Page 6

Chapter

Five

GABE

I can’t wrap my mind around what the hell is happening right now.

So much has transpired in such a short timeframe that I’m feeling overwhelmed.

Not only did I learn that Tara is, in fact, alive, but she is now sitting in our house looking nothing like the girl she was a year ago.

But at the same time, she looks exactly like the same girl.

I mean, for fuck’s sake, she is carrying an impressive 9mm handgun, a butterfly knife, and has a damn attack dog.

When Reed yelled, and I turned the corner of the house, I never thought I would see her there.

Everything clears when Tara says, “Now tell me, why the fuck did you killed Dean, and where are the rest of them?”

“Wait a fucking second. Them?” I ask as I sink down into the chair across from her.

Tara looks at me with her eyebrow arched in confusion.

“Okay, I’m seriously confused.”

Demon—or Jackson as I now know—sits beside her, and Reed takes the chair beside me.

“I think we should start from the beginning,” Demon says.

“Tell us what happened to you, and we will fill you in on what happened to Dean.”

Tara takes a deep breath and looks down at her dog before she starts.

“After I left Gabe standing in the parking lot, I went back into the bar. I was hurt and pissed off. I ordered a beer and decided to drink the pain away. After two beers, I was getting ready to call a taxi when a group of people walked in, and I recognized a girl I met at the salon a week prior, Lilly. She came over and asked if I wanted to hang out with her friends. I reluctantly agreed, even though all I really wanted to do was go home. But…” Tara looks up and over at Reed.

“What?” He asks.

“I tried to call you three times within the hour I sat there, but you never answered or called me back,” she says, and Reed stiffens beside me.

She turns her eyes back to her dog and continues her story, not giving me enough time to grill Reed about why he didn’t answer.

“I ended up having an okay time with everyone. When they started talking about going to a party, I agreed to go. There wasn’t room in Lilly’s car, but Dean and a guy named Ned said I could ride with them. They seemed cool and harmless.” She shrugs her shoulders and shakes her head.

My hands are clenched so tightly that my fingernails have broken through my skin.

“The moment we got in the truck, I knew I fucked up. Their whole personality shifted, and for the first time, I felt scared. They were talking about something falling into their laps and how they needed to jump on the opportunity. Instead of following Lilly, they said they knew a shortcut to the party that would get us there faster. When I told them that I changed my mind and wanted out of the truck, Dean, who was in the passenger seat, turned around and punched me. I must have blacked out because the next thing I knew, I was on the ground with him above me.”

A growl falls from my lips as the first tear falls from her eyes.

“I tried to fight them off, but they were too strong. When Dean finished, Ned took over and flipped me onto my stomach. I was able to get to my phone because it was in my bra and called Jessie, but I guess he didn’t answer. I don’t know because I blacked out from the pain. Ned was…” Tara stops to suck in a shaky breath.

“When I came to, I heard them talking about how this was perfect. How this was was going to help them get into some group they had been trying to join. I tried to stay still and quiet, hoping they would leave me there, but I was wrong. I must have made a noise because the next thing I knew, there was a burning pain in my side, and I blacked out again. The next thing I knew, I was being thrown down a big ditch.”

“How did you end up in Hawk’s Bend with Elio?” Demon asks as Tara sucks in a shaky breath.

“He found me in a field and took me in. When I woke up, I learned that I was shot in the side and had multiple deep cuts in my private area,” Tara says, a blush forming on her face like she is embarrassed.

She shakes her head and finally looks up, but only at Reed.

“Now tell me how you found out about what happened that night and how Dean ended up dead.”

“When you didn’t show up the next day, Gabe called me, and we went to the police. I might have pulled some strings to get them to start the search before the twenty-four-hour mark. Lilly came forward and told us about you hanging out in the bar but said you had left alone. Your car was reported thirty minutes away in Clearwater abandoned. The police dogs followed your scent and found an abandoned shed where there was a lot of blood.

“After two days, the police declared you dead, but we started our own investigation.

Nick tracked down a guy named Phillip who was at the bar and quickly uncovered the lie about you leaving.

Nick found a video on a guy named Ben’s computer that showed what happened in the shed, well, the assault, but we couldn’t see who was doing it,” Reed says.

