I See You Part 15

"What?" he growled, and looked toward the door long minutes later when we were laying in our bed of embers. Not speaking; just watching each other as he traced lazy shapes onto my skin with his fingers.

I looked over his shoulder to see the k.n.o.b twisting, and then someone started pounding on the door.

Dark eyes met mine. "Don't move." He got off the bed and covered me with the comforter, then hurried to step into his jeans, leaving them unb.u.t.toned as he went to open the door.

The music from the party flooded into the room, but my mystery guy opened the door only slightly, so the person on the other side couldn't see in, and I couldn't see them.

"Dude, did you take my-"

"Mind staying gone for a few more hours?" my stranger asked, cutting off the deep voice.

There was a pause from the guy on the other side of the door. "Really?" he asked, laughing. "Yeah, man. Have fun. You deserve it."

"I can leave," I said once the door was shut and my mystery guy was walking back toward the bed.

"Do you want to?" The way he asked reminded me of the way he kept giving me every opportunity to leave before.

I responded with a slow shake of my head.

His sinful eyes somehow darkened, and his mouth curved up into a smirk. "Roll over onto your stomach."

My eyebrows rose in surprise and apprehension, but I still did as he said. Goose b.u.mps rose over my skin when he slowly removed the comforter from me, and my breaths deepened when he gently prodded my legs to open.

I waited for his next touch, but there was nothing as the seconds ticked on. Just the sounds of my ragged breaths, and him removing his jeans and tearing open another condom. My hands clutched at the sheets below me and my heart raced when I felt the bed dip as he knelt between my legs. He curled his arm between my hips and the bed, and slowly lifted while his other hand pressed down between my shoulder blades to keep my chest on the bed as I settled on my knees.

His hand on my back was fire to my skin, as if he were branding me, and for a fleeting moment my mind and heart rebelled against me, and became too invested in this night and this guy as the words "Yes, I'm yours," resonated through my soul.

A s.h.i.+ver moved down my spine when his hands ran up my legs and back, then down the same path. His touch was gentle, but firm enough to remind me of his strength. To remind me of what he hadn't wanted me to see-of what I was ready to beg him for again.

Grabbing a fistful of my hair, he wrenched me up off the bed until my back was flush with his chest. My surprised gasp faded into a soft whimper when he bit down on my shoulder, then placed a soft kiss in the same spot.

Hard, soft, hard, soft.

The contradicting combination never ended, and I didn't want it to. I wanted more.

His breathing was as rough as my own, and I remotely noticed the thin sheen of sweat covering his muscled arm as his fingers gently trailed over my breast, and down my stomach. He teased me with the faintest hint of a touch between my thighs as his lips went to my ear.

My body trembled when he ordered in a low, hoa.r.s.e tone, "Bend over and place your hands on the wall. Don't make a sound."

16.

Three Weeks Ago.

Aurora.

Ten days.

Ten days since we'd come home from the beach, and I knew I couldn't last another day.

I'd tried to give Declan a fair chance. I'd tried to remember every reason I'd had for wanting to spend my life with him.

But spending my life with Declan meant a life without Jentry. The pain that filled me at that thought had been excruciating, and had told me everything I needed to know. Because a life without Declan hurt.

It just hurt.

I knew what I'd told Jentry, but I couldn't wait for him to come home to do this. I couldn't keep pretending with Declan. Each kiss and each day left me more miserable than the last, and I knew he could sense it.

I could feel him pulling away just as I had been. There was no point to put either of us through this any longer.

A lump formed in my throat, and I forced myself to stand up from the couch when I heard his key in the door.

The surprise of seeing his bright smile, and the roses and takeout food in his hands, made the thought of doing this that much harder, but didn't make me waver in my decision.

"Hey, how was your day?" he asked as he pressed his mouth to mine.

I wondered if I'd been cringing away from his kisses the entire last week and a half. "Uh, it was . . ." I trailed off when he handed me the flowers and hurried past me to put the food on the table. "Declan, can we talk?"

"Can it wait until after dinner?" I wasn't sure if I imagined the frantic edge to his voice. He must have known I was about to protest, because he hurried to add, "Rorie, please."

I swallowed past the tightness in my throat and nodded, then walked into the kitchen to find a vase for the roses as Declan finished getting the food out.

Soon we were sitting down, the air between us thick with silence, as it had been for the better part of the last ten days. I pushed the food around my plate with my fork as I tried to figure out what to say to him, and after a few minutes, noticed that he had taken only a couple of bites.

I set the fork down and straightened my spine as I faced him. "Dec, have you noticed that the last couple of weeks-"

"I know," he said quickly, interrupting me. A short, soft laugh left him, and his mouth curved up. "I know. I don't know why I even try to keep something from you, because I just give myself away."

