“What are you talking about? I didn’t do anything. She’s fine. I’m looking at her right now.”
“Really?” he grumbles in surprise. “Then put her on the fucking phone. I have a few things to get off my chest. No body gets away with ignoring my calls.”
“Um…” Shit. How do I tell my best friend that when I say ‘looking at her’ I mean in more of a stalking kind of way? “I’m at her store and she’s busy with a customer. I’ll get her to call you later on.”
“Fine.”
“How’s it going over there? Are you enjoying Italy?”
“Yeah,” he grumbles under his breath.
A grin rips across my face at his tone as I watch Tully chatting with Candice. “What’s the problem?”
“Nothing,” he sighs. “Henley wants to keep exploring while I’d rather keep her locked up in our hotel room. You wouldn’t believe how many fucking times she’s made me visit Juliet’s Balcony and rub her right tit.”
I stop staring at his sister and focus on my best friend in case he’s just gone insane. “What the fuck are you talking about?”
He lets out a frustrated sigh. “We’re in Verona and there’s a building here which is said to have inspired Shakespeare’s ‘Romeo and Juliet.’”
“Ok…” I say slowly. “Go back to the rubbing her tits thing.”
“There’s a statue of Juliet in the courtyard. You’re supposed to rub her right tit for good luck or some shit like that.”
“It’s for luck in love,” Henley’s voice comes shooting through the line.
I shake my head. “Don’t you two already have enough luck in love? Bring that tit home for me to rub.”
“What do you mean?” Noah questions in a too cheery tone. “Shit ain’t going well with Tully?”
Has he lost his fucking mind? “You remember she’s with Spencer, right? You know, the dickhead who all but abandoned her at your wedding and has let her lose weight over the past two weeks.”
“The fuck? What do you mean she’s lost weight?”
Henley’s voice comes through the line again and I realize I must be on speakerphone. “You know, Spencer isn’t as bad as you think he is. I would have abandoned Noah too had he been all caught up on his ex.”
“She’s not my ex,” I throw back at her.
“Not officially,” she chimes. “But you were hers and she was yours. Tomato/tomato.”
“Why hasn’t anyone answered me about my fucking sister losing weight? Put her the fuck on the phone.”
I ignore his last demand. “I don’t know man. Her shirt was tight around her body last week and now…it’s not.”
“Shit,” Henley says, sounding a lot closer to the phone. “Something must have happened.”
“What do you mean? Nothing’s happened. I’ve been keeping an eye on her.”
“Right,” Henley scoffs. “Because she’s really going to tell you all about it. Do you forget who we’re talking about here?” I roll my eyes. The girl has a point. “The only things that could cause such a big reaction out of her is either her store or Spencer, and I seriously doubt it’s the store. She must have ended it with Spencer.”
I raise a brow as my eyes flick back up to my girl to find her eyes still on me. “Nah, there’s no way,” I say, but it might actually explain why she’s looking a little more alive.
“I don’t know,” Henley mutters. “With you back…I guess anything could be possible.”
Well shit. In that case, I don’t have time for listening to these two bullshit about a statue’s tits. I should be in there figuring out this Spencer stuff. “Alright, I’m going to get to the bottom of this,” I tell them.
“Yeah, alright,” Noah grumbles. “Just…if she did end it, take it easy on her. She’ll be hurting.”
“I know how to handle my girl.”
“Maybe. But she wasn’t your girl for four years. She’s changed.”
“That’s where you’re wrong, brother,” I tell him. “And Henley? Stop making my boy touch the tits of random statues.”
“She’s not random. She’s Juliet.”
“So? The pussy only wants to touch yours.”
With that, I leave them to their honeymoon and get on with it. Apparently, I have a bit of a mystery to solve.
I get up from the bench and slide my phone back into my pocket and as I cross the road towards ‘Read My Tulips’ Tully hasn’t stopped watching me and the second she realizes what I’m doing, her eyes practically bug out of her head.
