Damaged Perfection (The Perfection Series Book 1) (15 page)

“I tried to get him to stay at my house but he just wouldn’t do it.”

“This is not your fault, Fent.”

“I know. I just wish I could have done something to stop him.” I need to steer him in a different direction.

“What did the police tell you?”

“The clerk vouched for me, so I’m in the clear. But I was so scared, Piper. I just knew they were going to pin this on me and I was going back to prison. I can’t go back, Piper, I can’t.” He pulls his shirt up to dry his face, again.

“Well it sounds like you won’t have to. Do you need to talk to someone about this?” He looks at me confused.

“I am talking to someone.”

“I mean a professional, Fenton. I can only do so much.” His face meets mine and his gaze is so intense that it gives me chills.

“You are the first person I thought of when this shit went down. I don’t know why, Piper, but I feel like I can tell you anything.”

“Of course, I mean we have become friends. You can talk to me anytime, I don’t mind listening.”

“Friends? Really Piper?”

“I don’t know what you want me to say? I admit that we are probably a little more than friends but we really haven’t known each other long enough to be anything more.” His gaze returns to the tall grass in front of us. He doesn’t speak a word for the next ten minutes, so I feel the need to break the silence.

“Where are we Fent? Why did you bring me here?” I ask, grabbing his hand again.

He stands, pulling me with him. We begin to walk slowly, further down the tracks. Our destination, I have no idea.

“I used to live in this small town. There used to be a small house in that giant field of grass where we parked. As a child, I used to come here when I was down and it brought me solace. My father would scream at my mother and I would have to get away from him, so I would come here. I have walked many miles on these tracks.”

“What happened to your house?” Again, he begins walking on the rail. I can’t believe this is the same man that I met at a concert. He was so confident in himself and took what he wanted. Again at the bar, he seemed that anything in this world was not out of his reach. When we worked together all day, he wasn’t quite as complacent but that confidence was still there and in your face. Today he seems so different; a broken shell of a man.

He chuckles before saying, “The owner thought it best to tear it down.”

His answer is simplistic and to the point, although a little cryptic. I feel like there is more to that story but he evidently isn’t sharing. I know the next question probably is none of my business.

“Where is your family, Fenton?”

We begin taking a path down the left side of the tracks. The slope here seems a bit friendlier than when we arrived. I am grateful to be wearing my tennis shoes because it is getting muddy. The tall switch grass is replaced with very large trees surrounding us and I can hear the sound of water. We must be coming to a creek.  I am concentrating on the ground so closely, so I don’t slip in this mud, that I don’t realize he has stopped and I run right into his back. He turns his head and smirks at me.

“I know you can’t resist touching me but not now, Piper,” he says with a smug smile. He winks at me and my body reacts in a way it shouldn’t, considering the situation.

“You’re such an asshole, Fenton,” I say, as I playfully smack at his arm.

“Where are you from, Piper?” Turnabout is fair play, I guess. Maybe if I answer some of his questions, he will continue answering mine.

“I am from the big city of Dayton, Ohio. Have you been?”

“I have been through there a few times, but not enough to know anything about it. What brought you here?”

“I wanted to get away from all of my father’s business influences. I wanted to make my own way in the world.” His head turns to meet my gaze. He hands me a small rock, similar to the one he has. He turns back to the creek and flips it out of his hand and we watch as it skips across the top of the water. He turns to me with a boyish grin.

“Your turn.”

I gape at him because I have never been able to skip rocks. But how hard can it be? I can do this. I move in front of him, so I am a little closer to the water. I take a moment to try to remember how my father taught me. His voice is guiding me in my head, “Wrap your forefinger around the front of the rock and just flip your wrist toward the water.”

After I mentally go through these steps, I turn to see Fent and he is trying very hard to suppress his laughter. He waves his hand in front of him, telling me to continue. I turn back to the water and execute the flipping of my wrist and when my rock hits the water, it makes a plunking noise as it goes under.

“You had good form but your execution was just a bit off,” he says in my ear. I hadn’t realized he walked up so close to me. My entire body has just come alive. Surely he doesn’t think I can do this now. Not with him standing directly behind me. He bends down to pick up another rock and I realize I’m wrong. That is exactly what he expects. He wraps his arms around me from behind and places the rock in my hand, wrapping my finger as I had before.

“You had your finger placement correct but when you flip your wrist make sure your finger is guiding the rock. Don’t just let it go.” He stands back as I flip it once again. I watch with baited breath as it falls to the water. Excitement courses through me when I see the rock actually skipping across the top. I jump up and down like a little girl. I turn to Fenton and wrap my arms around his neck.

“Thank you for teaching me. I have never been able to skip rocks.” He wraps his arms around me and tightens them to the point I don’t think I am going to be able to breathe. He is quiet once again and I pull back to see his eyes are again full of dejection.

