She shook her head slightly. No, he didn’t get it, and how could she explain to him that a lot of her piercings were merely a way for her to get to know him. But then she saw that he was partially right, because if she hadn’t avoided the tattoo gun for so long, she would have made that her reason to visit him. The fact that she could be punctured over and over and over again…well, that was because she’d felt like she wasn’t worthy of…something. What, she didn’t know, but she felt like she’d been used and abused and no one would want her.
And yet she hadn’t known that till right this second.
“Yeah, I guess so.”
“So tell me what the hell’s going on, Kory.” His eyes were intense. “Let me in. I won’t hurt you.”
Oh, she’d heard that before. She trusted Stone, yes, but she didn’t feel ready. Somehow, the girl who’d felt like she was a complete and total bad ass now felt very fragile. Afraid. Unsure of the future. Did he fit in it somehow? Oh, God, she hoped so.
“I don’t know that I’m ready to tell you…all of it. I—don’t think I can. Not yet.”
“So tell me part of it. You’re safe with me.”
Oh, she needed to hear that. She let the air out of her lungs and touched his temple with her hand, then traced his jawline with her finger. She then ran her finger along his lips before talking. “I, uh…had a pretty rough childhood. My mom wasn’t a good mother, and, uh…one of her boyfriends treated me badly.”
“Abused you?”
“Yeah.” She’d dropped her finger from his face and was staring at his chin, unable to look him in the eyes for the moment. “I was in therapy for a few years after my mom died, and I thought I’d moved past this.”
He exhaled and pulled her to his chest, as though just the act of caring could wash away every bad thing that Kory had ever felt. She almost believed it could. She pressed her cheek against his painted chest and closed her eyes, letting his love wash over her.
Love? Well, maybe not that but something pretty damn close.
She didn’t think she’d ever been comforted quite the way Stone was, and she thought that his care, if nothing else, could help her heal better than years of therapy or denial had.
She took in a tentative breath, cautious because she considered telling him more. How much would be too much? Could she tell him so much that it would scare him off?
She doubted it. Stone was a strong guy, and she trusted him. He was older, too, and she couldn’t imagine him cowering at a story of when she was a child. After all, it was over now. Before she could talk, though, he said, “Yeah, my old man was a cocksucker. He beat me once a day whether I needed it or not.” The last part of his sentence he’d said as though he were imitating someone else’s voice. Oh, so it wasn’t the same kind of abuse, but abuse just the same. He was a kindred soul, someone who could understand deep down.
Kory couldn’t help her wandering mind. The money probably didn’t come from his dad then. Or maybe it did. Maybe the guy died and Stone had inherited it, the only good thing that had come from having an asshole for a father. She noticed her hand was rubbing Stone’s pec as if to comfort him. Where the hell had that come from? That was not Kory behavior…but she wasn’t going to question it. Somehow, it felt right. “That’s awful.”
“Yeah, but it’s over. I ran away from home when I was fifteen and never looked back.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. Haven’t seen the bastard since then. I don’t plan to, either.”
She had to ask. “So he’s still alive then?”
“Presumably. I have no fucking idea. He used to live in Winchester, but last I knew, he’d moved to Denver or Colorado Springs…and I really don’t care to know.”
Oh. So he’d been hurt pretty badly as a kid, too. Maybe they had a lot more in common than Kory would have at first thought. “So sorry to hear that.”
“Shit, Kory, no. I’m not sorry about him or my past. If it hadn’t been for all his shit, I wouldn’t be who I am or where I am today. Do I look like I’m suffering?”
“Well, no…”
“Exactly.” He pulled back so he could see her face, and he stroked her cheek until she looked up at him. “You, on the other hand…you’re not fully scarred over. Am I right?”
A month ago, she would have insisted that her past was completely behind her. Now, though, she wasn’t so sure, and she thought maybe Stone was one-hundred percent correct. Obviously, she had more healing to do. She exhaled, considering it, and said, “Yeah, I think you might be.”
