by Jenika Snow
Kylie grabbed her shoulders and turned her around to face the mirror that hung on the back of the door. The woman that stared back at her certainly didn’t look like she was going to church. Tristan’s reflection showed that she wore a denim skirt, a tank, and a cardigan.
“You’re gorgeous and should show that off. I wish I looked like you on my best day.”
Tristan snorted. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. Look at how much leg I’m showing.” She pointed to her thigh to make her point clear.
“At least get rid of the cardigan.” Kylie slid the material off her shoulders. The next thing Kylie did was remove the bobby pin that had secured the hair out of her eyes. She ran her fingers through Tristan’s newly freed hair and smiled.
“There, now you don’t look like the pastor’s daughter.”
Tristan rolled her eyes but chuckled. “Some of the guys here would probably get off on that.”
Kylie snorted. “Yeah, they probably would. Bunch of heathens.” She smiled at Tristan’s reflection. “Come on, let’s get a drink. I need about ten more just to deal with the assholes who showed up.”
6
Several hours into the party and two beers finished, Tristan was starting to let her guard down. She’d never been much of a social butterfly, but when she got a little liquid courage, she opened right up. Introverts unite and all that. A beer was handed to her, and she looked at who was offering it. The guy who stood beside her was handsome. He smiled and pushed the beer toward her again. Tristan smiled and shook her head.
“No thanks, I think I’ve reached my limit. I do have to drive home later.”
He leaned in close and spoke directly into her ear. “I’m Max.” He pulled away and offered her the beer again. “It’s still early. Just one more so I don’t have to drink alone? Please?”
Tristan looked at Kylie, who stood a few feet away. Her best friend looked at Max for several moments, then shrugged. “How can you be drinking alone when there are all these people around getting loaded?”
He laughed and tilted his head in acknowledgment. “True, but I’m not interested in drinking with those other people.” He winked. “Come on, just one more, please.”
It wasn’t that Tristan was drunk, but she knew herself. One more beer would lead to another, and another, until she was curled around the toilet.
She took the beer and smiled but had no intentions of drinking it. She’d be polite. “Thanks,” she said and lifted the beer. “I’ll see you around.” She didn’t want him getting the wrong idea, but she also didn’t want to be rude.
Tristan headed onto the back deck but noticed he followed her.
“Sorry, I’m not following you or anything.” He laughed awkwardly. “I needed to get out of there too.”
He tipped his beer bottle back, never taking his eyes off her. “You not thirsty?” he asked, gesturing toward the beer.
“Not really,” she said and offered him an apologetic smile.
“You want something else? Water maybe?”
She handed him the beer. “Actually that would be great.”
He took the bottle and headed inside. He was gone for a few moments before finally coming back out and handing her a bottle of water. “Thanks again.”
He nodded but didn’t say anything in response.
“I’ve never seen you around. Are you friends with Jayson or Kylie?”
He took another drink of his beer. “I’m the friend of a friend.”
She nodded and leaned against the deck railing, watching the others around him.
“You’re very beautiful.”
Tristan felt her cheeks heat with embarrassment and discomfort. She ducked her head. “Thanks.” This was getting weird.
“What did you say your last name was again?” She took another drink from her water bottle. He watched her movements and finished his beer. “I better get back inside,” she said and headed in but stopped before she made it through the back door. “Thanks for the water and conversation.” Once inside she found Kylie and told her it was time for her to go. The party scene wasn’t her thing. She’d made an appearance, got out of her comfort zone, so that had to account for something.
Once in her car and on the road she turned the radio on and leaned her head back on the seat. The drive wasn’t that far, and the roads were pretty much clear. Aside from a lone car behind her the roads were easy, relaxing even.
She pulled into her driveway and cut the engine. She sat there for a second, resting her head on the seat, just enjoying the solitude and stillness surrounding her. Maybe she should just bite the bullet and tell Kash that she had these intense emotions for him? Maybe she should just let him know that she didn’t want to ignore how she felt, even if it wasn’t the best course of action seeing as they were roommates and all.
Tristan opened her eyes and exhaled. Taking the keys out of the ignition and grabbing her purse off the passenger seat, she opened the door and stared at the darkened house in front of her. It was lonely when Kash wasn’t here, which told her more than she needed to know.
She cared about him more than she allowed herself to understand or accept. But even if she wanted to tell him, to explain that ignoring how she felt was eating away at her, Tristan’s nerves and the fear of repercussions of actually being honest would keep her back. She knew that and hated it.
Just as she shut the car door and was about to head toward the house, the feeling of the hairs on the back of her neck standing on end had every part of her tensing. She turned around at the same time a body pressed her against the side of her car. She felt her eyes widen as she stared at Max. He had his hand on her mouth to stifle the surprised cry that would have left her, and had his lips by her ear.
“I don’t know what it is about you, but the first moment I saw you at the party, I knew you had to be mine.”
She felt her eyes widen at the proprietary thickness in his voice. Tristan turned her head and tried to push him away, but he was strong. She grew still, trying to stay calm, in control. He removed his hand slightly, maybe thinking she wouldn’t fight. He was wrong.
