"Ty," I whispered, still using my voice. "I..."
I couldn't form a coherent thought, much less voice one.
His hand wrapped around my jaw in a silent demand, one which I obliged. Opening my eyes, I waited for him to speak. "Ask me to kiss you, Heidi," he said through what looked like clenched teeth, his control slipping.
Lust pulsed through me. "Kiss me."
He brought his lips closer to mine.
But then he stopped.
When he pulled back a second later without giving me what I craved, I nearly came unhinged. He was screwing with me. I had no idea why, but at that moment, I wanted nothing more than to kick him in the knee.
"Why—"
"I won't kiss you again…"
My stomach dropped to my feet.
I didn't understand.
Had I done something wrong?
Why didn't he want to kiss me again?
And why was I so devastated over it?
I should've been thankful, should've been relieved that he was no longer interested.
I wasn't.
If I'm honest, I felt...
Hurt.
"What?" I asked, a lump forming in the base of my throat.
I jerked back when his calloused hands cupped the sides of my face. "Wipe that wounded look off your face," he said, caressing my cheeks with his thumbs.
"I'm not wounded." Embarrassment blossomed in my chest. "I just feel stupid for asking you to kiss me. That's all."
Ty smirked. "Is that right?"
I thinned my suddenly dry lips and remained mute.
"Want to know what I think?" He waited for me to reply. When I didn't, he continued. "I think you're lying."
I totally was.
"I think you wanted me to kiss you, and I think you wanted it badly."
I totally did.
"And if you would've let me finish before drawing one hell of a conclusion, then you would've known that I didn't mean forever."
As usual, I was confused. "What are you talking about?"
His face hardened, the lines in his forehead becoming visible. "You want me to kiss you? Then tell me why you keep pushing me away. Soon as you do, I'll give you what you want."
I froze, unsure of what to say.
Thankfully, he kept talking, buying me time. "I see the way you look at me when you think I'm not watching." I scoffed again. "You want me, yet you build wall after wall to keep me out." His hands moved upward, sliding into my hair. "Tell me why so I can fix it."
"Why do you want me so much?" Unable to stop myself, I trailed my fingers up and down his ribs, tracing the dips and curves of the muscles that lined his torso. "You're curious why I keep pushing you away, but first you need to tell me why it's me that you want."
His lips started to move.
But then they stopped.
"Talk to me," I urged. "Tell me why."
"Under one condition."
"What's that?"
"Let me take you out after I get off tomorrow."
I started to shake my head, but then he cupped my jaw again, stopping me. "Remember what I told you last night?" He smiled, looking an awful lot like the cat who got the cream. "It's the least you can do considering you broke my nose."
"I—"
"Do you have any idea the amount of shit the guys at the station will give me once they see my damn face?" My eyes traveled over his swollen nose and bruised eyes. "When they find out it was you who clocked me, they'll never let me live it down, Hendrix especially."
I smiled at the mention of Hendrix, Maddie's husband. He was a fireman at the same station as Ty and Kyle, and like Maddie, I'd known him my whole life. He was a good guy, but also like Ty and Kyle, he had a temper that would make a pissed-off grizzly cower in fear.
He and Ty were archenemies.
Or at least they used to be.
As kids, they hadn't liked each other very much.
For good reason too.
Hendrix had loved Maddie since he was in elementary school, and Maddie had been one of Ty's favorite targets. It was another reason I'd erected a barrier between him and me.
Ever since I was a little girl, I'd loved Maddie, and even though she'd forgiven Ty years ago for the things he'd done to her, I had a hard time forgetting.
Given that even Hendrix, who could hold a grudge like no other, was friendly with Ty now, I needed to find a way to get over it too.
If only I knew why he did it.
An emotion that felt an awful lot like regret rose into my throat. "I can't."
"Why?"
"Because I can't."
He clenched his jaw. "That doesn't work for me. I need—"
I couldn't hold the words back any longer. They were vile, they were judgmental, and they were downright cruel in a lot of ways, but they were also truthful. "Because you've hurt people." Feelings I'd buried from my past came to life, unleashing a tsunami of emotions I wasn't prepared to deal with. "And I know what it feels like to be hurt."
I sucked in a pained breath as memory after memory came to life in my head, bringing with them the voices of my tormentors. "What's wrong, Hardly Hearin' Heidi," one voice said. "Are you stupid? Or can you still not hear with those ugly things in your ears?"
Malicious laughter rang out, followed by the taunt of another, this one crueler than the last. "Ugly hearing aids for an even uglier girl," it said. "Sorta fitting if you ask me."
My knees burned.
The feel of my skin being torn from my body when I was shoved to the gravel-covered ground seconds later by the bullies hell-bent on making me cry was still as strong as it had been ten years before. No matter how much time passed, their taunts were still vivid, the pain they inflicted still familiar, and the heartbreak they had caused still agonizing.
Just breathe, I told myself.
I was pulled out of the hell gripping me a moment later when a whole lot of shame washed over Ty's features.
Shaking his head, he took a step back.
I missed his comforting heat the second it was gone.
