My brother had introduced us, but he couldn’t have ever guessed as to what would happen next. Jack hadn’t hesitated to ask me out, and I hadn’t given it more than a second’s thought before I responded. It had practically been love at first sight, and after that moment right up until he betrayed me, we’d been inseparable.
But that night he hid my brother’s drugs in my car is the night we turned into strangers. I still couldn’t believe it had happened. It had seemed like a bad dream, even thinking back about it now.
“Jack,” I said breaking the silence. I pulled back. “Why did you do it? Why did you fuck everything up? I was so in love with you.”
Jack’s mouth dropped open. “Penny, I… I… it was a mistake.”
“Well, damn right it was a mistake. They held me at gunpoint. They put me in the back of a police car. You can’t even imagine the hell I went through as they interrogated me over and over and over again.”
Jack leaned closer. “Penny, I am so sorry. I never meant for any of that to happen.”
“Seriously though, what were you thinking? Why?” I couldn’t stop the tears that started to stream down my cheeks. All of the pain I’d gone through was back to the surface. Years of pushing it deep down inside, wondering what I’d say to Jack if I ever had the chance and now I couldn’t even think of everything.
There had been so many thoughts and ideas of what I’d do and say, but now that I was actually with him, my mind was blank.
“I thought I was doing the right thing helping your brother,” Jack said.
“By hiding the drugs in my car?”
“I never thought for a second they’d have the dogs with them. I never for a second thought they’d even question you since I’d been the one driving your car.”
I shook my head. “Well, you were wrong.”
“I am so, so sorry,” Jack said taking my hand into his. “I wanted to apologize. I wanted to make things better.”
“There isn’t anything you can do to make things better.”
Jack swallowed. “There has to be something. I don’t want you to hate me. I know I fucked up but goddammit Penny, I love you. I’ve always loved you. I will never stop loving you.”
The tears flowed quicker. “I loved you too, Jack. But I haven’t been able to trust anyone since that night. It really fucked me up.”
“Tell me what I can do to make it better. I will do anything.”
“There isn’t anything.” I stood up and crossed my arms.
Jack looked at me with eyes filled with sadness. “Penny, please.”
“Were you selling drugs too? Did my brother go to jail and you just got off with a slap on the wrists?”
“No!” Jack said standing up next to me. His eyes were wide. “I was not involved. I was trying to protect him and your family. It just all backfired.”
“It sure did.”
Jack shook his head. “It’s not like I wanted anything to happen to your brother. He’s not a bad guy, he was just doing stupid things.”
“He’d been involved in stupid things since he was fourteen.”
“I never meant for any of it to happen. I’d made a mistake in the heat of the moment.”
I waved my hands in the air. Everything was just too overwhelming. I couldn’t stand another second of being close to Jack. He made it too hard to think.
“I beg you,” Jack said dropping to his knees, “please, forgive me.”
“I… I…,” I stammered taking a step away from him, “I need to think.”
I turned and walked away.
12
Jack
I wanted to chase after her. I didn’t know what else I could say to convince her just how sorry I was. It was true, I really would have done anything to make it better. Anything.
She could have asked me for anything, and I would have found a way to do it. I was sick of living with the knowledge of all the pain and turmoil I’d caused her. If only she would give me the chance to try to make things right.
Penny was almost to the water before I got back on my feet. I wasn’t going to let her go. At least not without a fight.
I stood next to her and stared out into the ocean with her. She didn’t tell me to leave which I took as a good sign, but the sounds of her soft sobs broke my heart.
“Penny,” I said turning toward her, “I never meant for anything bad to happen. You were, and are the last person in the world I ever wanted to hurt.”
I paused waiting for her to say something but she didn’t.
“I know sorry isn’t enough, but it’s all that I can do or say at this moment. I am so incredibly sorry for all the pain I caused you. I am so sorry for what I put you through.”
She looked up at me with her red, watery eyes, and even still she looked beautiful to me. It took everything I had to hold it together.
“I will never be able to forgive myself for what I put you through. I wish I could go back in time, and trust me, I would do things differently.” I swallowed down my emotion. “I love you with my entire being. I always have. I never stopped loving you, and,” I said taking her hand into mine, “I will never stop, no matter what you do or say to me. If you could just find it within yourself to give me a chance, I would spend the rest of my life making it up to you.”
Penny covered her mouth with her shaking hand. Her shoulders bobbed up and down.
She pressed her lips together and swallowed hard. A quick gasp escaped from between her lips.
“I’d rather be with you learning to trust again, than being alone and never trusting again,” Penny said.
I pulled her into my arms and kissed the top of her head. It had to be a dream. I looked down into her eyes, and she blinked rapidly as a smile grew on her face.