“What the fuck?” she said and tried harder to push him away. “Stop.” She did scream then, but he was fast in placing his hand over her mouth once more.
“You don’t want me to stop.” He kissed the side of her neck.
The hell I don’t.
Tristan’s heart slammed hard against her ribs, her flight-or-fight instinct kicking into gear. His fingers pressed painfully on her flesh, and she tried again to push him away. He was stronger, but she had resolve.
“The fact you’re fighting this makes it even more exciting.”
Hot tears tracked down her cheeks. Her arms felt like lead plates pressed to her sides, and coupled with his strength, she wanted to scream out, to knee him in the balls. But before she could contemplate what to do next, Max was pulled away from her. She blinked a few times, her heart thundering, her head feeling dizzy. She placed her hand on the car behind her, knowing that shock was taking root. She was going to pass out if she didn’t try to fight through it and stay upright.
She stared in front of her at the lawn, where Kash stood menacingly over Max. The dim light from the streetlamp washed him in a muted yellow glow. She felt her eyes widen as she watched Kash slam his fist into Max’s face repeatedly. Max’s feeble attempts to ward Kash off only seemed to make the fighter more pissed.
Kash looked fierce. His muscles strained every time he reared back and slammed his fist into Max. When Max stopped fighting back and only moaned on the ground, Kash got off him. He rolled his shoulders and cracked his knuckles.
“When a woman says no, that’s exactly what it means, motherfucker.” It looked like Kash was going to go another round on him, but instead he took a step back. “Get the fuck out of here. If I see you again, if you even think about talking, seeing, or fucking thinking about Tristan again, I’ll hunt your ass down and kill you with my bare hands.”
The blinding rage t
hat came from Kash was like icy fingers along her body. She grew even dizzier and finally lowered herself to the ground.
Kash was by her side in the next instant, helping her up, bringing her much smaller body to his. “Come on, sweetheart. Let’s get you inside.”
And with Kash by her side, she’d never felt safer.
****
The urge to go after that motherfucker and finish him off was strong in Kash, but as he helped Tristan inside, kept her close to his body, that volatile need dimmed. She was relatively unharmed physically, but he knew all too well that emotionally she’d be black-and-blue. The pain that throbbed beneath the skin of his knuckles wasn’t nearly as bad as the pain he felt when he looked at her.
“Thank you,” she whispered, still clinging to him like he was a life raft.
He found himself holding her tighter.
Once inside he shut the door and led her up the stairs to her bedroom. All he kept picturing was seeing her pressed against the side of the car, hearing her tell that prick no, to stop. He shuddered to think what would have happened if he hadn’t been there.
He helped her onto the bed, seeing the shock still racking her small body. She was shaken up and rightfully so.
“Sleep, baby.” He couldn’t help but say the endearment. He wanted to wrap his body around her and hold her all night, tell her that everything would be okay, that he’d protect her, but she was on a razor’s edge right now.
Lifting his hand, he ran the tip of his finger over her brow, trying to smooth the worry lines away. She relaxed under his touch, and he felt his heart lurch. The effect she had on him was crippling. He’d meant to go to the party, but he knew that whole scene wasn’t him. He was a loner, and people tended to get antsy around him anyway. Whether it was from his size or the fact they could sense something dangerous about him, he didn’t know, but he was glad they kept their distance.
But fuck, if he’d been there, he could have caught on to that little bastard, could have been with Tristan and protected her.
“It’s not your fault.” Her voice was soft. “I can see that on your face, that expression that tells me you think if you would have been there, this wouldn’t have happened.” She shook her head. “This isn’t anyone’s fault but that asshole Max’s.”
When he closed his eyes, all he could see was himself, small and helpless, praying someone would help him. He was far from perfect. In fact, he was the complete opposite. The only thing he could give her was his protection, and he would do that with every ounce of his being.
He opened his eyes and wished he could have spared her tonight. He knew from experience it would always haunt her, and the only thing he was grateful for tonight was the fact he’d stopped it when he did. “It won’t ever happen again. I’ll be there. From now on.” He would stand outside her door if he had to.
He’d die protecting her if that’s what it took.
7
Pain like nothing Tristan had ever felt had her groaning and opening her eyes. Her head throbbed, her stomach tightened, and the memory of last night slammed into her.
A knock on the door had her sitting up. Kash came in. The muscles under his jaw worked overtime, and for a split moment the air in her room grew thick with tension and rage.
“Kash?” She whispered his name, partly because the sound of her voice was too loud and caused her head to throb harder, and also because she was afraid of what his reaction would be because of last night.
“Kylie stopped by but you were sleeping. She said she’d talk to you later.”
“Kylie was here?”
“Yeah, and Jayson. I had to let them know, to try and find out who that fucker was. I’m sorry but it was unavoidable.” He ran his hand through his hair. “She was pretty upset after I told her everything.”
