by A. M. Myers
“No,” I whine, closing my eyes. “It’s too early.”
She laughs. “It’s almost nine.”
“We’re on vacation.”
“Which means we should probably try and spend some time together,” she argues as she holds my coffee in her hand and tilts her head to the side. The early morning sunlight frames her silhouette and she flashes me a smile that smacks me right in the chest.
“You’re fucking gorgeous, angel.”
She blushes but shakes her head. “Time to get up.”
Before I can stop her, she climbs off of me and sets my coffee down on the nightstand again. I watch her as she grabs my t-shirt and pulls it over her head. As she turns and struts away from me, I sit up and lean back against the headboard with a grin. I bite my lip as her ass sways back and forth in her tiny little pair of lace panties. Fuck, she’s perfect.
“Come on, baby. Turn around and come back to bed,” I say, thrusting my hips into the air as the words roll off my lips and she rolls her eyes.
“If I come back to bed, it’s to sleep, not fuck,” she warns, arching a brow in my direction and my cock twitches at her dirty mouth. “Between the multiple orgasms, your snoring, and a nightmare, I didn’t get much sleep.”
I frown. “What did you have a bad dream about?”
“Oh, it wasn’t me. It was you,” she says as she sits down at the table and picks up a pencil. My dream from last night plays out in my mind and I wince as a shudder runs through me. It all started out fine - Juliette and I were in bed at home when I looked out of the window and noticed a black SUV, the same one that we saw at the park and when I turned back to tell Juliette, she had vanished. I was in a panic, searching for her everywhere but no matter how hard I tried to find her, I came up empty. Then, it morphed into some kind of weird haze from my past and I found her dead on the living room floor. I push the image out of my mind as I pick up my coffee and take a sip
Ever since we left Baton Rouge, I’ve really been trying to not focus on all the questions I have about Juliette but it’s getting harder and harder. My initial feeling was right all along and there is something going on with her but I just can’t put my finger on what it is. What the hell does she have going on that is so bad she feels like she can’t talk to me about it? This is what I do and I’ve claimed her in front of the whole damn club. There isn’t anything I wouldn’t do for her and it kills me to think that she can’t trust me with this. God, I want to ask her so fucking bad but I promised her we’d wait until we got back to the city and I’m going to honor that. That doesn’t mean I didn’t ask Streak to look into it for me, though.
“What are you working on over there?” I ask, watching her as she scowls at her paper and drags the eraser across it, her cute little nose crinkling in displeasure. She looks up.
“Just doodling.”
I scoff and throw the covers off of my legs before climbing out of bed and after walking across the room, I sink into the chair next to her in my birthday suit. “Let me see.”
“No making fun of me.”
“Why would I make fun of you?” I ask, throwing my arm over her chair and pulling her closer. She shrugs as a blush stains her cheeks.
“I don’t know. I just hate showing my designs to people before I feel like they’re perfect.”
“I bet it already is perfect.”
She shakes her head as she fights back a grin. “Your approval is not the one I need.”
“Well, let me look anyway.”
She passes over the notebook and my brows shoot up as I study the “doodle” she’s thrown together. It’s a necklace, dripping in diamonds, and all I can imagine is her wearing it around her pretty little neck with nothing else on as she rides my cock.
“What do you think?”
I turn to her and my gaze falls down to her nipples as they press against the fabric of my t-shirt. “I think you’d look fucking amazing in this… and nothing else.”
“Fucking pervert,” she scoffs, giving me a little shove as she turns away to hide her smile. My chest aches as I watch her.
This woman fucking owns me.
“Tell me I’m wrong,” I whisper as I lean in and let my lips brush against her neck as I breathe in her scent. She shivers.
“I can’t.”
I grin. “See? Now come over here and kiss me.”
“Only because I like you so much,” she murmurs as she gets up and straddles my legs. I wrap my arms around her and pull her closer as she runs her fingers across my chest with a sigh. “You going to tell me what your bad dream was about?”
