“Babe, you done doin’ whatever you’re doin’? Come over here and get my dick hard so you can fuck me,” he calls out before he breaks out in laughter.
Biting my bottom lip harder, I do as he asks. Sex is just sex, it doesn’t mean anything, it never has, it never will. Once he’s come, I gather my things and leave, deciding I’ll never return. I don’t love him, I never love any of them. Taking my phone out of my pocket, I call my cousin Emily.
“Hello?” she asks, sounding sad.
Clearing my throat, I close my eyes before I speak. “I need you to meet me somewhere.” She agrees immediately and I start to walk toward my destination.
Every step I take, I know that where I’m going, what I’m going to do, it will change my life. Nothing will ever be the same again, not that my life is all that great, because it hasn’t been.
Emily is already there by the time that I arrive at the non-descript plain building. She’s only eleven to my sixteen, and if I thought anyone else could understand what I’m about to do, I would have called them instead. There are no markers here, but everyone knows what lies behind those doors.
“Is it Uncle David’s?” she asks.
I shake my head, then shrug. “I don’t know,” I admit.
She nods, holding out her hand. I slip my palm against hers, and she squeezes. “I’ll always have your back, Ex.”
Together we walk into the clinic, my life taking on a dramatic change, an immediate shift, and so does Emily’s. From this moment on, I’m going to change everything. This is a bump in the road, a really painful one, but no longer am I going to be used and abused.
It ends now.
It ends with this, and one day, one day, I will be worthy of more—of better.
Chapter One
WYATT
Pardner’s is the only bar in the area that is worth going to on a Friday night. All of my friends are busy doing other shit tonight. Louis is in Vegas, Beaumont’s in California somewhere, Ford is most likely passed out in front of his television from a hard day’s work on his ranch, and Rylan is enjoying his new found relationship with one of the sweetest women I’ve ever met, Channing.
That leaves me, alone, nursing a beer in a bar where I’ve fucked almost every woman who stands around with her friends. Christ.
Closing my eyes, I suck back my beer with a grunt. I should just go home, drown myself in a few more beers and pass out.
Something catches the corner of my eye, it’s a woman. Turning my head, I take in the entire view of her. She’s short, her hair dark, her ass round and, fuck me, her tits are full and begging for my hands. She’s standing alone, her head tipped as she stares down at the table, looking lost in thought.
Standing, I decide to make a move. She shouldn’t be in here alone, she shouldn’t be anywhere alone, but definitely not in this den with these wolves—like me.
“You here by yourself?” I ask once I’ve approached her table.
She gasps, her eyes lifting to mine. I bite back the groan at the sight of her round light blue eyes. She’s got the most gorgeous face that I’ve ever seen. There’s a smattering of freckles across the bridge of her nose and a small beauty mark just above her lip. Her cheeks tint pink and then her tongue peeks out to wet her full lips.
My cock presses uncomfortably against my zipper. I need to have her, need to be inside of her.
“I am,” she admits, her voice soft and sweet sounding, almost melodic.
Leaning across the small table, I reach out and wrap my fingers around her wrist. She allows me, and I don’t miss the hitch in her breath when I rub a few small circles against her soft skin.
“You wanna go home with me?” I ask.
She frowns, licking her lips again, then she gives me a small smile. “I’ve never, not from a bar…”
“I’m Wyatt Johnson,” I grin.
“Exeter White,” she says.
“Let’s go, beautiful,” I suggest.
Not only do I want out of this bar, but I want inside of her. She’s breathtaking, and I know one night worshiping that curvy body is what I need to get my head on straight. I’ve been lost inside of memories of the past. I need out of them. I need to stop thinking about Sammi, about everything that happened between us.
I need to move the fuck on.
Exeter hesitates for only a moment, then she takes one final sip of her drink before she slides off of the barstool. Holding my palm out for her, a jolt runs through me when her hand slides into mine. Curling my fingers around hers, I walk toward the backdoor of the bar.
The dirt lot behind the building is empty, save for the cars that are all parked haphazardly in makeshift parking spots. I don’t know quite what to say to this woman. I know what I want to do with her, but I’m not sure how to strike up a conversation.
Opening my pickup door, I stand behind her as she climbs inside. Her ass is in my face as she jumps up in the truck and I hold back the moan at the sight. She’s curvier than I would normally go for, but fuck I want to taste every square inch of those curves of hers.
Once she’s settled, I close the door and jog over to my side. Starting the engine, I shift the truck into reverse and wrap my fingers around the back of her headrest. Her eyes are on my profile as I look behind me and back up.
My cock strains against my jeans even more, the anticipation of what is to come, is too fucking great.
“So, what do you do?” she asks, sounding timid.
I grin, glancing over to her as I pull out on the dark country road. “I’m a lineman,” I announce. Pride fills my chest at the declaration of my occupation.
“Like football?” she asks.
I almost laugh. “Though I was a lineman in high school ball, that’s not exactly what I do now. I build powerline and restore power,” I explain.
“Oh,” she breathes. “Wow.”
“What about you?” I ask, gripping my steering wheel so tight that I hear it crack and pop beneath my hands.
Exeter is silent for a moment, then I hear her let out a sigh. “I’m a registered nurse,” she says softly.
“Holy shit, that’s awesome,” I state.
Releasing one of my hands from the steering wheel, I reach over and wrap my fingers around her knee, giving it a squeeze. “That’s an amazing profession, which part of the hospital do you work?”
Her hand covers mine at her knee and she laces her fingers with my own. “Postpartum,” she murmurs.
My heart, it seizes in my chest at her word. It shouldn’t bother me, it’s been fifteen years and it’s not as if my child was ever born, or if I even saw the evidence of it growing inside of Sammi’s body. But I still think about it almost every single day.
I think about the fact that he or she would be in high school right now. I wonder if it had been a boy, would he be like me, look like me? Would he like football, or would he have been more like Sammi.
Fifteen years has not erased the pain inside of me at the fact that she made a decision for me, without my consent, and nobody gave much of a fuck what I thought or wanted.
EXETER
The man next to me frowns. I shouldn’t be here with him, in his truck, driving toward his house. I should have stayed home, but the memories of my past, they were too much—too painful. I needed to be free tonight, and I decided to take up a tall bearded man on his offer.