“Jesus Christ, Penny, I will never stop working on fixing this,” I said feeling a rush of warmth through my veins. I never thought I could be with her again, and here she was willing to give me a chance. It was stupid, but I couldn’t help it. “I love you.”
I pressed my lips to hers. I never wanted to stop kissing her. And maybe I never would.
13
Penny
It was a new day. I never thought letting go of the past would be easy, but it turned out it was far easier than I’d ever even imagined. Every inch of my body tingled with excitement now that I was giving Jack another chance. It felt as though I’d patched up a wound that had been opened for far too long.
The hole in my heart was no longer waiting to be filled. The hole was Jack’s, and he had always been the only one that could fill it.
As the sun started to rise, I could feel it warming my skin. My palm was pressed flat against Jack’s solid chest. I could feel his body rise and fall with each breath.
After a few minutes, he stretched his arms over his head and smiled at me. “Morning sunshine.”
“Morning.” I smiled back.
“Have you been up long?”
I shook my head. “Only a few minutes.”
Jack groaned as he rolled over on his side and looked into my eyes. He kissed my forehead lightly.
“Today I’m going to catch you a fish, fuck you in the pond, and then maybe we’ll go out and explore the area,” Jack said raising his eyebrows not even bothering to hide the sexy little smile that formed on his lips.
“Sounds good to me,” I said dragging my fingertip down the center of his stomach right toward his—
“What’s that,” Jack said pushing himself up abruptly.
I shook my head trying to figure out what had his attention. His eyes moved upward, and I tried to follow where he was looking.
“What is it?” I asked.
“Listen,” Jack said pointing up toward the sky. “It’s a helicopter. Holy shit it’s a helicopter!”
Suddenly, I could hear it too. And it sounded as though it was getting louder and louder. Were they looking for us? Either way, we had to do something to let them know we were here.
“What do we do?” I asked.
> Jack was already scanning the sky in every direction trying to find it. He pointed at a small dot in the distance.
“There it is,” Jack said waving his arm.
I copied him and started waving my arms over my head. He was shouting to them, but there was no way they’d be able to hear us over the noises of the helicopter.
“Down here!” Jack yelled. The helicopter drew nearer and nearer, and my stomach clenched at the thought of actually getting off the island. Based on the path they were taking, it almost seemed as though they’d spotted us. I wouldn’t feel relief until we were inside the helicopter flying away from this place.
When they were just above us, hovering there, I dropped down to my knees. They’d definitely spotted us. We were going to be okay. We were actually going to make it.
We were going to survive, and we were going to be together. I couldn’t help but wonder if I had died the night of the storm in the ocean, and everything since then had been some kind of afterlife. It just all seemed too good to be true.
Jack wrapped his arms around me tightly as he waved at the helicopter that was lowering further down the beach.
“I’ll help you get a new boat,” I said through my tears.
Jack chuckled. “I’m thinking about taking up a new hobby.”
“Oh yeah?”
“Something on land.”
I wrapped my arms around his neck and kissed him. I didn’t care what he did as long as we did it together.
Epilogue - Penny
We were walking down the dock hand and hand. Jack had arranged a meeting with some guy who was looking to sell a boat.
“Are you sure about this?” I asked remembering how Jack hadn’t seemed all that interested in bothering with a new boat.
He had been living with me since our return to the mainland. I’d talked to my parents, and although they were upset at first, they were starting to come around. They just wanted me to be happy, and if Jack made me happy, then they’d figure out a way to come to terms with it. At least that’s how my mom had worded it.
“Hmm,” Jack said stopping in front of an empty stall. He looked around.
“Isn’t this where you used to keep your boat?” I said looking at the edge of the dock remembering the night I asked him to take me out to the yacht.
“Oh, you’re right it is,” Jack said. “That’s weird isn’t it?”
“It’s really weird,” I said narrowing my eyes at him.
Jack lowered himself down to his knee. At first, I thought he’d dropped something, but when he looked up at me, he was holding a small white box.
“Jack?” I said, my insides started to bubble.
“Penny,” he said coughing slightly to clear his throat. He flipped open the box with his thumb and looked into my eyes. “Would you do me the honor of being my wife?”
I couldn’t find my voice. Could this really be happening? It had only been about a month since we’d been back from the island. That was too soon, wasn’t it?
“I never want to lose you again,” Jack said looking as though he was starting to get a bit worried I hadn’t answered his question yet.
“Oh, my God, Jack,” I said clasping my hands in front of me. “Yes!”
He picked me up and spun me in a circle. Jack pressed his lips to mine before lowering me down to the dock.
“Here,” he said taking the ring out of the box and pulling my hand into his. He slid on the sparkling ring, and I smiled. It could have been a Fruit Loop for all I cared.
“It’s beautiful, Jack,” I said, and he grabbed my hand and started walking away. “Where are we going? What about the boat?”
