Hearts and Flowers (Hearts Series Book 2)

by A. M. Brooks

  “I’ll choose a new successor,” he threatens, and I shrug my shoulders.

  “Please do,” I all but beg him. Not one part of me feels saddened by that. “I’ll open my own venture when the time comes if King Corp. is no longer an option. I don’t really care because once King Corp. is mine, I’m going to make changes right away anyway.” I watch with satisfaction as his face pales. “Speaking of which,” I tell him. “The reverend is waiting for your monthly donation to his charity.”

  “You speak to me like I didn’t help you out the shit hole you dug for yourself. Your life was over without my help.” Spit flies from his mouth with his harsh words. I close my eyes, willing myself to rein my anger in. Blood would not look good splattered over the light oak of that ugly ass desk.

  “I made a mistake. You didn’t help me though by paying everyone off about it. Nora, that girl you keep referring to, she helped me. It was her I thought of when I finally decided to let Mom take me to treatment. It was her image I pulled to mind while I was going through withdrawals. She’s the reason you didn’t lose this town yet. Nothing about my recovery or college acceptance is because of you.” Without looking at him, I stand straighter and head for the door. “Trent Nichols,” I remind him before letting the door click shut. One look at my phone lets me know I’m going to be late meeting the twins. The worry rolls right off me though because for once, I feel like a better human being after being in the same room as the man who fathered me.

  Three hours later, the sun is starting to rise, signaling another day. Ethan, Elijah, and I make sure Trent is released. Go figure, Charles was able to use this to spin the tables, painting him in a good light. The twins follow Trent home to help check that there isn’t backlash waiting for him. I pull into the parking lot at my favorite beach and park my jeep, spinning my phone between my fingers knowing what I need to do, and I’m not thrilled about it.

  Darrian: Good morning beautiful. Can you meet me?

  Nora: Morning! Yes. Where?

  I quickly send her a pin of my location. I need to tell her about Nichols and the plan we made without her knowing. Now that it’s all over officially she needs to know. I’m hoping she will understand why we did it. Twenty minutes later, her SUV pulls next to me, and my stomach still feels like its tossing side to side. She smiles and waves before she sees my expression. Trying my best not to scare her, I get out and take a few deep breaths. Taking my lead, she steps out and rounds the front of her ride until we’re in front of each other.

  “Take a walk with me?” I ask, hating that my vocals are scratchy. I clear my throat, hoping it helps. Her head tips to the side, her hazel eyes scanning my face.

  “Sure,” she answers, but I see her mind spinning. Her fingers have a death grip on mine which tells me she’s nervous. I’m already fucking this up and we haven’t even got to the bigger issue.

  We walk in silence to the edge of the water. She’s tense and I can’t find the right words. I’m about to rip the Band-Aid off when her phone beeps. My eyes close while she checks it.

  “What the hell, why was Trent arrested?” Her hand slides from mine while she types out a response to whoever messaged her. I wait, letting my hands slide into my pockets. I feel myself going into survival mode and I’m trying to fight it.

  “Did you know about this?” she asks, still looking at her phone. If she’d look at me, she would know how much I knew.

  “Yeah,” I tell her. In slow motion, her head comes up. I try to keep my expression blank, letting her read the truth from me.

  “How did you know?” she asks, her eyes dart around. “Did you have something to do with it?”

  “Kind of,” I say. “It’s more complicated than that.”

  “Tell me,” she demands, and I hear the desperate note in her voice.

  “I—” I start and stop really unsure where to start. My fingers squeeze the base of my neck. “After Roman was sentenced, I asked Trent to start looking into The Track. Pierce had already used my dad’s buildings to sell his drugs, so it wasn’t a far leap to figure out they were using those same methods for their money laundering. Find the money and the rest of the connections would follow. He agreed to just poke around.”

  “Then what happened?” Nora whispers, but her gaze has completely zoned out.

  I sigh. “He was in the wrong place at the wrong time. One of Pierce’s guys approached him. He did what he had to and survived. I let Agent McCall know what was going on. To keep his cover, Trent was arrested with everyone who was involved.”