"You're right, I hurt a lot of people." He looked lost as he slid his hands into his pockets and dipped his gaze to the floor. When he lifted his head again, he ran a palm down the side of his face. "I can't take any of it back either, but what I can do is try to be a better man now. And baby"—he paused—"that's what I'm fighting like hell to do."
"I know you are."
And I did.
God help me, I did.
He was trying so damn hard.
If I hadn't been so scared—
"Heidi."
I laced my fingers together, resisting the urge to burst into a ball of tears. "Yeah?" I answered, suppressing the urge to silence my voice and sign instead.
"You think I'll hurt you?"
I shook my head. "Not like that, I don't."
He crossed his arms over his chest. "Not like what?"
"Like you did Maddie."
"You're right, I won't." He paused briefly. Then, "I should probably be shot for what I did to her." His eyes slid closed. When they opened again, I could've sworn I saw tears swimming in his blue depths before he blinked, washing them away. "But, Angel, you have to know—"
"I do know," I finished for him. "I know you won't hurt me… that way."
Confusion flitted across his features. "Then how do you think I'll hurt you?"
I didn't answer him.
I couldn't.
I'd never give him the power that came with knowing how much I burned for him nor how terrified I was that he'd break my heart if given the chance. If I did, he could use it to bust every wall I'd constructed and steal every piece of me.
My body.
My heart.
My soul.
"I'm not giving up," he said, shattering the silence that had fallen between us. "Not on you."
Warmth, which only he could conjure, spread through me. "You're more stubborn than a dang mule."
Once again, he moved closer.
His body heat bled into mine, and I sighed. As hard as I fought my feelings for him, being close to him felt right.
He felt right.
"I'm that and a lot of things." He wrapped a strand of my hair around his finger. "You'll find out soon enough."
I rolled my eyes. "See, stubborn. I swear—"
I shut up when he reached behind him, fisted the neck of his shirt in one hand and ripped it over his head, baring his torso.
My mouth gaped.
A second later, he draped the shirt over my shoulders, giving it to me. "If you're going to sleep in a man's shirt, from now on, it'll be mine.”
I couldn't have responded to his caveman style demand if my life had depended on it.
Dropping my gaze to the golden skin that covered his chest, I stared at the tattoo on his left pec. I couldn't read the one on his chest because it was inscribed in Latin, but the bold typeface letters on his arm were easy to make out.
Don't give up, they read.
I jerked my head up. "You really won't give up, will you?"
Picking up a pair of sunglasses from the counter beside me, he slid them on, shielding his eyes from mine. "I won't. Not when it comes to Chase, and never when it comes to the woman who I know with every fiber of my being is meant to be mine."
I said nothing.
"By the way, since you finally told me why you keep pushing me away, I'm about to take what I need while giving you what you asked for in exchange."
My brows furrowed. "What—"
The words died on my tongue when he reached for me and wrapped his strong arms around my lower back.
Pulling me into him, he didn't give me the chance to object, not that I would've, before crashing his mouth down on mine.
It was the second sweetest kiss I'd ever had.
Six
Ty
I was losing my damn mind.
Standing in the center of Station 24's apparatus bay, I leaned back against the side of a ladder truck, my eyes fixated on the phone I held in my hand.
Three days had passed since I last saw Heidi, and in that time, she hadn't returned a text or call.
It was driving me mad.
I was used to her ignoring me, but I was at the end of my rope with her silence. She couldn't avoid me forever, and I would be damned if she continued to push me away when I knew for a fact that she wanted me as badly as I wanted her.
"This is complete bullshit," I muttered to myself while shooting her yet another text message. "If she doesn't reply this time, I'm driving to the shelter."
Call me, I typed out. Or else I'm coming to your work.
To my surprise, she responded immediately. Go ahead. I'm not there.
Where are you? I sent back.
Every muscle in my body tensed as I waited for her to reply, which happened moments later. None of your business.
The hell it wasn't.
Everything that had to do with her was my business.
Again, I asked, Where are you?
A picture flashed across the screen, and I tapped it. I smiled when I saw it was a photo of her. Sitting behind the wheel of her car, she held up a single hand, her middle finger raised in the air.
I chuckled.
There's my beautiful Angel, I texted back. Now tell me where you are.
A few seconds later, another picture popped up. I tapped it, expecting to find her flipping me off with both hands this time. Instead, I found a picture of her smiling face next to Ashley's, who sat in the passenger seat beside her.
I was surprised not to see Chase sitting in the backseat considering he was stuck up Ashley's ass most of the time.
Heading into the Coffee Hut on Main, she finally answered.
I nodded to myself, mentally calculating how long it would take me to reach her.
I can be there in five minutes, I texted. Let me take you to lunch. Ashley too.
No.
I gritted my back teeth together in frustration. Why not?
Already told you why. Bye, Ty.
It was the final message she sent.
I stood, irritation nipping the back of my neck as I stormed into the rec room where I came face to face with Kyle. He and I had been best friends since kindergarten and having been best friends for so long meant he could read me like a book.
Quirking a brow, he leaned back against the pool table, a cue stick in his hands. "What did my sister-in-law do to piss you off now?"
Behind him, Hendrix stared at me, a shit-eating grin on his face. The prick loved it when Heidi tortured me.
