She used his shirt to wipe her face. It made her realize the dress shirt he’d been wearing when they left the house was gone.
“Did you really just wipe your nose on my shirt?”
Tristan’s deadpan question pulled a watery chuckle from Riley. “It’s okay. There’s blood on it, so it’s already ruined. Wait.” She backed away an inch, eyeing the white t-shirt. “Why is there blood on you?” Her vision blurred. She pushed Tristan aside. “I’ll kill that motherfucker.” Tristan snatched her off her feet before she made it to the bedroom door, and kept her locked against his chest.
“It’s not my blood. It’s fine.” Riley went limp in his arms. Thank God. “Plus, it won’t do you any good to go after him. He was escorted to the airport and politely asked to never return.” His grip tightened on her. “Were you really planning on leaving?”
A fresh wave of tears overcame her. Having Tristan say the words aloud hit home for Riley. She felt sick. He was everything to her. She was ruining him. “Look what I’m doing to your life.” Her grip tightened on his shirt as she tried to make him see. “You saw him and heard him, but you don’t know him. Do you think forcing him onto a plane will stop him? Graham will never stop, Tristan.” She shook her head. “You make the world beautiful. He’ll poison that until every dream you have turns to dust. Trust me, I know. When that day comes, you will hate me, and I cannot survive it.”
Tristan tugged his shirt over his head and wiped away her tears. His solemn expression was the only indication he gave that he was listening. “I saw him,” he agreed. “And I heard him.” He tossed the shirt aside before grabbing ahold of her upper arms, and forcing her to hold his gaze. “What I witnessed was desperation, because he knows that he will never touch you again. All he has left to him is words. Even as we sat there, listening to his spite. All I could think about is how damn lucky I am.”
Riley held her breath, incapable of breaking his stare. Each word leaving his lips captivated her.
“Half the people in that church never come to service. They were there for you. While you’ve been busy worrying that you’ll destroy me in the eyes of this town, you’ve done more to bring the people together than I ever have. You’re amazing.”
She was speechless. The pews had been fuller than the last time she’d been there, but she hadn’t exactly taken count. When she merely stared at him, mute. Tristan shook his head and stepped away. He opened drawers, pulling out items before tossing them onto the bed.
“Tell me what you see.”
Riley stared at the pink top and white shorts, wondering what point Tristan was trying to make. “Um. My clothes.”
A flash of white teeth and sexy dimple took her by surprise. “You don’t recognize them?”
“Well, yeah. They’re my…wait.” A memory pricked at the back of her mind. “That’s what I was wearing the night Hunter stole my clothes. How did you get them back?”
“I found them on my porch when I got home that night. You see, they’ve all been plotting against us—or for us depending upon how you look at it, since the very beginning.”
“I don’t understand.” She really didn’t.
“They want you for me as me as I want you for me. Damn it, Riley. Why can’t you see that you make me better?”
“Because I make you curse,” she answered feeling lost.
“Sorry to disabuse you. My language wasn’t all that great before you came along. I’m not an angel. I’m just a guy who wants to help people, no better or worse than anyone else. You haven’t dragged me down. You’ve given me a reason to get up.” Riley’s heart squeezed, and he added. “Please don’t take that away from me. I will keep you safe. I have to. Without you, everything is empty.”
How could she resist that? Making Tristan feel the same emptiness she had before meeting him wasn’t something she could do—not ever. She’d rather die. Realization struck. She really would rather die. Riley would rather stay with Tristan and risk it all, including her life, than ever break his heart.
“I love you.” The fierce words ripped from her throat. Her gaze moved over his black eye. Suddenly, he seemed more human than ever before, making Riley realize as much as she loved Tristan, she had placed him higher than a regular man. “If Graham ever touches you again, I will cut his heart out, I swear it.” Even Riley didn’t understand where her bloodthirsty thoughts sprang from.
Tristan held his hands up in surrender. “I won’t stop you, but he’ll never get that close. That much, I can promise you.”
With Tristan’s heart in the open, the way it was now, she knew he spoke the truth. He would never let anything happen to her. “We both look a mess,” she said, doing her best bring the happiness back to his eyes. That’s all she’d ever wanted for him. “We should take a shower.”
She watched Tristan’s attempts at biting back a grin. “You might have the dance skills, but I bet I can hold my breath longer.”
God, she loved this man. Happiness filled Riley past the point of overflowing. “Challenge accepted.”
***
Hunter’s gaze shifted toward the rearview mirror, catching a glimpse of the man in the backseat. Even with blood streaking down his face, he was unyielding. For some odd reason, the man’s black hair and amber eyes reminded Hunter of a panther. He was a predator, always watching and poised to strike. Unfortunately for him, he wasn’t the only deadly creature filling this space.