My brow pinched and my head tilted to the side. "Wait, what?"

"I'm always afraid you'll find out, so I stop talking in order to keep whatever it is from you. But then you end up thinking something is wrong."

My head shook slowly. "No, that's not it. I was talking about both of us."

"This went differently in my head," he said, speaking over me. His smile broadened as he reached into his pants pocket. "I had tonight all planned out. I had what I would say all planned out. But I can't even eat because it's all I can think about."

I don't remember moving. I just know that I'd been sitting, and the next moment I was out of my chair and gripping the edge of the table as I stared in horror at Declan's hand when he rested it on top of the table.

In his hand was a small, opened box. Nestled inside the box was an engagement ring.

"Rorie . . ."

No. The tightness in my throat became uncomfortable, unbearable.

"I love you-"

No. My eyes burned with unshed tears.

"-and I want to spend the rest of my life with you."

No, no, no! My head shook quickly as I tried to make myself believe this wasn't happening. I couldn't do this to him.

"Will you marry me?"

A sob forced its way from my chest, and I hurried to cover my mouth with one of my hands. My head shook faster and faster before I could tear my eyes from the ring and look up at Declan's hopeful, yet terrified, expression.

And it broke something inside me.

The words I'd hidden for so long about my past with Jentry poured from me until Declan knew everything, and was storming from the apartment.

17.

Present Day

Jentry

About a half hour later I stood in the living room of Declan and Aurora's apartment with my arms crossed over my chest and stared Jessica down.

I'd found her casually lying on Declan's hospital bed, as if it were a common thing for her to be in that room. As if it were her place to be beside him. Her wicked, knowing smirk had covered her face as soon as I'd stepped inside.

All it had taken was a twenty-dollar bill to get her out of that room, but I knew it would take a lot more to get her to leave here.

"So intense," she said mockingly, and rolled her eyes. "So I guess I'll just give myself the grand tour of your new fancy place." She smiled wickedly as she dropped her purse on the floor and started walking toward the kitchen. The purse and her clothes looked expensive, and knowing Jessica the way I did, I was wondering how she'd come to get them.

I shot my arm out in front of her to stop her, and ignored her annoyed-sounding sigh as she stumbled back a few steps until we were facing each other again. "Tell me why you're here, Jessica."

"If I remember correctly, you drove me here."

"Why are you calling? Why were you in that room?"

"What? Don't you miss me?" she asked teasingly.

One of my eyebrows lifted in response, but she was never the kind of person to be offended easily.

She shrugged one of her thin shoulders. "I told you on the way over. I need a place to stay for the night . . . and maybe tomorrow night."

"Which means you need a place for a week, and obviously I can't help you with that since you know that this place isn't even mine."

Her wicked grin fell as her eyes darted around the apartment at the reminder that I was a guest here. "I want to get my eyes on this little b.i.t.c.h Rorie." She sneered her name.

I clenched my jaw and focused on breathing for a few seconds. "Not here and won't be back for a long time."

"So serious and so protective over things that aren't yours," she said in a tone that dripped with curiosity. "Nothing has changed, Jent. Are you sure you haven't missed me?" She barely had the question out before a giggle flew past her lips. "Okay, that may be a reach. But I sure have missed you!" She skipped forward and leaned up on her toes to kiss my cheek, then danced into the kitchen. "I'm hungry. Do you have anything to eat?"

"I'd rather know the real reason why you're here first, and how you knew where Declan was, and what our numbers were."

She glanced at me from over her shoulder and shrugged. "Not hard to find you, Jent. Never has been. All I have to do is find Declan, and then I've found you. Of course, he was always so much harder to find once he started dating this little b.i.t.c.h, and then he had to go and try to smash his head through a tree," she mumbled offhandedly as she continued into the kitchen.

My hands fisted and my body tensed as adrenaline coursed through me, but I bit back my response. "How did you find him in the first place?"

Again, that mischievous grin as she turned to face me. "Now why would I tell you that?"

"Jessica, just-"

"You wondering if I was still sleeping with your 'brother'?'"

I scoffed. "Declan wouldn't touch you after what went down last time. I just want to know why you keep showing up, and why you won't leave him alone."

Her grin turned into a taunting smile. "You gettin' mad, Jent?"

My eyebrows pulled low over my eyes. "No."

"You wanna punch Declan again? He wouldn't even be able to put up a fight this time."

"N-"

"Your hands are clenched," Jessica observed, her tone practically giddy, and looked pointedly at where my hands were still curled into fists from what she'd said about both Aurora and Declan.

I forced them to relax and tried to calm myself, but the realization that I still had adrenaline flowing through my body, and the fact that it took force to keep my hands straightened were making it harder to calm down.

"Look at the way your body is shaking," she added in awe. "You feel it? That anger? How mad are you?" she goaded.