by Amanda Wylde
He shakes his head then kisses me. "I started thinking maybe you decided to tell him yourself. Or that maybe you changed your mind and decided to work something else with him to prolong having to tell him. I don't know." He shakes his head again. "I don't know. But after what he did yesterday in the shower just the thought of you being alone with him sickens me now."
I peck him softly feeling just how tense he is. It's worse than last night. I kiss him again and he deepens the kiss this time making the ache between my legs come alive just like that. I wonder how many times we'll be able to make love before Kris or the boys get back.
"How long?"
I flinch, pulling away from Travis at the lethal tone of Kris's voice and we both turn to see him standing at the door. "How fucking long has this been going on?"
With my heart at my throat I can barely breathe then the icy chill down my spine nearly paralyzes me when I realize he's holding his gun.
Chapter 20
Kristiano
I didn't think it'd shock me so much. Not after overhearing Travis last night on the phone. I'd suspected for some time now but seeing them like this still takes my breath away as I squeeze the gun in my hand. I should shoot him in the fucking face.
"Put that thing away," Travis says stepping in front of Remi. "Don't be stupid. Think of your future, man. Your career—"
"Fuck you, Travis!" I say as the anger that's been building for days just from my suspicions ignites into a full fury. I lift the gun aiming right between his eyes. "You're in my house with my girl—"
"This is my mom's house too," Travis says, the fire in his eyes lightening up now too. "And Remi's been mine since we were kids. I can explain it all, Kris. Just put the gun down."
"So why didn't you say something?" I ask stepping forward willing the anger to drown out the pain. Then point the gun at Remi raising my voice."Why the fuck didn't you tell me?"
"Don't answer that," Travis says his body completely shielding her now. "Not until you put that thing away. Be smart about this, man. I know you're pissed but you don't wanna do this."
I chuckle dryly, then motion to Remi. "Get out," I say moving out of the way and motion to the open front door. "You make me sick."
"Go," Travis says still shielding Remi as he turns walking backwards so she can walk out still shielded by his body.
Remi grabs Travis's arm. "What about you?"
"Just go," Travis says firmly. "Whatever you do, don't call anyone. I'll deal with this."
She looks so concerned for him it turns my stomach. "Get the fuck out, Remi! Travis and I have some shit to square away."
Reluctantly she leaves in tears and Travis turns to me lifting his hands. "Can we talk?"
"About what? You fucking my girl?"
"I've never fucked Remi," he says surprising me but I don't believe him for a minute.
"You're gonna lie to me now?" I say raising my voice and pulling back the glock on my gun. "You really think I'm that stupid?" I yell letting out what I've been holding in since last night. "You're gonna fuck my girl then insult my intelligence, Travis? I really should—"
"I made love to her, Kris. It's all I meant. You don't fuck a girl you're in love with and I've been in love with Remi since I was twelve. This isn't something that happened overnight. I didn't do this to you. This has been coming forever. I'd never go after your girl just because I was attracted to her." I scoff but he goes on spewing his bullshit even faster. "It's the truth. Hell, I tried doing the right thing. The right thing by you and Elsa—by my unborn kid. But there was no fighting it anymore. Remi's not just some chick to me, Kris. She's not just someone I decided would be fun to have a fling with. She and I have a long history together."
"But she was with me now," I bark, my finger itching to pull the fucking trigger already. "My girl now."
"I know that," he says waving his hand in front of him. "And it's why I tried to stay away. Why I stayed with Elsa. Remi even told me she wanted me out of her life. She wanted to do the right thing too and I accepted it. Only that was over the phone. Once we were in the same room again, in person, there was just no denying what we felt wasn't going away." He shakes his head. "I've sacrificed so much in my life. Something you wouldn't understand."
"What the hell are you talking about?" I nearly charge at him because if he thinks he's going to turn this shit on me—
Travis raises a hand up in front of him eyeing my bad shoulder so I stop. "I mean your whole life you've had shit I've never had. A father figure, your mothers pride and approval, good grades, musical talent. I never even cared about all that, but then I turn around and now you have my Remi too? I almost let you have her. Almost did what I thought I should do. Let you have her because you won her fair and square but I'm sorry, man. She's the one thing in my life I will not sacrifice. I won't live without her anymore. You can't have, Remi. She's mine and always has been."
"So you decide to sneak around behind my back instead? Knowing I'd be fucking her too? You sick fuck!"
"This just started a couple of weeks ago," he yells. "Before you got shot."
