Devour

by E. K. Blair

  She looked flabbergasted. “You’ve already... Never mind. I don’t want to think about that because I’ll end up wet again.”

  She turned tail and walked back towards the kitchen door, looked at me, gave me a saucy grin then walked through the door.

  Fucking hell.

  Chapter 58

  Thalia

  Earlier, when I’d been standing in the kitchen with Phoenix and his family, listening to them discuss what was going to happen, had filled my belly with nerves. They seemed to accept the decision both their sons had made, especially Stephanie with her including me in the wedding plans, which were going to be changed to Mia and Liam, instead of Phoenix. For some reason though I still felt uneasy, as though a bomb was about to be dropped.

  Phoenix, Liam and their father had gone along to Mia’s house to talk with her father about the change in groom. Graham had been unsure about what Lewis’ reaction would be, whereas Mia was terrified that he’d get really angry and follow through on his threat to remove her mother.

  That had been three hours ago and neither Mia nor myself had heard anything from them. I’d tried to ring Phoenix and Mia had tried Liam, but neither one was answering their phones. Mia, as a last resort, had tried to ring Stephanie on her cell, but no answer there.

  My gut was telling me that something was wrong, but what, I had no idea. There were three of them so I didn’t believe Lewis had taken his temper out on them, but why the hell hadn’t Phoenix rang me?

  “Thalia, stop pacing. You’re making me and Mia dizzy,” Callie informed me from her bed in the inn.

  The guys had dropped us off with Callie on the way to Mia’s parents’ place. We’d also been in time to watch Reece sneaking out back, much to my friend’s embarrassment.

  “Why the hell are they taking so long? And why haven’t they rung one of us? It doesn’t make any sense. It shouldn’t take this long. Ugh.”

  “I don’t know why, but you’re making me more nervous.”

  I came to a dead stop and stared at them. “Okay,” I huffed out a breath and plopped down into the chair by the window.

  “You need a distraction,” Callie informed me.

  Distraction. When I needed a distraction it was usually with thoughts of Phoenix. “So, what was Reece doing here, and what about Donovan?” I grinned, as she seemed to look hot all of a sudden.

  “Reece told me he didn’t want Donovan involved with me again. He doesn’t want to share me.” She grinned coyly.

  I met her eyes then started laughing along with Mia. “So Reece wanted you all to himself. That’s hot, just like I bet Reece is naked.” I couldn’t stop giggling.

  “Oh my God. You’re embarrassing.”

  “It was you who said I needed distracting. I think you should give details.”

  “No.”

  “No? I’m your best friend; you’re not allowed to say no. Give me something. Please.” She still looked embarrassed, but she also had a dreamy look on her face. That was something I needed to think about.

  “All I’m going to say is that I think piercings...ah...in certain places are...well...hot.”

  “I only have to see Phoenix’s and my panties are wet.” I turned my attention on Mia. “You need to persuade Liam to get pierced. It will blow your mind.”

  She cringed. “No thanks. I love him just the way he is, besides can you imagine the pain of having his thingy pierced.”

  “Thingy,” Callie croaked.

  Mia shot up off the bed as someone banged on the bedroom door.

  With the door open, I could only see Liam who pulled Mia out of the room and into his arms, and then Phoenix was there. About to run to him his body language pulled me up short.

  “Callie, I know this is your room, but do you think I could have a private word with Thalia?” he asked without one glance at me.

  Callie looked at me then back to Phoenix, then me again, “Thalia?”

  I couldn’t speak, and just nodded my head.

  She grabbed her purse and walked towards the door. “I’ll be downstairs,” she said in warning, closing the door behind her.

  Staring at Phoenix, I was terrified. I’d never seen him so angry and had no idea what had caused him to be like that with me. I wasn’t frightened that he’d physically harm me, but there was something seriously wrong. Gone was the man that loved me. Gone was the man who gave me so much pleasure. Gone was the man who wanted me in his life...

  “What happened?” I croaked out.

