As Kent and I travel down the long hallway after changing I hear a female voice shout. Kent smiles to himself.
“Trouble in paradise, Will?” he whispers.
“Don’t call her that. No cute nicknames.”
“She can’t stand being called Will. Trust me, try it. She’ll burn.”
“Grow up.”
He puts his hand around my shoulder and brings me close. “I promise to grow up right after you marry me. Before then I’m a bad boy who occasionally warns people off.”
“Bad boy,” I scoff, and he laughs, bending down to kiss me just as Scott and Willow come out of their room.
I make sure to kiss him deeply. He blinks at me. “Naughty girl,” he whispers, kissing my temple before pulling away. He puts his mouth over my ear. “I know what you’re doing. And I’m not sure I like it.” He gives me a tight look when he pulls away. “Don’t.”
Forget whatever reasoning he has. He’s mine and Willow is going to know it. I grab his hand and pull him along down the stairs, feeling both their eyes on us as we take them down to the foyer.
“They let anyone in this place,” Scott sneers.
“I’ve noticed,” Willow agrees.
Kent tenses.
“Don’t,” I order.
“Oh look. Someone to tame the beast,” Scott mocks.
“I tamed him once,” Willow plays along.
I tense up.
“Don’t,” Kent orders. “You wish you tamed me. I cheated on you, Will. Remember? You weren’t that good.”
“I cheated on you with Scott in your apartment before we even broke up. In your bed,” she adds, “while you were at school. Scott never came down to see you. He came down to see me.”
Oh no.
The realization of her comment hurts even me.
All this time Kent thought he ruined this relationship. He couldn’t even give himself to me because of the things he did and what he thought he’d lost because of it. But Kent didn’t ruin everything. Willow did long before he even got a chance.
I let Kent’s hand go. “Just once,” I allow him.
Before I know it Scott is laid out on the stairs. Willow is screaming at Kent, but Kent won’t stop. He’s pounding into Scott’s face like a crazy person.
“Kent!” I snap. “Enough.”
He freezes and shoves Scott’s face away. “I wish you luck, big brother. I wish you all the luck in the world with this thing you picked to marry. I got me a girl who’s better than you could ever get. She’s going to make me one happy son of a bitch. And all you’ll have is Willow. Who won now?” Kent rises, stares down at his brother in disgust, and then he grabs my hand with his bloody knuckles and leads me downstairs to where Brent and Mr. Greene are talking near the front door.
They both look up as we come in and then frown when they get a look at the blood on Kent’s shirt.
“Round two was much more successful, Dad,” he says, grinning easily.
I, on the other hand, feel slightly sick.
Brent looks heartbroken. “What am I going to with my children?”
“Don’t start. He did it. Not me.”
“Do you love her at all?” he asks, nodding toward me.
Kent doesn’t miss a beat. “I do.”
“Then you have every reason in the world to let it go. Do you want to deal with this forever?” Brent asks me.
“No. In fact I’m over it.” I look up at Kent.
He looks impassively at me. “Let’s go play golf. Scott’s not coming. He’s probably nursing his wounds.”
“No. I’m feeling fine.” Scott and Willow come downstairs. “Barely felt it, bro.”
“Maybe I’ll try a 9 iron next time.” Kent glares so darkly at his brother I shrink against him.
“Whatever you got, bro.”
Brent sighs. “We’re taking separate cars. Kent and Raina will ride with me. Scott, get there when you get there. I wanted to play golf with my sons like we used to. I think that’s a lost cause at this point.”
Scott’s face is raw and swollen, but even I can see the sadness from his father’s comment. “Don’t be like that.”
“Yeah, I mean, you’re going to lose anyway.” Kent smacks his dad on the shoulder.
Brent is over it. “Let’s go.”
Willow shoots me an icy look when I reach for Kent’s hand, so I interweave our fingers and bring it to my lips, kissing the back of it.
Kent looks down at me crossly.
Before we follow his father into a dark blue Audi he pulls me to a stop. Willow and Scott stop at a Mercedes and disappear inside.
“Stop it,” he orders.
“Stop what?”
“You know what. Don’t touch me to make her jealous. Touch me because you want to. Don’t kiss me to make her mad. Kiss me because you can’t help it. I’ve never done anything with you with Willow in mind. I expect the same from you. I don’t want her. I don’t care how bad she makes you think I do. I don’t. You’re going to have to trust me.”
“She’s under my skin. I’m sorry.” I give him my hopeful face.
