There We'll Be (Together #3)

by Alla Kar

  I all but ran forward, grabbed her, and dragged her into the shower. The warm water felt like Heaven and the bottom of the tub was soon covered in mud. My fingers found her wrists, but she snatched her hands down and shook her head. “No, I’m taking care of you tonight, Boone,” she whispered again.

  Her small breaths hitting my mouth drove me crazy. “Okay,” I whispered. “Use me, Raven.”

  “No,” she whispered, shaking her head. “I’m going to give to you, and you’re gonna take it. It’s your turn to need an anchor. And here I am.”

  And there she was, indeed. Every beautiful inch of her. Sitting down, I spread my legs and leaned back against the shower wall. Josie’s eyes dropped to my dick, and then she dropped to her knees in front of me.

  I couldn’t help but groan at the sight of her. Those green doe eyes were wide, and her mouth open. “You’re perfect,” she whispered.

  I screwed my eyes shut and clutched the side of the tub. “You better do something, Baby. My hands are feeling twitchy.”

  Her soft giggle slid along my skin, and then I felt her hand wrap around my dick. “Oh, fuck.”

  “I haven’t done anything yet.” She laughed.

  I nodded. “You touched me, and that’s all it takes.”

  Josie’s eyes softened, and she lowered her head over me and filled her entire mouth with my dick. My fingers tangled in her hair and I pulled. “Baby,” I groaned. “Just like that.”

  She sank lower but left her ass perched in the air. She was going to give me a damn heart attack. I reached forward, ran my palm against the soft curve of her ass, and smacked it. She sank lower and pushed me further into her throat. “Jesus,” I whispered, rocking my hips against her, sinking her even lower.

  She brought her head back up and sucked her lips together, which pushed me closer to coming. “Come here,” I begged. “I’m going to come if you don’t.”

  “That’s the point,” she whispered, twirling her tongue from balls to tip.

  “If you don’t come, I don’t come,” I said.

  She rolled her eyes and scooted back when I tried to grab her. “Not this time, Boone.”

  She shoved my back against the wall and dipped her head. “Now lean back, and let me do my job.”

  I smiled. “I can do that.”

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Josie

  The machine Dad was hooked to beeped in a steady rhythm when I stepped into his room. I had been expecting him to freak out when he saw me standing in the doorway, but he only smiled.

  “Hey, Princess.”

  I hid the hurt that throbbed in my chest and walked over to his bed. “Hey, Daddy.” I leaned over and kissed his cheek. “Feeling okay today?”

  “Better,” he said, nodding.

  “It’s time for your medicine, Mr. Sawyer.”

  I turned around and frowned at the nurse in the doorway. “I just got here. Can’t he stay up for a little longer?”

  The older woman narrowed her gaze at me. “He’ll be up for about thirty minutes after the medicine.”

  Yeah, but he’ll be loopy as hell. “Okay.” I sighed.

  Dad brushed his fingers against the top of my hand. “I’ll try to stay up as long as I can.”

  Tears formed in my eyes, but I pushed them back down. I’d done enough crying since I got here, and crying does not make anything better. I watched as the nurse injected Dad’s medicine into his I.V. I hated the way it bruised his hands purple, and I hated those stupid tubes in his nose.

  Once the nurse left, I walked back over and sat on the side of the bed. “I brought us something to look at,” I said.

  Dad propped himself up more with his pillow and glanced down at the scrapbook on my lap. “Whatcha got there?”

  I opened the pink cover. “A scrapbook I made growing up. There are a lot of stories in here.” And no Mom. It’d dawned on me that morning when I went back home that there was only one picture of my mom in the entire book and it was a group picture.

  Dad chuckled and pointed at the page. “You were always climbin’ trees. My little monkey,” he whispered, running his finger down the picture.

  “And you were always there to catch me. Remember when you taught me how to ride my bike?”

  Dad snorted. “How could I forget? You ran me over.”

  Tears spilled from my eyes, and I wiped at them. “I’m going to miss you so much.”