“I wish I could help you, Kory.”
“I think you already have.” She saw his eyes light up, and he kissed her then, a sweet, soulful kiss, one that sealed his promise. Then Kory felt movement on the bed. When Stone parted his lips from hers, he looked down toward the foot of the bed.
“Lady, you jealous baby. Come here.” The little dog walked behind Stone and he leaned backward. Lady licked his face and he tousled her mane until she walked to the foot of the bed and lay at his feet. Then he kissed Kory on the forehead, pulling her back to his chest, and drifted off into a peaceful slumber. Kory closed her eyes, letting herself bask in his warmth and care.
Chapter Twelve
IN SPITE OF everything—the heavy emotions and the long day—Kory couldn’t sleep. She lay next to Stone for at least an hour, unable to drift off. She knew why. She was grappling with memories and feelings she thought she’d contended with before and believed she’d let go.
Hell, no. Not even close. That shit had been lurking beneath the surface for years, just waiting to jump out and ruin her fucking life.
How had she not known? It had just been waiting for the perfect moment, and there was no way she could have prepared for it.
She tried not to toss and turn because she didn’t want to wake Stone up. Before he fell asleep, she’d failed to mention that she had class the next day, too, and it was too far to walk to her apartment. She decided she’d get up early and call Tina and ask her friend to pick her up. Even if she couldn’t give her exact directions, she could always walk out to the main road. That hadn’t seemed too far from his house.
Or she could skip class. That was always a possibility. Dumb move, though. That particular Friday class only met once a week and it was brutal. Missing one class was like missing an entire week during the regular semester. The professor had said that more than once, and she hadn’t been kidding. Kory definitely didn’t want to have to retake the damn thing during the fall semester, so she had to make sure she passed it now. That meant trying to get to all the classes.
Well, she’d worry about it in the morning. In the meantime, though, she had to fetch her phone out of her jeans and set an alarm.
She got out of bed and found the pants at the foot of the bed in a pile of clothing. She found her phone and set an alarm, and then she placed the phone on the nightstand on the side of the bed she’d been resting on. Lady raised her head and looked at her but didn’t get up. Kory couldn’t help but smile. She was a sweet dog. Kory could sense that.
She decided to get a drink of water before heading back to bed. Not wanting to be naked, she rifled through the clothing at the foot of the bed once more and picked up Stone’s t-shirt first. She held it to her face, breathing in his smell. Just the scent of his skin against the fabric comforted her somehow, so she slipped the shirt on. It was silly, she knew, but she didn’t want to traipse around his house naked. She didn’t know how close any neighbors were or if the curtains on the windows downstairs were wide open. She only knew they’d come up here without turning off any lights, and she didn’t want to be seen in the nude.
She walked toward the stairwell and made her way down the carpeted treads. Just as she’d remembered, there were still lights on. When she got to the second level, the one where they’d entered the house, she looked around. She was again in what she thought was a living room. She glanced around the cavernous space and concluded that it definitely was. A huge glass window that scaled the s
pace from floor to majestic ceiling peered out over forest, and the window extended into what she thought was the family room area that was separated by a wall that didn’t quite touch the ceiling. There was an entryway against the wall of the kitchen. Near that exit was another door that led to who knew what, but as she walked toward the kitchen, the one place where bright lights poured out of, she peeked in the doorway. There was a hall with a few doors. One of them was open and looked like a bathroom, but she wasn’t about to go snooping…yet.
When she got in the kitchen, she searched in a couple of cabinets until she found the glasses. Then she poured water through the faucet and filled her glass, guzzling the water down. She noticed that it was cooler than the water in town, which was always warmer and gross in the summer months, but the water here tasted better. It wasn’t until she set the glass next to the sink and turned around that she noticed the fridge had a space in the door for both ice and water.
