CHAPTER THIRTEEN

PIERS

When we get to the study, I gently slide her down the front of my body. “Here we are.”

My hands itch to tangle in that gorgeous mane of red hair, but we need to talk. So as much as it pains me, I step back.

“Thanks for the ride.” She looks up realizing what she said when I raise my eyebrows. Her creamy skin flushes yet again.

“Anytime.” I wink before going to have a seat on the sofa. She reluctantly follows me.

“Tea?” she offers.

Nodding, I watch her pour us both a cup. “I’m afraid it may have gotten a bit cold.”

“It’s okay. I’m sure it wouldn’t be the first time I’ve drank warm tea instead of hot.” I try to reassure her.

“I can warm it.” She stands, prepared to heat the tea.

“Willow. I couldn’t care less about the tea. Let’s talk.” I sample mine to show her it’s fine.

“Okay, so...uh.” She twists her hands in her lap, nearly shredding the floral paper tea towel.

Setting down my tea, I turn towards her.

“I’ll start. Okay?”

“Thanks,” she replies and begins sipping her own tea.

“Well, we could play twenty questions or beat around the bush. But I think we’ve waited enough time, wouldn’t you agree?” I boldly start.

“Yes,” Willow whispers in reply.

“So here it is; we both know where the other has been the last five years. You’ve followed your dream of art and adventure. And while I didn’t become a pilot, I did learn to fly, and I have racked up quite a few airline miles for work...and do own a plane. So in a way, we’re both a fraction of the people we once were.”

She’s hanging on my every word. The basics, the easy part. It’s going to get harder.

“I’ve been in London and all around. You’ve been in New England.” She nods in agreement to all I’m saying.

“From what I gather, you’re not in a romantic relationship?” She looks at her hands. “Me neither.” Her gaze finds mine again.

“And no need to be ashamed. I’m glad. That means no one is in my way.” Those hazel eyes widen. Good. She needs to get a hint that I’m not backing down. “There’s been no one significant for me either.” Those eyes soften. So I’m not the only one who wants more.

“Obviously, the main thing in your life has been Drew. Which has been missing from my life.” My words bring an air of sadness I didn’t intend. But you can’t exactly discuss a chunk of your life that has been missing and not feel sadness.

“But he’s here now. I can’t tell you what to do, but I’ll hope you consider staying. And no matter what that attorney has to say, I hope you know that you have a choice?” I feel a little guilty knowing what he’s going to tell her, knowing deep down that she has a choice.

“If you choose not to stay, I won’t take Drew away.” Taking her hands in my own, I squeeze them to make sure she hears this part. “I will always be a part of his life. I need you to know that, but even more, I need you to know you can trust me. I won’t hurt you again, and I would never take him from you.”

Tears fill her eyes. “Like I took him from you,” she adds.

Her words hang heavy in the air. I struggle to find the right words of my own. Choosing them carefully, because I need to get this out. I need to know.

“I guess the question I’ve been waiting to ask is why? Why leave? Why not tell me?” I stand for this part. I need to keep my temper in check and breathe.

She takes a deep breath and looks me dead in the eyes. “I thought I was protecting you by leaving. Your scholarship for one. I knew how important school was to you and James threatened to pull it if I didn’t break it off with you.” Her voice is so quiet I can barely hear her. It’s like she’s remembering.

“But school was never more important than you! You had to have known that. And if we would have run away, there wouldn’t have been school anyway. So, there’s more. There has to be.” My heart is torn between sympathy and anger. “A scholarship is what cost me my son?” My voice raises startling her.

“Not just that. I waited that night. And when you didn’t show, James saw me coming back up to the house. It’s like he somehow knew our plan all along. He was waiting for me. I went in, and he said he knew where you were. But I didn’t believe him. Didn’t want to. But he drove me to the city. And you were there. With her.” A tear falls down her cheek.

“At Scarlett’s.” I remember. Her latest boyfriend had beaten her up. Teddy and I went to teach him a lesson.

She nods, and more tears fall down her cheeks.

“I hated you so much in that moment. Because I had just given my innocence to you. And we planned our forever in that garden. Then you threw it all away for her.”

Now it’s me who is speechless because she couldn’t have been more wrong.