  He walked over to the window and looked out through the brown curtains. “Why?” he whispered.

  “Phoenix. You’re frightening me. What’s going on? What do you mean why? Why what?”

  He was tense and still wouldn’t meet my eyes. “I’d have done anything for you...and you betrayed me.”

  Stunned, I had no idea what he was talking about. “You’re not making sense.”

  He turned and finally met my gaze and what I saw broke my heart. His eyes were cold when he looked at me. I backed up and plopped down on to the bed, knowing my legs wouldn’t hold me up for much longer.

  “I’ve packed your things, your bag is downstairs.” He took a deep breath, as my heart broke even more. “You went behind my back and told Lewis about my body art, but what pisses me off even more is that you told him about Deception. You knew what the group means to the guys, and me and because of you he’s threatening to pull strings and get Kix closed unless we stop. All because I’m not marrying his daughter, he’s pissed and using what you told him against us,” he spat out, running his hands through his hair.

  How the hell could he think that I’d go behind his back and cause all that trouble. He said he loved me, but he couldn’t, not if he believed that. “Get out,” I choked out while jumping up from the bed.

  “Is that all you have to say?” he shouted.

  “What is there to say, Phoenix?” I shouted back.

  Donovan opened the door. “Sorry to interrupt, but you might want to keep it down a bit.”

  I ignored him and looked right at Phoenix. “You already have me guilty. What’s left to say?”

  For the first time since he’d started with his accusations I saw a flicker of doubt cross his face. I’d be damned if I was going to stand and defend myself. If he loved me he would have asked me and gave me the benefit of the doubt, but he hadn’t, and it hurt. I felt as though he’d crushed my heart and blown away the pieces.

  Donovan was still standing in the doorway so I turned to him. “Take him with you,” I looked back to Phoenix with tears rolling down my face. “Get out.”

  He hesitated, reaching a hand out to me. I shook my head and backed up. “Don’t touch me; just leave,” I cried.

  “Why, Thalia? I need to know.”

  I looked between Phoenix and Donovan and couldn’t stem the flow of tears, which were falling faster than I could wipe them away. “I can’t tell you anything, because I haven’t done anything wrong.”

  “What’s going on?” Callie asked pushing past Donovan into the room.

  “Get them out,” I whispered to Callie.

  “Okay, I don’t know what’s going on, but you both need to leave. Now.”

  “Callie, I haven’t finished talking to her.”

  “Yes. You. Have,” I told him. “I don’t have anything else to say, Jack.” I told him, then turned and walked to the window with my back to him.

  He’d noticed the emphasis on his name. The name I hadn’t called him since I’d discovered him as Phoenix. A name I wouldn’t use again.

  I heard movement behind me then the door closed. I turned to check they’d gone before I broke down in tears. Callie came running over to me, wrapping me in her arms.

  “Talk to me,” she demanded, pulling me over to the bed.

  Sitting next to her on the bed, I placed my head on her shoulder and cried. Callie just held me until my cries became sniffles.

  After wiping my eyes and blowing my nose, I turned to her, “He accused me of telling Lewi
s, Mia’s dad, about his tattoos and the fact that he’s in a band. Apparently Lewis threatened to shut Kix down if they didn’t stop because he’s pissed Jack isn’t marrying Mia. Jack didn’t ask me about it, he just assumed whatever he’d heard was fact. I would never do that to him.” I started crying again. “Why would he do that to me?”

  “I don’t know, but I’m going to phone Donovan and get him to tell us what the hell is going on.”

  Chapter 59

  Jack

  How the hell could Thalia have gone behind my back and told Lewis about my tattoos and Deception? Did she do it in the hope he’d put a stop to the wedding if he knew about me?

  Earlier when we’d arrived at Mia’s house, just her father had been home, and he sure hadn’t seemed happy to see us.

  No sooner had he shown us into the sitting room, I’d turned around and told him I wasn’t going to marry Mia. You could see the steam coming out of his ears. Liam had then jumped in by telling him that there was still going to be a wedding, but he was the groom. He’d told him that he loved Mia and would take good care of her. To say Lewis had been pissed was an understatement; he’d been furious.