  Daddy grabbed my head and pulled me down to his chest. His fingers moved up and down my arm like they did when I was younger. “I’m going to miss you too, baby. But you’re going to be okay. You’re a wonderful, gorgeous person, and don’t you let anyone take that from you.”

  I smiled into his shirt. “We only have a couple more weeks together. I wish this wasn’t happening.”

  Dad squeezed me tighter. “Me too, Princess.”

  The beeping monitor and the scuffling of feet in the hallway made me sick to my stomach. I listened as nurses and patients walked by Dad’s open door. No one looked in or noticed anything other than their own world.

  I wish I had that. Not a care but my own. But I was forbidden to love because of my parents’ sins.

  “Dad,” I whispered.

  His breathing was evening out, and I could tell by the way his grip was softening that he was falling asleep. “Hmm.”

  “Who was that girl in the picture?” I asked.

  Dad moved slightly and repositioned his head. “Cat,” he said, and then his voice was cut off by his snores.

  ***

  Boone curled me into his side and hummed along to the music on the radio. My feet were on his dash, and my head was pressed against his shoulder. Samantha sat on Jace’s lap next to me, but I wasn’t concerned about their giggles.

  I couldn’t stop thinking about Cat.

  “So, you think her name is Cat?”

  I shrugged. “He was drugged, but that’s what he said. I’m not sure.” I tucked a long blond strand of hair behind my ear.

  Boone played with the strap of my shirt as he pulled into the school’s parking lot. “Well, I guess we’ll look for that then, huh?”

  I nodded. “Cat Ferrell, I guess. That’s Mom’s maiden name. I did a search for her on Google, but nothing came up.”

  “We’ll find her,” Sam said. “Will they let us just walk right in and go into the library?”

  I snorted. “We can check in with the office, but they don’t care. I’m sure we could go straight in if we wanted.”

  We got out of the truck and walked toward the front office. The school looked the same, but a new building had been built to the side. “God this place has some memories,” Jace said.

  I glanced up at him. Jace and I had been in the same class since kindergarten. “Oh yeah. Remember when you took a picture up Kathy’s cheerleading skirt freshman year and got suspended?”

  Boone snorted, and Jace barked out a laugh. “Hell yeah, she was asking for it. She kept bending over and stuff.”

  Boone grabbed the door and let us inside. The cool air blew against my face. A few girls were lingering in the hallway and giggling toward Boone and Jace.

  “Move along,” Sam said, making a shooing motion with her hand.

  I snorted. “Shut up, Sam. They’re kids.”

  “They’re at least sixteen,” she said. “Grown up enough to get their asses whooped, if ya ask me.”

  “Wow, that sounded really Southern,” Jace said. “I think I’m rubbing off of ya, City.”

  The office door swung opened, and a secretary walked out. “Oh, can I help you?”

  I’d never seen her before, which told me she’d taken Mrs. Shelly’s—the old secretary’s—place. “Yes, we were wondering if we could get a pass to check out some yearbooks in the library?”

  She fluffed her blond hair and smiled. “Yes ma’am. I’m actually going to lunch, so just go ahead and go. If they ask, just tell ’em Kim sent ya, sweetie.”

  “Thank you.”

  We walked across the courtyard to
ward the library. It looked like a class was using the computer lab so we used the side door to avoid them.

  Or so we thought.

  “Excuse me,” someone said.

  I turned around and Chase Jorgensen stalked toward us. My breath caught in my throat and Boone’s eyes cast down toward mine. “Josie Sawyer?” he asked.

  My throat constricted. I’d dated him before Boone in high school. He was one of the only good ones I had dated. His gray eyes were dark underneath his black hair. I couldn’t remember one girl in the school that didn’t hate me when we dated. Everyone wanted Chase. His family was respected, he was good-looking and made excellent grades, but was the most boring boyfriend I ever had.

  “Chase, hi. What are you doin’ here?”

