Denying The Bad Boy (Tattooed and Pierced #2) (24 page)

“Yeah, apparently my mom coincidentally ran into him
at the club, but I know Lance planned it, because he called me out of the blue
back at campus a few weeks back saying he wanted to see me.” That information
had his blood rising.

“Wait, he called you?”

“Yeah, before you and I started doing
anything
.” She emphasized the last word,
and he knew he needed to calm the fuck down. “My mom had this fantasy in her
mind that we would get back together, but I cleared that up at dinner. I told
them that he was verbally abusive when he drank, that he cheated on me with my
friend, all of it.”

Well,
shit
.
“What did they say?”

“Nothing, except my normally bland father was pretty
pissed at Lance, even told him he was never welcome around them again.”
Good
. “But Lance caught up with me in
the driveway,
and
 
looked
ready to kill me.”

“He touched you?” Alex didn’t hold back the anger in
his voice.

She pushed herself up and shook her head. Dammit,
all it had taken was the image of that faceless asshole coming near his Mary
and he was about to fucking
lose
it. His blood
pressure rose, his muscles contracted, and he forced himself to calm the hell
down because he was scaring the woman he loved.

Closing his eyes and taking a deep breath, he said, “I’m
sorry, baby, but just knowing that prick was close to you, threatening you,
makes me insane.” She smiled and snuggled back against his chest, and fuck did
it feel good. He didn’t even know this guy, but he knew how he had made her
feel all those years ago, and that was enough for him to beat the fucker’s ass
if he ever crossed his path.

“It’s okay. Everything is okay now. I’ll go to the
wedding, but I’m going as myself. I’m going to have you beside me, and I don’t
care what anyone thinks or says.” She tilted her head back and smiled up at
him. “If I had known how exhilarating it was to tell them exactly how I felt,
and not be bound by my own fear, I would have done it a long time ago.”

Alex cupped her cheek. His hand took up one entire
side of her face. She was just so small compared to him, but all
woman
still, and that, coupled with so many other things,
made him want to wrap her in his arms and never let her go. But he couldn’t
smother her, couldn’t let his own need to be her protector have her running in
the other direction.

“And I’ll be right there beside you, letting you
lead the way … sometimes.” He winked, and when she laughed it filled the whole
room and went straight to his heart.

They took a shower together, one that led to him
taking her slowly against the tiles. And then they were back in bed, naked with
nothing between them, and the sound of her deep, even breathing lulling
him
to sleep.

****

The wedding had been beautiful, but then again there
was no doubt that it would be. Now here Mary was, standing on the stone veranda
at the country club where the reception was going on in full swing, thinking. “Stay”
by Rihanna played behind her, in an almost haunting tone. She turned and
watched as Alex got them drinks from the bar. For some strange and inexplicable
reason, her father and Alex had gotten along instantly.

But then again something changed in her father since
yesterday. He was still hard and stoic, but there was this softness in his eyes
when he looked at her. Had that one incident really broken a part of his tough
exterior? She had seen him at the church, and for the first time in longer than
she cared to remember, he had embraced her and told her he was proud of her,
that he did love her, and that he was sorry for how he made her feel all these
years. That had her crying, because it wasn’t until that moment that she
realized she’d missed hearing him say it. Stephen Trellis was a man of few
words and even fewer emotions, and that was how she saw him when she grew up,
but when he looked down at her, all she had seen was a father who loved his
daughter.

She turned back around and stared at the perfectly
manicured grounds with the small intimate lights dotting the trails within the
woods surrounding the property. The night was clear, and the glow of the moon
washed everything in a silvery hue. Mary let her thoughts drift to her mom and
Margo. When she had met them at the salon this morning, she had been surprised
to see them standing outside the door, waiting for her. Apprehension had
slammed into her, and she knew that whatever was about to be said couldn’t be
good,
not when she hadn’t held anything back last night
.

