Resisting Temptation

by K. C. Lynn

  He storms toward me, his expression savage, as he grabs my arms aggressively, but not painfully. “Shut up! Don’t fucking talk about her. She…”

  “No!” I scream back. “I won’t shut up. I’m done skirting around this; you need to deal with it. You need to deal with her…”

  “You don’t fucking know anything!”

  “Then explain it to me! Tell me what happened! Let me help you!” I’m screaming and crying so hard, every word falls painfully from my mouth.

  Before I realize what’s happening, our mouths are twined together in aggression and passion. The kiss is hot, brutal and punishing. His pain and fury mixing in with the sweet tastes our mouths create.

  My fingers grip his sweaty hair savagely and I match him stroke for stroke, letting my own frustration out. When I bite his lip he growls viciously, and lifts me off my feet, then slams me against the wall. My legs wrap around his waist and our mouths never break from its heated, angry passion. He pins me against the wall with his hips and wastes no time shoving his hands up my dress and rips my panties off.

  I whimper when he runs his fingers through my wet folds, testing my readiness, then, before I can anticipate it, his pants are lowered, just enough to free his erection, then he’s slamming inside of me.

  I cry out at the fast, hard invasion of him and my eyes snap open. My body clamps down on him in ecstasy but when I look into his cold, distant eyes, as he pounds into me relentlessly, my heart completely shatters, not wanting him this way.

  Tears pour down my cheeks, soft sobs falling past my lips as I plead with him silently, my eyes begging him to come back to me, to trust me. He shuts his eyes, closing himself off from me, then reaches between us and strokes my swollen clit.

  Even though I don’t want him like this, I can’t stop my body’s reaction. He touches me in a way that has me quickly falling over the edge, and ecstasy rushing through my body.

  When I come back from the high and open my eyes, I see him watching me. He continues to thrust into me hard and fast, his tortured gaze slicing me all the way to my soul and I can’t stop the sobs that escape. “Cade, please. Please come back to me.”

  I watch guilt fill his eyes and self-loathing twist his expression just before he pulls out of me fast, dropping me to my feet. He pulls his pants back up and turns away. “Leave, Red, now.”

  “Please, won’t you just…”

  “I fucking said leave!” he rages with finality.

  I stare at him and realize I am not going to reach him. Not tonight, and maybe not ever. I swallow past the agony suffocating my throat. “Okay, I’ll go and I won’t come back if you don’t want me to. Because the thing is, Cade, I love you more than anyone in this world and I will until the day I die, but I can’t make you love me.” His tortured gaze snaps to mine and I pull in a painful breath through the sobs robbing me of oxygen and try to finish what I need to. “You aren’t capable of loving anyone until you deal with her death.” Not being able to stay a second longer, I turn and rush out of the building, my heart bleeding with regret.

  That night, as I cry myself to sleep, I pray. I pray for my broken heart, but, most of all, I pray for Cade, pray that he will find peace and find his way back to me. Because I am not sure I can live without him again.

  CHAPTER 31

  Cade

  Monday afternoon I’m in my office sitting at the desk, trying to focus on the paperwork in front of me, and not the pain that has been restricting my chest for the last two days.

  After snapping at everyone, and scaring the clients, I decided to lock myself in here before I fuck up worse than I already have. I should just go home and try to sleep since I haven’t had any for almost forty-eight hours. But every time I close my eyes, images of Red’s pained expression haunts my mind. Despair and self-hatred plague me when I think about the way I took her. I drop my head in my hands and grind my teeth against the painful thought, knowing I’m not any fucking better than the motherfuckers who forced themselves on her.

  A light tap sounds on the door before it opens and reveals Christopher. I look at the clock and realize he’s here for his shift.

  “I didn’t expect you to show up today.,” my voice is rough, sounding exactly how I feel. I know it’s a shitty greeting and I feel like an asshole, but I’m still too pissed off to care, too…wrecked to say anything else.