  His eyes lingered on my face as he leaned down and pulled me into a hug. He smelled like he’d poured an entire Abercrombie store onto his head. “I work here. I’m a teacher’s assistant during my last year at UAM.” He tossed his head toward the group of kids at the computers. “You haven’t changed at all. You’re just as beautiful as before.” He smiled.

  Boone broke his silence and stepped forward, sticking a hand out. “I’m Boone, remember me? Do I look just as beautiful as before?”

  Chase’s eyes cast toward Boone. “I remember you, Cross. And I remember you,” he glanced over at Jace. “But I don’t remember you.”

  “My name’s—”

  “Samantha,” Jace cut her off. “Her name is Samantha, but you don’t need to worry about that.”

  Chase grinned. “Well, what brings y’all into the library today?” He glanced at Boone’s work boots. “I’m guessing it’s not to check out any books.”

  I held my breath and took a step in front of Boone to stop him. I could feel the anger boiling in him. “We’re actually here to look at the yearbooks. Can you point them out for us?”

  Chase nodded. “I can point them out for you, sweetie. Follow me.”

  “I’m gonna kill him,” Boone said under his breath. “Yep, I’m gonna whoop his ass.”

  Samantha giggled, but I was focused on where Chase pointed. “Thank you,” I whispered, dropping down to my knees to look at the row of yearbooks. I found the 1991 yearbook, sat against the nearest shelf, and started thumbing through the pages.

  “Everyone grab a book. We’re looking for the woman in the picture, my mother, or someone named Cat.”

  Boone sat beside me and bent his legs to use as a desk. “So, Chase and you?”

  I couldn’t help but smile. “Yeah, he’s a heartthrob.”

  Boone rolled his eyes. “Bet he can’t beat me up, though.”

  I barked out a laugh and some of the kids turned to stare. “Why don’t you go see if he’ll fight you then? Then I’ll be able to choose between the two best suitors.”

  Sam kicked my foot and I glanced over. “I think I found your mother.”

  I crawled over and looked down at the page. Mom’s green eyes smiled up at me, so different from what I was used to at home.

  It read, Wendy Ferrell enjoys lunchtime with her friends. “What about the class pictures?” I flipped the pages and passed Mom’s smiling face on the senior page and stopped on the junior page.

  “There.” Jace pointed, but I was already staring. Cindy Ferrell stared back at us. The small dimple in her cheek matched mine, and the green eyes my mother and I shared were there.

  “Wow,” Sam said. “She’s definitely your mom’s sister.”

  I couldn’t speak. She was so much like us, and I wanted to know everything about her right then. “Look over here.” Boone pointed to the bottom of the page.

  Ferrell sisters enjoy long day at the beach with friends.

  “That’s my dad.” Boone pointed toward the group of people.

  “And my dad,” I whispered, pointing toward the brown-eyed man standing in the background. “What in the hell is goin’ on? How did those smiling faces turn into this?” I asked. “Why would they keep her a secret?” I slammed the book shut and brought my palms to my eyes. “I’m so confused.”

  Boone smoothed his palm against my back. “Let’s look at ’92.”

  Jace reached over me and grabbed the book. My anticipation boiled as I watched the pages turn.

  Boone kissed my temple and slid his finger down to my shoulder. I appreciated the touch; I felt like I was going to explode.

  Jace frowned. “She’s not in the next year.”

  “She must have died in between that time, right?” Sam asked, looking at the years. “Between ’91 and ’92?”

  “We’ve got to find out what happened,” I said.

  “We can look at old newspapers,” Sam suggested. “Where would those be?”

  I shrugged. “I guess here or at City Hall, maybe?”

  Boone rested his chin on top of my head and pulled me in closer. “What in the hell does this have to do with anything? I’m so sick of playin’ this guessing game.”

  Jace sat back and wrapped his arm around Samantha.

  “Maybe it’s something nobody knows, and they don’t want anyone to know. Southerners take pride in that kind of stuff, right?” Sam asked.

  She was right. If the wrong person found out about anything, then everyone in town would know. And ruining the Ferrell or Sawyer name was not an option.

  I nodded. “Yeah, it’s something no one knows about, or believe me, we’d know about it, too.”