The man had to know Hunter’s presence meant this was the end, but he still didn’t show a hint of weakness. His spine was straight. He didn’t fidget in any way. When the light turned red, Hunter switched his gaze back to the mirror, openly watching him. The man held his stare without blinking.
Hunter bit back an evil grin. “I’m beyond curious to know why everywhere you look the grass is dead.” A spurt of satisfaction ran through him when Graham’s expression moved from hard to calculating. He recognized the exact moment Graham realized there was only way Hunter could’ve known that. He had to have heard Graham say this to Riley. Yeah. Graham wasn’t the only person with skills. His lips parted in surprise. It was the first genuine reaction the man had shown all night.
A low chuckle fell from Hunter’s lips. It rumbled through the car, dropping the temperature. The light turned green, and Hunter focused on the road. “Don’t worry. Life won’t look that way much longer. But your suffering, that’s only just begun.”
Epilogue
April 10th
Riley set a single rose on Harmony’s headstone. “I got a letter from Bella today,” she confessed before settling onto the bench beside the grave. She’d started visiting with Harmony shortly after marrying Tristan. He’d loved this woman, and for Riley, it said more about who Harmony had been than any amount of town rumors. Riley felt oddly connected to the woman who’d held her husband’s heart first. The visits brought her peace. Glancing behind her, Riley ensured Tristan was still digging around in the backseat of his truck before continuing. “I haven’t worked up the nerve to open it yet, but fear is like that. It drives memories far into the depths of your soul until it sets down roots.” Riley brushed her fingers over her purse, thinking about the unopened envelope inside. It had been eight months since Graham boarded his private jet, headed back to California. It had been eight months since it landed at John Wayne airport, empty of passengers.
Speculation ran high. The pilot and co-pilot had been questioned at great length. Both men swore he’d been aboard when they’d taken off, and indeed several witnesses collaborated their story by stating they’d seen him board the plane. Sometime during the six-hour flight, he’d simply vanished. Several theories had been tossed around, but nothing concrete had ever been settled upon. With Graham’s money, he could easily disappear, and the looming divorce made most people think he’d taken what he could and started over somewhere. Others thought he was dead.
Riley was more than a little aware the answer might be in her bag. She wasn’t sure she wanted to know. What if its contents took her b
ack to that place in her head? The wind picked up. What if one tiny peek inside this envelope sent her home to cover her windows? She shivered. “I hope wherever you are, you’re warm,” Riley said absently, unsure if the words were meant for Harmony or Graham, or if she referred to Heaven or Hell.
“What are you and Harmony discussing today?”
Riley flashed Tristan a quick smile as he settled in next to her and wrapped his arms around her. “Oh, you know, this and that. Girl stuff.”
“Girl stuff,” he repeated, sounding intrigued.
“Yep. She told me I’m getting fat. I called her a bitch.”
Tristan’s shoulder shook against her cheek as he held in his laughter. She could feel his smile surrounding her. His palm brushed over her rounding stomach. It was something he did a thousand times a day—silently sending love to their unborn child.
“You look beautiful,” Tristan said against her temple.
A lump formed in Riley’s throat. “Thank you.” Even she didn’t know who she was truly thanking—Tristan for his compliment, Harmony for loving him, or God for having a plan for her after all. She couldn’t stop the words from forming, and neither could she keep from adding, “But you know, you kind of have to say that since you made me this way.”
Tristan sighed. “You couldn’t just take it, could you?”
Riley couldn’t stop smiling. “Oh, I can take it.” She dropped her voice, making sure Tristan didn’t miss the seductive note. “I can take it all, kickass preacherman.”
A load groan rent the air at her taunt. “For fuck’s sake. I’m never going to shake that name.”
Riley’s stomach shook with suppressed laughter. “Ha! You said fuck.” She was so going to hell. Riley had known it from the moment she’d met this man who was sexy enough he’d make even the devil pause. If she was going, so was Tristan. “Welcome to the dark side, baby. Don’t worry. I have all the cookies you could ever want.”
“Mmm. I do love to eat.”
Oh yeah. They were doomed. It was going to be the ride of a lifetime.
The end for now…
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Charity Parkerson is an award winning and multi-published author with Ellora's Cave Publishing, Indie Publishing House LLC, and Punk & Sissy Publications. Born with no filter from her brain to her mouth, she decided to take this odd quirk and insert it in her characters.
*Winner of 2, 2014 Readers' Favorite Awards
*2014 Golden Ankh Nominee
*2013 Readers' Favorite Award Winner
*2013 Reviewers' Choice Award Winner
*2012 ARRA Finalist for Favorite Paranormal Romance
*Five-time winner of The Mistress of the Darkpath
A Dash of Desire (Spiced Life #2) Page 15