by C A Jonelle
Everybody in town knows Joe. He’s a big, muscular guy covered in tattoos and piercings and he has the biggest heart. I hope he can help me out. He’s made every single guitar in the shop he owns, but my request might not be possible.
I hold the piece out to him and his eyes widen as he looks it over. “This can’t be … damn. What happened?”
“His ex had a bit of a temper tantrum. Zaryk’s guitar is a pile of pieces now.”
Joe’s face falls as he shakes his head. “I remember his sister coming in here to ask me to make this guitar for him. She wanted a special gift for her best friend. He came in here after she died, asking me to inscribe her name on it.” He pauses for a beat and looks at me. “What’s your plan, Lyndsay?”
“Can you build him another one? Are you able to include this piece into it?”
He rubs his hand over his face and stares at me for a moment. I’m filled with worry. What if he can’t do it?
“It takes quite a bit of time to build these.”
My body slouches and I almost feel like it can’t be done. I reach for the guitar piece, and he pulls it back. “But … maybe I can cut a piece out of a built one and put it in. I’ll see what I can do and I’ll give you a call when I’m done. Sound good?”
I nod and hurry out.
~ Eighteen ~
Zaryk
Zayden and I walk down the sidewalk through town. The shops and small restaurants are buzzing with people. I look around and drink in the scenery. Tall trees and benches along the sidewalk give plenty of seating and shade to those who need it.
“Boy it’s nice to be home. I can smell Mom’s cheeseburgers.”
“The best ones in town,” Zayden says.
“The fucking world,” I correct him.
We fall silent for a moment and I start thinking about all the bad luck I’ve encountered in my life. I’m too young to be dealing with this much crap. I’m only twenty-five for crying out loud and I’ve dealt with more than enough.
“I fucking hate Kendall right now.”
“I know, Z. What she did was the lowest of lows.”
We stop in front of the music store. I gaze at the electric guitars that are on display. I could buy a million of those and they just wouldn’t feel the same. Pain squeezes my heart. I pretend there’s something in my eye, but Zayden knows how much that guitar meant to me.
He pats my shoulder and we continue our walk. I wish that guy had never hit Zoey. I wish that guy had never existed. He took away one of the most important people in my life and I can never forgive him for it.
I look ahead and look around, hoping to spot him. I’ve walked by him plenty of times, and what I wouldn’t give for an opportunity to take my anger out on him today. Unfortunately, I don’t get the chance.
******
I sit for a moment. Maybe I should call Kendall and find out what’s going on. Her actions earlier were so far from who she really is. My stomach turns as I think about my guitar. No other guitar will sound as good as that one. It won’t feel like home when I’m holding it.
I walk over to Lyndsay, who’s lounging in the kitchen with the girls, and lean in close to her ear. “You and I are going to have to talk later.” I nip her earlobe and the gasp that leaves her parted lips makes my cock jump in excitement.
I haven’t been able to stop thinking about her hand stroking me this morning. She’s going to be mine. I can hear Jessica and Amberlynn attack her with questions as I leave the room. I dial Kendall’s number. I can’t ignore it. Something isn’t right with her.
“What do you want, Zaryk?” she asks. “And how’s your guitar?” I can hear the laughter in her voice.
I cringe. “Now is that any way to talk to the guy you were going to marry?” I’m testing the waters here. I don’t want to piss her off, but I don’t want her thinking I’m about to give in to her snotty attitude. “I want to know why you faked your pregnancy.”
“Don’t worry about it,” she snaps.
“I’m worried about it, Kendall. You obviously wanted the money for something.”
“I needed it to buy some things. It’s none of your business, Zaryk. We aren’t together anymore.”
“Kendall, stop with the bitchy attitude and tell me what the fuck is going on. Do you need it for bills? Drugs?” I’m pissed.
She’s silent.
“Kendall!” Her breath catches.
“I needed it … we needed it … Zaryk. Seth has a drug addiction. He’s out of money and out of … coke.”
I sit up straight. “Are you using, Kendall?”
She’s silent again.