He groans and covers his eyes. “Still mad.”
“But you can’t stay mad at me.” I slide my hands over his chest, ignoring Scott’s blood, and reach up on my tiptoes to kiss his swollen red lips tenderly. “Please forgive me.”
He removes his hand from over his eyes and taps my chin with his thumb. “That pouty face is killer.”
“It’s my secret weapon.”
“It’s not that secret,” he argues. “Get your cute ass in the car before I make good use of that skirt.”
Brent rolls down the window and glares at his son. “Is that any way to talk to a lady?”
“Rain isn’t a lady. She’s my woman. My women have to put up with my irresistible charm.”
He father gawks at him. “Who raised you?”
I shove my face into Kent’s shoulder to hide my smile. “He has his gentlemanly moments,” I assure his father.
“Get in the car, you two.”
Kent and I slide into the backseat. I try not to gawk at the creamy leather interior. Not gawking is hard work when most of your money comes from selling beer and hot wings. I am reminded suddenly I no longer have a job. What am I going to do when I get back home? I’ve never been in a relationship, but I assume it’s a team effort. He said what was his was mine, but throwing my money problems at him feels cheap. My worries should become his and vice versa, not all his. We could figure it out together. I grab his hand and hold it, smiling shyly at him.
He leans down and kisses me under my jaw, right along my pulse. “What are you smiling at?”
“You.”
“What for?”
“You’re funny looking. Have you ever looked at yourself?”
“I distinctly remember you gawking at my body the first time I opened the front door.”
I gasp and yank my hand free. “I did not.”
“You did. We both know it. I should’ve known right then and there you weren’t going to be able to resist me.”
“Kent,” I warn.
In the front seat his father tries to smother his smile. His mother is right. Kent is unbearably honest. He hides nothing, even if at times he probably should. It’s incredibly endearing and aggravating at the same time.
“I’m irresistible. I get it. Don’t be too hard on yourself.”
“You’re irresistibly a pain in my ass.” I groan when he puts his hand on my lap and glances at his father who is stopped at a red light. Kent slips his fingers between my thighs.
“Resist me now,” he challenges quietly.
I’m proud of myself when I knock his hand away. “Resistance complete.”
He sits back, putting his arm on the back of my seat. “I’ll remember that.” He clears his throat. “So, Dad.”
“So, Kent,” his father replies. “Where’s your bike? I haven’t seen any tune-ups or repairs on the credit card statement.”
“I lost it.�
�
“You lost it or it was stolen?”
“I don’t know. Maybe both.”
“That was a seven thousand dollar bike, Kent Nicholson!”
Kent yawns. “My head is killing me. Can’t we talk about this some other time?”
“I’m cutting you off.”
“You’ve been saying that since I was eighteen.”
“Now’s about time I do it. In fact, if you and your brother don’t start getting along I’m cutting you both out of the will.”
Kent rolls his eyes. “I’d still love you.”
“If you loved me, you’d find a way to get over it. He loves her. You seem to be smitten yourself. At this point what does it matter?”
“What if Uncle Roger stole Mom?”
His father slows down and takes a deep breath. “I’d murder him in his sleep.”
Kent laughs bitterly. “Everyone keeps telling me to get over it. But they don’t understand what I’ve been feeling this past year. How low I was. I was low. Ask Raina. She’s had a front seat show. If it weren’t for her I’m not even sure I’d even be here.”
“Tell me something.”
“What?” Kent asks warily.
“If Willow wanted you back right this second, what would you do?”
Kent doesn’t even think about it. “I’d take one look into Raina’s hazel eyes and fall into those fuckers headfirst.”
His father laughs strenuously, no doubt at Kent’s colorful explanations. “That’s all the answer you need. You and Scott are holding on to this for dear life because both of you have to admit at the end you did wrong. But he wants to let this go. Why can’t you?”
Sighing, Kent looks down at his hands. “Because I’ll have spent the last year of my life thinking about nothing.”
“Sometimes in the face of heartache nothing looks like something. Eventually you have to let it go. Do you think Raina likes to hear about how you’re hung up on some other girl? She doesn’t deserve that. Your mother is ecstatic Scott is having his first child. You’re ruining this for her. You can either grow up and or keep yourself and everyone around you down.”
“Fine, Dad. I’m over it. I’m going to be an uncle. Happy?”
“Only if you mean it, Kent.”
He looks down at me, and falls headfirst into my hazel eyes. “I mean it,” he promises.