  He’d practically been frothing at the mouth when he’d spat out about me, and my body art, which had my dad looking at me as though I had two heads. My dad had shocked both Liam and me; by telling me the body art didn’t matter, regardless of what he’d previously said. The fact was, I was his son and he loved me anyway.

  Lewis had blown his lid at how accepting our dad was being and then had sneered and dropped the bomb shell about Deception and Kix. Yeah, that had been a shocker; one, which Dad tried to hide, and had carried on supporting me, but the real punch to the gut was when he announced that Thalia, had thought it would be of interest to him in knowing about my secret and recent activities.

  I hadn’t believed him at first, but the things he’d told us had to have come from Thalia. I’d been left speechless, and had finally let Liam drag me out of the house and into the car.

  As my dad had started driving to town, I’d asked him to take us home. I’d needed to think before I saw Thalia. Dad after a few choice words had said I was old enough to make my own decision and that this mess wouldn’t have happened if he’d left me alone, instead of trying to interfere in my life.

  My dad was pissed to put it mildly and had been mumbling about sorting the law offices out, and about what a fucking mess Lewis had made. I guess he was going to dissolve the partnership from what he’d been mumbling about.

  What none of us, Dad included, could understand was what Lewis had against our family. He’d been a partner with my dad for around twenty-six years, and like Dad had pointed out it felt like he was pissed with us for something. Dad hadn’t a clue.

  While I’d been at home there was no conclusion to come to. Thalia had betrayed my trust and gone behind my back. I just couldn’t get it out of my head. After everything we’d done together, how the hell could she have done that?

  Without any more thinking because it was driving me crazy, I’d gone into her room and thrown all her things into her bag, against my mom’s wishes I might add. Mom had tried to tell me that I must have it wrong, that Thalia loved me and wouldn’t do anything to hurt me, which pissed me off even more.

  So that being done, I climbed back into the car with Liam and let him drive back into town to the inn. Reece and Donovan had been sitting outside waiting for us, thanks to Liam calling them.

  They’d tried to get me to calm down and to think my actions through first, but I’d been adamant about what was going to happen. Liam had told me I was being a bastard, which very nearly earned him a black eye.

  Sitting on the bank of the river on our land, I watched the water turn from calm into the ferocious rapids that became even stronger as they headed towards the rickety bridge. I was trying to hold myself together. No matter how mad I was at Thalia, I just couldn’t get the shock on her face when I’d accused her of going behind my back, out of my head.

  She was either a very good liar or Lewis had lied, and it hadn’t been Thalia’s doing at all. God, I was so fucking screwed up.

  “I can’t decide whether to punch you or ignore you right now. There is no way Thalia did what you’re accusing her of.” Donovan walked closer to me and got right in my face. “Did you look at her when she told you to get out, and I mean really look at her? You, in the space of five minutes destroyed the best thing that ever happened to you.” He turned from me, sitting down about ten feet away glaring into the water. “You never even asked her about what Lewis said. You didn’t give her the chance to tell you she had nothing to do with it. You just accused her, and that was that. You’re an ass.”

  “You’re saying Lewis lied to us? Why would he tell us it was Thalia if it wasn’t? He had the information to use against me, he didn’t need to use Thalia’s name,” I questioned.

  Donovan sighed. “I don’t know. Liam said he felt there was more going on than what you all realized. Tell me honestly, do you really believe Thalia went behind your back?”

  “No... God I was a bastard. How could I do that to the woman I love?” I ran my hands through my hair, hoping to find inspiration. “I was so mad. I didn’t stop to think. I just acted. I’ve fucked up.”

  “I’d agree with that.”

  “What the hell am I going to do? She probably won’t even talk to me, and I wouldn’t blame her, after what I said to her.”

  “You need to go get on your knees and apologize. Be prepared to beg. My guess is, she won’t make it easy...Reece said Callie’s booked them both on a flight to Texas tonight.”