Slowly, I lower my gun and I listen as he explains it all a little calmer now that I don't have my gun pointed at his face. My heart withers in pain with every word. "You don't wanna shoot me man. Ruin your career—your life. Not for Remi. I'd kill you for her," he says with an undeniable conviction. "In a fucking heart beat. We wouldn't even be having this conversation because you'd already be dead. I've already almost killed someone for her. But she's my soul mate, Kris. Not yours."
That sinks in with an agonizing sting because it's the truth. The whole time I'd been standing there pointing the gun at him, as furious as I was, I knew I wouldn't. As much as I care for Remi I wouldn't kill for her. Even worse I believe Travis when he says he would.
He explains that nothing had happened between them in years until the weekend after my mom left. That they planned on telling me. Come clean because neither of them wanted to prolong this once they decided. But then I got shot and he starts to tell me about Remi not wanting my mom to have to leave my grandma's side because we broke up and she wouldn't be here to take care of me but I'm done.
"I've heard enough," I say shaking my head. "You should've told me the moment you knew you'd be making a move."
"I thought I could talk to her first. We could tell you before making any kind of move but it just happened. I know you can't possibly understand it but this was something that'd been building for years. I'm sorry—"
"Fuck you," I say laughing humorlessly. "I'm just glad you two were so obnoxiously stupid about it. It didn't take me long to know something was up." I start toward my room. "The boys don't have to go but you do. I don't wanna ever see either you or Remi again. You two assholes deserve each others. You're both dead to me now. Speaking of," I say stopping to turn and look at him. "Grandma's dead. When you call my mom to give her your condolences you can tell her if you do decide to take them, that the boys won't be here when she gets back. Tell her why too. Because you were fucking my girlfriend and you're no longer welcome in our lives."
He says nothing and I turn and walk away. The reality starts to sink in. My world just collapsed. Remi's no longer mine.
Eighteen Months Later
"Detective De Luca," Detective Knight reaches her hand out to shake mine. "I'm Summer. So nice to meet you."
I shake her hand trying not to show my surprise that she's a woman. No one mentioned this when they told me I'd be meeting my new partner today. "Nice to meet you too, Detective Knight."
"Please, call me Summer. And, no my parents were not the evil ones responsible for me being Summer Knight. I married into this and I've never been into the hyphenating thing.
I smile, nodding mildly. Even in her very professionally looking dress slacks and long sleeve buttoned blouse, there's no hiding the body underneath it. My first reaction the moment I saw her, aside from no one told me my new partner would be a woman, was hot damn.
It's late in the
afternoon and the hair she's wearing up in a messy twist looks ready to come down. But despite it not being perfectly in place, it's sexy as shit. I'm eager to impress my superiors so working with her knowing she's single would've been a distraction I don't need.
"In that case, as much as I like the sound of Detective De Luca because it's so new to me, you can call me Kris," I say and she smiles. "My names Kristiano, but except for my mom everyone calls me Kris."
She agrees and we go over a few things about how she typically works with her partners. Who usually handle's what, and a few of her pet peeves. We go over the schedule for the next few days. It's pretty cut and dry and since it is the end of the day and we don't have a case to work yet, I'm out of their fairly quickly.
I drive to Sandra's house. A girl I've been seeing for a few months now. She's a wedding planner I met at my chiefs daughter's wedding a few months ago. I had my reservations about getting involved with her. Not just because she's my chiefs niece, or because there's anything wrong with her. She's sweet enough and has a body and ass that turn heads. It sure as shit turned mine the day of the wedding. I'm just not sure if I'm ready for something serious again yet.
"I knew you'd do it," Sandra says jumping in my arms as soon as she reaches me. "Detective De Luca. It even sounds perfect. Congrats, Kris. Well deserved!"
I smile as I lean in and kiss her. "Thank you. It does feel pretty good."
It really does. And unlike all the good things that have happened in the past year my first thoughts are no longer on how much better it would feel if I had Remi to help me celebrate. Despite all the anger and hurt I felt when I first found out about her and Travis, I have accepted one thing. Remi wasn't the one for me.
I'm actually glad things went down when they did. That my heart wasn't as invested as it might've been had I been with her longer and they inevitably ended up together. Do I wish things would've gone down differently? That she would've done things right? Broken things off before getting involved with Travis? Yeah,of course. I might even still have a relationship with the closest thing I ever had to a brother.
