by Alex Grayson
I lift my head from Mac’s chest and wipe my eyes. He grabs my chin to bring my face up to his. Leaning forward, he places a soft kiss against my lips and then murmurs, “I love you, Mia.”
“I love you, too, Mac,” I say against his.
He pulls my left hand towards his and unclenches my fingers that I didn’t realize were balled into fists. He takes the ring from my hand and slides it onto my ring finger. I look down at it and fresh tears make their way to the surface. I push them back and look up at Mac. He has a look of pure love in his eyes. The green in them so bright and vibrant as he looks down at the ring on my finger. A ring that was supposed to be there years ago. A ring that I will now always wear with pride.
“It fits perfectly. Thank you so much, Sheriff. I love it.” I smile at him tenderly.
I lean forward, wrap my arms around him, and kiss him passionately. The kiss is heated, but sweet. Our tongues slowly sweep against each other’s. We lick and nip and suck at the other’s mouth. If it wasn’t for the fact that Mac’s parents were in the living room and Trent was still up, I would push him to the floor and demand he make love to me right here in the closet.
Unfortunately, Mac’s parents are here and Trent is still up. We reluctantly break apart, our breathing heavy. The desire I see in Mac’s eyes is the same desire that I know he sees in mine.
“Come on. We better get back in there.”
I nod, not really wanting to leave our safe haven on the floor of his closet. Mac helps me to stand and together, hand in hand, we walk back to the living room.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Mia
Her tongue…
Later that evening, Mac and I are lying in his bed. Our breathing is still labored from our recent lovemaking. Mac is on his back, and I’m lying next to him with my head on his shoulder. He’s lazily trailing his fingers lightly up and down my back, lulling my body into relaxation mode. It always feels so damn good when he does that. My hand is on his chest, playing with the light dusting of hairs there. Every time I see my ring twinkle from the dim lamp light, it brings a smile to my face. I can’t stop looking at it. The meaning behind this ring has my heart soaring.
Mac’s parents went to the small local bed and breakfast here in Jaded Hollow. Mac and I both tried to insist that they stay here, but they refused. They said they wanted to give us our privacy. Trent went with them. They are going to take him to town tomorrow and buy a new game that he’s been keeping his eye on.
After a few minutes of silence, Mac breaks it by asking the one question I really don’t want to answer. It’s a question that I know Mac is not going to like the answer. A question that I’m ashamed to answer, but a question that I know needs answering, especially because of recent events.
“A while back you said you gave your virginity away to someone the night of your birthday. You wouldn’t answer me then. I need to know, Pix.”
My hand stops playing with his chest and immediately starts sweating. How in the fuck do I tell Mac that the man who I gave my virginity to is now the man that’s in cahoots with his ex-wife to hurt me? Not only that, but he’s the man that pretty much took my virginity when I wasn’t willing.
Yeah, I’m thinking that’s not going to go over to well with Mac. The outcome of this conversation is not going to be pretty, and I’m not looking forward to it. If I wasn’t worried that Mac would somehow find out on his own, I would still avoid it. But there’s no telling what will happen once Shady is found. Shady is the type of person that will use whatever to get his way or to beat someone.
“Mac…” I begin, but then stop. I have no clue how to tell him. “I don’t know if telling you is a good idea.”
Mac pushes me back and gets up on his elbow. Looming over me, he looks at me with a hard jaw. From the little light that’s in the room, I can tell that his eyes are blazing.
“I already know that I’m not going to like the answer, Mia. It doesn’t matter who it is, but I need to know. I don’t know why, so don’t ask. It’s just something I can’t let go of.”
“What are you going to do if I tell you?”
“Nothing. I would do nothing,” he says, and looks so earnest.
I laugh bitterly, knowing damn good and well that once he finds out he’s going to flip.
“Swear to me, Sheriff, that you won’t do something stupid,” I say forcefully, needing him to give me this before I tell him.