  I whipped my head around to look at him. “Tonight?” I whispered; so close to balling like a baby.

  Donovan just nodded his head.

  Standing, I ran my hands through my hair again and then over my face, swiping at the tears in my eyes before Donovan noticed. Although I thought it was probably too late for that.

  Donovan joined me as we started to walk back towards the house, both of us deep in thought. As we came out from the trees, I saw both Liam and Mia sitting on the porch steps wrapped around each other. That should have been Thalia and me.

  “Jack, you need to listen to what Mia has to say,” Liam informed me while trying to reassure her.

  I felt weary and wished I could turn back the clock before everything changed. “Go on.”

  “It was Rebecca who told my dad about your tattoos and Deception.” I met Liam’s eyes.

  He turned to Mia, “Carry on, babe.”

  “She was pissed that I’d told her I didn’t want her in the wedding, so she went and told my dad about you. Apparently she was outside Kix one night and saw you without your t-shirt with Thalia in your arms...I’m so sorry Jack. It’s all my fault,” Mia told me, then broke into tears.

  “It isn’t your fault, Mia. You’re not responsible for what your dad has done. He’s the one to blame, not you.”

  “You might think differently after I tell you why my dad is being like he is.”

  I looked at Liam wondering what the hell was going on.

  “Jack,” Mia said. “My father saw... Oh God this is embarrassing.”

  “What she’s trying to tell you is that her dad saw us that night. Three years ago. He saw us.” Liam looked really angry. “He said we were dressing when he spotted us through the trees...I don’t know how much truth is in that, but he figured out that it had been Mia’s first time. He said at first he was shocked, but then he accepted it because he’d seen how much I loved his daughter.” He pulled Mia even closer. “But all that changed when I disappeared and left his Mia all alone; heartbroken. Lewis said he’d been waiting to hurt me like I’d hurt his little girl. That’s why he kept hinting to Dad that it was you who Mia needed to marry, because he knew it would hurt me.”

  Liam hugged Mia tighter as though he was trying to make up for his mistake three years ago. “Knowing Mia would be married to my brother. He’s lost all reason... Ryder rang as well, and said h
e’d heard what had been threatened and not to worry, because it was all threat. He owns Kix outright and he has all the permits he needs to run the bar, and he hasn’t been in breach of any of them.”

  “My dad has created one hell of a mess because of what he saw between Liam and me...Jack, you need to go and talk to Thalia,” Mia told me, standing and taking my hand into hers. “I know she still loves you Jack, but you probably broke her heart going off like you did. You need to make this right with her.”

  I sighed. “I know. I’m going to head over to the inn. I’ll see you guys later.”

  I knew what I had to do, but I didn’t think it was going to be as easy as I hoped.

  Chapter 60

  Thalia

  I’d stayed standing at the window and watched Jack and everyone leave. They all believed that I’d betrayed them. The pain sliced through me and I felt shattered. Nothing had ever hurt as much. I loved him before, and I still loved him, but I felt as though he’d torn my heart out.

  Callie had called Reece on his cell and managed to get some of the story out of him. I knew I hadn’t been responsible for what happened, and couldn’t believe Jack believed what he’d been told. He never even bothered to ask me. Just presumed. That’s what broke my heart the most; what I couldn’t get out of my head. I hadn’t been thinking about what he’d accused me of, just the fact he hadn’t trusted me.

  Sitting at the window in Callie’s room, I just wanted to walk over to the bed, curl into a ball and cry my eyes out. My heart was shattered.

  Callie had made us both reservations on a flight to San Antonio, for later tonight. She’d told me that I needed some Texan hospitality to try and get over what had happened with Jack. The thing was I didn’t think it was going to be that easy to forget, because when I left I’d be leaving part of my heart behind.

  In the few weeks I’d know him and been with him, Jack had become an integral part of my life and I’d been looking forward to living with him when we returned to college after the summer. To see where our relationship led – but no more.