by Lily White
Wincing at the anger in my tone, Lennon closed his eyes and opened them again, his chest moving with heavy breath, his eyes searching mine.
“I have no excuse for that.”
“No, Lennon, you don’t. And if you’ve come here to fuck with my head, then you can let me go because I will not let you ruin school for me.”
Sorrow bled behind his gaze as his mouth tipped into a grin. “Although I’m happy to hear you say those words, I’m not here to ruin anything.”
“Then why are you here?” I practically yelled, my heart beating a chaotic rhythm beneath my chest.
His voice was so soft compared to the vehemence in mine. “To ask you to forgive me,” he answered, his eyes refusing to release mine. “To beg you to take me back.”
My body stilled in place, a thousand competing thoughts crashing into one another until it was impossible to think or breathe.
Eventually, I found the strength to speak again, my heart bleeding out inside of me. “How could you just walk away like that? Without even saying goodbye. How could you fucking do that?”
My fists slammed against his chest, but he just stood there and took it, his gaze pinning me in place, his eyes darkening to see the pain rolling out of me as my body shook against the wall.
When I’d settled down enough, he opened his mouth to say, “Because I was scared, Amelia. Fucking terrified. I knew that I could never look at you and walk away. I had to run, had to hide from all the bullshit that has happened in our lives.”
“So why didn’t you just keep running?”
A breath blew over his lips, true remorse obvious in his expression. “Because no matter how fast I tried to run in the opposite direction, no matter how much distance I put between us or how much time passed, I couldn’t escape loving you with everything I have inside me.”
A bark of laughter burst from my throat. “Don’t use that word unless you mean it, Lennon. Don’t you dare say that if you plan on running away again because you can’t look at me without thinking about your sister.”
He flinched at the truth I’d tossed at him, his jaw ticking as his eyes searched mine.
“What happened with her wasn’t your fault. It wasn’t either of our fault. It just took me some time to understand it.”
Silence crept between us, my body warring with itself. I wanted to shove him away and pull him close to me at the same time. Wanted to tell him to leave while begging him to never let me go.
I wanted all those things while I stood there shattering apart while being pieced back together by a man I knew I could never live without.
My eyes lifted to his as a tremulous breath rattled my chest. “You left me because you thought you would ruin my life, didn’t you?”
He nodded, his gaze falling to my lips, making me feel things I hadn’t felt in the five months we’d been apart.
“I needed to fix the broken parts inside me before I could trust myself not to break you,” he confessed. “But after doing what I thought was right, I understood that I was even more broken without having you by my side.”
Curling my fingers against my palm to keep from reaching out to touch him, I asked, “Don’t you know you ruined me the moment you walked away?”
Lennon’s gaze met mine, sorrow mixing within the blue color.
“Please, Amelia, will you give me another chance?”
Tears streamed down my cheeks as I nodded my head. There was no question about whether I would love him again...because in truth, I’d never stopped.
On a whisper, I said, “You have no idea what that word does to me, Mr. Carter. I like it when you say please.”
He grinned, fire dancing behind his eyes to destroy the anguish that had been there previously.
Gripping my chin between his thumb and his finger, he leaned down until his mouth was hovering an inch from my lips.
On a whisper of sound, he asked, “Who are you, Amelia Dillon?”
Confused by the question, my thoughts went back to the first time he’d asked it in class.
“I’m a musician?” I answered, my feet pushing up on the toes to close the distance between our mouths.
Speaking against my lips, he said, “Yes, beautiful, you’re definitely that,” he paused his teeth nipping at my bottom lip before he added, “but you’re also mine.”
There was nothing left to say after that.
Our mouths pressed together and his tongue slipped in my mouth to slide against mine. And when I reached out to pull him close, I somehow knew I would never have to let him go.
Lennon
The guitar strummed over Dizzy’s door as I walked inside Jennison’s to catch up with one of my oldest friends. As usual Dizzy came bounding over, his lips stretched into a grin as he reached out to slap his palm against mine, knocking our knuckles together before he pulled away and ran his hand over the top of his head.
“Well, I’ll be damned. Lennon Carter has returned home to Sheldon again. I never thought I’d see the day.”
Laughing, I followed him deeper inside the store, the musty smell of old sheet music blending with the oils used on the instruments taking me back to a childhood I’d believed I’d never wanted to face.
“Whatever, asshole, you knew I was coming back here. It just took some time to get a new place and for Amelia to finish up and graduate.”
Shaking his head, he took a seat on a stool while I dropped my weight on a piano bench opposite him. Staring at me, Dizzy asked, “Are you going to be able to handle it? Living here again?”
After blowing out a breath, I scrubbed my palm over the back of my neck. “This is where she wanted to be. Despite offers in ten different states, Amelia wanted to come back here to be close to her dad.”
Dizzy chuckled, his grin stretching wider. “Man, I knew you loved that girl. After watching you chase after her that night at Majori’s, I was damn sure she’d already sunken her claws inside your chest without you even knowing what was happening.”
“Yeah, thanks for that. You could have warned me.”