              “Thank you for being with me today. I’m not sure I would have made it through without you.” He presses our foreheads together and I can feel his immense sadness through those words. Before I think about what I am doing, I reach up and pull his lips to mine. His body stiffens for a brief second before he is giving me all he has. He moves his hands to my hair and all of the emotion that he has dealt with today is being poured into this kiss. After a few minutes a heavy breathing, mixed emotions and tangled hair, he pulls away from me.

              “I have to stop, Piper.” Although I am disappointed, I know it is probably for the best. I nod my head and sluggishly pull myself away from him. When I am almost free of him, he pulls me back and our lips meet again. This time, he walks me back up against a tree, pins my hands above my head with one hand. The other hand moves to my cheek pulling my head to the side. His eyes are on mine for a moment, hooded and full of lust. I feel his body begin to shake when he returns his attention back on my neck.

“How can someone put something so ugly on such a beautiful creature…?” He speaks so lightly, I can barely make out what he is saying. I feel his light kisses on my bruise and my body begins to tingle. I try to pull my hands free and I feel his smile on my skin.

“Now Piper, you don’t really want to struggle, do you?  I believe last time you tried that, I warned you that I would rip you out of your clothes.”

I begin struggling even more, “You wouldn’t?”

“Try me, love,” he says, without moving his lips from my neck. He moves to the other side and I am a slave to his touch. As much as I want him to stop, I very much want him to continue. As I am contemplating what he is going to do next, he lets my hands free. I am breathless, a hot and sweaty mess. I have never been around a man who affects me as much as he does.

              “Piper, I want you to come home with me tonight,” he says, as he plays with a strand of my hair. I can’t keep up with this guy. One minute he is sad and depressed and the next he has my hands pinned to a tree and is affectionately playing with my hair.

              “Ok,” I say simply. I have never seen a smile that lights my heart like the one that he has on his face right now. He grabs my hand and we continue walking the edge of the creek, deeper and deeper into the woods.

              “Do you have any siblings, Fent?” I ask as we walk up on a dam. Fent stops me and walks over the rocks to the other side. He puts his hand out for me to take, so he knows that I will safely make it across.

              “My grandfather and I used to fish here when I was little.” He has longing in his eyes. This place is special to him and it warms my heart that he thinks enough of me to bring me here.

              After we safely cross the dam and try to sidestep all the mud, we come up on a big pile of logs.

              “Have a seat,” Fent says. I look at him confused and then back at the pile of logs. Upon further inspection, I see that the pile of logs is actually a bench. It looks like there is some cement holding the logs to the ground and connecting the bottom to the back.

              “Did you build this?”

              “Yes, it is one of the only things I have left that I built with my grandfather. We used to fish out here all day long, never having anywhere to sit. So, one day we stood under the hot sun and rigged this together. It has been here ever since.” I follow his gaze out to the woods. I can tell he feels comfortable here, so it makes sense that he brought me here to talk about some of his secrets.

              “What happened to your family, Fent?”

              “Come on, I want to show you something.” He is going to have to answer me at some point. I know he needs this for some reason but I wish he would just spit out what he wants to say.

              We walk a few hundred yards before I see the tree line, indicating the end of the woods.

              “Where are we, Fent?”

              “Look over there.” He points a little South of our location and I see a house.

              “Whose house is that?” I squint to see it a little better and realize where we are before he even answers. We have evidently just walked the boundaries of his property.

Chapter Fourteen

Piper

              “All of this land is mine, Piper.” He has acres and acres of woods and grasslands that lead to the more coifed area of his land that he actually uses. After about twenty minutes, we finally make it from the woods to his patio.

              “Would you like a beer?”

              “Yes, please.” He opens the door and Andy comes barreling out and jumps up on my lap. I pet him absentmindedly as thoughts of how I am going to handle this side of Fent float around. He is only letting a little of his story out at a time and not at my request. So, it would probably be best that I let him tell it as he wants and quit badgering him.

              He returns with our drinks and sits opposite me at the patio table.

              “It is nice out here tonight.”

              “Yes, it is,” I agree, waiting for whatever tidbit he is going to share next. 

              “I loved spending the summers here when I was a kid. On top of being with my grandparents, there was always something to do. This land is so big when you are a small. It seems you can play in a different part of it and never be in the same place twice. But, once you get a little older, you want to roam. There is only so much fishing and hunting you can do. There comes a time when you want to find girls.” He laughs and shakes his head.

              “Damn girls, they cause you problems all your life.” He glances over to me with a smirk on his face.

              “Are you hungry? I can find something in the fridge,” he asks.

              “Not right now but thanks.” Even if I was, I don’t want him to lose concentration and stop talking to me.

              “Did you spend every summer here?”