  “Why didn’t I know about this? What if something had happened to him?” Her face turns red, her eyes blaming me.

  “We wanted to protect you—” I start to tell her, but she cuts me off.

  “Protect me? Who was protecting him? You promised me no more lies. You said I’d get a choice in the decision. What the hell!”

  I’m speechless when she starts walking away from me. Out of instinct and fear, I grab her arm and pull her back around.

  “Let me explain.” My voice begs and cracks. The shoe I’d been waiting for finally drops. And when it does, it’s a riding boot.

  “You lied to me,” she forces out between her teeth, ripping her arm from my grasp.

  “I didn’t,” I tell her, reaching for her again.

  “Omitting the truth is the same as lying,” she retorts back.

  “I didn’t omit anything. I purposefully didn’t say anything because I was already scared enough of what we decided without having you know about it too. It was a last-ditch effort to protect you and knock Zero-Thirteen back once and for all. It’s game over for them because of Trent.”

  “Because you purposefully let him stand in to protect me. He could have died if they found out, Darrian.” She covers her eyes when tears start to leak out. “I need to go. I need to find him and apologize. I didn’t want anyone to put their lives in danger for me. You knew this when things started.”

  “He’s fine, Nora. He wanted to do it. Agent McCall was on him the entire time,” I say while pleading with her to see this from our perspective.

  “He’ll be seen as a narc just like me,” she reminds me. “And look how that turned out.”

  “He won’t,” I reassure her. “He did a fucking good job, Nora. McCall was even trying to recruit him to the academy he did so well.”

  She shakes her head. “That doesn’t make this okay. Nothing about this is okay with me.” She rips her arm from my grasp again and starts walking away. The sight of her back infuriates me, opening old scars for self-loathing to seep through.

  “Trust me,” I beg her. She stops.

  “Like you trust me? What happened to building trust by being honest?”

  She’s right and I let her keep walking this time. My stomach sours and a different need snakes through my blood. Nora left. She’s mad. She’s going to him. She left me. My mind blanks except for those revelations. Those stay on repeat. I calculate how far I am from my nearest past hook up and hate settles in my chest. I hate myself. I hate feeling lost. I hate feeling rejected. I’m jealous that she went to Trent. Before I can change my mind, I head to my Jeep. Nora is long gone already. I want to call her back. I want to change how things turned out. But mostly, I want to be numb.

  It only takes fifteen minutes after being away from Darrian that I realize I maybe overreacted. Okay, I really overreacted. I had text Trent to meet me. I wanted to apologize and also yell at him for taking a huge risk. His reply back set me straight.

  Trent: We’d do anything to protect you, Nora. But this also is about all the other innocent people who don’t deserve to be hurt. It’s also for Charlotte Daniels. That’s the name of the Northland girl who died. I’m sick of this shady town and I wanted to do something to help. Don’t apologize.

  I’m at a loss of words as I read the text again. Being away from Darrian allowed me to clear my thoughts and I realize how far of a jump I made from rational upset to crazy. “Shit,” I mutter to myself and lean my head back aga
inst the headrest. I shouldn’t have left him like that. We’re both still in new territory and figuring each other out all over again. I flip my blinker on and make a left U-turn to circle back to the beach. I broke the rule. We had agreed no more running and that we would talk our problems out. I hoped I wasn’t too late. Right as I picked up my phone, it dinged with a message.

  Darrian: I’m at the yacht. Will you please come here?

  I release the breath I wasn’t aware I’d been holding before typing him back a quick text.

  Nora: Yes

  I speed down the highway, trying to get there as soon as possible. I’m trying to take it as a good sign that he reached out to me rather than shutting down. We both made mistakes this time. Once I’m parked, I practically sprint down the dock to reach him. It looks dark and quiet on board, but the ladder hangs over the edge and I climb up. Darrian isn’t waiting for me like I had pictured he would be.

  I stepped lightly on the balls of my feet to keep the boards from groaning. I stopped breathing the farther I descended into the darkness. A sliver of light from the bathroom draws my attention. Like a moth to a flame, I moved closer

  “Darrian?” I call looking around. He doesn’t respond.