But it hadn’t been the confrontation she had been
expecting. Instead her mother had apologized, and Margo, well Margo had
apologized in a way that wouldn’t have seemed sincere to anyone that didn’t
know her. They both told her they hadn’t meant to ever make her feel like she didn’t
belong in the family. It hadn’t been this big heartfelt production, but it had
been enough for Mary to realize her words last night had gotten through to
them. There weren’t enough words in the world that would have Mary forget
everything that had happened and how everyone had made her feel, but she did
want to move forward, and that meant taking the first step.

Now the wedding was over. Margo was now a Barton,
and everyone seemed to be on the road to a new start. Mary pushed away from the
stone banister and smoothed her hands down the lilac chiffon dress. The
bridesmaid gown was elegant and sophisticated, with delicate lace around the
bust, and the length falling to her toes. She smiled and made her way back
inside, but a deep voice coming from the shadows stopped her.

“Didn’t think it would be this
easy.”
The clearly slurred words came from the corner, where the stone outcropping
made the shadows thick and visibility nil. Mary tried to see, but it was
impossible. Still, she knew that voice and the clearly drunken tone. A second
later Lance stepped into the light, the muted glow from the ballroom washing
across his disheveled appearance. He was drunk, that much was clear. The scent
of a brewery coming from him was enough to have bile rising in her throat.

“You have a lot of balls coming here after I said I
wanted nothing to do with you, and my dad said you were no longer welcome.”

He smiled, but it was sloppy, just like his
appearance. His slacks were wrinkled, and his oxford hung halfway out of his slacks.
He looked like shit. His position kept him away from the view of everyone
inside,
and she would have to get pretty damn close to pass
him.

“Just go home and sleep it off, Lance.” She didn’t
even ask how he got in, despite this being a private party. She remembered too
many times when he tried to talk her into sneaking in the country club at night
to go skinny dipping with his friends. He had been smart enough not to come to
Margo’s wedding, but certainly had spent that time getting sloshed.

“You know, I thought I’d have to get into some kind
of back alley fight with your bodyguard before I could get close to you.” He
didn’t move, and was smart enough to stay away from everyone else’s visibility.
“I did a lot of thinking today. You owe me a lot, Mary.”
Yeah
. Clearly he had done that thinking with a bottle of liquor.

Incredulity washed through her. “Excuse me?” He
chuckled, but it was distorted and humorless.

“Yeah, I brought you into my circle, made everyone
realize you were even alive. If not for me you’d still be the fucking little
Trellis charity case.”

“I can’t believe I ever found anything appealing
about you. You’re an asshole, and immature. Go home and sleep it off before you
make an even bigger fool of yourself.”

She made her way toward the balcony doors, her back
straight and her head held high, but before she could enter he had a hold of her
hand and roughly pulled her into the shadows. His grip was bruising, and pain
lanced up her arm. He spun her around and pressed her against the wall, in the
shadowed corner where no light penetrated. Before she could yell for help he
slapped his free hand over her mouth. His hot, liquor laced breath wafted
across her cheek, and she gagged.

“You made me look like a fucking fool in front of
everyone.” His forearm was pressed to her throat, cutting off her air and
keeping her pressed to the wall. He reached between them and started fumbling
with his belt.
Oh, hell no
. She
struggled, but in a quick move he had his hand wrapped around her throat. “I
think I’ll take my anger out on your fucking body.” He tightened his hand on
her throat, and she clawed at his hold.

He was vile and disgusting, and if she didn’t fight
harder things would get far worse. The sound of his zipper sliding down seemed
loud against the sudden silence that surrounded her. He grunted when she tried
to shift out of his hold, but she had to continually lift her hands to her
throat, trying to alleviate the suffocating tightness he was delivering.