He looks at me with his brows puckered, as if he’s confused with my reaction. He’ll understand all too soon of my worry and concern.
“Mia, I know that you didn’t stay a virgin, even before you told me you slept with someone that night. I know that you’ve been with other guys. I never expected you to…”
“It was Shady,” I blurt out, getting it over with.
Mac’s body jerks above mine. His eyes narrow, and I feel the sheets at my side’s shift, as if he’s gathering the sheets as he balls his hands into fists.
“What the fuck did you just say?” He growls.
I’ve never been scared of Mac, and I’m not now, but if I were the type of person to cower in the face of pure outrage, then I would be scared shitless of him. Never have I seen such fury in one person’s face.
“Mac,” I hesitantly raise my hand to his face, but he knocks it away, shocking me.
“You tell me right fucking now, Mia, that I heard you wrong,” he snarls at me. “You tell me that you didn’t let that fucker touch you. That you didn’t let that bastard put his hands on you.”
I say nothing because I can’t tell him that. As much as I want to, I can’t tell him what he wants to hear. It hurts to see him like this. It hurts knowing that I put that tortured look on his face.
When I say nothing and just look at him with resolve in my eyes, he jackknifes off the bed with a curse.
“Fuck!” He grabs his jeans off the floor and jerkily brings them up his legs, before stalking off to the bathroom, closing the door none too gently.
I roll to my side and curl into a ball, upset that he’s acting the way he is. I don’t really blame him, but it still bothers me that he threw off my touch. I’ll give him a few minutes to cool down before I go to him. Unfortunately, I haven’t told him the whole story yet. The part that he’s going to hate the most. Nevertheless, he needs to know the whole truth.
I get up off the bed and snag one of Mac’s t-shirts out of his dresser. Walking across the floor on bare feet, I stand in front of the door for a minute before knocking softly. When I don’t hear a reply, I slowly open the door and slip inside.
Mac has his back towards me. He’s leaning over with his hands on the basin of the sink, his shoulders hunched. I don’t know if he didn’t hear me enter because he’s so deep in thought, or if he’s ignoring me.
I walk up to him and lay my hand on the center of his back. His muscles tense, but he doesn’t move or try to push me away. I take that as a good sign and put my arms around his stomach. His muscles there ripple as I touch them. His head is downcast, but I hear him take in a deep breath when I rest my head on his back.
We stand like that for several moments before he takes my hands and pulls them from his stomach. At first, I think he’s pulling away from me again and my heart plummets, but then he turns around and leans back against the counter, pulling me in between his legs.
I look up to him and see him looking down at me. The anger is still there, but not as harsh. Now there’s also resolve and bitterness.
Oh, Mac. I’m so sorry for what I’m about to say.
“There’s more that I need to tell you,” I tell him quietly.
His arms tighten around me when he says harshly, “Fuck that, Mia. What more could there be? I don’t need to hear the dirty details.”
His words hurt and piss me off at the same time. I understand him not wanting the details. Hell, when he told me what happened between him and Tessa, it took everything I had not to go into a rant and destroy shit. However, he doesn’t need to be an asshole. I shut
my mouth when he spoke. He can do the same for me. As with his determination for me to listen, my determination is just as strong.
“Mac, I understand where you’re coming from. What I need to tell you isn’t what you think. Do you really think I want to relive it? I feel nothing but shame for that night. You need to listen to what I have to say. It’s important.”
“Shit!” He says loudly and tilts his head back, taking in a few deep breaths. Once he’s composed himself, he looks back down at me and says, “Okay.”
Gathering every bit of courage I have, I start talking.
“After I saw you that night in bed with Tessa, I took off downstairs. I stopped just long enough to grab two cups off the counter in the kitchen. I didn’t know what was inside the cups. I just knew that I wanted something to numb the pain. The pain I felt was so suffocating that I thought I was going to drown. I literally couldn’t breathe. It was unlike anything I had ever felt before. I downed the two drinks and collapsed on the ground.