  A huge body crashes next to mine causing me to stumble and trip over myself.

  “Darr?” I question. “What the hell?”

  “You actually showed up,” he says and I don’t miss the hint of accusation in his voice. My body instantly stills, I’m almost scared to meet his gaze.

  “You asked me to,” I remind him, hating that, my voice sounds timid, “Of course I’d be here.”

  “Could have fooled me.” His voice is cold and withdrawn. “You ran pretty fast to check on Nichols. He’s just a friend though, right.” He sneers the last part. Deja vu wraps around my mind. My heart rate picks up. I’ve been waiting for this. Things have been too good and one misunderstanding sent us spiraling back here. My gaze meets his, searching. His pupils are still normal and there is no scent of alcohol on him. The mask I hate has slid into place.

  “I should have stayed,” I tell him, my voice soft and filled with emotion, trying to pull him back to me.

  “Damn straight, Sutton,” he practically yells. I back up until my back hits the wall when suddenly he’s right in front of me, leaning in. His fist connects with the wall next to my head. I involuntarily flinch. “We can never move on because you hold us back. Anytime I try to protect you, all you think is that I’m too controlling. I told you the first time when you came back that what we’re dealing with is not PG shit. Why is it so hard for you to accept that?”

  I swallow. “It’s not. I just don’t want anyone to get hurt because of me,” I remind him, my voice pleading.

  “All you’re doing, Sutton, is knocking us back every time we make progress,” he chastises.

  I shake my head in disagreement. “Wanting people I love to be safe is not a crime, Darrian.”

  “So you love him now,” he scoffs. Anger boils to the surface then halts at his next words. “I’m done.”

  “What?” I whisper, not sure I heard him right. After everything he’s been telling me, he gives in like this.

  “I’m done,” he repeats, his eyes are cold as he looks at me. My gaze chases all over his face looking for any sign that he’s testing me. He backs away, hands fisted at his side, his gaze shudders, the mask never slipping. My heart throbs painfully while my mind fights against what my ears are hearing. Frantic survival mode slips in. I turn around, ready to bolt up the stairs when my eyes catch, reflecting glass shining just inside the bathroom. I divert quickly to the door and push it open.

  “Darrian!” His name tears from my throat. A crystal tray lays on the countertop, at least five plastic baggies are thrown haphazardly on top. For the first time I notice that the floor is wet, towels used to soak up water hang on the bar and the room smells faintly like bleach.

  My heart stops. “Darr…what happened?” I ask, turning to him, finding him sitting on the floor right outside the door. My eyes move over every inch of him I can see in the dim light. His shirt is drenched in water or sweat, I can’t tell. He looks defeated.

  “I found it,” he finally says, his voice barely a whisper over the creaking of the hull.

  “Found what, babe?” I ask, lowering my voice to match his.

  “My old stash,” he breathes out, his eyes lifting to mine. My breath catches when I see tears falling from his. “I didn’t use it, I swear,” he chokes out, his jaw tightening.

  I lower myself down until I am crouched right in front of him. Taking his face between my hands, I lean in and touch my lips to his. I feel his shaky breath against my lips. My hazels connect with his silvers and I know he’s telling the truth.

  “Where is it?” I ask.

  “I flushed it,” he says quietly.

  “I believe you,” I tell him.

  “I wanted to though,” he states, his jaw ticks. I feel his body go rigid in front of me. My heart reaches out to him.

  “I would be more surprised if you hadn’t wanted to at all. You’re recovering, Darrian. You aren’t Superman. It’s normal, but you chose to do the right thing,”

  His head turns to the side, cutting our eye contact, “I almost fucked up everything,” he replies. Emotion clogs his voice and my heart breaks for his.

  “You didn’t fuck anything up,” I give him the words he wants to hear, “I love you. Don’t do this to us. We both made a mistake tonight. I shouldn’t have left.” I see his eyes blink rapidly before they close. He’s practically vibrating, his muscles are coiled so tight. “I do love Trent, Darrian. I love him like I love Lily, Liv, Shea, Elijah, and Ethan. I owe him for helping me survive this past summer after you broke me. He was there for me and I will always love him and be grateful to him for that. I’m not in love with him though. I don’t think about him when I wake up and before I go to bed. I don’t sit and worry about him all day long and grin like a stupid girl when I know I get to see him.”