For the next couple days Brent keeps Kent and I busy. We golf, expertly avoiding Scott and Willow throughout eighteen holes. We check out the main headquarters for Bid&Buy, in which I lose Kent and his father in a game of numbers. And he takes us out on the bay in The Nich. There is no limit on what these people can do. If they want it, it appears in front of them. It’s hard not to find it all intriguing. His mother and father are clearly happy, doing everything they can to make their children happy as well. I wonder, watching them snuggle on The Nich, whether Kent and I can have this too.
Kent looks back at me, the wind in his hair and a stunning smile on his handsome face. I think maybe we can. Maybe we can be as happy as his parents one day.
The morning of Kent’s birthday I awake and roll over, finding Kent’s side of the bed empty. Once dressed, I go in search of him, ready to give him his birthday gift. It’s the only way I can fathom giving us both what we want. Each other.
He’s on the dock staring out at the bay, watching the morning sun shimmer off the clear blue water.
I sit down and grab his hand. “Happy birthday.”
He smiles at the water. “Thank you.”
“Do you want your present now, or later?”
He raises his eyebrows. “Now…”
“Ask me again.”
“Ask you what?’
“I trust you. I love you. I know we’re probably too young, and afraid, and we have a lot to work on, but I want to work on us together, grow old together, and lose our fears together. I want to be everything you want, deserve, and need. Ask me again.”
His eyes fill with emotion. “Will you marry me, Raina?”
“Yes.” I’m shocked by how steady my voice is; how much I want forever with this man.
He grins at me so wide I fear his lips might crack. “Really?”
I smile back just as wide. “Really.”
He grabs my face and kisses me, pulling me onto his lap. He pulls back suddenly and looks deeply into my eyes. “You already are everything I want. You’re more than I deserve. And everything I need is right here.” He pulls me close. “What do you say to ditching this place and going to Vegas?”
My excitement and nerves are buzzing. Becca is going to kill me. “It’s your birthday.”
“It is. So far I’m getting everything I want.” His eyes are teeming with his love, making everything he sees covered in it. “Are you serious? You’re not going to take it back when I piss you off? Because we both know I’m going to piss you off. I’m going to make you feel everything I can possibly make you feel. I’m going to be the man you never had, the one you can trust and rely on. Are you ready for me, Rain?”
“I think I’ve been waiting for you my whole life. I came alive when I met you. I felt things I’ve never felt before. I’ve done things I’ve never done before. You make me want things I never knew I could have. And piss me off, I don’t mind. Because I’ve got a smart mouth and I’m going to use it. I’m going to trust you with my heart because it’s yours. I am yours, Kent.”
“I love this smart mouth,” he promises, and then Kent Nicholson kisses me deeply—in Vegas, in Jacksonville, and Tampa, in front of our children, who look like him and act like me—forever.
Together we spend the rest of our lives proving this love we fought for was worth every tear, every fight, and every single second of uncertainty.
The Demise Series continues in the next emotionally charged installment:
My Vicious Demise
Releasing February 23rd.
Follow the heartbreaking journey of Rebecca O'Connor and James Rush.
Acknowledgments
I began writing during a difficult time in my life. Reading was already an escape for me, but writing became the ultimate gift. Not only had I found this gift, I finally felt at home. It made perfect sense to write, to read, to create these worlds and lose myself in them at the same time. But dreams can be difficult to achieve without the help of others.
Mom: I appreciate the support you give me on a daily basis and the faith you have in me. There's no way this would be possible without you always having my back. Every book I write is for you. Every word.
The entire Limitless Team: Thank you for taking a chance on me. I can write a million books, and though they're all special to me, thank you for sharing My Sweet Demise with the world.
And my Matthew: I miss you every day. Every single day. I love you forever.
About the Author
When I walk into a book store I feel at home. When I smell the pages of a brand new book things make sense. When I read I am who I always wanted to be. I read to escape and I write so others can as well. My family, my actress dog Bella, coffee, and a steamy love story are a few of my most precious things. My Sweet Demise is my debut New-Adult contemporary romance novel. Keep up to date with future releases by following on Twitter: @shanavauthor
Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/Author-Shana-Vanterpool-404672296399311/
Twitter:
https://twitter.com/shanavauthor
Website:
https://shanavanterpoolauthor.wordpress.com/
Goodreads:
https://www.goodreads.com/shanavanterpoolauthor
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My Sweet Demise (Demise #1) Page 32