Ending the call, I dialed the number again… and again… head lowering and heart cracking with every English-accented, “Hi!”

After the fifth time of letting the message play out, I finally spoke:

“Mol. There’s a story in the paper. It’s about us… about losing our angel. Christ, Mol, there’s a picture of you. It’s breaking my heart and you’re not here. My momma has been arrested for assault; my daddy has been arrested for money laundering. Please, call me. Tell me where you’re at. It’s all f**ked up. I’m going crazy without you. I love you. Come back to me.”

I hung on the line until it went dead, then succumbed to all the pain ripping me apart and, no longer able to stave them off, let out the wracking sobs. I couldn’t breathe, couldn’t stop the shaking of my body. I was completely falling apart.

Seconds later, I felt an arm wrap around my shoulder and I automatically flinched and moved to get up. Strong arms pushed me to stay seated, and as I looked up through my fallen hair and blurry eyes, Uncle Gabe pulled me to his chest, patting my head soothingly. “It’s okay, son, let it all out. Don’t fight it.”

Giving in and taking comfort in his support, I gripped to his shirt, confiding, “I can’t do it anymore. I can’t be without her. What am I going to do? What if she never comes back for me?”

My uncle’s strained and hoarse voice replied, “Shh, son. It’ll be okay. None of this was your fault. Losing your baby should not be on your conscience.”

Anger fused in my veins and I snapped, “It was, though. It was all my fault!” My face was wet with too many tears and, giving up the last of my resistance, I sagged and said brokenly, “Everybody leaves me. Nobody ever has faith in me. I’m never enough… I’m never f**kin’ enough… What is it that makes everybody leave me…? What is it that makes them not love me enough to save me too?”

My uncle tightened me in his hold and then moved before me to grip my cheeks. “You are enough! It’s not your fault, you hear me?”

My head shook in disagreement and my eyes closed, but the f**king stream of tears just wouldn’t stop… anger and grief now the only emotions I had left.

31

I woke with a start, sitting up in bed, sweating, panting, and my c**k so damn hard in my boxers. My hand felt beside me, searching for Mol, but the spot to my left was empty. Oh, yeah. She’d gone, and it was my third night at my uncle’s place… alone.

I looked around the unfamiliar room, my eyes catching sight of the clock beside me—three in the morning. Shit. My thoughts were immediately on my girl, knowing she’d already be awake and going about her day in Oxford.

Was she missing me? Wanting to come back home?

Falling back onto the mattress, I groaned and squeezed my eyes shut, but the replay of images from my dream was a slow torture, a temptation—I’d broken from my sleep way too soon. I wanted the memory of making love to my girl to seem real, wanted to feel once again what it was like to be inside her, chest to chest, rocking together, hands intertwined… lost in her… saved by her.

Closing my eyes, my memories slammed into me like a f**king truck, but I embraced them. I wanted to remember…

“Romeo, what are you doing? The party… you’ve just won the SEC Championship, you should be with the team…” Molly panted into my hair as I held her against the wall of my room. As soon as the door slammed to a close, I began pushing down her panties.

Lifting the skirt of her dress, I wrapped her legs round my waist. “They’ve had me all day in that f**kin’ parade, showboating me through town. The press has heard everything I gotta say. Now it’s all about you, and me, and sinking my c**k into this sweet little pu**y,” I said slowly, taking my hand and flicking my finger along her clit.

“Rome!”

Slipping back to reality and groaning with need, I reached down, stroking along my cock, trying to remember everything: how it felt being that close to my girl, how her face looked in the moonlight as I thrust into her against that wall. I was f**king desperate, searching for some connection to a time when things weren’t so messed up…

I freed my dick from my jeans and guided it toward Mol’s hot center. “You ready, baby? You ready for me?”

“Yes!”

I ran the tip around her warm hole, teasing, feeling her push down in frustration. “Mmm… I might just wait until you need it a bit more.”

“Rome! No! Please…”

Smiling as she tilted her hips just right, I breeched her entrance, and with one fast slam, pushed right in to the hilt.