“Okay, then, how did you get to Dean?” Tara asks, still refusing to look at me.

She might not want to look at me but she will eventually.

“Reed took a job at the new college that was just built to find the people who hurt you. Ben provided us with a couple of names of people who were at the bar that night. With each name, we kept getting closer and closer. Then Reed met a girl named Ali. It turns out that she was being stalked, although she didn’t know it. When we started looking into who was targeting her, we found a guy named Blaze, who just happened to be a name we already knew, thanks to us looking into your disappearance. Blaze not only gave us who was stalking Ali but gave us Dean,” I say.

“We didn’t kill Dean. Ali did, but to be fair, it was self-defense,” Reed says.

“And Ned?”

“We didn’t know there was more than one. We never got to talk to Dean before he was killed,” I say, praying that she will look at me, but she doesn’t.

“Whose idea was it to start looking for me?” Tara finally looks at me, but only for a second before she looks at the others.

“Mine. I never believed you were dead. We met Demon while helping Ali, and he said he would be able to find you,” I say.

Tara’s eyes snap to mine, and I’ll take it even if they are full of rage.

“Why?” She asks, and I get instantly angry.

“Before he answers. Can I ask a question?” Demon raises his hand as if to stop a fight from breaking out.

“Why stay away so long?”

“Why would I come back when it was clear that I wasn’t important to anyone here.” Tara’s voice wobbles only slightly.

“Look, it’s been great, but I got my answers and need to get going. Looks like I still have work to do.” Tara stands, but before she can move away from the table, I’m up out of my seat.

I slam my hands down on the table, which I should have thought about beforehand because her damn dog stands and growls at me.

“I’m not scared of your fucking dog, and you aren’t going anywhere. For a fucking year, I’ve never stopped looking for you, praying that you were still alive, and I’m not about to let you walk out of this fucking house.”

“You don’t have a say in what I do anymore.” Tara crosses her arms but makes no move to pick up her weapons or call off her dog.

I don’t move my gaze off of her.

“Demon, Reed, it’s been great, but it’s time for you to leave.”

“I’m—” Reed starts but I cut him off.

“Leave! Now,” I say loudly and firmly.

“You can come back tomorrow. I promise you she will be here.”

Demon stands, grabbing his stuff without saying a word.

On the other hand, Reed has to get the last word in before he leaves.

“Tara, please don’t leave. Let us explain everything, and we will help you get the revenge you are looking for. I promise you. We all love you and you are very important to us.”

When neither Tara nor I say anything, he mumbles assholes before stalking off.

I wait until I hear the front door slam before speaking.

“Call off the damn dog Tara. I’m not going to hurt you.”

“Fuck you.”

I step out from behind the table, moving toward her.

I’m so close that I feel the breath of her dog on the back of my hand, but I’m not backing down.

“A year ago, I should have marched back into that bar, thrown you over my shoulder, and brought you back here. But I was blinded by what Lindsey had done, and I let you down in the worst way ever. I said things I didn’t mean, and you suffered because of those words. I can’t take back what those assholes did to you, but I can take the pain that I caused away.

“I will gladly let your dog tear me limb from limb if I have to, but you aren’t leaving me again.

If you think you aren’t important to me, tell me why I spent a whole year searching for you.

I never gave up because I knew in my heart you were alive.

I’ve walked around like a fucking ghost because you were gone.

So either call off the dog or be prepared to watch him kill me, because that is the only way I’m letting you go.

Do you understand? Only in death can I let you go.

”

“Tallone.” The moment the word is out of her mouth, the dog sits, and my hands circle her waist, bringing her against me.

At this moment, my once-shattered world starts piecing itself back together again.

The pieces are jagged as they slide together, and the tape holding them is fragile, but finally, after a year, the picture is whole once again.

I lay my forehead against hers and take in a lung full of her smell mixed with the scent of rain.

I hold my breath, afraid that if I let it out and she leaves, I won’t ever find that smell I’m addicted to again.

“God, I’ve missed you.” My voice is barely louder than a whisper.

“Gabe,” Tara sighs, her eyes slowly shutting.

Her body hasn’t fully relaxed like she is still on the verge of bolting out of here.