“Nope. Amelia brought my best friend back to me. If anything, I should be thanking her.”
Leaning back, I rested my elbows on the keys of the piano, a few jarring chords ringing out from the strings. “I’ll be here as much as I can be. I still have obligations to the bands I assist.”
“A little time is better than no time at all, brother. Where’s Amelia now?”
“Down the street visiting her brother at his house. She’ll walk over when they’re done.”
Behind us, the guitar strummed again, Dizzy’s star student, Kyle, walking inside to begin his lesson.
The kid walked with an added bounce to his step, excitement brightening all his features as he rounded the bookshelves.
“Dizzy! I got in!”
Turning my head to hide my smirk, I listened as Kyle practically screamed with excitement. “Holy shit, man! I got into the Hastings program. I’ll be leaving for Orlando as soon as I graduate next week.”
Standing up to pull Kyle into a hug, Dizzy glanced my direction. He knew I’d played a part in getting Kyle a seat in the scholarship program.
We spent the next hour playing around on the instruments, the guitar strumming again when Amelia walked through the doors. Stepping over to us, she hugged Dizzy and Kyle before turning her attention to me.
“You ready to go?”
“Where are you lovebirds off to?” Dizzy asked.
“To go see my dad in the nursing home. They have a music room where Lennon and I can play for him. Ben told me his condition hasn’t improved, but he’s doing a lot better there than he was at our house.”
She was ecstatic, her face beaming now that she’d landed a seat with the Florida Symphony and could be close enough to her family to see them regularly.
Grabbing my hat from the top of the piano, I wrapped my arm over her shoulder. “Let’s go.”
After saying our goodbyes, Amelia and I headed outside, the Florida sun baking both of u
s as we walked beneath it.
We were almost to my car when a memory came to me, a moment in time that had changed my life in ways I could never imagine.
As Amelia reached for her door, I slammed my palm against the side to keep her from opening it. She looked up at me in question, her brows pulling together when I looked at her and grinned.
“You know, we have a couple minutes before we have to leave.” My gaze darted to the alley and back at her, realization as to what I was saying settling into her expression.
“You can’t be serious, Mr. Carter,” she laughed.
“Do I ever joke about these things?”
Casting a quick glance at the alley, Amelia’s eyes met mine again as a smile crept over her face.
I leaned down to her, brushed my lips against hers and whispered, “I’ll give you a head start.”
She shook her head and laughed, but then took off toward the alley at a dead run.
I counted to five in my head before chasing after her.
It didn’t matter that I was back near my hometown, didn’t matter that fate had returned me to a place I never wanted to see again.
Not with her by my side.
Rounding the corner, I caught Amelia turn to look back at me, a cry of surprise bursting from her lips as she pumped her legs attempting to get away.
I caught her before she could reach the next corner, and I caged her against the wall, my hand brushing up the side of her body.
“Well well, Miss Dillon, it looks like I’ve caught you.”
Her breasts brushed my chest, breath pouring over her lips, and she stared up at me with desire rolling behind her eyes.
Kissing her before spinning her in place, I lifted her skirt and ran my hand over the palm of her ass, my cock hard and ready to take all she had to give.
It was in that moment that I knew my story had come full circle, that the ending to my song had been the beginning of the music we played together.
And I just like always, I dreamed of that music in the way that most people dreamed of love...except this time the dream had teal eyes that crinkled at the corners as Amelia’s mouth pulled into a smile.
This time, the dream had a voice that called into the shadows, a voice that would always harmonize with mine while it was welcoming me home.
THE END
Coming May 29, 2019
Treachery (Antihero Inferno Series, Book#1)
Keep reading for the first chapter
noun
A betrayal of trust; deceptive action or nature
CHAPTER ONE
Never listen to the people who tell you evil doesn’t exist in this world. Never smile and nod, never pander, never walk off with the belief that you’re guarded against everything that can go wrong. I can give you that advice because I’ve been the stupid woman not to follow it. I can promise you that evil does exist only because I am the woman who has stared it in the moss green eyes, the same woman who dared it to do its worst and stood dumbfounded when it delivered.
Tanner Caine is just one of the deceptive and tantalizing demons waiting to be summoned at the crossroads. He is an underground giant forged in fire and stamped with the Devil’s personal seal of approval. He is a man barely challenged and a barrier never crossed. He is also a specimen of the male form that is a siren song to the unlucky women who run across him.
I’ve seen better woman ruined because they dared to play a game with him they had no business playing. I’ve seen smarter women on their knees before a man who managed to remain one step ahead while laughing to watch them fall.
You see, that’s what happens when you make a deal with evil. Everything goes fine until the day comes when he calls in his debt. Tanner doesn’t mess around with interest rates or repayable loans. No. If he does something for you, you can bet he’ll extract his pound of flesh in the most creative of endeavors.
We are all pawns to be played in Tanner’s world. Man or woman, it doesn’t matter.
I didn’t know what would happen when he waltzed back into my life after running from him in college. But what I did know is that, where Tanner is involved, yours is a story that can never end well.
. . .
