* * *

“Do you want me to go get you some videos or are you cool with whatever’s on TV?” He stood next to the bed looking down at me as I played with my bear. I didn’t have to think about it.

“I feel like laughing, but Jill has my copy of Bridesmaids.” I played with my bear, finding joy in something as simple as that.

“I’ll get you another one.” There was something odd in his voice but when I looked at him his facial expression was blank so maybe I was just hearing things. “Oh where’s my phone?”

“Still with the cops, who do you need to talk to? I’m here and your mom and dad are downstairs. I already told you, you’re not talking to any of those assholes until this shit gets cleared up. Now kiss me so I can go get you your girly shit to watch.”

He caged me in with his arms and kissed me in a way that stole my breath. The new girl inside me spread herself out on the bed at his mercy.

In reality I got lost in his kiss and refused to let go when he tried pulling back. It was the best kiss we’d ever shared and I wanted more. What exactly had happened to me when I was lost in the dark?

“Ummm, baby, let me go I won’t be long.” He took a few last nibbles of my lips before straightening up and walking out the door. Leaving me to stare after him in wonder.

What exactly is going on? I thought I was supposed to be the one with the out of body experience. But I can’t remember anything about my time at death’s door.

He on the other hand is sure acting like he’d been through a metamorphosis.

* * *

* * *

I want to hit something… hard. I’ve been holding this shit in for the past couple weeks but I know if something doesn’t give soon I’m going to lose my mind.

Most of my anger is directed at myself. I should’ve listened to her when she came to me, but instead I’d let my famous temper get the better of me.

Kristi doesn’t know this side of me and I never wanted her to. I’m the coolest guy around until you fuck with someone I love; then I pull a Hulk and turn into something else entirely.

Those years when I was away from her I missed her like crazy, but I missed her as the friend I’d hunted frogs with. The girl I’d taught to climb trees when we were five.

But that first night when I came back I knew things had changed. She was the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen. Nothing at all like the tomboy I’d envisioned in my head all those years.

It was true that I’d come back for her. When dad had the opportunity of moving back to our hometown or somewhere else once he became VP, I’d campaigned hard for coming back here.

Mom who’d been missing her friends and family had backed me up and the old man caved. I hadn’t given my new friends a second thought, because I knew I was going back to her.

I’d barely made it through the door of our old home that had been leased out until two months before we came back, before I was heading across the street to her.

It wasn’t until I rang the bell that the thought that she might’ve moved hit me. The feeling of loss was instant, but when she opened the door and I saw her for the first time in years it was as if the time had never been.

When she threw herself into my arms my heart knew her right then and there and it was all I could do not to kiss her the way I wanted to.

I gave her two weeks before claiming her. Not from any fear of refusal, it was for her. She was still the innocent little girl I remembered.

Where I’d grown into my teen years, she was still very much a daddy’s girl who maybe because of our small town and the way her parents shielded her, hadn’t outgrown the stigma of small town princess.

Life in the big city, which is where we’d moved to, had shown me a whole different way of life. You learn to shed that innocence quick unless you want to get the shit beat out of you on a daily basis.

So although I was just a few months older than her, in reality I was years ahead of her. That only made me want to protect her, to shield her.

I didn’t pressure her to have sex in the past year because the girl wasn’t ready, and because I knew that she was mine forever, there was no need to rush.

Not that I didn’t want to every second of every moment spent with her, but our hot wild kisses were enough for me then.

Now, after coming this close to losing her, I know that shit was dead. No more waiting. I’m going to claim her in every way and make sure nothing ever comes between us again.

When I first saw the images of her lying half naked on a bed with some strange guy in the room with her, the betrayal had cut deep.

I didn’t stop to question what I was looking at, just went with it. If she’d been standing in front of me I would’ve said some shit to her that I could never take back. That’s one of the reasons I refused to talk to her.

Had I not been a first class asshole I would’ve known that she would never do something like this.

But I didn’t think and my anger ruled the day for two weeks. Plus I wanted to strangle her each time I saw her so it was better to just stay away.

I didn’t care that she was hurting; I was hurting. What the fuck did she have to be hurt about anyway? She’s the one who’d fucked up.

I never even let myself look in her direction in those two weeks, and each time she tried talking to me and I turned my back on her I felt better, knowing that I was hurting her the way she’d hurt me.

And then her dad called and my world went dark. My beautiful baby girl had tried to kill herself. In that moment I didn’t care what she’d done.

The thought of being in this world without her devastated the hell out of me. And suddenly nothing else mattered but being with her.

Seeing her in that hospital bed had filled me with such rage. Rage at her for fucking over what we had, for trying to escape by hurting herself.

And then the cops started asking questions, questions I should’ve been asking and shit took a turn. Someone had hurt her.

Now I’m no longer interested in being the nice guy. I’d had a talk with her dad, told him everything including how I’d turned my back on his daughter.

I guess he’d seen how I was beating up on myself because after threatening to put my lights out if I ever did that shit again, he’d let me slide.

It helped that while she was out of it she kept crying out for me. Though it broke my heart to hear. She’d needed me and I wasn’t there.

I’d let someone else hurt her and all this time I’ve been a sap, walking around with my head up my ass, talking to the very people who might be responsible.

I’ve tried really hard not to bring any of what I’d learned in that big city back here with me, especially when dealing with her, now, all bets are off.

I’ll let the cops do their job but I’m on the hunt for whoever the fuck did this and everyone’s a suspect. I’m going to dig into their shit until I get to the bottom of this and they better hope the cops get to them before I do.

I had to pull over when my emotions got the better of me. I’m probably a dick for thinking this way, but the fact that she hadn’t given herself to someone else is what had cleared up the last of my anger against her.

If someone had violated her I’d have leveled the whole damn town. As it stands I’ll only break their fucking legs when I find them.

I rested my head on the steering wheel and let the bitter tears that were still bottled up inside me go.

My poor girl. For the rest of my life I’ll make it up to her, my just leaving her hanging out there.

It’s something I’m going to carry with me for the rest of my life, the fact that when she needed me most I was a fucking dick. But I have the rest of our lives to make it up to her.

I started the car and headed into town to get her what she wanted. I saw a few people we knew heading into the ice cream parlor but just drove by without acknowledging them.

I had the evidence rolling around in my head but each time I tried piecing shit together nothing made sense.

I knew Jill knew more than she was saying, but I was waiting until I got my girl settled before going after her ass.

I’ve spent the last week and a half totally focused on her and getting her better, but once I’m sure she’s out of the woods, that she wasn’t ever going to try to hurt herself again; then I can turn my attention to getting to the bottom of this.

I’ve known for a long time that her friends were jealous of her, of us. I never told her about the come-ons and coy looks, brushing them off as nothing more than teenage crap.

Now I’m not so sure. One of them had taken this shit to a whole new level. One of them had crossed the line. I’m going to make them pay.