“Jesus. Please tell me you’re not messing with that shit, Kendall.” I pinch the bridge of my nose with my thumb and finger and close my eyes. What the hell’s gotten into her?
Nothing.
“For how long?”
“It’s been a little over a year.” Her voice sounds so cold. This would explain the sudden change in her attitude.
“You need to get off of that shit, Kendall. You need to get help.”
“No, Zaryk. I can’t do that.”
“Why not?” My annoyance is growing.
“Seth won’t let me.”
My eyebrows shoot up and I want to reach through the phone and shake her. “What do you mean he won’t let you?”
“I have to go,” she says quickly, and the line goes dead.
I stare at the wall. This explains a lot. The sudden mood changes. The outburst earlier today. I still can’t forgive her for busting up my guitar and faking her pregnancy. But I care enough about her that I’ll do what I can to get her help. Seth’s going to kill her if this carries on.
******
I’m coming back downstairs as Zayne comes into the living room with a panicked expression on his face.
“Whoa, whoa, Mom, calm down,” he says into his phone. “What happened?”
“We’ll be right there.” He presses the end button on his phone. Raw hatred burns in his eyes. “We need to get to the cemetery. Something’s happened to Zoey’s stone.”
We bolt out of the house and into Zayne’s truck. We arrive at the cemetery to see Mom and Dad hunched over what’s left of Zoey’s gravestone and flowers. When we draw near, we see the shattered remains of her stone and the heads of flowers strewn over the ground.
“What kind of crazy mother fucker would do this?” Zayne shoves his hands through his hair.
A movement over by the giant oak tree across the cemetery piques my curiosity. Seth appears. My blood begins to boil and my heart is ready to pound out of my chest. I’ve had it with this piece of shit. I’ll fucking murder him for this.
“Zaryk, is that Seth?” Zayden asks. “What the hell’s he doing here?”
I don’t bother to answer him and make a beeline for Seth. I want this fucker dead.
“Aw, come on, Z!” Zayden says, slightly annoyed. He and Zayne follow me to where Seth is standing.
“What’s going on?” Mom yells after us.
I reach Seth. My breathing is heavy and my heart is pounding fast and hard. “What the fucks wrong with you?” He smiles and my temper’s about to make its grand appearance.
“Z! Stop!” Zayne yells and yanks me away from Seth.
Seth tips his head back and a loud, harsh laugh echoes through the air. Demented fuck.
“You’re fucking crazy!” I yell, fighting to get free from Zayne’s grip. Christ, when did he become so damn strong?
Seth stops laughing and his eyes dart to me; an eerie darkness moves in them. This asshole is fucked up. Zayne loosens his grip, and I lunge toward Seth. Without thinking first, my fist makes contact with his nose. He stumbles back, his hand over the now bloody mound on his face. His eyes greet mine again and the darkness swirls in them.
He straightens himself and glares at me. “Good thing I’ve kept tabs on when your parents come to visit your precious dead sister. It’s like clockwork … every damn day they’re here. You should’ve given Kendall the money, Za
ryk. I’m going to keep fucking up your life until you do.”
My eyes burn into his. “I’m not giving her anything. I know what you’re doing to her.”
“What am I doing to her?” He tilts his head to the side.
“You’re killing her!”
“How’s that guitar of yours?” A wicked grin forms on his ugly mug.
“Fuck off.”
“Kendall made nice work of it I hear. Too bad she didn’t take any pictures. I would’ve loved to have seen it.”
I can’t hold myself back anymore and I lunge at his throat, wrapping my fingers around it. I shove him against the tree and push on his throat as hard as I can. His gasps ignite a fire in me I never knew I had. All reasoning has left my mind. I want him dead.
“Oh my god!” Mom shrieks.
My brothers frantically try to pull me off, but Seth has me so pissed that my strength has somehow doubled. His face is turning red, and he’s desperately clawing at my hand, trying to free himself. For a moment, I think I could actually kill him and be done with it, but I drop my hand and he falls to the ground, gasping for air.
