“I know,” he said.
Of course he does… his mother…
“Pres, I didn’t know what was happening,” I said. “The three of you looked ready to attack each other. And it just kept piling on. Kip and Kait. Kip telling me to go see Barr. Barr with some girl. Those two and their history because of Kait. Finding out Kait was my sister. Beth… Devin… you were distant…”
“I was tracking down Devin,” Pres said. “I wanted to finish that before anything else happened.”
“Yeah? What about BC?”
“Messages have been sent,” he said. “They know who you are to me and what will happen if any of them try anything ever again. I will gladly fund the funerals.”
A chill ran through my body. “Pres… Elijah…”
He shook his head. “Not your problem. Or mine. I gave him the respect to come here and push at me. At Barr. At Kip. I can’t imagine the loss he feels. But that won’t happen again.”
“You had nothing to do with that situation?”
“No,” Pres said.
“What do I do? I know things, Pres. About Claire. About this place. About the way things connect.”
“It’s because you belong here,” Pres said. “And I’m not letting you go.”
“Are you going to block the road again?” I asked.
“No, sugar. I have other ways to block you.”
“How?”
Pres leaned down to the bed and grabbed my chin.
It was instant fire throughout my entire body.
The heart monitor started to go crazy again, giving it away that Pres’s touch was everything to me.
He stared into my eyes for a few seconds before kissing me.
When his lips finally did touch mine, there was no question where I belonged.
It was with him.
It was in BFH.
It was to be surrounded with all the madness and craziness of it all.
Pres kissed me a second time.
Then a third time.
I slowly lifted my right hand, taking my good old time because the taste of his lips were everything to me. The smell of his cologne blanketing me. The smell of wealth, power, and protection. My nose tingled as much as the rest of my body did.
For all the aches I felt because of the accident there was a deeper ache Pres brought to life. The ache of feeling loved and being touched. And, yeah, that kind of touch. I needed him. There were no bets or games or cares. This was need. The wildest need I ever felt.
But first…
I put my hand to his cheek and curled my fingers, feeling the prickliness of his five o’clock shadow. The most unkempt Pres had been because he had been at my bedside.
I pushed at him, wanting him to break the kiss.
He did, our lips smacking as he did so.
My lips fluttered the same as my heart.
I looked into his eyes.
“Pres… I love you too…”
* * *
Pres had his hands flat on the bed.
My hands were all over him.
We kissed like the hospital was on fire and there was no escape. Like we were reduced to just a few last minutes before the end came crashing in all around us.
He teased me by keeping his hands on the bed.
And he was doing it on purpose.
I chased him down with kiss after kiss, desperate for more.
I touched his face, his neck, down to his chest. Up to his round and strong shoulders. My fingertips guiding themselves down his defined arms, feeling the ripped ridges of muscle. And the entire time he just kissed me. Sometimes it was just his lips. Strong and commanding, taking over my lips, pulling away to make a loud kissing noise in the hospital room. Sometimes he kissed deeper. Turning his head, his tongue flirting with my lips, seeking my tongue. I fought back but I was so done for when he kissed me like that.
Pres stopped kissing me and put his forehead against mine.
It was our eyes battling now.
Basking in all the truths. Good and bad.
“I love you,” I said.
“I love you, sugar,” he whispered. “I’m going to protect you. I’m going to take care of you. I’m not leaving this room until you’re with me. I think we have unfinished business…”
His right hand moved from the bed to my side.
I jumped and gasped.
His hand kept moving.
I was in the most unflattering hospital clothes ever. And Pres was the hottest guy I had ever met in my life. And he was touching me. His thumb starting to flirt with my left breast, over the hospital clothes.
I bit my lip and put my head back.
I opened my mouth to say something to him.
I wasn’t sure what yet.
Thankfully, Pres ruined that for me.
His lips touched my neck.
Instantly, my hands curled to the cheap sheets in the hospital bed.
My heart raced once again.
His tongue flicked against my neck.
I sucked in a breath.
His right hand eased over my chest.
So strong and purposeful, taking what he wanted.
A handful of me.
Sending chills and pulsing heat to meet, battle, and win.
All to a certain place.
My toes curled tight as I bit my lips harder.
Pres kissed my neck again and again.
I wanted him in a way I wasn’t sure was possible to feel.
“Pres… I… I can’t…”
He inched away. “Does it hurt, sugar?”
“No,” I said. “Nothing hurts when you touch me or kiss me.”
“Good,” he said.
He kissed my neck one last time and eased away.
I felt gross. Dirty and grubby. Smelly.
It was the right time but not the right place.
“I need to get out of here,” I whispered. “I need a shower. Then I need you.”
Pres smirked. “Consider it done, sugar. And there’s no taking those words back.”