“It was about you.”
Surprised eyes meet mine. “Me?”
“Yep. I dreamed about you going missing and mystery black SUVs.”
“Oh,” she whispers with a nod as she stares down at her lap. “That.”
Reaching up, I cup her cheek and force her gaze back to mine. “Why won’t you tell me what’s going on, baby? Do you not trust me? Is it that bad?”
“It’s…complicated. And I am going to tell you as soon as we get back to Baton Rouge but I just want to enjoy spending time with you before things get complicated.”
I tighten my grip and sigh. “Are you in danger?”
“I don’t think so.”
“What the fuck does that mean?” I ask, studying her as my mind spins.
“I told you it was complicated.”
I scoff as I turn to look out of the window. “Yeah, you did…”
“Sawyer… I hope you know that no matter what I have to tell you when we get back, my feelings for you are real. I want you. I want us.”
“Okay,” I say, nodding despite the voice in my head that is screaming at me that she’s lying. “Let’s just table it for now.”
She nods and turns to look over at her drawing. After a minute she starts chewing on her bottom lip and I can practically see the wheels turning in her head.
“What are you thinking about so hard? I thought we were gonna drop it.”
“Actually, I was thinking about doing your idea for the advertisement. I think it’d be gorgeous.”
I jerk back. “You absolutely will not.”
“Excuse me?” she hisses, her brow arching as she turns to glare at me. “What did you just say?”
“I said there’s no way in fucking hell I’m going to let you pose naked for the whole goddamn world to see,” I snap and her eyes widen. She stands up so suddenly that she almost knocks the chair over and before I can grab her, she stalks over to the bed and grabs a pair of shorts.
“Where the fuck are you going?”
She stands and pulls her shorts on, glaring at me the whole time. “I’m going for a walk.”
“No, you’re not.”
“Listen here, you fucking cave man, I’m tired, I’m hungry, and I’m very likely going to kill you if you keep saying shit like you aren’t going to let me do this or that so I’m going for a walk. End of discussion.”
After slipping her feet into her tennis shoes, she marches past me and I try to grab her hand but she rips it from my grasp without even looking back at me. The screen door slams as she stomps down the stairs and a scream of frustration rips through the air, echoing through the trees around us. Scrubbing my hand over my face, I sigh.
Well, that could have gone better.
What the hell was I thinking? I know better than to try and tell a woman what to do but the thought of millions of men staring her naked body, especially after everything that we shared last night, made me fucking homicidal. And now I can't even apologize to her. Turning away from the door, I scan the cabin and stop on the refrigerator. I guess I could cook something for her. She did say she was hungry and maybe if I feed her she won't be so damn mad at me. Sighing, I get up and grab a few things out of the fridge. I’m not a great cook but I can fry bacon and whip up some eggs, at least and then when she gets back, we’ll talk this out. There is no other option because she’s right, I know how she feels about me and I know there’s no
way in hell I’m walking away from her.
As I grab the pan from the cupboard, a loud bang rings through the trees and every muscle in my body tightens as I turn toward the door. That sounded like a gunshot… With my heart pounding in my ears, I throw on my jeans and rush out to the front porch as I scan the property for any sign of Juliette but the trees are blocking most of my view. Another bang echoes through the trees and my stomach drops as I jump off the porch.
“Juliette!” I yell, running into the trees before I stop to listen for her.
Come on, baby.
Let me hear you.
“Juliette!”
Silence greets me and I take off in one direction, hoping I run into her at some point. The forest is silent, too fucking silent, or maybe I can’t hear anything over the thrashing in my ears as I scan the area around me for any sign of her. Either way, it’s fucking torture.
“Juliette!” I scream, stopping and bringing my hands on my knees as I suck air into my lungs. My chest feels tight and my hands shake as fear runs rampant through me.
Please, baby…
Say something.