I shook my head and kept walking, refusing to lay my problems with Heidi at their feet. "Don't worry about it."
Kyle chuckled. "She blow you off again?"
"None of your business, Tuck.” I laid down on the weight bench that sat along the far wall and wrapped my fingers around the loaded bar above me. I then lifted it off the rack and slowly lowered it to my chest before pressing it back toward the ceiling.
"That's where you're wrong," Kyle shot back, stubbornly. "You may think Heidi is yours, but until you put a ring on her finger or a baby in her belly, she's still my responsibility."
I blew out a breath as I lifted the bar again. Knocking Heidi up wasn't at the top of my agenda—not yet anyway—but I wouldn't go out of the way to avoid it either.
I'm such a twisted fuck.
"Mine too," Hendrix piped up, adding his two cents. "I've known her a lot longer than you, and my wife will kill me if I let something happen to her. As far as I'm concerned, whatever is going on with Heidi is my business."
I racked the bar and sat up, my muscles twitching from the exertion. "What happens between my woman and me"—I paused for emphasis—"is nobody's business but ours. You two shitheads got that?"
I expected a fight.
Surprisingly, I didn't get one.
Instead, Kyle shrugged. "Whatever, man. But I'm telling you, if you hurt Heidi, you'll hurt Carissa by extension." His eyes met mine. "Then I'll kill you."
Hendrix opened his mouth to say something but closed it when Cap barreled into the room, grabbing our attention.
"What's up, Pop?" Hendrix asked, looking at the man who was our Captain and also his father.
Cap nodded back toward the bay. "Pink Cadillac just came flying up the driveway before coming to a sliding stop behind my truck."
Kyle's brow furrowed. "What the hell is the Crazy Old Biddy doing here?"
Cap looked from Hendrix to Kyle, and then to me. "Don't know, but she looks pissed. My best guess is that somebody is about to catch hell." A wry smile spread across his face. "So which one of you dumbshits messed up this time?"
"Wasn't me." A wide-eyed Hendrix glanced at Kyle. "You do something?"
Kyle shook his head and looked at me. "Did you piss off Heidi to the point that she went and complained to Grandmama? Cause if she did, you are fuc—"
His mouth snapped shut when Cap was suddenly shoved forward, and Grandmama stepped into the room. "Where is that dadgum blond-headed troublemaker at?" she hollered, tapping a slipper covered foot against the floor.
Kyle, the shithead, immediately pointed at me. "Over there."
Grandmama swung her enraged gaze my way. Painted pink lips thinned into a straight line, she glared at me through a pair of teal-framed eyeglasses.
Glasses, which matched the giant sun hat perched atop her head and the oversized purse hanging from one hunched shoulder.
"You," she said, pointing a hot pink nail in my direction. "I can't believe you allowed this. I ought to take my flyswatter to your delectable behind." Leaning back, she tried to look around me, her lips pursed. "On second thought, I should probably use my palm since a hands-on approach is always the way to go."
Hendrix chuckled, knowing he had a force field that would keep him safe from Grandmama's traveling hands since he was married to her only blood-related granddaughter.
But me? I was of no relation and fair game.
I can't tell you how many bruises my a
ss had accumulated over the years, thanks to her. I'd made the mistake of dancing with her at Evan and Hope's wedding and ended up with a bruise the shape of her hand after she smacked my ass.
The damn thing took weeks to heal.
"Grandmama, I don't know what you're talking about, but I—"
"The hell you don't." Her hands went to her hips, and she sauntered forward, her glittery pink slippers reflecting off the fluorescent lights above us. "Boy, you're stuck so far up Heidi's rear end that I'm surprised you can still see the light of day."
Cap laughed before faking a cough to cover it up.
Grandmama's foot started tapping faster. "And being that you're stuck up her butt, I'd like for you to explain what in the Sam Hill you're thinking by letting her go out on lunch dates with other fellas."
My body stilled.
My lungs seized.
Then, my temper flared.
"What did you just say?" I yelled, not giving a shit if Cap smacked me upside the head for yelling at an elderly woman.
Then again, Grandmama wasn't like other little old ladies. She'd probably junk-punch me and then beat me half to death with her purse before Cap ever reached me.
That's if she didn't shoot me first.
"Heidi isn't dating any-damn-body."
"Lord, Ty I swear, you ain't got the sense that God gave a dadgum goose," she stated matter-of-factly. "She is too. I just saw her with my own two eyeballs."
She was wrong.
Heidi wasn't on a date.
She was getting coffee.
"No, she's not," I argued. "She's with Ashley."
Grandmama reared back and looked me up and down. "Oh yeah? Then how come when I drove by the Coffee Hut not five minutes ago, I saw her all gussied up and sitting next to that one fella." She snapped her fingers. "Oh heck, what's his name. Y'all know who I'm talking about. His family owns that whiskey distillery out on Route 9. He used to work here too."
That's when I lost it.
"Weston Winslow?" Spit flew from my mouth as I hollered, my hands fisting at my sides. "She's with Weston fucking Winslow?"
Every Wrong You Right: A Redeeming Love Novel (Book 6) Page 5