“I’m not the same person I was a year ago.”

My hands tighten on her hips as I pull her closer against me.

“I know you’re not. What you went through… god Princess, that would change anyone, even the toughest of people. I loved who you were, and I love who you became. Do I wish I could go back and save you from everything you went through? Fuck yes, I do. But I can’t, and neither can you. All I can do…” I move a hand from her hip and use it to tip her head up so I can stare into her beautiful eyes.

“Is give you whatever you need to burn the world down and destroy everyone who had a hand in hurting you.”

“You would do that?” Her intense gaze bores into me, searching for something I don’t know, but I hope that whatever she finds is what she needs to stay here with me.

“If I thought it would help you, I’d burn it down for you, but I know you need to be the one to do this. I see that now. So yes, I will hold your hand and be proud to stand by your side as you take back what they took from you. Please Tara, I?—”

She silences me with a kiss.

I feel a warmth spread through me all the way to my toes.

The feel of her lips moving in sync with mine turns that tape holding my life together into concrete.

She wraps her arms around my neck and hops, not worried for one second that I won’t catch her.

I let her down once, and I swear on my life that I won’t do that ever again.

She pulls back, breaking the kiss before I can deepen it.

“You say you want to help me. Then replace the feel of their hands with yours.” Her eyes turn sad briefly, but the second seems to last longer and is like a knife to my heart.

“If I move, will your dog attack?”

“His name is Reaper. Rimanere,” Tara says, and Reaper lays down on the floor.

“Fuck, is it sick that the sound of you commanding a dog in that tone turns me on,” I say, using my hands gripping her hips to move her pussy over my erection.

Tara shakes her head and presses her lips to mine again.

Now that I know I won’t become Reaper’s dinner, I head toward the hall and up the stairs.

Tara licks my lips, and I open up, groaning as our tongues meet.

I want to take my time with her, making up for all of our lost time, but I’m already on the edge.

This is going to be quick, dirty, and fast. At the top of the stairs, I turn left and head into the bedroom I haven’t been able to walk into for the last three hundred and sixty-six days.

My maid cleans the whole house once a week, so the room doesn’t smell musty when I kick open the door.

I waste no time throwing Tara on what was once our bed.

As soon as her back hits the covers, she pulls at her clothes.

I stand, rooted to the floor, watching her shirt, bra, boots, socks, and jeans disappear.

My eyes land on the small, rounded scar on her side.

The skin is a darker shade of pink and puckered.

The sight of it makes my blood boil hotter, and I want to abandon our plan and hunt down the fucker who pulled the trigger.

But it gets worse when my eyes fall to her pussy and see multiple thin, jagged scars crisscrossing it.

I fall to my knees, grab her ankles, and pull her to the end of the bed.

Without saying a word, I lower my mouth and kiss each one.

After each kiss, I apologize out loud to Tara.

I might not have been the monster who wielded the knife, but my stupidity led to this outcome.

Tara’s hands push my hair back gently.

“Il mio cuore,” she says.

While my sperm donor was of Italian descent, I never learned to speak the language, and right now, I’m kicking myself because I have no idea what she just called me.

I move back and look at her face.

“I’m so fucking sorry.” Before Tara came into my life, I had never cried.

Not when my mother abandoned me, not when I got hurt as a dumb kid, but the moment Tara was reported missing and then dead, I cried so hard I threw up.

And now, tears fall from my eyes, but I refuse to be embarrassed by them.

“No, no, no,” Tara says, grabbing a fist full of my hair.

I move with her because I really don’t want her to pull out my hair by the root.

I let her move me back until I’m sitting on my calves, and she is standing above me, looking like a beautiful, albeit naked, warrior.

“I’m sick and tired of letting what those assholes did cause anyone more pain. We aren’t doing this. Not now. Not ever. This is not what I want, I don’t want you crying.”

“What do you want?”

“Undress,” she orders me, using the same tone she does for Reaper.

My dick, which had gone soft at the sight of her scars, perks back up.

Tara lets go of my hair and rests her hands on her hips, waiting for me to obey.

Obey, I do. I stand up and remove all my clothes as fast as she did.