She walked over to the other end of the kitchen where she and Stone had first entered, where the large table hulked next to the fireplace, and peeked inside what she’d thought was a family room. Sure enough, there was a large couch and other furniture, as well as a huge widescreen TV and lots more electronic equipment. She walked over and shut the television off, but she noticed that the entryway carved into the wall that didn’t quite touch the ceiling beside the couch was in fact a doorway to the living room, just like she’s suspected when she’d been on the other side.
What continued to stick in her mind was the fact that this guy was fucking loaded, and she never would have guessed it. He didn’t act that way—the way he dressed, the way he talked, the way he carried himself never once suggested that he had a lot of money. She was beginning to wonder if she should become a tattoo artist. The biggest problem was that she couldn’t draw to save her life. But if his talents had afforded him all this? It was something she should perhaps consider looking into. Maybe she could take an art class or two at the college and see if maybe any talent could be drawn out of her.
Meanwhile, she wanted to climb back into bed next to him, bask in his warmth. He was a lot more tender than she’d expected. A guy covered in tattoos could easily be a cold, spiny asshole, but he’d been sweet and caring. Kory was probably the jerk in the relationship. She walked back through the kitchen and saw that there was a light switch at both ends of the room, so she waited until she got to the other side. She paused, not wanting to walk through the house if it was completely dark, so she tiptoed into the living room and turned on a lamp. Then she moved back to the kitchen doorway and turned the light off. As she turned around and began walking to the lamp to shut it off, she paused at the stairway. Maybe she’d peek downstairs a little before heading back up. She looked down and saw a light switch on the wall a few steps down and placed a foot on the first tread, deciding just to peek.
But then bright light flooded the area above her and she turned around. Stone stood at the top of the stairs in his bedroom looking down. “What’s up?” he asked.
Oh, poor thing. He looked so sleepy. “I just got up for a glass of water and…” Might as well be honest. “Just wondered how big your house is.”
He shrugged. “Too big for a single guy like me.” She took a tentative step to turn off the lamp. “Just…I don’t care if you see my place, but I’m not ready for you to see everything yet.”
Okay, so that was weird. She walked over to the lamp and switched it off and then began walking up the stairs to Stone’s room. Maybe she should ask him to just take her home now. After all, she was awake and so was he and, well, now things were starting to feel strange and awkward.
She avoided eye contact as she took one step after another. When she made it to the top, Stone took her hand. “I know it probably seems odd, but…if you really don’t know who I am, I’d kinda like to keep it that way for a while. You walk down there, then you’ll know, and I don’t want you to look at me differently.”
She cocked her head, looking in his eyes then. She remembered him saying on their first date (or was it when she’d asked him out?) that she had to know him, doubting that she didn’t really know who he was. That must have been it, though. He actually was some rich and famous dude that she was too fucking stupid to know. Well, she’d never followed celebrities, not having much reason to give a shit about them. Or maybe he was the son of some rich guy—as she’d wondered before—and, whether they’d gotten along or not, perhaps he’d inherited the old guy’s stuff. Whatever the case, Stone was convinced that she should know and had a hard time believing she didn’t.
She’d humor him, though. She knew, based on what he’d said, that he planned to tell her someday, so she’d be happy with that. She nodded and gave him a small smile. “Just give me more time, Kory. It’s nice just being myself for a change.” He leaned over and kissed her, immersing her magic and fire once more, but the one kiss was all she got before they drifted off to sleep with Lady curled up at the foot of the bed. And, before they passed out, Kory asked if he could drive her to class in the morning and he mumbled that he’d love to.
For one of the first times in her life, Kory felt secure and loved…and almost happy.
* * *
Kory’s stupid phone started blaring early, a weird klaxon that made it sound like she needed to evacuate before radiation levels reached critical mass. She jumped out of the soft bed, knocking the phone on the floor. She leaned over and picked it up, swiping it into silence.