I remember she wanted to check out the lake so I turn in that direction and take off again, praying with every ounce of strength that I have that she’s okay but images of her bleeding out on the ground won’t leave me alone.
“Juliette!”
“Sawyer?”
I skid to a stop.
Her voice is a sweet relief and I turn toward the direction it came from before taking off again. Come on, gorgeous. Where are you? She bursts through the brush with tears in her eyes and crashes into me, almost knocking both of us over. As soon as she’s in my arms, a sob tears through her. I step back to look her over as I run my hands down her arms.
“Are you okay?”
Her eyes meet mine, full of fear as her hands shake and she struggles to breathe. “I heard the bullet… it hit a tree right next to me… I could have died…”
“Shh, baby,” I whisper as I pull her into my arms and close my eyes, thanking God that she is okay. “It’s okay. I’ve got you.”
“The second one…” she continues, speaking quickly in between sobs. “I felt the air from it on my face… It was so close and… it just missed me.”
My stomach rolls thinking about how close I came to losing her. I rub my hands all over her body, wishing I could wrap her up so tight that she’d feel safe again as I scan our surroundings. My nearest neighbor is three miles away and for someone to come that close to hitting her, they had to be on the property.
“Why would someone be shooting a gun out here?” she asks, pulling back to look up at my face and I shake my head.
“I think we should head back to the city.”
Her eyes widen. “You think someone was actually shooting at me?”
“I don’t know but that’s the most likely scenario and I’m not okay with staying here if it’s going to put you in danger.”
“Why?” she whispers, shaking her head. “Why would someone shoot at me?”
“I think it’s time you told me everything, angel.”
She stares up at me for a second before nodding. Relief rushes through me that I’m finally going to get some answers but I won’t rest easy until I know for sure that my girl is safe.
Chapter Twenty
Juliette
My stomach is in knots as Sawyer sets our bags down on the living room floor with a sigh and glances over at me. We spent the drive back from the cabin in silence but he never once took his arm off my shoulder, holding me close to his body. I know we’re still really shook up after what happened at the cabin but he was there for me anyway. It was a relief, to be honest. Who knows how much of a mess I would have been after what happened in the woods if he had been cold and distant to me. Sinking into the couch, I stare at my hands, which haven’t stopped shaking since the shots started. Closing my eyes, I remember hearing that first bang and the way the bark on the tree right next to me exploded as the bullet made impact. I stood there, frozen in fear as my heart thundered in my chest and tears gathered in my eyes, unable to do anything as I cried out for Sawyer. When the second bullet ripped through the air, I felt the force of it against my cheek and my stomach rolls as I think about how close it came to hitting me. I’ve never felt fear like that in my life but I still can’t wrap my head around the idea that someone wants to hurt me.
It doesn’t make any sense.
Sawyer walks into the kitchen and comes back a few seconds later with a beer in his hand before he sits in the chair across from me and nods. “Time to start talking, angel.”
I nod.
“Why don’t we start with who hired that P.I. out front?”
Wincing, I shake my head. “Can we start with something else?”
“Like?” he asks, arching a brow. His gaze is hard and the longer he stares at me, the more I see him shutting down and throwing up walls to block out the pain he thinks I’m going to cause him. God, why didn’t I just tell him the truth from the beginning? Would he really have treated me differently? I suck in a breath as I wring my hands together.
“Do you remember when I told you that my dad just passed away in a car accident?”
He nods. “Yeah.”
“Well, I was in that accident, too…”
“What?” he whispers, concern flashing in his eyes as he studies me. “Why would you lie about that?”
“Because it put me in a coma for a week and when I woke up, I was missing the last five years of my memories.”
His entire body freezes and his eyes widen. “Are you serious?”
I nod.
“Again, why wouldn’t you tell me that?”
“Because I had no idea who I was supposed to be and I didn’t want you to treat me differently. Then, once we started getting to know each other, I was just scared.”
He sucks in a breath and scrubs his hand over his face. “What about now? Can you remember anything from your past?”