“I kind of like it when you struggle, Mary.” He leaned
forward and ran his tongue up her cheek.
“Makes me really
want to work for it.
I should have done this to you when we were dating.
It would have made things a lot of a lot better.” He grabbed at the bottom of
her dress, lifting it up so it pooled around her waist, and then fumbled
between them. She tried to twist out of his grasp, kept her legs closed as much
as possible, but even drunk he was stronger than she was. His breathing was
labored, but she knew it was because this excited him. His erection pressing
against her was evidence of that. Mary tried to scream, but the noise came out
gurgled. Stars danced in front of her vision from the lack of oxygen, and a
moment of fear that he would kill her passed through her mind. Not knowing what
else to do she relaxed, hoping to throw him off a bit enough that she could get
out of his hold.

“Oh, you want to be a good girl now, Mary?” He
loosened his hold slightly, and she breathed in deep, the burning pain enough
to have more tears spilling down her cheeks. When he touched her between the
legs, it was the vilest sensation. His gaze was glazed over, his mouth parted,
and he stared down at what he was doing to her. This was it, her chance to
defend herself while he was distracted. Bringing her knee up
she
slammed it into his crotch, and loved it when he howled in pain. He let go of
her throat so he could cup himself, and she didn’t waste a minute to run, but
he reached out, grabbed her ankle, and pulled her back.

 
Mary fell
forward and braced her hands on the ground as she went down hard. Pain slammed
into her as she landed on her wrist awkwardly, but she couldn’t let the agony take
her under. The sound of cheering came from inside, and she tried to reach out
and catch someone’s attention. Lance wouldn’t let his guard down again. He
pulled her back again, mumbling incoherent words through his teeth and in between
grunts of pain. Just when he would have pulled her back into the shadowed
corner the balcony doors were opened, and Alex stepped outside.

“Mary? They’re getting ready to cut the cake.” He
held two glasses and looked around for her. Right when Mary opened her mouth to
scream for help Alex’s gaze landed on hers, and that was when the shit hit the
fan. The glasses fell from his grasp and shattered in a million pieces at his
feet. The darkness that moved across his face was like nothing she had ever
seen, and by the way Lance stopped tugging at her she assumed he saw it as
well. Alex charged forward so quickly the next thing she knew was being lifted
off the ground and set on one of the chairs off to the side. Her head was
fuzzy, her wrist screaming in pain, and her vision cloudy from her tears, but
she could still see what was happening right in front of her. Alex had Lance by
the throat and dangling in the air.
Oh
God
. He looked so powerful and fierce, like some kind of warrior, or dare
she say, mythical god.

“You fucked with the wrong girl, asshole.” He
slammed Lance against the wall and started hitting him in the face over and
over again. The sound of bones crunching, of Lance grunting in pain and Alex
breathing out in anger, filled her ears. “You’re fucking dead.” Alex sounded
fucking
enraged,
even possessed.

“Alex.” Her throat was raw and felt like she had
swallowed fire. “Please, stop.”

Alex stopped mid-swing and tightened his hold on
Lance’s throat. He looked over at her, and the rage in his face intensified.
“You want me to stop after what this fucker did to you, Mary?”

Did she? Lance deserved everything he got, but she
didn’t want to be the cause of it, and she certainly didn’t want Alex to be in
the thick of it. He held her gaze for a moment, and then let Lance drop
unceremoniously to the ground. Lance gasped and sucked in air, but Alex wasn’t
done. He slammed his fist into his face once more, which caused Lance’s head to
cock back, blood to pour from his nose, and him to pass out. “You’re lucky my
girl wanted me to stop.”

Everything had seemed to happen at a snail’s pace,
but Mary knew it had only been a matter of minutes. The commotion drew people out
of the ballroom, and they halted when they saw the carnage before them. The
light washed over Alex, and when he turned to stare at her she could see blood splattered
across his white suit shirt, and that his knuckles were split open. A few men
rushed to Lance’s side, someone yelled out to call an ambulance, and Mary was
only focused on Alex. He was in front of her moments later, taking her face in
his hands, and asking her something. She couldn’t hear him, just saw his lips
moving. The flurry of movement around them couldn’t even snap her out of
whatever trance she was in.