“The longer I sat on that ground gasping for breath, the pain started becoming overshadowed by another emotion: rage. The pain was still there, but the hatred I felt helped. I was so pissed at you. I kept thinking to myself, “How in the hell could you do that to me?’ How could you give something to Tessa that was so precious and was supposed to be mine?”
I stop for a minute and look down at my hands that are on his chest. The pain I felt that night coming back full force. I push it down, making myself continue.
“I don’t know how long I sat there. I was feeling the effects of the alcohol so it could have been hours or just minutes. Either way, I came to a decision. I decided that if you didn’t care who you gave yourself to then why should I care about my own virginity? When I stood up to leave, my opportunity came sooner that what I thought. There was Shady, leaning against one of the light posts, smoking a cigarette and watching me.”
Mac’s hands clench at my sides when I mention Shady’s name, but I ignore it, needing to get to the end.
“He came towards me and started talking to me. I could tell that he was drunk. He was being sweet and considerate. I knew what his game plan was, but as it turned out, I was going to use him as much as he wanted to use me.
“To skip useless information, Shady took me to his truck.”
“Stop!” Mac demands and puts his forehead against mine, eye shut tightly.
“No, Mac. I need to finish. He’s a part of this. You need to know what happened that night, just like I needed the truth as well.”
I pull my head back from him and take a step back, not wanting to touch him when I tell him the rest. He gives me my space and puts his hands on the counter on either side of his hips.
“When we made it to Shady’s truck, doubt started plaguing me, but I ignored it. I was hoping that if I let Shady do whatever he wanted with me, it would help with the pain. My brain kept shouting at me to stop, that I was making a mistake. While we were in his truck, we started kissing. I hated every minute of it. It just didn’t feel right. Up to that point, I had never kissed another guy, except you.
“I had gotten as far as my pants and shirt off when I realized that I couldn’t go through with it. Shady had his dick out and was rubbing it against my leg. His hand was in my panties when I told him to stop.”
A lump forms in my throat and tears threaten to spill from my eyes. When I look over to Mac, I see his eyes blazing. The green in his eyes almost nonexistent, swallowed up by the black of the pupil. His knuckles are white from the grip he has on the counter.
“Finish it,” he growls.
“Shady didn’t stop. Instead, he shoved his fingers in me. It hurt so much. I tried pushing and kicking him to get him off me, but he wouldn’t budge. He used his fingers and broke through my hymen. The pain of it was almost unbearable. I think the pain he knew he was putting me through excited him, because after a few minutes, he ejaculated against my leg. I watched him pull his bloody fingers out of me and put them in his mouth. After he licked them clean, he looked straight at me and said, ‘You can leave now. I got what I wanted.’”
I can’t look at Mac when I finish. I’m ashamed of my actions that night. Yes, I know that I said no and Shady should have stopped when I did, but I can’t help but feel that I got what was coming to me. I knew what was going to happen when I went to Shady’s truck. I knew the type of man he was. I also knew that he was drunk, and a drunk Shady is not a nice Shady.
I snap my head up when I hear a loud crash and find the mirror above the sink shattered. I glance down to find Mac’s fist bloodied. I rush forward and gently grab his hand. I turn the faucet on and place his hand under the running water.
“He’s dead,” Mac says in a low voice. When I look up at him, his eyes are on me. “When I find that bastard, Mia, I’ll fucking kill him.”
I shake my head at him. “No, Mac.” I plead with him. “You can’t do that. He’s not worth spending the rest of your life in prison for.”
He ignores my plea and instead asks a question. “Why didn’t you go to the Sheriff, Pix? It hurts to know this, but I understand why you didn’t come to me.”
I look back down at his hand and watch the blood wash down the drain. I see a chunk of glass still embedded in his skin, and I carefully pull it free.
“Because I was ashamed. I knew the type of guy Shady was, but I went with him anyway. I don’t know, I guess I kind of felt I deserved it.”