She noticed Stone and Lady were nowhere to be found. She thought she could smell the aroma of bacon wafting up the stairs, but she realized that could also have been her overactive (and hungry) imagination. Still, she was curious enough that she had to check. She found Stone’s t-shirt again and slipped it on. It was becoming a security blanket.
She hoped Stone was downstairs. If he wasn’t, she wasn’t sure what she’d do. But when she was halfway down the stairs, she could hear music playing in the kitchen and she was positive that smell was bacon too. As she got closer, she could hear him singing, and she tried not to giggle, because he was really into it. She realized it was a Trivium song, and as she walked into the kitchen, she saw him drumming a spatula against the stove in time to the song. Lady saw her first and ran over to her in the doorway, jumping up and putting her paws on Kory’s legs. “Morning,” she said to the little dog, and Stone looked over, grinning.
“Morning. Caught me.”
“Guess I did.”
He walked over and kissed her on the forehead. “There’s coffee if you like it.”
“I like it okay. Do you have a Diet Coke, though? I like that better.”
He wrinkled his nose. “No diet anything is allowed in this house.”
“Wow. Okay. What about juice?”
“I think there might still be some grape juice on the top shelf.” She nodded and walked over, opening the door. She found it in a pitcher and pulled it out. “I suppose you like fancy lattes.”
She grinned, setting the pitcher on the table, and then she shrugged. “I’ve never really had one, so I can’t say.”
He turned back around, ignoring the bacon. “You’ve never had one?” She shook her head. She couldn’t afford an overpriced drink that would take her half an hour of hard work to earn. No way in hell. “Then you are in for a treat. I’m buying you one this morning.”
“No way. They’re all sugary and shit, right? And ridiculously expensive?”
“And I’m going to get you one.”
She grinned. “Fine.” It wasn’t that she worried about her weight, but she hated how syrupy non-diet sodas felt in her mouth. Maybe a coffee would be different. She’d never had a guy want to spend money on her, either, and that thought made her feel warm inside.
“Have a seat. I’m not much of a cook, but there are a few things I can do: toast, bacon, and eggs. You okay with that?”
She walked to the cupboard where she’d found a glass the night before and took out a smaller one for juice. “I’ll have a p
iece of bacon.”
He turned to look at her, his classic sneer spread over his face, making him look strangely hot. Something Kory needed to realize was that this guy was beginning to be it for her, and so it didn’t matter what expression or clothes he wore, what things he said, what he was doing. He was incredibly attractive no matter what he did. He said, “A piece of bacon? That’s it?”
She shrugged, trying not to give away the thoughts in her head that had nothing to do with breakfast. “Maybe some toast too.”
“Maybe? You’re crazy.”
“I don’t eat a lot in the morning. If I eat too much, I get sleepy in class.”
“Really?” He pulled the last few slices of bacon out of the skillet and placed them on the plate lined with paper towels. There were already several slices on it, next to four buttered slices of toast. He brought the plate to the table and then walked back to the stove. There were four eggs and he cracked them in the skillet one at a time and then whisked the fork he’d used on the bacon through them with lightning speed. “Not even an egg?” he asked, keeping his eye on the skillet.
“I guess I’ll have a little…since you’re going to so much trouble.”
He turned around and looked at her, grinning. “That a girl.”
She rolled her eyes as he turned around and finished up the eggs. He reached into a cabinet just a little to the left and pulled out two plates, and then he scooped the eggs onto them—a little on one and a lot on the other.
He moved the skillet off the burner and walked to the table, setting one plate in front of Kory. “Sorry they’re a little greasy. I like to fry them in bacon grease, because they taste better.” Before sitting down, he pulled a couple of forks out of a drawer, handing one to Kory.
She looked at her plate and the grease made them look unappealing. She was going to eat them, though, because he’d made them for her. She took a half slice of toast and a piece of bacon and put them on her plate. She drank some juice before picking up the fork. “You know this shit’s bad for your heart, right?”
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