“James said it had been going on behind my back for months. While you waited for me all that time, until I was legal, until I was ready...he said you were getting what you wanted from her. That I was nothing more than a conquest. That even she knew. It was a joke between you all.” Her voice shakes as more tears fall.

I sit down and put my head in my hands. Listening to her talk about that night makes me sick.

“I still didn’t believe him. I didn’t want to believe him. Then I saw you with her, and before I could change my mind, he had me on the next plane out. Wendy tried to change my mind; they got into a terrible fight. They were always fighting about us. I figured if I left, everyone got what they wanted. They would stop fighting, you and Scarlett could be together, you would get the scholarship for flight school, and I could go to art school in New York.”

“But that isn’t what I wanted. And what you think you saw...it couldn’t be more wrong. Yes, I was there with Scarlett when I was meant to be meeting you. But Teddy was there too. We were helping her. Her boyfriend was hitting her. She was mixed up in a rough crowd. We were trying to talk some sense into her.”

She looks up at me, tears filling her eyes. “That’s what Wendy meant by not my story to tell. When she tried to talk me out of leaving, I asked her to explain. I was so mad she seemed to be on your side, and she said that it wasn’t her story to tell. She was protecting you; she was protecting Scarlett.”

“I guess. I don’t know.” I scrub my hands down the front of my face. “When I came back, it was nearly dawn. James met me outside, threw my stuff in the yard, said you were gone, and he wouldn’t let me in the house to look for you. I hit him.”

A gasp escapes her throat as she listens in shock. I can’t believe Wendy never told her. But then again, you could always trust Wendy with your secrets.

“I think he provoked me. On purpose,” I confess. “He said you realized that you made a huge mistake and went back to the states. I clocked him square in the face. That lying bastard, and I would have done it again. So, he had me arrested. Wendy was hysterical. Teddy said they had to call the doctor to come see about her. The following Monday, she bailed me out and help me get set up with a place in the city. James threatened to put Teddy out too if I didn’t stay away. I knew he needed the scholarship for studies too, but he wouldn’t listen. So, he came. And Scarlett. Wendy said it was just till things cooled off, but I knew it was permanent. We were all old enough to be on our own anyways. I was only sticking around because of you. James knew it, and he got his wish. I was gone. But that selfish prick took you away from Wendy too.”

Once I began telling her, I couldn’t stop. The floodgates were open.

“I made him pay. It took me long enough. But I made him pay for what he did. Breaking Wendy’s heart again.” I confess something that may make her think less of me. “I bought out James’ company last year. It was before Wendy was sick. I’m not that heartless. But by the time she was, it was too late. It was pretty much done. I saw her and explained my actions. And I thought she would be cross with me. But do you know what she said to me?”

She looks white as a sheet and shakes her head.

“She said, my dad would have been proud of me for growing into the type of man who fights for what he believes in and those whom he loves.” Now my own eyes blink with tears. “Then she squeezed my hand and made me promise to fight for you. She said no matter what, to find you and when I did, to remember the second chance she gave me and for me to do the same.” I fall to my knees in front of Willow on the couch.

“How could I have known what I would find? But she knew, didn’t she? About Drew?” It hurts me to know she knew and never told me. Guts me in fact. “But I know it wasn’t her story to tell.”

Willows arms wrap around me, and she pulls my head into her lap. “Anna said James had some kind of breakdown or stroke?”

“I guess. I only know what the attorney has said.” I’m so drained. I’ve been carrying that around for so long.

“Willow, for what it’s worth, I wish I would have fought harder for you then. For you both. But I didn’t know.” I didn’t know.

“Shh. I believe you.” She runs her fingers through my hair. “And I’m sorry I didn’t try harder to reach you. I did call, Piers. Not at first. Because I was so hurt. But by the time I realized I was pregnant, I was already in school. Which I ended up dropping out of. But I did call. Wendy came for a visit; we talked about it. She wanted me to come home. But then I called and heard her voice, the same reason I left that night. It broke my heart all over again. Wendy didn’t force the issue.” I freeze and her hand stops.

“You called?” Pulling back, I look up at her. My heart sinks at the possibility that it’s my fault she couldn’t tell me.