“Wh?—”

Tara places her finger on my lips and shakes her head.

Her eyes travel down my body, and a tremor races through me as her eyes heat with lust. “On your back.” Usually, I love to be in control when it comes to sex, but Tara needs this.

She needs to take the control back.

The thought that she has been with someone else over the year we had been apart never crosses my mind.

Once I’m situated with my head on the pillows, I watch my girl slowly turn around to face me.

Her eyes devour me, and I love the feeling of her eyes on me.

My dick twitches, begging for her attention.

She smirks and starts trailing a finger along her collarbone.

Goosebumps erupt on her skin, and I’m dying to trace the exact path with my tongue.

“At first, every time I even thought of sex, my anxiety would consume me, and I would become nothing more than a crying, blubbering mess. Ava told me it would take time but that I would get there one day. My body would learn to trust someone and respond to their touch.”

I clench my teeth and growl.

Tara doesn’t stop talking or running her finger down her body.

She circles one of her nipples, and I grip the bedsheet in order to stop myself from reaching forward to pull her down on me.

“The first time I felt that urge again was six months after that night. I woke drenched in sweat and wet between my thighs. Right here,” Tara says.

Her hand drops, and she runs her finger through her pussy which causes her to moan.

“That was the first night I dreamt of you and not them. Your face, your touch, and your words brought my body back to life. I was still deeply hurt by your words, but my body knew who it trusted. That night was the first time I was able to come since the last time we were together.”

“Fuck, Princess,” I moan, needing her to stop talking and touch me.

My dick is leaking, and it’s getting harder to fight the urge to touch it.

Tara pulls her hand away from her pussy, kneels on the bed, and crawls up my body.

When she straddles me, she grabs my face with one hand, squeezing my cheeks until my mouth opens, and then pushes the finger that is wet with her juices inside.

I wrap my tongue around it and moan at the taste of her.

She releases my face, but I bite down on her finger to keep it in my mouth.

She raises up on her knees, her free hand reaches behind her and wraps around my dick.

My hips thrust up on their own, and I groan at the sensation.

“Have you been?—”

I bite down on her finger again and narrow my eyes.

I pull my mouth back.

“Don’t fucking insult or demean what we had again with a question like that.”

Tara rubs herself up and down my length, moaning when the head of my dick hits her clit.

Then, she aligns the head and sinks fully down my length.

“Shit,” she moans. My hands rub up her legs and grip her hips tightly until I remember that I need to be gentle with her.

I loosen my grip slightly.

Tara looks down at me right as she smacks my chest hard.

“I don’t want or need you to be gentle. I want you just the way you have always been with me.”

I don’t reply to her as I squeeze her hips in a bruising fashion, lift her, and slam her back down.

“You wish is my command.” Planting my feet flat on the bed, I set a fast, hard, pounding pace.

Every time I help her lift off me and slam back down, I thrust up hard into her.

We both forget how to speak and resort to moans, groans, and gasps.

The only sound in the room is our heaving breathing and the slap her ass makes when it connects with my thighs.

Tara’s hands claw at my chest, down my stomach leaving thin red scratches in their wake, but I don’t fucking feel the sting.

All I can focus on is her breasts bouncing with each thrust and the way she is squeezing my dick.

My balls are drawing up tighter, and the fire inside is consuming me wholeheartedly.

I’m about to come, but I need her to find her release first.

Moving my hands, one goes to her breast, and I pinch her nipple.

The other snakes between us and finds her little bundle of nerves.

Tara keeps up with each of my thrusts and throws her head back, screaming my name as her channel tightens around me.

“Fuck, Gabe.”

With one final thrust, I freeze, pushing as deep as I can get, and finally let go, coating her inside.

It feels like I come for hours before my muscles relax and my legs drop to the bed.

Tara collapses on me, and I wrap my arms around her, holding her tightly.

“I love you,” I say, but once again, she doesn’t say it back.

Everything Tara had been through today must have caught up with her because within two minutes of her laying on me she is fast asleep.

She doesn’t wake when I turn us on our sides, slide out of her, or when I clean her up loving the sight of me dripping out of her.

I shut off the light, crawl in behind her and fall into my first deep sleep in a year with her in my arms.