              “Yes, every one until I was fifteen.” He takes a long pull from his beer and sits back in his chair, leaning his head on his hand.

              “Its ok, Fent. You can continue.” He continues to sit silently and I feel like giving him a bit of a nudge. I swallow the lump that is forming in my throat before I begin. My palms begin sweating and my hands are shaking a little but I push on.

              “My mother passed away from cancer when I was seventeen. It was the most difficult time in my life. She always talked about watching her girls’ graduate high school and how proud we made her. I was so excited when I found out that I made Valedictorian and that she was going to get to see me give my speech. Most of it was loosely based on her and the struggle that we were going to go through. She wanted me to practice my speech with her but I wanted her to be surprised when she heard it. She succumbed to the disease three days before I graduated and she never got to hear the speech.” I hadn’t realized I started crying. My shaky fingers begin to wipe my tears when Fent kneels in front of me and uses his thumbs to push them away from my eyes.

              “I am sorry you had to go through that. But I bet she is very proud of the woman you have become.”

              “Thank you for that,” I say, with a sad smile.

              He stands and taps on my leg for me to get up. When I do, he sits down and pulls me on his lap. I rest my head back on his shoulder, remembering a memory that I wasn’t expecting to be brought up. The tears continue to fall from my eyes and I watch the clouds pass us by, Fent’s hand rubbing my leg for comfort.

              “…I stayed up late one night. I was going to sneak out to see the girl that lives on the backside of the land. I made sure to wait until the house was quiet. I remember thinking that my grandfather would never go to bed. He always worked nights at the factory so he never really got out of the habit of staying up late. Finally I was able to sneak out of the house about two in the morning. I walked to the back of the land and north through the woods, along the creek and then down the tracks to the old abandoned building in the field. My family owned that, so I knew it would be safe to meet her there. I was so excited. She finally agreed to meet me after two weeks of trying to convince her it would be ok.

              “We spent most days together but she was a little more hesitant to sneak out at night. Anyway, I hopped off the track and ran to the building. She hadn’t arrived yet, so I was getting a makeshift cot together for…well you know.

              “After about twenty minutes I walked outside of the building, just in case she didn’t know I was waiting inside. She wasn’t outside either. So, I told myself I was only waiting a few more minutes then I was going home. I finally convinced myself she wasn’t coming when I heard the whistle of the train. So, I decided I needed to get across the tracks before it got too close. When I make it over the tracks the train is actually closer than I thought. Movement on the other side of the track caught my attention. It is small, so at first I think it is an animal. It isn’t until he gets to the middle of the track that I see it is my little brother. My heart plummets as I try to get to him before the train does. I scream his name hoping it will make him move a little faster. It doesn’t. Instead of him running away from the track, he looks at the train that is coming full force toward him. It is dark, so I don’t even think the conductor saw him. He looks back at me in the last few seconds before his small body is thrown to the opposite side of the track that I am on. I can hear his small cries screaming for me to help him but I can’t get around the train…” I listen in horror as my heart shatters. I never dreamed that was the story he was getting ready to share with me. He subconsciously moved me off his lap about halfway through the story, so I just knelt in front of him holding his shaking hands as the tears were streaming down his face.

              “I am so sorry, Fenton.” I want to take this pain away with every fiber of my being. I didn’t realize until tonight how raw my wound is. Fenton clearly still has major issues with his demons, I don’t know the whole story yet but I am sure he blames himself for what happened to his little brother. We were brought together for a reason. We both need someone to help mend our broken hearts. And, we are that for each other.

              He doesn’t speak for a good five minutes and I continue to kneel in front of him until he is ready to continue.

              “Fent…”

              “Shh!” He puts his fingers over my mouth and pulls me back to his lap. Once I am there, his lips are on mine. He doesn’t waste time taking my shirt off, taking care not to touch my neck. He moves my hair over my shoulder and sweetly kisses my neck.

              “I need you, Piper,” he says between kisses.

              “I am right here, Fent.” He stands us up and we walk, still connected, in the back door. We make it as far as the chaise before he lays me down and stares down at me.

              “You are so beautiful, Piper.” He pulls my legs up to rest them on his chest while he slips my pants off. After he drops them on the floor, he takes his own pants off and climbs up my body, stopping to kiss the inside of each of my thighs. He circles my navel with his tongues and then licks all the way up to my breasts.

              “These are beautiful,” he mutters, completely focused on what he is doing. Each time we are together, I feel like he couldn’t possibly make my body feel any better and yet each time he does something different and completely blows my mind.

              He finally makes his way to my mouth and our tongues swirl together as one. He rips my panties off and dives deep, almost throwing me over the edge immediately.

              “Piper…I can’t…share you…” he says between breaths. I pull his lips to mine and kiss him with everything I have, trying to communicate what I want to say.