She’d told him all she remembered about Max after he helped her to bed, and although she had thought she wouldn’t be able to sleep, exhaustion had won out. “I’m sorry I don’t know more about him, but honestly I’d like to let it just die out. I don’t think he’ll be coming around again if he’s smart.” Tears threatened to spill out, memories of last night rushing forward. “I’m so sorry I got you in the middle of that. Thank you, though. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.” If Kash hadn’t been there, she didn’t want to think about what would have happened
In the next instant she was in his arms. There was nothing holding her emotions in check anymore. She started crying hard, ugly tears.
“You have nothing to apologize for. If you hadn’t been there, watching the whole thing, I would have killed him, easily. I wanted to, Tristan. I wanted to watch the life drain from his eyes.”
Tristan pulled away from him and wiped her tears. His words were matter-of-fact and dead serious. The look on his face confirmed he meant every word. He lifted her head with his finger under her chin and stared into her eyes. She got lost in those green depths.
“You were my guardian angel last night.”
He smiled, but it didn’t quite reach his eyes. “Nah, I just was at the right place at the right time.” He smoothed a lock of hair off her forehead. “I promise he won’t bother you again. No one will.”
His declaration startled her. He was so firm with it.
After a suspended moment of them just staring at each other, he finally pulled away and stood. “Kylie wanted you to call her when you get up.” He walked toward the door and stopped before he left. “I’ll bring you up some aspirin and something to eat.”
She reached for her phone to call Kylie. No doubt her friend was frantic with worry.
“Oh my God, Tristan. Are you okay?” Kylie’s worried voice came through the receiver.
“I’m okay.” She could hear Kylie crying. “Hey, why are you crying? Is everything okay with you?”
“I’m fine. I’m worried about you.” She sniffed once, and Tristan could hear tissue being pulled out of a box. “When I heard what happened, I broke down and rushed over.”
“I tried to remember as much as I could about Max, but it’s kind of blurry, especially with this horrendous headache I have going on.” His face came back to mind, and her stomach turned once again. “Who was he anyway? The only thing he told me was his first name.”
“The crazy thing is we have no clue; no one does that we asked. By the time he showed up, everyone was either too drunk to question who the hell he was, or they assumed someone else from the party brought him.” She sniffed again. “Jayson and I can’t help but feel like this is all our fault, Tristan.”
“So he was just some straggler?”
“I don’t know. He could have been a friend of a friend and we just couldn’t find out who’d invited him. Either way, if Jayson or Kash sees him again, he’s dead. You know that, right?”
“Yes,” she whispered, hating that she’d bring anyone else into this mess. “Don’t cry. I’m just glad Kash was there, Kylie.” Tristan shivered at the memory. “I don’t even want to think about what would have happened if he hadn’t been there.”
“Everything will be okay,” Kylie said, sadness in her voice.
“He almost killed him, Kylie,” she whispered, not wanting Kash to hear.
“Good. It’s a fucking shame he didn’t. I swear to everything that is holy, Tristan, if I saw him walking down the street, I would kick his ass, too.”
Tristan couldn’t help but smile at the image that conjured. Kylie was all of five-foot-two-inches. To see her kick anyone’s ass would have been comical.
“He was frightening, Kylie. The way he hit him, it was like nothing I’ve ever seen.” Tristan remembered how Kash looked under the moonlight. His muscles straining, his body arching as he repeatedly hit Max. He’d been a machine.
“You should have seen him recounting last night’s events to Jayson. He was so … intense about it.” Kylie cleared her throat. “Listen, I’m going to come over later.”
“You don’t have to, really. I think I just want to sleep the rest of the day.” There was a be
at of silence, and Tristan knew what was about to come.
“No, I’ll come over and make sure my best friend is okay.”
Tristan breathed out, but before she could respond, Kash came in with a tray in hand. He set it on her bed, and she looked at the bottle of aspirin, the tall glass of water, and the two pieces of unbuttered toast. She couldn’t help the way her heart skipped a beat. Kash was this incredibly frightening man who towered over her and filled the entire room with menace, yet here he was bringing her food and trying to make her feel better.
“That okay?”
“Yes, of course. I’ll see you then.” She ended the call and smiled. “Thank you so much, for everything,” she said to Kash.
He ran his hand over the back of his neck, and she wondered if she’d embarrassed him. It seemed hard to believe that a man like Kash could be embarrassed. He turned to leave, and her heart pounded.
“Wait.”
He turned and looked at her.
“Will you sit with me for a little while?”
He didn’t respond, and she felt herself grow nervous. “Please.” The idea of being alone, even though it was daylight and she was in her own home, scared her. She didn’t know why, but the thought of having him near calmed her immeasurably.
“Of course.” He turned and walked back toward her. When he sat on the bed, it dipped and she leaned forward slightly. She ate her toast and drank her water in silence, but the fact that he was there was all she needed. It was like whatever had happened last night sealed something in her. She couldn’t speak for him, but she was thankful he’d come into her life.
“Are you feeling any better?”
She finished her water and nodded. “A little. I almost feel hungover.”
“Yeah, shock will do that to a person.” He turned to looked out the window. She studied his profile. His facial hair was starting to grow in, nothing much, just a dark shadow that told her he hadn’t shaved today. He was completely masculine in every way, so much so that Tristan felt heat rise inside of her just from staring at him.