“I never would,” I said. “I’m standing up to you, Pres. I’m standing up to the Rulz.”
“That’s risky. People get hurt when they do that.”
“I’m already in a hospital bed,” I said. “I survived an accident that has doctors and nurses amazed. Maybe you don’t realize what happens when people stand up to me.”
Pres curled his lip.
I loved fucking with him.
Pushing at him.
Knowing I had something over him.
I shifted a little in the bed and pain ripped through me.
I let out a cry and Pres dove at the bed.
“What’s wrong?” he asked.
“Just hurts,” I whispered.
“I’ll get the doctor.”
“No,” I said. I grabbed his wrist. “It’s just pain. Just hurts. I’m okay, Pres.”
His nostrils flared. “I don’t like that. At all.”
“Pres…”
He ripped his hand away and looked ready to explode.
His eyes were darker. Eviler. Filled with anger.
“Pres… talk to me…”
That’s when I realized what it was.
His mother. Seeing her sick. And in pain. Getting worse. Slowly dying.
I reached for him but he was far out of my reach.
“I swear I’m okay,” I whispered. “It’s just aches and pains from the accident. That’s all. Nothing worse than that. I promise. You can talk to Dr. Joe. It’s not…”
“It’s not what?” Pres asked.
He looked like the Pres I met on day one.
The guy throwing someone around into the ocean like a toy. Holding someone’s head under the water. Or the guy throwing punches in the ditch.
Which was part of Pres. It was him.
There was the Pres who did that. And there was the Pres who took me on his motorcycle to a private beach to ride four wheelers for fun.
“Your mother,” I said. I swall
owed hard. “I can’t imagine how hard that must be for you. And you take that on. Because your father sees it as weakness. He sees it as a bad thing in his life. When it’s reality. When it’s something that just happens. But for him, it’s all about money and appearance. So you see her in pain. And you see it get worse. And you have to listen to doctors tell you truths you never want to hear.”
I shut up.
Pres didn’t move an inch.
He just stared.
His dark, bad boy eyes glossed over.
His truths were going to be part of my love.
And I was okay with that.
Silence filled the room.
Tears filled his eyes.
I was about ready to throw the sheets off my body and climb out of the bed to jump into his arms.
I couldn’t do that though.
My body hurt.
Pres had distance.
And to top it off, the hospital room door opened again.
It was Kip.
“Hey, girl,” he said. “Sorry to interrupt the love fest here…”
“What?” I called out to him.
“Barr went outside for a smoke,” Kip said. “He just texted me.”
“And?” I asked.
“Claire is here.”
* * *
Pres sat down in the chair next to the hospital bed and he reached for my hand.
“Pres…”
“I’m not leaving,” he said. “I already told you that. I wasn’t lying.”
“You don’t have to be here for this,” I said. “Not with Claire. Not with what she’s doing.”
“Tinsley,” Pres said.
Hearing my name from his lips… whoa.
That shut me up.
I stared at him.
I felt heat burning my cheeks.
“I’m not fucking leaving this room,” Pres said. “I don’t give a shit what she has to say. She can say it in front of you and me. Same for you, sugar. Whatever you have to say. Even if it involves my father.”
“Okay,” I said, nodding. “I love you, Pres.”
“I love you, sugar,” he said back.
The hospital door didn’t just open. It blasted open.
That was how Claire seemed to enjoy entering a room.
Running toward the bed as though she were a mom running late and was about to miss her daughter’s dance recital.
This was far different yet it had that same feel.
Her eyes were wide and welled with tears in a second.
She dropped her purse to the floor and almost fell down to the bed on top of me.
“Tinsley,” she said as she cried. “Tinsley… my Tinsley… ohmygod…”
“I’m okay,” I said through the weight of her body and taste of her hair.
Claire refused to move.
Pres refused to give up holding my hand.
It was a very weird position to be in.
I finally told Claire she was smothering me.
She peeled herself away from me.
Tears ran down her cheeks as black lines from her makeup.
“I can’t believe this," she said. “I got the alert... I wasn't home…”
Her eyes looked to Pres and she stood tall.
Like she just realized he was there.
She pointed to us holding hands.
“Issue?” Claire asked.
“Not unless you have one,” Pres said.
The tension in the room was growing.
Rightfully so.
Pres’s mother was dying and his father was having an affair with Claire.
Just thinking that alone made my stomach turn.
“Can you give us the room?" Claire asked.
“No,” Pres said.
My heart sank.
“I've known her much longer than you, Preston," Claire said. “You can have your tough guy moment later."
“I haven’t left her side," Pres said as he stood up. “Where were you today?”
Claire looked down at me. “I'm sure you understand.”
“Work?" I asked.
“Yes," Claire said.
“I understand," I said.
“You don't need to worry about a thing, Tinsley,” Claire said. She reached for my hair. She blinked fast. “Everything is taken care of."