              “You don’t have to worry about that, Fent,” I whisper in his hair. He pulls my hands above my head before linking our fingers together. It has been such a deep evening. I just want to shut my brain off and feel. I know he wants the same.

              Our bodies move as one as we come to the precipice of ecstasy and then succumb to it. He kisses me one last time before picking me up and carrying me upstairs the stairs to his room. He lays me on his bed and stalks me from above. His eyes are still hungry as he slides in next to me and briefly kisses me before pulling me on top of him.

              “Your turn baby.” He moves his hands behind his head and smiles. His smile is so sweet and I briefly wonder if anyone other than me gets to see this side of him. I am willing to bet they don’t. I come to the selfish realization that I hope he never lets anyone other than me see it. He is damaged but he is perfect, and I want him all to myself.

              This man has the body of an Adonis and the heart of a saint and I get to do with him what I would like. Typically this would make me a bit nervous but he makes me feel so comfortable and so beautiful that I would do almost anything for him. My hands move from around his neck and make their way down his perfect chest. Just the feel of him, under my finger tips, makes my body tingle.

              Once my hands are finally anchored on his legs behind me, I move slowly. His eyes close and he lets out a long breath. After a few seconds, he moves his hands from behind his head and they find my hips. He sits up and leans against the headboard, the feeling is amazing and after the rest of the evening, I don’t know that I can make it much longer. He begins moving me with an accelerated pace and when I think that I can take no more, he stops. His eyes are full of fire and he smiles at me sadistically before flipping me over and positions himself between my legs, from behind.

              “You ready baby?” he asks. I nod my head, giving him the answer that he craves. Once his steady movements begin, I have to bring the pillow over to me to squeeze as the feeling is incredible.

              “You feel fuckin’ fantastic, Piper,” he says as his movements begin to pick up pace. Each thrust makes me cry out in pleasure, and I never want him to stop. Sitting back, I move my hands back to his hips and pull him as close as he can get. My head rolls back and rests on his shoulder as the pleasure is almost too much to handle. He thrusts a couple more times before I call out his name and fall to the bed on my stomach, completely spent. I feel his body fall on mine and hear his deep breaths in my ear. He starts talking but I am too tired to listen…

Fenton

              My heart has been racing since I confided in her about something that I have never told anyone. When her light, steady breaths doesn’t give me as much solace as I thought they would, I quietly move from the bed and head to the gym. I search the drawer of my desk and find what I am looking for. Guiltily watching over my shoulder, I cut the line and stare at it. I have never in my life contemplated whether or not to take the drug. On the other hand, I have never had someone in my bed that I wanted to keep away from it. If she happens to see it or notice that I am high, she will probably never speak to me again.

              “Fuck it!” After going a few rounds with the bag, she won’t notice anyway. I quickly pull the line in and walk over to the table that houses my gloves. Once I slide my hands in, instant relief flows through my body. My body has been trained to recognize that when I pull these gloves on, the stress is going to begin to dissipate. Since Piper is sleeping in the other room, I plug in my headphones and turn it up as loud as I can stand it.

              The adrenaline begins pumping after just a few hits. My mind drifts as the punches begin coming in succession and at full force. Ideas of how to keep my bar and what to do about Gibson float around the screaming music. I promise myself that I will get to the bottom of what happened to Gibson; I know he didn’t kill himself. He was down and out but he has too much to live for.

              As the scream of the song come to an end, so does the strain to the muscles. One last hit of the bag and I feel the burn. As much as I want to lay down with Piper, the drugs are still running rampant. The stress of the day and thoughts of what tomorrow will bring still have me tied in knots. I contemplate waking Piper up and having my way with her again because I have found the last few days that she is the ultimate stress reliever. After seeing that is nearly 3 a.m., I decide against it. She is back at the office tomorrow and needs to be fully focused. I take a trip to the kitchen and down a shot of tequila; hopefully that will bring me down enough that I can sleep.

              I feel arms wrap around my waist from behind as lean on the counter waiting for the alcohol to kick in.

              “Are you ok?” she purrs. I close my eyes at the sound of her sweet yet sleepy voice. I turn to find her wrapped in the bed sheet and nothing else. I was trying really hard to keep my hands off of her and this is not helping.

              “You’re killing me, babe.” She smiles and drops the sheet. I stalk toward her and she runs.

              “Are you running from me? Do you want me to bend your ass over this counter?” I cock my eyebrow for effect. I am completely shocked when she walks over to the counter, bends over, kisses her fingers and places them on her ass.

              “Oh yeah?” I question. She nods her head seductively and I walk up behind her and pull that ass to me.

              “This is going to be fast and hard, Piper. Can you handle it?” Fuck! She better say yes. Without saying a word, she reaches back and pulls my hips to meet hers.

              “Do you know how many times I daydreamed about this sweet ass?”