Luca
(past)
“Go with the white booty shorts, Luca. You have the ass for them. Mine’s a little too flat.”
A sigh burst over my lips as I dug through my roommate, Everly’s, closet. Standing in here was like searching through a fashionable slut’s dream, everything way too short, dangerously tight, and designed specifically to highlight a woman’s curves.
Her style was opposite to mine. Never one to cater to what men wanted, I preferred casual clothes, my comfort taking precedent over what most would consider sexy.
The deep bass of some popular rap song pounded behind me, Everly’s shoulders bouncing in my peripheral vision as she sat at a makeup table to apply what had to have been a third layer of foundation.
“I don’t know about this, Evy. Maybe you should go alone tonight. I have some homework to catch up. It’s probably best I spend the next few hours in the library.”
“Shut your hole, Luca. You’re coming with me. This party is all everybody has been talking about on campus and there’s no way in hell I’m letting you miss out all because you’re scared of being social.”
Grabbing the white shorts she’d suggested, I pulled them from the hanger and held them up to my hips. These were more suited to be a bathing suit for how tight and short they were.
My head spun to look at her just as she turned to glance at me. “Plus, Clayton will be there. And I know you have the hots for him.”
She had me there.
Clayton Hughes was a big man on campus. Not as big as the Inferno boys, but he ran with them all the same.
Normally, just his association with the Inferno would have put me off and sent me running the opposite direction, but we worked together on a mock trial and had gotten to know each other better.
He was the son of a Senator and had money coming out his ears. Not to mention he was hot as fuck… and intelligent, which was a bonus in my book.
After working together, we’d hit it off and had been texting back and forth for the past week.
But that didn’t mean I had to go to this party just to see him.
“I’m sure he wouldn’t mind if I didn’t go. I’ll see him in class on Monday.”
“Shut. It.” Everly spoke in time with the music’s beat.
“I have a hot night planned with Jase, and you, my bookworm friend, are going to be my wing-woman.”
Rolling my eyes, I sat in a chair just outside her closet to tug off my jeans. “If you already have a hot night planned, then you don’t need a wing-woman.”
Shaking my head, I couldn’t believe she was stupid enough to get involved with any of the nine men who lived in the Inferno house.
All of them were bad news, each one a known manwhore that couldn’t keep it in their pants long enough to carry on a week long relationship with one woman.
Evy had been sleeping with Jase for longer than a week, however, and it made me wonder how in the hell she’d pulled it off. I suspected she wasn’t the only ass he was getting.
As if reading my thoughts, she answered, “He might have some stupid bitch all up on him when we get there. You know how he is.”
“I’m surprised you put up with that,” I commented under my breath. She heard it regardless, her lips kicking up into a grin.
“He’s Jase Fucking Kesson. Are you kidding me right now?” Laughter poured over her lips. “I’m determined to tame that man, even when everybody else assumes he can’t be.”
Yeah, except Jase Kesson, also known as Lust in the Inferno circuit, was just one of the nine guys who practically ran the school.
Each one was someone I wanted nothing to do with and had, until now, been able to avoid. I’d never actually met any of them, which was surprising, but after tonight, I’d finally know what they looked like.
I
t was akin to meeting a celebrity…or a character from a fable. You know they exist, but actually meeting them in person makes them more real.
Shrugging a shoulder, I leaned back in the chair. “I’m not comfortable being around them. I’ve heard horrible things-“
“Rumors,” Everly laughed. “Don’t let it get to you. They’re actual pretty cool guys once you get to know them. Gorgeous, too. All except…”
My eyes snapped her direction. “All except what?”
Her hair fell over her shoulder when she shook her head and dropped the tube of deep red lipstick on the desk. Turning off the lights of the makeup mirror, she spun in her chair to look at me.
“It’s like I said: every one of them is sex on a damn stick, but Tanner gives me the creeps. There’s something about him. Like his chest is empty of a beating heart and instead of being warm to the touch, his skin would be ice cold. I have no idea how any girl climbs into bed with him, but he’s never without, you know? Those idiots line up to be with him and I don’t understand it. Thankfully, he hasn’t said so much as two words to me, and I’m fine with that.”
Pausing, Everly checked her makeup in the mirror one last time before pushing to her feet. “Just avoid him and you’ll be fine. It’s time to go.”
She flashed me a wicked grin and I groaned.
Grabbed by the arm and pulled from my seat, Everly walked me out of our dorm room. We were halfway down the hall when I asked, “How the hell am I supposed to avoid this guy if you’re forcing me to go to his house?”
Laughing, she tugged on my arm, leading me down a back stairwell past a group of girls climbing up to our floor.
“That’s easy. You suck face with Clayton the entire time and then you won’t have to worry about coming face to face with Tanner.”
“And how will I know which one is Tanner?”
Another laugh, “Oh, trust me. You’ll know him when you see him.”
She wasn’t wrong.
There was no mistaking Tanner Caine when we walked into a large room in the Inferno House. And just as she’d described him, the man had a way of sending an ice cold chill down your spine the second you laid eyes on him.
