’s been deployed this last time,” she sighed.

  “Well, Peyton, I have two questions for you then…the answer to the first one will determine if I ask you the second one.”

  She laughed from somewhere deep inside, and tossed her head back.

  “You’re weird, Tristan,” she said, then added, “But I love you anyways. Ask away…”

  Tristan’s head was feeling better now that the pain killers were kicking in, so he leaned his whole body back against the pillow and tugged at Peyton’s arms until she got closer to him on her hands and knees. He tapped her right leg and then patted the other side of him so she would know to straddle his body while he talked. She grinned as she complied, and he adjusted them both so they were lying/sitting in the middle of the bed.

  “Question number one….will you please be my girlfriend again? Be my gym partner, cohort and all around best friend?”

  Peyton let a slow smile stretch across her face, and it was the most beautiful answer he could have asked for, without any words attached to them. She crinkled up her nose and said, “Yes, sweets. I’d love nothing more.”

  Tristan put his hands around the waistband of the cotton pants she had on, and used his thumbs to raise up the crop top shirt she had on so his fingers were brushing against her bare skin. He kept moving his fingers around as he clutched at her sides, and asked, “Okay, then question two. Will you move in with me? I mean we can get an apartment of our own, somewhere.”

  Peyton moved her legs apart far enough so she could grip the bottom of his t-shirt and pull it up to expose his chest. She ran her finger along the lines in his muscles as she moaned, “Yes.”

  Tristan let his hands slide up her sides until he felt the material of her sports bra. Her breathing hitched as he inched his hands closer to the swells of her breasts and he stopped himself with a grin. Peyton always wanted to please, and he wasn’t sure how long he could go with a drawn out seduction scene. His head was throbbing and so was his cock; he wanted to make love to Peyton more than anything right now. Still, he wanted to try to speed things along.

  “Take off your clothes for me, Peyton. I wanna see that gorgeous inked up body.”

  Peyton didn’t hesitate in hopping off the bed, winking quickly before she began a slow, seductive removal of all her clothes. She swung her hips back and forth as each piece fell away, and her beautiful dark skin was revealed to him an inch at a time. When she turned to the side, the hibiscus flower tattoo that flowed down her side and across her hip caught his attention, as well as the small diamond studs in her pierced nipples.

  Peyton was a walking wet dream with her curvaceous breasts, toned abs and lean legs…he was thanking God she was back in his life again when she crawled onto the bed. Not wasting any time, Peyton removed his t-shirt and then his jeans, barely pulling his briefs down and over his cock before she worked it into her hot little mouth.

  “Oh, Christ,” he groaned as his back arched off the bed. She was always so in tune to what he needed, and she must have felt the urgency between them as well. After a few good long licks on the underside of his length, she pulled each one of his balls into her mouth in turn, moaning around each one. She engulfed his cock in her mouth again and sucked on him hard and fast, bringing him to a rapid boil in a few short seconds.

  “Peyton, damn it, stop,” he panted. With a whimper of protest, she released him and sat on her haunches. Tristan tried to pull her down to the bed, but she stopped him. “No, honey. Let me do this for you.”

  Tristan shook his head. “No, if you keep going, I’m gonna come in your mouth, Peyton.”

  She just shrugged. “Then I’ll move on, sweets. I wanna get you all hot and ready for me. I’m gonna taste every inch of your body, and then I’m gonna ride your cock until you explode inside me. How does that sound?”

  Dirty talk wasn’t something they’d ever done a lot of before, but it was doing all sorts of things to Tristan hearing Peyton talk this way. He spread his arms out to the side and said, “I’m all yours, fancy pants. Do your worst.”

  Smiling in victory, Peyton went to work on exploring every inch of his body with her tongue. She was lavishing all the lines and muscles on his lower abs with her tongue, licking and nipping as she went higher to his chest. When her tongue passed over the small disks of his nipples, she pulled them between her teeth and clamped down hard enough to make him hiss.

  Her bare breasts brushed across his thighs, and she teased him with the nubbins, using them for added sensation by moving them back and forth across his body. She used her hands to knead the muscles of his arms; her lips, mouth and tongue to explore his chest then his pulse point running down his neck; and her nipples to tease his lower half. The sensations were overloading his sex-starved body and he was ready to fling her underneath him and drive in with one fierce thrust.

  “Peyton…fuck…I can’t take much more,” he begged.

  She was completely lying over the top of his body, but he could barely feel her weight at all. Peyton was soft and warm, and her skin was so smooth as he ran his hands over her back and up across her shoulders. “Let me touch you, Peyton…please.”

  She brought her face in closer to his and brushed their lips together. Tristan didn’t hear any protests to his demand, so he wrapped his arms around her body and rolled them so he was on top. He took over control of her light kisses and was quickly mating their mouths together, delving his tongue deep inside to dance with hers.

  Tristan slowly moved from her lips to leaving a trail of kisses across her jaw and down her neck. Peyton arched into him as he suckled on her throat, leaving tiny bite marks as he went. He slowly covered every inch of her chest, re-familiarizing himself with her body as he went. By the time he pulled each of her dark nipples into his mouth, she was already panting and writhing underneath him. “Tristan…please…” she whined, and it was absolute music to his ears.

  He moved to kneel between her legs and playfully asked, “Please what? What do you want me to please, Peyton?”

  “You already a
re pleasing me, Tristan. But I’m feeling incredibly empty inside,” she half-heartedly whined.

  With a devious smirk on his face, Tristan brushed his fingers through her core, honing in on the tiny button that would set his little spitfire off like a rocket. She gasped when he touched her clit, causing his cock to jump with excitement…it was about as fucking excited to being this close to her wet heat as the rest of his body was.

  Tristan spread apart the petals of her sex and used his tongue to make sure her body was primed and ready for him. He flicked and licked at her hot spot until he could feel her body shaking as it prepared to explode.

  Satisfied that she was good and wet, Tristan kissed the top of her pubic bone and moved over the top of her still-squirming body. With as much restraint as he could muster, he slowly fed his cock inside her channel. He would move forward a bit and ease back out, just enough to make sure she was adequately stretched. It wasn’t long until his efforts were rewarded…he felt his balls hit her ass, and he was fully seated. Using long, slow strokes, Tristan worked in and out of her tight body, reveling in the pressure building at the base of his spine as he worked Peyton into a frenzy underneath him.

  “O-h-hhhh,” she groaned, and Tristan knew she was close to reaching her orgasm. He’d been there for a bit already, but was holding out for Peyton’s easy-to-read mewls when she was ready to explode, too.

  The white lightning of his orgasm hit just as Peyton screamed in pleasure. Tristan joined their mouths together and swallowed her cries as he let the ultimate rush wash over his body. His release went on forever and he slowed his strokes before finally pulling out. The release of emotions that came with making love to Peyton was the ultimate high for him and he’d missed it more than he’d realized.

  Thinking of his release brought something else to his mind…“Oh, fuck, Peyton. I’m so sorry, honey. I didn’t wear a condom.”

  He expected her to sit up and smack him one, or get frantic at least, but she just shrugged and snuggled into his side. “It’s okay, Tristan. You’re the last guy I was with, and I’m on the pill now. You can come down to the hospital and get a physical if you want, but I bet you’re clean, too. Don’t worry about it.”