I kick him in the side and he topples over onto the grass. I kneel down. “If you ever fuck with my sister’s grave or my family again I’ll fucking murder you. Now, get the fuck out of here before I call the cops.” I kick him one more time before I walk back toward my parents.
Zayne and Zayden are staring at me in disbelief. This is a side of their brother they’ve never really seen before. I’m not about to let Seth ruin our lives just because he didn’t get what he fucking wanted. He can rot in hell before I give in to his goddamn demands.
“Zaryk Gage Hunter! What was that all about?” Mom screams at me.
All I can do is look at the rubble at my feet.
“That jackass is the one who did this, Mom,” Zayden answers for me.
“Seth? Why would he do this? I thought you were all such great friends?” Disbelief chokes her voice.
“Used to be. You think he would’ve been happy with poaching Kendall from Zaryk.” Zayden says.
“Gee, thanks, dude. I appreciate my business being thrown out there.” I kick a stone toward the pile before us.
He breathes out heavily. “Sorry.”
“Is this damage because of a girl?” Mom asks.
“He wants drugs, okay? That’s what he fucking wants. Kendall came to me asking for money for a baby that doesn’t even fucking exist, and she wanted the goddamn money for drugs.” I immediately regret all the cursing. You don’t talk like that around our mother. It doesn’t matter that we’re twenty-five; she’ll still slap us into next year. Her face scrunches in confusion and disgust. “Don’t worry about it, Mom. We’ll take care of this. You and Dad go on home, and try to relax. You don’t need this stress.”
“Look at me, Zaryk.” When I don’t, she grabs each side of my face, forcing my eyes to hers. “I know how much your sister meant to you, sweetheart.” She swipes away a tear with her thumb. “Are you sure you don’t want your father and me to take care of this? It’s not an easy task to pick a gravestone for someone you love so deeply. Trust me, sweetheart, it’s painful.”
I can see the tears swelling in her eyes, and I pull her to me in a tight hug. “We’ll take care of it,” I whisper and kiss the top of her head. “You don’t need to go through buying a gravestone for a second time. We can handle it.”
“Okay, baby.” She grabs the top part of my shirt, forcing me to bend down. Her lips touch my forehead for a brief moment and then she sighs. “What happened to the sweet girl who lived next door to us?”
“She’s a fucking whore,” Zayne mutters.
“Zayne Silas Hunter, watch your language,” Mom scolds.
“Seriously mom?” Zayne nudges Zayden in the arm with his elbow, both of them smirking.
“Will you two ever grow up?” Mom shakes her head at the two knuckleheads beside me. “You, be careful,” she says to me. “I don’t want to see you lying beside your sister.”
“Don’t worry about me, Mom. You and dad get home and we’ll clean this up, okay? We’ll get a new stone ordered and we’ll get new flowers.”
She smiles and strokes my cheek. “You boys are the best a mom could ever ask for.” She hugs the three of us.
Dad nods at each of us and guides Mom to their SUV. She waves as they drive off. The three of us begin to gather up the rubble.
“I thought for sure you were going to kill him, Z,” Zayden says.
I rub my fingers across the Z and O on a broken piece of headstone. “I might have if no one else was around.”
Looking up I realize Zayne isn’t with us. I turn around and spot him at the grave next to us. “Zayne? You okay, bro?”
He rubs the back of his neck with his hand and I can see the rise and fall of his shoulders as he takes a deep breath. “Uh, yeah. It’s just something about this plot next to Zoey.”
Zayden and I stand and take the few steps over to where he is. The name ‘Chloe Grace’ is etched across the gray stone in big fancy script. Off to the side, the name ‘Haylie Stephens’ is written along with a birth date, but no date of death. On the other side is a blank spot for another name. It’s odd that there’s no name there. Haylie’s the same name as an ex of Zayne’s.
“Do you think …?” Zayne begins.
“Nah, it’s probably just a freaky coincidence.” Zayden treks back over to Zoey’s plot.
I lay a hand on Zayne’s shoulder and squeeze. “He’s probably right. It brought back some rough memories for you though, didn’t it?”
He sighs heavily. “Yeah.”