  “Maybe you should,” he rasps out. Guilt flashes in his eyes when our gazes connect.

  My lips pull in a sad smile. “I love you, Darrian. Please don’t push me away.”

  His muscles relax and he slumps backward. I follow him until I’m straddling his waist. His arms pull me in until we are chest to chest.

  “I’m sorry.” His voice is muffled in my neck and causing involuntary shivers.

  “I am too,” I tell him, squeezing my eyes shut. “I shouldn’t have left.”

  “I shouldn’t have kept it from you. There were so many unknowns, Nora I…I just need you to be safe.” He pulls back forcing our eyes to meet. “I can’t lose you. I’d rather die.” Something in the way he looks at me has me believing every word out of his mouth and I shiver again for an entirely different reason this time.

  “I’m okay,” I tell him, running my hands down his cheeks and jaw. “I’m here and I love you.”

  His breathing hitches before his hips surge up, colliding his mouth with mine. Darrian kisses me desperately, asking for forgiveness and punishing me at the same time. My arms wind around his neck and shoulders, pulling him closer into me. I squeeze my legs tighter around his waist, trying to communicate the need rising inside me. I want him. All of him. As if reading my thoughts, Darrian stands, taking me with him. We tilt and sway down the hallway to the back bedroom. Our lips never breaking contact.

  He sets me down right inside the door. My legs are like Jell-O and threaten to give out from under me. “Are you sure?” he asks, and I know what he’s saying. If we do this, there is really no going back. I nod. “Once we go here, I won’t ever stop. We’re a real couple. You’re my girlfriend.” He says the words and I sense how foreign they sound coming out of his mouth.

  “I know,” I tell him. “I want to.”

  That’s all he needs to hear before he crashes back into me. One hand snakes into my hair, angling my head for his mouth while the other fastens to my waist. I grip his shoulders, tryi
ng to pull his body through mine. I can’t get close enough. Quickly, I slide my hands down then under his shirt before tugging it up and over his head. He makes a sexy groan when my hands land back on his bare skin. Feeling brave, I slide my hand down over his abs and tease the edge of his jeans by flicking my finger inside his boxers. Darrian inhales sharply before the control he had been hanging onto finally snaps. My shirt is ripped over my head and I barely have time to inhale before he’s pulling my leggings down my legs and sliding them off. Stumbling into each other, he braces his arms on either side of my head, while my fingers work to unbutton his jeans. With a growl, my hand is pushed away, and his mouth is back to mine. Attacking, biting, and brutal. I feel his hands grip the back of my legs before I’m lifted, my legs sliding around his waist as he effortlessly carries me the rest of the way to the bed. We fall down, a twisted mess of limbs, not coming up for air. My lungs feel like they might explode, while his fingers swiftly unclip my bra before pulling my panties down, balling the fabric and throwing them over his shoulder.

  Once our bare skin touches, a fire ignites through my soul. Darrian pulls back and our eyes meet. His knuckles drag from my temple to my chin. “I love you. I’m so fucking gone over you, Nora Sutton. I was fucked up and broken. You changed me in a way I’ll never be able to repay you for. I owe you my life. I’ll never stop loving you, taking care of you, or protecting you. Don’t ask me to stop.”

  My heart lodges in my throat, even as a smile works its way across my mouth. “I love you too,” I tell him, the last word on a gasp of air when he spreads my thighs and thrusts two fingers inside me, curling them in and out.

  I cry out, my back arching off the bed as my hips grind against his hand shamelessly. I’m about to come when he stops and lowers himself back down my body, pulling my legs apart and wrapping them around his head. He drags his tongue up and down my entrance, sucking and flicking against my clit every time. My legs shake in his grip while he works me over with his mouth until white spots dance in my vision and my body is wound so tight with pleasure, it borderlines painful.