A fucking slideshow. I swear if my mama had anything to do with this or knew about it and let me come into this blindsided I swear I might never forgive her.

Addy has gone to stone beside me. Her hand which was warm and welcoming just a moment ago is now limp and clammy. I can’t even imagine what this must be like for her. She’s been so wonderful tonight, even with me being a dick. After eavesdropping on her and Willow the other day, I’ve tried to distance myself and give her some room to see me for the man I really am and not the one she thinks she can see. Hardest thing I’ve ever had to do is be cold to her when every inch of my being is screaming for me to hold her, kiss her, do whatever I can to make her smile. And now this fucked up situation has me wanting to be anywhere but here, drinking until I get so far gone I can’t remember my own name let alone hers.

As the pictures on the big screen flicker one after the other, I can feel Addy pulling further and further away, not so much physically because I still have her small hand tucked in mine, but emotionally, she's turning into herself. Part of me wants to chase after her and reel her back in, and the other part of me thinks this couldn’t have come at a better time. Before either one of us is more invested than we already are.

The crowd oohs and ahhs and cheers as my and Jenny’s faces flash on the big screen. Homecoming, Prom, football games, tailgate parties, bonfires, graduation. Some from college. And someone was even nice enough to offer up pictures of us at my first concert. Me on a high I never wanted to come down from, one I wasn’t sure I’d find after the end of football. And Jenny was right there with me. Just like she always was.

What they don’t have a picture of is the fight afterwards, or the one during prom. The football game where I passed more yards that game than any quarterback had in the school’s history and instead of going out and celebrating she insisted we stay in and map out our future and what she saw for us. Because Jenny wasn't meant to be a rancher’s wife. That was the one thing nobody could deny about Jenny. She had dreams and ambitions too big for this small town.

I hang my head, not wanting to look at the memories everyone has a one-sided interpretation of but knowing I can't just walk away either. I squeeze Addy's hand but get no response from her. She's watching the whole thing unfold in front of us like a train wreck. Her pretty face is ashen and set in what can only be described as defeat. Looks like we both fucked around and got our feelings involved.

When the last picture pops up on the screen, I turn to walk away, tugging on Addy's hand only to come face to face with Jenny's older brother.

“You know, Beau, you've done some really low things in your life but this has got to beat all.”

“Jeff. I'm not sure what you're gettin' at, but I can assure you now is not the time or the place.” I place a hand on the small of Addy’s back, hopeful I'll be able to lead her away before this turns ugly. Jeff and I have never been on good terms. Can't say that I even blame him as Jenny's big brother.

“Her. I can't believe you had the nerve to bring some woman to Jenny's tribute concert,” he spits out looking at Addy like she is something off the bottom of his shoe.

“This was never meant to be a tribute concert, Jeff, and Addy isn't some woman.” Before I can say more he cuts in.

“Typical Beau. My sister is dead from loving you. She forgave your every transgression and what did it get her? Nothing more than a broken heart as a souvenir and a headstone next to my mama. Over and over she turned a blind eye to the man you truly are. But I see it. I see what the magazines have to say. The women you flaunt all over and then drop like they're trash.” He’s gearing up for a fight, and I’m more than ready. I don’t need anyone to tell me about why Jenny is dead or the type of man I am.

“Now wait just a minute. I don't kno—”

“Leave it alone, Addy. He made his mind up about me a long time ago.”

Jeff lets out a humorless laugh. “Wasn't hard, Beau. My sister thought you hung the moon, and all the while you were off chasing your own dreams and every skirt that passed your way.”

“You know nothing about our relationship. I never asked for forgiveness, She gave it freely for reasons I won't stand here and explain to you. Now I understand that you're hurtin' and that you hate me, but I won't have you take that out on Addy.”

“Take up for your flavor of the month, Beau. She's nothing but a poor man’s Jenny.”

I take a step forward with intent to lay him flat out in the dirt but Addy pulls me back by the arm. My name soft on her lips.

“Addy is a lot of things. A poor man’s anybody isn't one of them. You'd do best to keep your opinions on that to yourself.”

“My sister—”

“Your sister wasn't as innocent in our relationship as you think.”

“Just what in the hell is that supposed to mean?” he demands, his chest rising and falling with his angry breathing.

“It means I won't stand here and speak ill of the dead. Not to you. Not to anyone.”

Taking Addy by the hand, I pull her in the opposite direction. “Come on, Addy. We're done here.”

I nearly mow right into my family in my hurry to get the hell away from Jeff before I lay his ass out. Sealy stands there looking madder than one of the bulls he rides. Next to him my mama wrings her hands anxiously. My father is standing tall behind his wife, grasping her shoulders. He nods his head at me in approval, and I feel it all the way to my damn soul. Didn't realize I needed it ‘til now.

Walking past them, my brother reaches out and squeezes my shoulder. I shoot him a look of appreciation and keep moving, practically dragging Addy behind me. I’m not sure where I’m supposed to be, if I’m supposed to be signing autographs or giving speeches or what, but none of that is happening tonight.

God, I haven’t been this angry and frustrated in a long while. I’m pissed for Addy, that Jeff thought he could talk about her like that. I’m pissed that I couldn’t just knock him on his ass. I’m so pissed that everyone thought it would be okay to turn this into a damn memorial and drag all this shit to the surface again without saying a fucking word to me.

“Fuck!” I shout causing Addy to startle. She doesn’t say anything though. Just lets me lead her through the darkened parking lot to my truck. I parked farther away from everyone else so that I could get out of here without fighting the traffic. Even more glad that I did now seeing as how I’m not fit for socializing.