Mac grips my chin with his good hand and brings my face up to his. “No one deserves that, Mia,” he says forcefully. “No one. You say no, that means no. That shit stops right then. It doesn’t matter what the circumstances are.”
“Please, Mac. Promise me you won’t do anything stupid. I can’t lose you. Trent can’t lose you. Swear to me, Mac.”
After looking at me for a while, Mac nods his head. He doesn’t actually say the words, but I’m sure that’s the only thing I’m going to get. I know that it’s hard for him. I just hope and pray he keeps his promise.
I wrap Mac’s hand in gauze and lift it to my lips, kissing the white material. We both put our arms around the other and squeeze each other tight. I feel Mac place a kiss on top of my head.
“I’m sorry, Pix. I’m sorry I wasn’t there to protect you. I’m sorry that I was where I was. I’m sorry that you had to go through that alone.”
I nod my head, accepting his apology, even though I don’t need it. None of it was his fault.
We walk back to the bed and climb underneath the covers. Mac pulls me close, wrapping every part of his body that he can around me. I feel safe and warm beside him. We lay in silence for a while, both of us knowing that it’s going to be a while before we get to sleep.
It seems like I just closed my eyes when I hear a phone ring. Mac groans and reaches across me for his phone sitting on the nightstand.
“Sheriff Weston,” he grumbles into the receiver. It sounds like he just fell asleep as well.
“Where?” He listens for a minute before saying, “Alright. Give me ten minutes.” He ends the call, putting the phone back down on the nightstand, and swings his legs over his side of the bed.
“Who was that?” I ask, my voice groggy.
“Dispatch.” Mac says, slipping his jeans up his legs. “Someone called saying they heard gun shots down on Hwy 88.”
I watch as Mac walks to the dresser and pulls a shirt from a drawer. After slipping it over his head, he walks back to the nightstand and picks up his phone. He sits on the side of the bed with the phone in the crook of his neck as he slips his socks and boots on.
“Nick, I’ve got to go out to Hwy 88. Can you come here and sit with Mia?”
I want to protest as I listen to Mac talk to Nick, but I know it’s useless. No way will he leave me alone while he goes out to do his job.
“Yeah,” Mac says to Nick. “I’ll let her know. Thanks man.”
He ends the call and walks to my side of the bed. Bending low, he reaches across me to place his hand beside my head an
d lowers his lips to mine, placing a soft kiss there.
“I’ve got to go, but Nick’s on his way. He said about fifteen minutes. By the time you get up and get dressed, he should be here. I’m locking the door and setting the alarm when I leave. Don’t open that door for anyone, but Nick. Got it?”
“Got it, Sheriff Weston,” I say with a salute.
His lips twitch when he lowers them to mine again.
“I love you,” he murmurs there.
“Love you, too.”
After a short kiss, he stands back up and turns to leave.
“Be careful, Mac.”
“Always am, Pix.
And then, he’s gone. I hear the beeping noise of the alarm being set and then the click of the door.
I get up out of bed and make my way to the bathroom. It’s still too early, but I decide to brush my teeth anyway. Nothing’s better than having fresh breath.
After dressing, I look at the clock and see that it’s only been ten minutes since Mac left. I decide to put on a pot of coffee, figuring we’re in for a long night. I’m almost to the kitchen when I hear a knock at the door. I change directions and head that way, knowing that it’s Nick.
I stop at the alarm panel and put in the code. After unlocking the door, I pull it open.
“Hey, you got here faster…” I stop mid-sentence when I see Tessa standing on the other side.
Of fucking course. My stupid ass plays the typical girl who thinks she knows who’s on the other side of the door because she’s expecting someone and doesn’t check the damn peephole.
Before I get a chance to slam the door in her face, she brings her arm up, carrying a weird looking gun. I realize just what type of gun it is when she pulls the trigger, and my body goes into convulsions as electricity shoots through my body. The bitch shot me with a fucking Taser. Holy mother of God, that hurts.