Chapter Thirteen
Rooster pulled his bike into the parking lot of Roni’s apartment building and cut it off. He sat there for what seemed like forever. Since talking to Cash, he had gone back and forth with whether he should tell Roni what was going on with Drew. He still hadn’t been able to make a gut decision. For once, he wanted to be completely selfish, he wanted them to have a real shot at a forever. If he told her what he had found out, that could potentially put a stop to the relationship they had begun to build. He knew it was misguided, but he felt responsible for not only Drew but the other kids at the school. He had been an officer for the county; he was supposed to have kept them all safe, keep all the bad shit away. It was still hard, at times, for him to turn off what his former life had been. What if she blamed him for this too? It was something else in a long line of ways he’d failed her. What would he do if that happened? He wasn’t sure he could stomach it again. For a few more days, he wanted to enjoy what they were embarking on. He wanted to live the life he should have lived seventeen years ago.
Getting off the bike, he made his way to her front door, smiling when she opened it before he knocked. “Were you watching for me?”
She rolled her eyes. “That bike is so damn loud I could hear it coming from the road.” In reality, she had been watching for him. Making a complaint was easier than telling him she’d sat at her window almost having a panic attack when he hadn’t come straight inside. She’d worried that he decided they weren’t worth it and he wasn’t willing to do this anymore.
He grinned softly. “It’s okay, you don’t have to admit it. I know you were watching for me. Did you grab a change of clothes?”
Picking up her backpack, she thrust it into his hand. “Yup. Now are you going to tell me what we’re doing and where we’re going?”
“Nope.” He grabbed her hand and pulled her through the door. “This is my secret and your surprise.”
In a whirlwind, he had her on the back of his bike and they were racing down the road. Her arms tightened around his waist, and she got as close as she could when they took a turn. The motion of the bike made them scoot closer together and her chest rubbed against his back. It surprised her how quickly she reacted to him; her body was traitorous as she felt her breasts swell and an answering heat between her thighs. This was definitely a sign that she’d been alone way too long. The rest of the ride was torture as she tried valiantly not to touch him more than she needed to. It dawned on her when they were almost there where they were going.
“You recognize it?” he asked as he parked the bike and turned it off.
It was their swimming hole. “I can’t believe you still know how to get here,” she told him as they got off the bike.
“I’ve come here a lot.”
That surprised the hell out of her. She hadn’t been able to come here after everything that had happened. While it held good memories, she hadn’t been able to reconcile those good memories because she’d been too busy basking in the bad ones. She’d told herself many times that she needed to get over it, but it wasn’t easy. “I’ve never been able to come back. It reminded me of everything I lost.” Truer words had never been spoken, she was positive that their child had been conceived here.
“It always reminded me of the good times, the fun nights we had when we hoped no one was watching. When things got horrible and I didn’t know what else to do, where else to turn, I would come here and think about how crazy we were. This place got me through some of the hardest times of my life. If it’s too sad for you, we can leave.” He noticed the look on her face. Maybe their memories of their time here wasn’t the same. He would hate it if they weren’t. This had always been his place of hope in his times of sadness.
“No.” She shook her head. “I don’t want to leave. Things happened with William that put a negative spin on our time spent here. Let’s make some new memories.” She winked as she reached for the hem of her T-shirt and pulled it over her head. She was determined that life would be different. Liam had made an amazing life for himself, there was no reason she couldn’t make one of her own.
He couldn’t look away as she threw the shirt on the ground and then stepped out of her jeans. All the reasons they shouldn’t be doing this, all the things he needed to tell her about Drew disappeared as his mouth became as dry as the Sahara. He wanted this, more than he had wanted anything in years. Rooster was sick of making sure that everyone else was taken care of. For once, he wanted to take care of himself. He wanted to put himself first and not worry about a million other people.
“It feels really good,” she told him as she dipped under the water and then came back up, treading water.
It had gotten deeper over the years, so he knew it was okay for him to dive in. After he kicked his jeans to the side, he did just that, coming up right beside Roni. He pushed the water out of his eyes and faced her. “You’re right, it feels good. Not too cold, just warm enough.”
She was, for some reason, shy. Here in this place where they had spent so much time, she was shy with him. Grabbing his shoulders, she looped her arms around his neck and buried her face in his shoulder. It was easier not to see his eyes. His eyes could kill her. They asked questions that he didn’t put into word form.
“You okay?” he asked, pulling her chin up with one hand as he maneuvered them to where he could stand.
“Yeah,” she whispered. “It feels weird, being here with you after so much time has passed.”
“It does,” he agreed. “But I’m thankful we got another chance.”
He would regret those words; she knew it, as soon as she told him about what William had made her do. Her inner voice screamed to tell him today, tell him now and get it over with. That voice told her not to make too many memories with him. Too many memories wouldn’t get her through the lonely nights. Another voice told her to experience this one last time—she wanted one night of happiness to make up for the last seventeen years of loneliness. She made a pact with herself, she would tell him in the morning. “I’m thankful too.” She almost choked on the words, but she pushed them past the lump in her throat.
Framing his face with her hands, she leaned in, brushing her lips against his. They were soft and warm, and it was like everything and nothing had changed, all at the same time. She wanted control for a little while before she handed it over. Running her hands down his neck, she moved them down his chest and stomach to the edge of where his boxers rested on his hips. “Are you sure there’s no fish in here or anything?” she mumbled against his lips.
He laughed, his warm breath tickling her face. “I sure as fuck hope not. If there is, I think we’re both screwed and at least we’ll find out together.”
She laughed along with him, allowing him to move her so that her back rested against a wall of rock that made up the edge of the pool of water. Her fingers played with the material of his boxers, wondering if she should go ahead and do this, or if they should wait. In the end, she could no longer wait, and she pushed, sliding them off his hips. With his help, he pushed them down his legs and then picked them up in one of his hands, throwing them onto the shore. When she glanced up at him, she saw that as quickly as she thought she had control, she’d lost it. There was a predatory glint in his gaze that made her think she was about to get schooled on who was the hunter.
Rooster had waited for this for too long. He was on edge and he didn’t know how much longer he could handle being this close to her and not making good on every fantasy he’d ever had. Pressing her against the rock, his mouth claimed hers, his thigh pressed between hers, and his hand went to the wet material of her bra, pushing up the strap.
Roni wanted him to take it off, but to do that, he would have to loosen his hold on her and she didn’t want him to. He held her tightly against his body, his thigh holding her up, almost to the point that her feet weren’t touching the bottom of this shallow end of the pool. Her upper torso was out of the water, and a slight wind blew, causing goosebumps on her skin. Letting go of his neck, she made her own decision. Reaching behind her, she unclasped the hooks of the material and pulled it off her chest before throwing it towards the shoreline and putting her arms back around him, this time at his waist.
Pulling his lips from hers was one of the hardest things he’d ever done, but she’d made it easier on him, removing the bra. Now the only thing that kept them from being completely intimate was the cotton material of her underwear.
“Are you sure about this?” he breathed heavily against her the skin of her chest. “You have to be sure. I don’t want to wake up with regrets tomorrow.”
She nodded. “I’m sure.”
It was the green light he needed, and he swore to himself that he would never look back.