Wrenching open the door on the passenger’s side, I wordlessly lift Addy into the truck and buckle her in. I don’t trust myself to speak right now, and I’m grateful that she doesn’t feel the need to fill the quiet. I shut the door and circle the truck and get in. Firing it up, I go the back way out of the school and head toward Addy’s place, although mine is only a few miles down the road. I don’t want anyone to be able to find me there right now. I don’t want to talk to Sealy or my parents. Especially not my mama if she had anything to do with this shit show tonight.

As the truck eats up the road, the mad just builds and builds in the silence of the cab. I glance over at Addy, her hair blowing in the air around her from the rolled down window. She sits quietly, beautiful, lost in her own thoughts. There’s so much I want to say. So much I need to say but can’t right now.

“You okay?” I say through the gravel in my throat.

She nods. “Are you?”

“No,” I answer honestly.

“Me either,” she admits after a pause.

Thirty minutes later, I’m pulling into the garage under her building. Getting out, I go to help her but she’s already down. I don’t ask if I can come up with her. I just follow behind trying to get my thoughts and emotions in order. Once we’re up in her apartment, I’m ready to just detonate from all the bottled up frustrations and feelings I want no part of. I watch as Addy silently puts her things down on the table, bending to take off the sexy sandals she had on, leaving her in this spaghetti strap one piece thing that’s been driving me insane all night. She walks into her living room, padding over the plush carpeted area to the floor-to-ceiling windows, a side sill decorated with books and candles and her view of Lady Bird Lake.

Tossing my keys on the counter, I go and join her. Standing behind her, I gather her long hair in one hand, kissing the shoulder I’ve just exposed. A slight shiver moves through her when I do it again. Raising my head I meet her gaze in the reflection of the glass. I can see the same hurt and anger there that I’m feeling, right along with the need and desire. Knowing that we don’t need words right now, eyes still on her, I slowly draw the zipper on her romper down. My knuckles brushing over her smooth skin along the way, gliding over the rounded globes of her ass at the end. Taking my hand away, I watch as the top falls from her shoulders and catches on the tips of her bare breasts. Sliding my arm around, I hook my fingers in the neck and yank, the movement making her tits sway gently. I watch as my hand, tan even against her sun-kissed skin, trails down her abdomen, dragging the material with me until I’m cupping her. My cock hard, pressed into her ass, I have to force myself to take the slightest step back. The moment I do, the cotton material falls from her body, pooling at her feet, making it so all she’s wearing now is a smattering of goosebumps and my hand. The reflection doesn’t allow me to see her as clearly as I’d like but that just stimulates the rest of my senses into overdrive.

Sight. I can’t drag my eyes from her. Focused on the vision in front of me I watch as my fingers slip through her delicate lips, already slick with her need, then disappear inside her pussy.

Sound. The way she sucks in a breath and tries to hide a whimper of pleasure when I twist and thrust deeper this time. The only sound she’s made since we arrived.

Smell. Her skin smells of her vanilla and honey body wash and desire. The scent of sex and lust swirls in the air around us.

Touch. The feel of her insides trembling against my hand, her ass pressing back against my cock without her even noticing.

Taste. I open my mouth over her shoulder and bite the tender flesh lightly. Gazes locked, I slide my fingers from inside her, dancing them over her stomach, slowly teasing over her tightened nipples to her mouth. Slipping one finger in, rubbing it over her tongue before retreating and sliding the same Addy-scented finger into my own mouth, letting the flavors of her need fill me with an urgency to take. Take and take until neither of us have anything left to give.

All of the frustration and anger from earlier is now pooling in my cock, screaming for me to fuck her until I can’t think straight. Drown in her sounds and taste and smell. Touch every part of her until she can feel me in places she thought unreachable. Fighting that anger, I wrap her long hair around my hand. Pulling her head back, I put my lips to her ear and whisper roughly, “Make me forget.”

Three words. So much meaning. Such a big job.

Addy’s gaze never wavers. She widens her stance, raising her hands to brace herself against the glass. Without words, she gives me permission to use her body to wipe my memory clean. To bring us both pleasure from our pain. It’s a connection I’ve never shared with another person and one that scares the hell out of me. But not enough to walk away right now, even though I know I should.

Growling low in my throat, I yank at my belt, attacking the button and zip of my jeans, working them and my boxer briefs down my thighs with one hand as we watch each other in the reflection, the darkness of the night sky and the lights of the city creating a spectacular backdrop on Addy’s skin. With my cock in my hand, I nudge her legs a little wider with my knee. Bending to get under her, I drag my length through her slit. From clit to her ass, back and forth, applying pressure to the sweet spots with every swipe. On the third pass, I drive into her, my fist tightening in her hair, bending her like a bow with each tug and thrust.

Addy comes apart all over me, her pussy squeezing around me to the point of pain as she comes, my name falling from her lips as she trembles in my arms. I slap my hand onto the window next to hers, pressing her into the cold glass, flattening her tits against it, not caring about who may or may not be watching from the ground. Almost hoping that someone is witness to this branding, because that’s exactly what it is. With every stroke of my cock, I’m branding her onto my soul. Every time I slide out of her and then back in making her cry out in pleasure, I’m branding her onto my skin. And when I come inside of her, our eyes hooded, the anger gone and replaced with our pleasure, I brand myself onto every part of her.

The moment that sinks in, I leave.