“There is no boat,” Jack said with a smirk. “I just wanted to get you here, to the spot where fate threw us together again because it knew better than we did.”
I pressed my hand to my heart. “Oh, Jack.”
“Let’s get back on land,” Jack said raising his eyebrows.
“I’d love to,” I said looking down at my new ring. “Everyone is going to think it’s too soon.”
“Do you care?” Jack asked taking in a breath as we stepped off of the dock.
I shook my head. “No, I guess I don’t.”
“If you do, we could always elope. Vegas would be fun.” Jack leaned closer. “No one even needs to know. We could still do the real thing at some point. Whatever you want.”
“What do you want?”
“I want to be married to you right now.” Jack shrugged. “The sooner, the better.”
“Vegas, huh?”
“Vegas,” Jack said eyeing me. He was trying to decide if I was actually considering it. Was I? I think I was.
I bit my lip. “And we could still just do the real thing when we got back?”
“Yeah.” Jack stopped walking and grabbed both of my hands forcing me to face him. “Are you in?”
“Vegas?” I asked again squinting at him.
“Sure. Or whatever you want.”
I pressed my lips together. It was absolutely insane, but I wanted Vegas. I never imagined I’d be the girl to elope in Vegas, but I wanted to be married to Jack too. I didn’t want to wait. I’d waited long enough.
“Oh, my God I can’t believe I’m going to say this,” I said with a little bounce. “Let’s do it. Let’s go to Vegas.”
“Yeah?” Jack’s smile was so bright it melted my insides.
“Yes!”
“When?”
“Are you busy tomorrow?”
I held up my hand. “I need more than twenty-four hours to process.”
“Why? Are you considering backing out?” Jack flashed me a little frown.
“No! I just want to make sure I have everything in order.”
Jack shook his head. “You’re going to tell Heidi, aren’t you?”
“Can I?”
“Wait until we get back?”
“Deal.”
Jack and I started walking back toward the car. “She’ll tell everyone.”
“You’re absolutely right. I won’t tell her.”
Jack chuckled. “You’ll break down eventually.”
“I totally will,” I said laughing.
“Whatever makes you happy,” Jack said kissing my cheek. “Let’s go home. Plan our trip.”
I felt as light as a feather as I let out the breath it felt as though I’d been holding.
“Sounds perfect.”
The End.
Other Books
BY PIPER PHOENIX:
NOVELS
——————
Her Guardians
——————
Revenge
——————
Stone - The Brother Rebellion - Book 1
Pike - The Brother’s Rebellion - Book 2
Dust & Rager - The Brother’s Rebellion - Book 3
——————
The Middle of Nowhere
NOVELLAS
——————
Caught
Forgiven
The Choice
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Preview of Caught
A Brother’s Best Friend Romance
by Piper Phoenix
Chapter 1 - Lissa
I ran my fingers through the coarse, spiky grass while I listened to the banter of the men inside. Apparently, they were having a good time insulting one another.
My older brother and his friends were having a poker night, which mostly consisted of drinking beer and trash talking one another. There was a little card playing mixed in when they actually remembered to deal a hand between drinks.
The group of them got together every couple of weeks for poker night. Since I lived with my brother in his house to save money, I had to follow his rules. He wanted me to make myself scarce, or if I didn’t have anywhere to go, I was allowed to hide upstairs while the
y were here. It was strictly a no girls allowed kind of thing.
My brother, Cal, was quite clear about the fact that he didn’t want his sister around when the guys were over. Maybe he was afraid I’d cramp his style.
Lucky for me I didn’t care. It wasn’t like I even wanted to be hanging around with his lame friends.
Tonight, however, was a little different because I’d actually went out instead of hiding upstairs. The problem was, I’d gotten bored, and now I was stuck waiting in the shadows in the backyard until the party was over or waiting for a chance to sneak up to my room unnoticed.
There hadn’t been anything to do around town. We lived in a small town where there wasn’t much to do, and places closed early. I’d walked around town for a while, but when I couldn’t find a damn thing to do, I had no choice but to go home.
All my old friends had gone off to college. I had the great idea of taking off a year and living with my brother. It was a decision I often times regretted.
I rested back against the thick oak tree and pulled out a long blade of grass. My fingers twisted and twirled it until I ripped it into small pieces and sprinkled it around my worn-out converse.
The tree was big enough that I could easily keep myself hidden. If my drunken brother noticed me, I was sure it would be dreadfully embarrassing for at least one of us. Most likely me.
Most of the time I felt pretty invisible anyway, so of course, that helped. I just wasn’t one of those wildly outgoing women that men wanted.
I was shy and awkward. I didn’t care about the latest fashion trends or what Kim K. was up to.
Listening to their conversation was both disgusting and entertaining. Most of what they said had me rolling my eyes so much I was starting to feel dizzy.
Stranded - A Second Chance Romance Page 5