“I called, and Scarlett answered,” She continues. “She said you had moved on and that I should do the same. Said I nearly ruined your life. I could hear you laughing in the background and demanded to talk to you, so she put you on. You sounded drunk, and when I tried talking, you kept saying, ‘Who is this?’ And she came back on the phone and said, ‘See, he’s already forgotten you.’ So, I hung that phone up, and I tried to forget you too.”

Tears stream down her face as she goes on. “But then Drew came out looking just like you, and all I could do was remember. Wendy was there with me, and once he was born, it’s like my life had a new purpose. So, I also turned my past into a passion. I began pouring my memories and emotions into the books. Drew was right when he said that they were about you. They are. The prince of the lost boys. The garden. All of it.”

I’m completely floored. Pulling her into my arms, I feel her slide to the floor with me. And I hold her in my arms as she cries. It’s like a dam bursting and five years of tears come flooding out.

Her face is pressed into the crook of my neck, and I feel her hot tears on my skin. The scent of her surrounds me as her hair hangs in my face. My hands caress her back, trying to comfort her with their touch. Doing what my words cannot.

When she has cried all her tears, I draw her back and look at her tear stained face while she watches me watch her. I begin kissing her tears away, starting with her cheeks. She slides her leg over to straddle my lap. Then nose. I grip her hips and pull her flush with me. Then her eyelids. She places her delicate hands on my shoulders. Her temples. Her head falls to the side in surrender. Her skin is hot and damp against my lips. She grinds against my lap. I’m growing hard from the taste of her and the feel of her body on mine. A body with more delicious curves than I remember. Her hands trail down to my biceps and her fingernails dig into my bare skin, causing me to moan out against her lips. Just as I’m about to take her lips, my phone rings.

“You better get that.” She pulls away breathlessly.

“No.” I pull her back to me. Desperate for her touch.

It rings again. “What if it’s an emergency?” she breathes against my mouth.

“It better be the Queen herself,” I tell her, lifting her with me as I lean up to grab my mobile from my back pocket.

She moans from the friction.

“Not helping,” I tell her, smiling as I hold the screen up to see who’s calling. My face falls when I see the name. Scarlett.

“Who is it?” she asks, concerned.

“Uh, no one. Just work. Nothing that can’t wait until tomorrow.” I send the call to voice message, but the mood has instantly shifted.

As if sensing it too, she pulls herself up off of my lap. “I better get these dishes back to the kitchen.”

“Here let me help,” I offer, following after her. Angry that the moment was broken but knowing it was probably for the best.

Once all the dishes are loaded, I excuse myself to the washroom. I should hit the road soon. It’s been an emotionally taxing night on both of us. But I feel like things are finally falling into place.

When I come back, I find an angry Willow holding my mobile in her hand.

“You went through my phone?” Is the first thing that comes out of my mouth. Mistake.

“That’s your question, really?” Her chest heaves. “Okay, to answer it – no, I didn’t go through your phone. It alerted a new message, and it lit up on the counter when I glanced down and saw Scarlett’s name.”

“I didn’t mean—” Bloody hell! Of all the times for her to call.

“It’s fine, no need to explain.” She pushes her way past me and hands me my phone. “Seems work can’t wait till tomorrow after all. Better call her back. She’s texting to see why you’re not answering. What a thorough employee.” She emphasizes the last word.

“Willow, wait.” I go after her. “Please.”

She walks to the front door and holds it open. “Goodnight, Piers.”

“Willow,” I plead. “It’s only about work. We’re working on a big deal. Please.”

“It’s been a long night, and I’m exhausted. I believe you, but I think we should call it a night. Please.” She won’t even look at me.

“I’m upset with her too; believe me. I’ll be having words with her—” I grasp for the right words to say and fall short. My heart is in my throat knowing what it looks like that she called me. And the timing couldn’t have been shittier.

“It’s fine Piers. We can talk about it later. I think we’ve both done enough talking for one night.”

Not wanting to push her anymore, I step over the threshold and walk out that door. She immediately closes it behind me with a loud click. I stand with my hand pressed to the wood and wait, about to knock, when I hear her crying on the other side. Knowing it’s what she wants, for tonight at least, I walk away.