  “Why, because you ran off on your responsibilities you think I am going to as well?” he replies low and angry, looking ready to punch me in the face. I don’t blame him, I want to punch my own self in the face, but now is not the time for me to get into this with him; my head isn’t on right.

  “Go home, kid, go be with Faith and your sister today.” Just saying her name has the tightness in my chest escalating.

  He storms up to my desk and knocks a bunch of shit off. “Fuck you! You should be with them. You promised you wouldn’t ever hurt her and now, for the last two nights, I have to hear both of them cry themselves to sleep because of you!”

  Agony, and a good dose of self-hatred, consumes me as I stare into his furious gaze. Knowing there is nothing I can say to make this situation right, I decide to stay quiet rather than regret anything that will come out of my mouth.

  When I don’t respond, he gives up. “You know what? Fuck you! You can go fuck yourself, we don’t need you!” He turns and storms out, slamming the door behind him. My own temper starts to flare; rage beginning to simmer in my blood again and I welcome it because it feels a lot fucking better than the pain. I get up and start packing up my shit when the door flies open again. I expect it to be Christopher, but it ends up being Evans.

  “What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” he asks, low and dangerously.

  I shake my head and try to keep my cool, not wanting this to get any more out of hand. “Just stay the fuck out of it, Evans.”

  When I walk toward the door to leave, he pushes me back with a strength that shocks the shit out of me and spikes my temper to a whole other level. “I’m not fucking staying out of this, not anymore. My whole life, I’ve watched you destroy yourself; I have even left you alone to do it, but no more. Not when you are fucking up other’s lives now. You put yourself in those kid’s lives and Faith’s, you can’t just walk away!”

  Even though everything he says is true it doesn’t calm my rage, it only escalates it and I can feel myself close to the edge. “I’m fucking warning you, Evans, now is not the time to fuck with me.”

  He shakes his head and expels a disbelieving breath. “It never is and it never will be. You need to get over it. We all miss her, man, but she’s gone and she isn’t ever coming back.”

  That’s it. I snap, violence burns through me and I lunge at him, giving him a fast, right hook to the jaw. He braces himself and expects it, but the blow still knocks him back.

  I’m still going for him when he comes back at me full force. We collide and land outside of the door, our fists raining down on each other fast and hard. He gets in a few good blows but I don’t feel them, only the violence consuming me.

  “Shit! Benson, help me.” Jaxson rushes over in the chaos and it takes some good maneuvering on his and Benson’s part, but once our bodies start tiring, they manage to break us apart.

  Jaxson’s arms are wrapped around my shoulders and locked at the back of my neck, restraining me. “Stop. You need to calm down, man, this is our fucking workplace. Pull yourself together.”

  I nod, my breathing ragged. When he releases me, I swipe at my mouth to see a lot more blood than I expected. I glance at Evans to see a good amount on him too and wonder if I look as bad as he does. Shit!

  “Come into the office and get cleaned up,” Jaxson says.

  I shake my head and stand up slowly. “No. I’m out of here. I’ll be back tomorrow.”

  I walk out and don’t look back, not wanting to see what I just did to my best friend, and the whole time I drive back to my place I wonder who I am and how the fuck I am going to fix this.

 
CHAPTER 32

  Faith

  After Ruthie finishes brushing her teeth, she walks into her room and puts her pajamas on, which now consists of Cade’s white muscle tank. The sight of it, along with her black beanie, has pain striking my already heavy heart.

  I glance at the clock again and wonder where Christopher is. He said he was going to visit Alissa after his shift at the gym but said he would be home before it got dark, and the sun has just fallen. He’s never later than what he says he will be. I go grab my cell phone and bring it back into Ruthie’s room, and call him as she crawls into bed.

  It goes straight to voicemail. I decide to call Alissa’s house. When she tells me he never showed up or texted her I can’t help but be worried. I push down my fear and call the gym next, hoping he’s still there.