‘No, no, no, no, no,’ she mouths to herself as she starts shaking her head, making a smirk cut across my lips. She doesn’t look terrified like she had last time, but she certainly doesn’t look as though she’s about to welcome me in with open arms, but I don’t care. The time for waiting is over. If she’s through with Spencer, then I’m not sitting back and wasting any more time. I’ve got a girl to win back.
The closer I get, the more her head shakes, but there’s a flare of excitement hidden within her eyes. I’ve always been unpredictable and hell, so has she, but this is the kind of bullshit she fell in love with. She’d never admitted it but back in high school, she used to love it when I’d storm in and take control and from the way she’s looking at me now, I’m sure she’s busy looking deep within herself and searching out that old attitude she used to reserve just for me.
I push my way through the door and without taking my eyes from hers, I storm right up to her, hating that I have to resist touching her. I miss the old days where she’d just naturally fall in beside me or I could just throw her over my shoulder and go, but it won’t be long and we’ll be right back there again.
Tully sets her jaw and raises her chin before crossing her arms over her chest, unintentionally pushing her tits up and drawing my attention away from her fiery eyes. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?”
My eyes rake back up her body before stopping on her eyes to find them shining with a strange mix of pissed off excitement. “Get your shit. You’re coming with me.”
She raises a brow before letting out a sharp laugh. “Excuse me? Who do you think you are coming in here after four years of radio silence and pulling this alpha bullshit on me? I don’t think so, Rivers. That shit ain’t going to fly with me, not anymore.”
“Tully,” I say slowly, narrowing my eyes on hers. “I’m not asking. Get your shit. Let’s go.”
She leans forward onto her counter and smirks at me as though I haven’t said a word, but the fire in her eyes tells me she loves every moment of this, and fuck it, I do too. “I’m not sure if you’ve realized,” she says, sweeping her arm around and gesturing to her store. “I’ve got a store to run now. I can’t just grab my shit and go because some douche comes storming in here demanding my attention. Besides, did you consider that I don’t want to go anywhere with you?”
Fuck me. My dick practically jumps out of my jeans. What is it about Tully Cage and her attitude that gets me so fucking hot?
My eyes snap across to Candice and I find myself still wondering why Tully would hire her. “Have you got a key?”
Candice’s mouth drops open as she gapes at me. “Uhh…yeah.”
“Good. You’re doing close. Tully won’t be coming back.”
“Umm…ok.”
I look back to Tully and raise a cocky eyebrow. “Sorted. Let’s go.”
“No.”
“Baby, don’t make me come back there because you know I fucking will.” And if I do, I’m going to end up fucking her right there on her workbench. Hell, I don’t even care if Candice wants to hang and watch, I’m that fucking desperate for her.
Tully steps around her counter and walks towards me, raising her chin in defiance as she faces me. “I’m not your ‘baby.’”
My hands slide to her waist and she sucks in a breath while I beg myself to find some sort of self-control. “Try and stop me calling you that,” I dare her, only managing to make her eyes dance.
I watch as her jaw clenches and not t
wo seconds later, she caves, though I have a feeling it’s because she doesn’t want to have this out in front of Candice. “Fine, but you put one foot wrong and I’ll take you the fuck down. Now please remove your hands from my waist before I castrate you.”
I wink. “My pleasure, baby.”
Tully groans as she moves away from me and goes about finding her things, but puts an extra, overdramatic attitude with every move she makes. “That was a risky little game,” Candice warns me as Tully ducks out the back.
A soft chuckle escapes me. “Really? Because that wasn’t even my warm-up.”
Candice shakes her head. “Shit. I’m going to be hearing about this tomorrow.”
All I can do is grin.