He's still in touch with my mom. And I even stay in touch with Trace and Trevor. We went caving again just a few weeks ago. I just don't think I could ever be around him and Remi again without it being painful. At the very least incredibly awkward.
Ironically it was my late Aunt Thelma, Travis's mom who used to say everything happens for a reason. I used to think if my aunt hadn't passed when she did, Travis wouldn't have started coming around so often and maybe he and Remi wouldn't have reconnected. But in the end I know if they really are each other's soulmates, they would've ended up together eventually. Maybe my experience with Remi and how things went down was a life lesson of some sort. Though I've yet to figure out just what the hell I was supposed to learn from it.
At the moment all I know for a fact is that life goes on and time really does heal all wounds. I’m over it now and ready to move on with this new adventure, reaching another goal in my life. Making detective.
"So what's your new partner like? Is he old and cranky like you thought he might be?"
"Actually," I say putting my arm around Sandra as we start back to her front door. "He's a she and she's not a whole lot older than me. At least she doesn't look it anyway."
"You're gonna be working side by side with a woman your age?" she asks lifting a brow. "Well, shit. Should I be worried?"
I laugh and lean in to kiss her again. "She's married and she seems very professional. Even if she wasn't. I got big plans for my career. That kind of stuff is frowned upon even between partners who are single. Messing with a married one would likely get me fired. Besides, you know about my past. I'd never do anything like that to you or even think about getting involved with someone who's already in a relationship. Especially not someone who's married. So you have nothing to worry about."
Epilogue
Travis
"Okay, open your eyes," I say anxious now for Remi to see the house.
We've been doing this with every house I flip. Remi's beautiful blue eyes do the same thing they always do when she sees one of my finished products. Open wide as her jaw drops open. But this time it's different. This was a big job and for good reason.
"Oh my God, it's gorgeous," she says as Telli reaches her little hands out to me and I take her from Remi's arms. Remi turns back to me, her eyes still big and bright. "Travis you've outdone yourself."
My baby girl babbles loudly and I kiss her. "You like it too Telli?"
I love that every time I say her name I'll forever think of my mom, who she's named after. It was actually Elsa's idea to name her after my mom. She told me it was my mom who convinced her to to have the baby in the first place. Since obviously she wasn't planned, Elsa had considered aborting. After hearing the heartbeat and feeling the baby move for the first time she said she couldn't even imagine not having it. So when we found out it was a girl, it's the first thing she said. "I'm naming her after your mom."
I kiss Telli again then turn to Remi. "So you love it?"
"Absolutely."
"Really?" I say taking Telli's little hand and kissing it. "Because it could be ours."
She turns to me as surprised as I knew she'd be. The house we have now is big enough but with the boys getting older and my dad living with us, it's gotten a little crowded.
"But this is so big. Do we really need a house this size?"
"It's not so big if you think about it," I say tugging her along into the kitchen that I know she's gonna love. "Trace and Trevor take up a lot of room now. Telli's gonna be with us more often. I get the feeling once Elsa starts working full time we may have her the whole summer every year. Not just part of it. And," I add feeling a little nervous. "You did say we could start talking about having a baby soon."
She turns to me with a strange expression then crinkles her nose with a nervous smile. "I did say that didn't I?"
I laugh and kiss her because I'll never get enough of doing that. "You don't have to decide just yet," I tell her as I let go of her hand so she can walk around the huge kitchen freely. "The safety fence around the pool still has to be installed and so does the security system. So it'll be a few weeks before I have to decide whether I put it back on the market or we move in."
She turns to me with a big smile. "Let's do it."
"Are you serious?"
She walks over to me and cradles my face leaning her forehead against mine. "As serious as I was when I accepted that you were the love of my life and nothing and no one would ever change that. As serious as when I said I do to becoming Mrs. De Luca and as serious as I am about absolutely wanting to have your babies." She pulls away to kiss Telli on the head then turns back to me. "Let's do this."
"Let's do this," I say and she's done it again. Made me the happiest man on the planet.
The End
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And in case you're wondering if Kristiano gets his own HEA, he sure does! You can add his story
Forbidden Summer
the next in The De Luca Boys series of stand alones, no to your GoodReads shelf!
About the Author
Amanda Wylde is an award-winning hybrid author of dozens of titles. She's writing under a pen name to publish stories that give her the freedom to write simply for the love of writing. So get ready to enjoy an author who's possibly already one of your auto buys, push boundaries and steps out of her comfort zone with stories she thought might not otherwise ever see the light of day.
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