  My heavy heart thumps rapidly as the phone rings, hoping Cade will answer, my soul aching to hear his voice. These past two days without him has been absolute torture. Unfortunately, it’s not him who picks up—it’s Jaxson. When he tells me Christopher isn’t there and gives me the rundown of what happened, my heart breaks knowing that he and Cade fought. I hate to think he’s alone and upset, by himself somewhere. At least I’m hoping that’s what’s going on. But five hours by himself? Where would he go if not to Alissa’s?

  I quickly call Cooper and he answers on the first ring: “McKay.”

  “Cooper, hi, it’s Faith. I hope I’m not disturbing you?”

  “Hey, Faith, no not at all. Everything okay?”

  “I’m hoping so, but… Christopher hasn’t come home yet. He had a shift at the gym after school then was going to visit Alissa. He said he’d be home by dark. However, he didn’t end up staying at the gym, he and Cade got into a fight,” I explain softly, my throat clogging with emotion at the thought. “Jaxson said he left really upset and I just talked to Alissa to find out he never showed up at her house, but what worries me is he never texted her to tell her. I guess his phone could have died, since it’s off right now, but I don’t know where he could be for this long. I was… I was hoping you wouldn’t mind taking a drive around to find him? Maybe check the skateboard park? If you’re busy that’s okay, I can ask Katelyn to come stay with Ruthie and I’ll go look.”

  “No, it’s fine, I’m getting in my car now. Keep your cell with you and I’ll call you when I find him, or let me know if he comes home first.”

  “Okay, I will. Thanks, Cooper, I appreciate it.”

  “No problem. Don’t worry; I’m sure he’s fine. I know a few places I can look for him, I’ll call you back soon.”

  Thanking him again, I hang up then look down at Ruthie, lying in bed, her big, blue eyes sad as she stares up at me. “Tade and Twistphwor fought?”

  I nod sadly and crawl into bed beside her, my back resting on her headboard. I lift my arm as she curls into my side and I hold her like I have been for the last two nights. Our hearts both heavy from missing Cade. “Yeah, Jaxson said they got into an argument, but Sheriff Cooper says not to worry. He knows a few places to look where Christopher might be.” I’m hoping he’s right and that I hear from him soon, but I can’t help the doubt plaguing me. Where could he be?

  “Shoure do miss de big guy,” she chokes out sadly.

  I swallow thickly and try to talk past the tears clogging my throat. “I know, honey, me too, but we need to be patient right now and have faith that everything will work out. We have to remember he’s hurting right now too and needs time to work through it, but I know he’s missing you too, and he knows we are here if he needs us.”

  I told Ruthie all about Cade’s sister, not in grave detail but in a way her six-year-old mind would understand. I felt bad betraying him, but she deserved to know why he acted the way he did, why he feels the way he does and why he lashed out at my father like that. I just hope that he is working it out, or at least trying to, but after hearing about his and Christopher’s fight I’m assuming I may be wrong.

  We lay in heavy silence for a few minutes, my cell phone still clasped in my hand, anxiously awaiting Cooper’s call when a noise draws my attention behind me.

  “What was dat?”

  Thinking it’s Christopher, and wondering why he’s coming through the back, I sit up and peek out the blinds of Ruthie’s window only to have fear slam into me at seeing two men, dressed in black, trying to get in the back door. My heart pounds in my ears but I push down the panic threatening to take me and spring into action. I pick up Ruthie and rush her over to the closet.

  “Faif, what’s going on?”

  I place her in the far back corner and cup her scared, pale face. “Ruthie, baby. I need you to listen to me right now and do exactly what I say, okay?” She nods, her bottom lip trembling as I pass her my phone. “I want you to call Sheriff Cooper and ever so quietly whisper that he needs to come here right away. Tell him that two men are trying to break into our house.” A small terrified sobs slips pasts her lips. “Shh, shh, it’s okay. Everything is going to be okay, I promise, but I need you to be strong right now.” She nods and takes a deep breath. “Good girl, now I need you to listen to me. No matter what happens, no matter what you hear, you do not leave this spot until Sheriff Cooper comes and gets you. Do you understand? No matter what, Ruthie.”

  She nods and trembles. “Otay, I won’t.”