“Not really, no.”
Blowing out a breath, he leans forward and shakes his head. “What does that mean?”
“Well, you know that dinner I made you the night you got drunk?”
He nods.
“Apparently, I learned that in a cooking class with Mercedes in Miami. I remember the recipe but I don’t remember the class at all.”
Sighing, he rubs his temple with his fingertips. “Anything else you remember?”
“I don’t think so.”
“Right,” he scoffs, bringing his beer to his lips and chugging half of it before turning to look at me again with narrowed eyes. “How does that lead us to the man following you around?”
My heart hammers out of control and my stomach rolls as I suck in a breath. “When I woke up in the hospital, there was a man there. I didn’t recognize him but he told me that he… was my fiancé.”
“You’re engaged?” he roars, jumping up from his chair and I shake my head as tears prick my eyes.
“No. I was engaged in my old life and before I left Miami, I broke things off with him but as you can see, he’s not exactly taking no for an answer.”
“Jesus Christ,” he hisses as he begins pacing in front of me and running his hand through his hair. “Is there anything else you’re lying to me about?”
I wince and he stops.
“What?”
A tear slips down my cheek and I quickly wipe it away. “Have you ever heard of O’Shaw Records?”
“Of course,” he answers, flashing me a blank look before it fades to recognition. “Holy shit. Are you telling me that you’re the Shaw in O’Shaw Records?”
“No. My dad was.”
“Holy fuck!” he exclaims as he resumes his pacing and I resist the urge to burst into tears. This is so much harder than I thought it would be and it kills me to see the pain in his eyes from my deception. I shouldn’t have lied. My teeth sink into my lip as I stare at my hands and another tear slips down my cheek.
“Sawyer…�
� I whisper and he barely glances at me as he passes by me and turns to go back the other way again before he stops and throws his body back in the chair. Leaning forward, he braces his elbows on his knees.
“I’m fucking terrified to ask but anything else?”
I shake my head. “Not unless you’re concerned with my net worth.”
He balks. “I didn’t even think about that... it’s a lot, isn’t it?”
“Yes.” There’s no point in beating around the bush anymore. If I’m going to tell him the truth, then I’m going to tell him everything.
“How much?”
I open my mouth to respond when he holds his hand up and shakes his head.
“You know what… I don’t want to know.”
My fingers twitch with the urge to reach out and touch him but I know I can’t bring him any comfort right now. “Are you sure you don’t want to know?”
He scoffs. “Am I sure? No, I’m not sure about anything anymore. I can’t decide if I should believe you or if there is still more you’re hiding.”
“I’m putting everything out on the table, Sawyer. I want to build a future with you.”
He falls back in his chair and shakes his head. “I just don’t know if I can do that anymore.”
“What?” I whisper, my heart stalling as tears burn my eyes. He meets my gaze and pain shines back at me, amplifying my own.
“I think I need some time to think about all this.”
A weight settles into my stomach and my chest aches as I nod. “Okay…”
“Go get your things and I’ll drive you over to the clubhouse. They have some rooms you can crash in until you figure something else out,” he says, refusing to look at me and it would have been kinder if he punched me in the gut. Nodding, I push off the couch and practically run to the guest bedroom where I’ve been staying before shutting the door and gasping for air as the tears run down my face.
I knew he would be upset.
I knew he would be mad.
But I had hoped that we had built something strong enough to withstand this. Guess I was wrong.
Through my tears, I throw all my clothes back into my bag before going into the attached bathroom and tossing everything I can find in my toiletries bag. I toss it on top of my other bag as I plop down on the edge of the bed and sob into a pillow. Memories from the past week and a half play out in my mind and I struggle to breathe as the tears refuse to let up. The thought of sitting next to him in the truck as he drives me to a hotel sounds like torture and I know I can’t do it. Tossing the pillow aside, I try to wipe the tears from my face as I pull my phone out of my pocket and text Mercedes.