Tully walks out a second later with her handbag thrown over her shoulder and storms straight past me, making sure to nail her other shoulder right into the soft spot of my arm, giving me an instant dead arm. I groan and slap my hand over it, trying to rub a little bit of life back into it while spinning on my heel and following her out the door. She used to do this to me all the time, only today she hit it much harder than ever before. Clearly, she’s trying to make a point, but so am I.
She’s set herself a good pace and I have to hurry to catch up to her. She steps up before her car and pulls out her keys and I get there just in time to catch her elbow and pull the keys from between her fingers. I turn her down the street and start pulling her along. “What are you doing?”
I revert to my silent, brooding days and keep my mouth shut. If I tell her that I’m about to buy her dinner and shove it down her throat, she’ll probably have a few things to say about it and I’d rather prolong the inevitable.
My hand remains at her elbow for too long before I finally pull it away, not wanting to push her over the edge. I lead her to the little café down by her store and the second I step through the door, Tully puts on the brakes. “What the hell is this?” she demands. “Tell me you did not just bombard me at work and force me to leave just to take me on some cheap ass date?”
I ignore her whining and step up to the counter to order us each a juicy burger and when I turn back to Tully and take in the shirt that looks too big, I add some fries to the order.
Tully clears her throat once I’ve finished paying and makes sure to raise an unimpressed brow at me. “Feel free to explain yourself at any time.”
“We need to talk.”
“No, we don’t.”
“Why didn’t you tell me you broke up with Spencer?”
Her mouth drops for a moment before she regains herself. “Why didn’t you tell me that you joined the Military? Come on, throw another question at me, Rivers. I bet I have a million more to throw right back.”
I stare at her for a moment. “Are we really not capable of having a civilized conversation?”
“Says the guy who was two seconds away from man-handling me out of my own store,” Tully scoffs as her hands find her hips. She waves her hand behind me, gesturing to the chef in the back putting our order together. “Why are you doing this?”
I snap.
My arm snakes around her waist and I pull her tightly into me. Tully sucks in a deep breath, making her chest rise and press firmly against mine. “Because you’re my fucking queen and you deserve to get what you need. For the past four years you’ve been allowing people to give you what they think you want, never getting what you actually need. I’ve only been here for two fucking weeks and I can’t stand back and watch it happen anymore. You have people thinking you’re this fragile little butterfly, that you’ll fly away with even the slightest breeze, and you know what? I think sometimes you might even believe it yourself, but I know you, Tully, right down to your core and that’s not who you are. You’re a fucking tiger always ready to roar.”
Tully raises her chin, putting her lips just before mine, but never touching. “You don’t know me, Rivers. Not anymore.”
“Baby, right now, I’m the only fucking person who knows you. I don’t even think you know yourself.”
“It’s funny. After all we’ve been through, I don’t think I even know you.”
My brows pull down. “What the fuck are you talking about?”
“You,” she says, pulling out of my arms. “How is it possible to fall in love with someone you don’t know? You were just some kid who’d fall asleep on my couch every now and then. I never knew a damn thing about you.”
“Of course, you did.”
“I’m not talking about your birthday or your favorite fucking position, Rivers. I mean you. I don’t know you,” she demands, poking me in the chest. “I don’t know where you grew up, I don’t know what your life was like and why you are the way you are. I don’t know your reasons for leaving or for staying away. I don’t know why or how you thought busting Gina was a good move. I don’t know what awful things your father made you do. And I don’t fucking know if I’m ever going to have answers for all of these damn questions. They’ve plagued me for years. How can somebody fall in love with a complete stranger?”
“I was never a stranger to you and you know it. You may never have known the details of my past, but that doesn’t mean that you didn’t know me. You’re the only person I ever allowed in. You’re the only person who actually knew me, Tully. Not even your brother.”
She shakes her head. “It’s not enough, Rivers.”
I watch her in silence as I try to work out what exactly it is that she needs from me and whether I’m willing to go there. I sealed my past up and did my best to never think about it again. The things I had to do for my father were awful and the little boy who was quickly corrupted and destroyed is all in the past.