  I gasp when I hear glass shatter. “Remember what I said, Ruthie, don’t leave this spot until Sheriff comes. I love you. I promise everything will be okay.”

  I hit the redial button on my phone then put the clothes hamper in front of her before closing her in the closet.

  I continue to hear glass shattering which I’m assuming is the window in the back door, as I run out of her room and into mine, going for the gun that Cade keeps there, thankful it’s still here. I immediately hear footsteps pounding up my stairs and frantically shove my hand under the mattress for the gun; a panicked sob escapes me when I don’t feel it. Oh please, please, where the hell is it? I finally feel it just as both men come barging into my room.

  Even though they are almost fully covered, I still recognize Spike and the kids’ father, Floyd Dennison. I scream as they both rush at me, I pull the gun out but before I can even raise it Floyd backhands me across the face. The painful blow sends my head slamming into the nightstand and has black spots dancing in my vision.

  “Go find Ruth Jean!” he orders Spike.

  Panic shoots through me, but before I can recover from his powerful blow he wraps his hand around my throat and lifts me off the ground. He slams me down on my bed and tightens his grip, robbing me of air. I fight against him with every bit of strength I possess. When my hand collides with his face, my nails gouge into the skin on his cheek, he howls and sends another slap to my throbbing face.

  I fight to remain conscious and barely register Spike running into the room. “I can’t find her.”

  A small measure of relief washes over me and I pray for Cooper to hurry. Floyd leans over me, his eyes wild and crazed, “Where’s my daughter, bitch!”

  When I don’t answer, he grabs a fistful of my hair and yanks my head back painfully, “I said, where the fuck is my daughter?”

  “She isn’t here.” I sob out. He raises his hand, not believing me. “Please. I swear she isn’t, she’s with Cade.”

  His gaze snaps to Spike. “I thought you said that asshole was alone?”

  “No, I said I thought he was, but I couldn’t be sure.”

  “Fuck!” he rages then looks back at me. “Well let’s hope your rich granddaddy is still willing to pay a pretty fucking penny for you and my worthless, piece of shit son.”

  “Oh god,” I sob again, knowing he has Christopher escalates my fear. “What have you done to him?”

  His venomous smile has me crying harder, and as he raises his hand to deliver a blow that I know will knock me out, all I can think is, I can’t believe this is happening again. I briefly recall the sound of sirens before his fist smashes into my face and everything goes black.

 
; CHAPTER 33

  Cade

  I’m lying in my bed, that I haven’t slept in for a long time, feeling cold and empty without the delicate, warm, naked body that I’m used to feeling against me, and stare up at the ceiling feeling numb. I haven’t moved in hours, not wanting to leave this state, it hurts so much less. It feels better, which is why I haven’t answered my ringing cell phone, worried I will snap out of it if I do.

  When a loud pounding starts on my door I ignore it, figuring it’s probably Evans, and the last thing I want is to fight with my best friend again. Only the voice on the other end of the door isn’t Evans’, it’s Jaxson’s, “Walker, man, open up. Something’s happened.”

  His words and tone snaps me into action, and has me moving to the door quickly.

  As soon as I swing it open and see his expression, I know something bad has happened. “What? What is it?”

  He watches me regretfully. “I’m sorry, man, but you have to get to Faith’s. She and Christopher are missing.”

  I stare at him and try to understand what he just said, but panic has my heart pounding in my ears so loud I can’t grasp what he’s telling me. “What the fuck are you talking about? What do you mean, missing?”

  Rage fills his expression. “She was taken from the house, and we’re pretty sure they have Christopher too.” Terror slams into me, turning my blood to ice. I hurry to put on my boots while he continues to explain, “Ruthie called it in, Faith hid her in the closet and she won’t come out. She just keeps crying and she won’t answer anyone’s questions. Katelyn and Grace can’t even get her out.”

  Before I realize it, I’m running down the hallway, fear fueling my speed. I hear Jaxson slam the door and he catches up quickly, telling me to get into his truck. The ride over is silent but quick.