“Like what?” I asked.
“Just everything. You just heal. I’m going to get you a new SUV. Something newer. Bigger. Stronger.”
"I survived the accident,” I said.
“I know you did. But something made you go off the road. I never want that to happen again.”
I felt guilty as I was the one now hiding stuff.
I nodded. “Okay.”
“I haven't talked to your mother,” Claire said. “I don't think we can tell her yet.”
“I know that," I said. "I figured. She's going to be mad."
“She’ll get over it,” Claire said.
Claire looked at Pres again.
The two had a little stare down.
“Anything else?” Pres asked.
“Thank you, Preston,” she said. “For being here for my Tinsley.”
"I made a promise and kept it," he said. “And I won't stop.”
“I respect that," Claire said.
“I think I need rest,” I said.
Pres sat back down, giving a clear signal to Claire that she was going to leave and he wasn’t.
Claire didn't put up a fight at all.
She just nodded.
She started to back off and I reached for her.
“Wait,” I said.
“Yeah?” she asked.
“Take those roses with you.”
I pointed to the flowers Tucker had brought.
“Tinsley…”
“No,” I said. "I don't want them. I don't want anything to do with him.”
“It was my fault,” Claire said. “And he means well. After he lost Kait..."
“He walked away," I said. “If I matter that much, he can keep trying. If he's really a decent man and wants to be a decent father then he'll take back all the flowers he tries to give me. And maybe one day I'll keep one flower. And we'll go from there.”
“Okay," Claire said.
She walked to the vase and lifted it.
She carried the bright, red roses out of the hospital room.
I turned my head and looked at Pres.
Tears filled my eyes.
He leaned forward and put his head to mine.
I finally felt like I was home.
twenty
twenty
I walked out of the hospital on my own.
In fresh clothes. In a comfy hoodie. With my hair washed with my shampoo and conditioner. Feeling human. Feeling clean. Feeling alive.
Pres had a hand at my lower back.
I told him not to help but he wasn’t listening.
Which was fine.
I didn't have a limp.
There was nothing wrong with me.
Just a few aches and pains, like I had worked out too hard or something.
I saw pictures of the SUV and it made me cry. The way it was all twisted and bent was terrifying. The fact that I had to be cut from the vehicle and was walking away fine was a miracle.
I took a breath of fresh air and smiled.
“Look at her,” Kip called out from the sidewalk.
Barr flicked a cigarette away and clapped his hands together. "She's running.”
I threw him the middle finger as I walked slowly toward Pres’s SUV.
I had seen Gi and Iris earlier.
Claire had stopped by too.
We called Mom together and played it off as a minor accident. We didn't tell her I was in the hospital. That would be a story for a different time. When she would be able to handle it all.
So that meant it was just me and the Rulz outside the hospital.
It seemed fitting in some strange way.
A part of me always knowing someone was going to end up hu
rt.
Even if it was me.
Pres opened the passenger door.
“Wait a second," Kip said. “Don't we get to say goodbye?”
“Goodbye?" I asked.
“We're not coming with you, love," Barr said. "We've got plans.”
I looked back at Pres. “What's happening?”
“You’ll find out soon, sugar," he said.
“Just a quick hug, girl," Kip said as he opened his arms.
I leaned into Kip. He wrapped his arms around me. He smelled like the ocean. Like he always did. Barr joined the hug from the side. He smelled like smoke. Like always.
I smiled and could have cried.
They were more than friends to me but not what Pres was.
When I broke the hug, that was it.
No more kissing me.
The line had been drawn.
I was officially Pres’s.
I had made my choice and that was it.
They understood and respected it.
Which was pretty crazy to see and accept.
“Come on, sugar,” Pres said.
He helped me into the passenger seat.
My eyes looked at the side mirror.
I stared at Barr and Kip as they stood there and watched.
Pres got into the driver's seat and drove away.
I didn't look away from the mirror until Barr and Kip were out of sight.
And only then did I turn my head and look at Pres.
He looked at me.
We both smiled.
He reached for my hand.
“Where are we going?” I asked.
“I have a surprise for you, sugar,” he said.
“Oh?” I asked.
“I bet you can guess what it is…"
Pres winked.
My heart jumped and raced.
I was going to get what I wanted all along.
* * *
We parked behind a large hotel.
It was quiet enough that if Pres wanted to climb into the backseat it would work just fine. The SUV was big enough for both of us. And the windows were dark.
But I knew better.
That wasn’t Pres's style.
Instead, he took my hand when we exited the SUV and we entered the hotel through a back door. It had a keypad and he knew how to get in.
“Pres?” I whispered.
“Relax, sugar,” he said.
We walked through the back area of the hotel.
UNTamed: a bay falls high novel Page 18