If all it is, is telling her a story, I would have done it years ago, but it’s not. The story comes with a darkness that seeps into your soul and feeds off it. Knowing the real me is like cancer. But sharing that with her…is it a risk I’m willing to take? How badly does she need to know this to be able to move on and find peace within herself? I couldn’t bear knowing how she’d look at me after hearing the things that I’d done.
It was a miracle that I’ve been able to pull myself out of that world and even more of a miracle that my pack had the strength to put Anton away and make Haven Falls a place that I could proudly call home.
The girl behind the counter interrupts my thoughts and I reluctantly peel my eyes off Tully. My head swarms with her questions and I don’t doubt that there’s many more where they came from.
I walk out of the café with our dinner and Tully silently walks beside me. We head for her car and I take her keys that I’d stolen from her earlier and open the passenger’s side door for her before helping her in.
Once she’s in, I close the door and let out a heavy breath. This really isn’t how I was expecting the night to go. After sliding the seat back as far as it will go, I drop down and push the key into the ignition, only my wrist never turns and we sit in an uncomfortable silence, both with thoughts heavier than we can handle.
My head drops as my past comes back to haunt me. One awful thing after another. I’m never going to be able to escape it.
Tully turns to me after we’ve sat for a few pain-staking long minutes. “I’m sorry…I shouldn’t have bought it up. I think once we found out that Anton was your father, I kind of filled in a lot of those blanks, or at least, I tried to.”
I nod my head. I can only imagine how she has answered those questions, but I can guarantee that whatever she thinks happened, it was much worse. But what it comes down to is that she isn’t going to stop asking until she gets what she’s looking for and she’s never going to be able to put it behind her until every last riddle is solved.
I blow out a breath. This is going to be harder than I ever thought. Plaguing her pure mind with the horror of my past is unforgivable but something tells me that she needs to hear it just as badly as I need to release it.
I reach across the car and take her hand in mine, forever grateful when she doesn’t pull away. Her fingers lace th
rough mine and the electricity pulses between our hands. I could die right now and be satisfied with the life I have because I would have died with her hand held tightly in mine.
“My dad wasn’t a good man. Even right from the start when I was first born. In fact, I think it started long before that. He was a monster and he treated everyone and everything as property. I don’t remember mom leaving him, I was too young, but all I know is that Anton took it as the deepest betrayal. Family to him is everything. Family is blood, and blood is power. I never knew this at the time, but Anton had agreed to let mom raise me away from him and in return-”
“She would run the prostitution ring,” Tully finishes for me.
“Yeah. And of course, she agreed.” I look to Tully. “You have to know that if I knew that, that if I knew he had blackmailed her and tried to take me away, I never would have turned her in. I loved her. She was all I had.”
Tully’s hand squeezes in mine. “I know, Rivers. I don’t blame you.”
I watch her for a moment and see the compassion in her eyes and it urges me to finish the story. “On my eighth birthday, I was going to school with you guys, but we hadn’t actually met. There was one day, I had just walked into class when Anton showed up at the door. All the other kids were scared. Even at eight, they knew to fear him even the fucking teacher looked like he was going to be sick.” I shake my head, recalling the memory. “Anton took me out of school that day, telling me it was time to become a man and start training for my future. I remember being excited because my father went to the effort to pick me up from school so we could spend the day together on my birthday. It was a kid’s dream come true.”
Tully starts shaking her head, but I don’t dare stop in fear of not being able to start again. “He took me to a home a few hours from here. There was a family inside and I was confused because they were all tied up, but we weren’t helping. I thought he was taking me to the fucking arcade. But instead, there was a mother and father sitting on the floor back to back and two children. I remember the girl was maybe four or five and she had a younger brother. They were both in binds yet somehow the girl was still able to hold the younger brother. She was protective and did what she could to block his vision.”
Unstoppable: Haven Falls (Book 7) Page 11