With a pat on his back I join Zayden. When I look back, Zayne is kneeling, his fingertips gliding across Haylie’s name. I could strangle her for leaving him like she did. After a few moments he comes back and we continue cleaning up the pieces before us.
~ Nineteen ~
Lyndsay
“So what brings you back Miss Lyndsay?” Amberlynn asks.
“You know, if you weren’t my best friend I’d deck you.” I stick my tongue out at her.
She smirks. I’ve known Amberlynn since we were little. She knows everything about me and I know everything about her. Our most embarrassing moments are deep secrets we will hold inside forever. She knows how I feel about Zaryk and she’s wanted us to be together ever since he and I met.
“So … how’s he in bed?” Her bright green eyes are wide and she has a huge grin on her face.
I smack her on the arm and look at her in disbelief. She’s so blunt. She’s never afraid to talk about anything and everything.
“Well?” Jessica leans forward and folds her arms on the island in the middle of the kitchen.
“Is he huge down there?” Amberlynn asks, leaning forward.
I feel my face turn bright red.
“Well, um …” I try, but it won’t come out.
“Out with it girl!”
I suck in a deep breath. That’s it; I’m breaking this wall around me. “He’s fucking huge girl! He’s fucking amazing.” I sit back into the chair. I’m getting wet just thinking about it.
“I’ve been wondering about that man’s cock for years. Pretty sure huge cocks run in the family because I’ve seen Zayne’s and I’ve fucked Zayden’s so …” Jessica busts out laughing and Amberlynn and I join in.
We talk and gossip like usual as we wait for the guys to come back. Deklan and Kreed are keeping to themselves in the living room and I wonder how much they’ve heard of our talk about the Hunter men. Just then we hear the sound of combat boots on the hardwood floor. They’re home.
Zaryk looks into the kitchen as he walks in. His blue eyes delve deep into mine and his face turns hard. My face falls and I wonder why all of a sudden he looks pissed.
“You.” He points to me. “Upstairs.” His deep stare has a darkness to it.
I swallow hard and bite my lower lip. His breath catches for a moment and he turns toward the stairs. I get up and follow. When we reach his room
he gestures for me to go in first. I walk past him and he shuts the door.
I turn to face him. “Zaryk, I …” His lips cover mine and he kisses me like he’s starving for it.
He presses me against the wall and his lips move to my neck. My arms wind around his neck as I moan. The tip of his tongue glides up until he reaches just below my ear.
“You’re going to be the death of me Lyndsay. I can’t stop thinking about your hand wrapped around me this morning.” His head lifts so he can look into my eyes. “Please tell me you’re ready to give in to me completely because I can’t stand to be without you.”
His words strike a fear in me that I wish I could shake off. I love this man so much, but he scares me. His lifestyle frightens me. What if he ends up doing what Corbin did? I feel his grip tighten on one side of my hips, and his other hand brushes my hair back behind my ear. He’s waiting and I don’t know what to say to him. His eyes are delving deep into my soul, my being. The pull is profound, powerful, and sucking me in more than I’d like to admit.
“Lyndsay, please,” he breathes against my lips. “I don’t want you to be scared of me. I love you and I don’t want to let you go.” His eyes meet mine again. “Don’t run away from me. My heart belongs to you, and only you. It always has.”
I search his eyes for a moment, not even remotely sure of what I’m looking for. Honesty? Lies? Does he mean to say those three words?
“I love you, Lyndsay,” he whispers again, making my body melt completely. How can I deny this man? How can I doubt him? I need to feel him. His skin against mine.
Shoving my thoughts aside, I cave into my carnal desires. “Lie down,” I command, pushing him backwards. He smirks as he sits on the edge of his bed. I climb up beside him. “How about we start where we left off this morning.” I grin and his eyes light up as I roughly push him down on his back.
I go to work unbuttoning his jeans, and then reaching in, I rub my palm against the thickness inside. His hips rise and fall as he expels a long breath and closes his eyes. I remove my hand and he lets out a tiny whimper. “I’m not finished,” I whisper close to his ear.
Quickly, I remove his clothing and toss it aside.