  Sam reached forward and patted my knee. “We know you have an aunt. Now we just need to find out what happened.”

  Boone lifted my chin. “And the answers are going to be in that diary. We need to find the key.”

  I sighed. “Just another problem to add to the list.”

  ***

  Boone leaned back against the treehouse wall and stared at me. Those too-blue eyes tempted me to throw the diary out the window and crawl onto his lap like I wanted. But I was determined to open the damn thing—we needed to find out what our parents were hiding.

  “I don’t think it’s opening, Raven,” Boone said. “I could always get my tools and try.”

  I eyed him but continued to pull. “I’ve got to try to open it without tearing it apart. We need to put it back soon.”

  Boone’s bare foot touched the outer side of my thigh and I held in a laugh. “You’re showing me your feet,” I whispered, eyeing them. “You never would before.”

  Boone curled his toes in. “I figured that since we’re going to be together forever that you’d eventually see them, so … ” He shrugged.

  Together forever. That had sounded too far away once before, but now it felt—possible. “What are you thinking about over there?”

  “Forever.”

  Boone lifted himself from the wall, grabbed the diary, and set it to the side. “I think about it all the time,” he whispered, brushing his fingertips down my cheek.

  “What do you think about?”

  The warm smile on his face settled in my lower stomach. “How I won’t have to hide you. How easy it’ll be for us, how perfect.” Boone plucked a flower from a low-hanging branch next to the window and twirled it in his fingers. “How I’ll be able to let everyone know you’re mine. How I’m going to marry you and have tons of babies with you. I want that so bad that I can taste it.”

  My heart swelled in my chest. How had I lucked out with such an amazing man? Better yet, how did they think they could keep us away from each other? Boone smiled and touched the flower to my lip, and I froze.

  “I know where the key is,” I blurted.

  Boone’s eyebrow rose. “I see my desire for us to have tons of kids has had a tremendous effect on you.”

  I snickered, but grabbed the diary. “I love you.” I kissed his nose. “But I know where the key is. I remember being really small and my mom having a necklace that had a flower on the end, but the other end was a key. She caught me wearing it one day and I got sent to my room. I was not to play with it. I never saw it after that.”

  “And how the hell did you g
et that out of my professing undying affection for you?”

  Smiling over at him, I crawled onto his lap and clutched his face in my palms. “The flower you were twirling made me think about it. And you know that my mind is mush right now. And you know that I love you. I’m sorry.”

  Boone smiled and pulled me closer to his mouth. “I know, Raven. And I love you too.”

  “Have you talked to your brother?”

  Boone frowned, and twirled a piece of my hair around his finger. “No, not a word. And I haven’t talked to Dad either. Scott said he was freaking out.”

  I traced his mouth with my eyes and touched the corner. “Maybe you should go talk to your dad.”

  Boone looked down. “No, I don’t think so. Especially when my temper has been like it has. If my mother taught me one thing it was not to put yourself in a situation that will provoke your temper. And talking to my dad about how he’s been sleeping with a married woman and that’s the reason why I can’t see the girl I love is definitely one of those situations.”

  “Why don’t you ever talk about your mom?” I asked.

  Boone closed his eyes and sighed. “Because I don’t know too much about her. She left when I was really young and I’ve only spent one year with her since. She’s a beautiful woman, and I learned a lot from her, but I never had that connection with her.”

  I nodded. “At least the reason for your lack of connection was because she wasn’t there. My mom was there and didn’t care enough to try and connect with me. She’s never felt like my mother.”

  Boone cupped my face and stared at me with a heavy-lidded gaze that would have melted my panties, if they weren’t already melted from the heat. “Baby—I’m going to be all the family you need.”

  Butterflies took flight in my stomach, and Boone leaned over me, blocking out all the bad things from outside. “I’m in love with you, Boone Cross.”

  A small sound escaped from Boone’s mouth and it slid down my body like liquid fire. “You’re mine, Josie Sawyer.” He dropped his forehead to mine. “Forever.”