Left in the Dust: A Standalone Bad Boy Romance (16 page)

Taylor backed away from me, shaking her head. “You're lying, Carter.”

“Doesn't it make sense, Taylor? Your father always hated me. He didn't want me anywhere near you. When we went against his wishes, he had me arrested on trumped-up charges.”

“If you're telling the truth, how could my father even do that?”

Taylor loved her dad and I hated that I had to tear him down. “A few key bribes would get the job done. All it took was money and we know your father has plenty of that.”

“If you were innocent, then why did you plead guilty? A jury would have seen that the case didn't fit. My father's lawyer would have gotten you out of it.”

I couldn't keep secrets from Taylor anymore. It was time to tell her the
real truth. “When I was brought into the police station, I waited and waited for the lawyer but he never showed up.”

Taylor's legs wobbled. “But my father said he had a whole team of lawyers working on your case. That is, until you confessed.”

“I didn't meet with anyone, Taylor.”

The realization hit her face. “Did they torture you to get the confession?”

“Not physically, but emotionally. They told me that if I didn't confess, they'd arrest you and make sure you got thrown out of school. I couldn't let them ruin your life. So I pleaded guilty and took the jail sentence.”

Taylor's face softened and tears welled up in her eyes. She reached up with her hand and gently placed it on my cheek. “You always protected me, Carter.”

I couldn't stop myself anymore. I wrapped my arm around Taylor's waist and pulled her to me. Our lips met, my tongue sneaking into her mouth and tasting her. Taylor pressed against me, my cock in my jeans growing harder and harder.

My hands moved down her back and to her ass, squeezing each cheek over the thin red dress fabric. Taylor moaned into my mouth, fueling the hot desire in my pants. Her off-the-shoulder dress made it easy to pull down and spill out her bountiful breasts.

Taylor quickly covered her chest. “What if somebody sees us?”

I tore her hands away from her tits and held them behind her back with one hand. “Then let them see that you're mine.” I bent down and kissed her bare breasts, sucking on her nipples until they became long and hard in my mouth.

“I need you, Carter,” Taylor breathed.

I ran my fingers up her thigh and under her dress. Her panties were completely soaked. “You're so ready for me.”

I quickly undid my jeans and dropped them to the ground with my boxer briefs. Taylor bit her bottom lip as she glanced down at my length. I let Taylor get a good look before spinning her around and bending her over a dirty dumpster. The smell of trash choked the air but that wouldn't stop me from taking what was mine.

Taylor glanced over her shoulder at me, her eyes filled with need. “Fuck me hard, Carter.”

She didn't have to tell me twice. Her short dress barely covered her ass but I hiked it up even further to get a greater view. I looked around the alley to make sure nobody was watching. My hand crashed against her soft ass and Taylor cried out. I slapped her other cheek, rubbing in the Steel.

I slapped her over and over again until her ass was bright red. Now she was ready for me. I pulled at her panties until they snapped and then filled her with every inch of me. We both screamed as I tore my way deeper and deeper inside her. Taylor backed her ass into me, meeting every thrust.

I reached out and wrapped her golden hair around my fist, snapping her head back. I used Taylor's hair as leverage to fuck her even harder.

“Don't...stop,” Taylor begged. Her breathing quickened and muscles tensed.

The pleasure flooded my veins. I wouldn't be able to handle anymore. I clenched her side as I pushed in and out, slamming Taylor against the dumpster.

“Say my name,” I ordered.

Taylor whispered, “Carter...”

“Louder. Make everyone hear that you're all mine.”

“Carter!” she yelled. Taylor convulsed on the dumpster, tightening her pussy around my cock. I found my release, spurting inside her until she overflowed with my seed. My breath was ragged and my heart pounded in my ears.

I pulled out and couldn't hold myself up anymore, falling down on the alley floor. Taylor stayed on the dumpster, plastered to it. I got a good view of her ass and my cream leaking out of her.

Taylor finally pried herself off the dumpster and joined me on the ground. I gathered her body in my arms, my fingers running through her hair. “You can't say that was a moment of weakness this time.”

Taylor shook her head. “I love you, Carter. I'm all yours.”

“I love you too, Taylor.” We kissed and the throbbing in my pants returned. But I needed a break.

Taylor looked down at her red dress that was all stained. “I really need to take a shower.”

“You can do that at my place,” I said.

Taylor smiled at me. Everything was going back to they way it used to be. But what was I supposed to do about Mr. Kyle and Mayor Trump? If I didn't follow his orders, the mayor would send me right back to prison. I couldn't let that happen. I'd never leave Taylor again.

The chirping birds outside woke me from my blissful sleep. I rolled over to find Carter, naked and inked, sleeping next to me with the covers kicked off. The memory of last night rushed back to me—Carter taking me in the alley, going back to his place and fucking in the shower. I was so exhausted that I fell asleep with a towel still wrapped around me.

I lay there and admired his shredded body and watched him rest. Carter deserved it after all the hell he'd been through. Was everything he said really true about my father? I couldn't fathom that he would send the man I loved to prison just to keep him away from me. My father was everything to me. I had to get to the bottom of it. Maybe he had a good reason? I knew I was fooling myself but the only way to find out was to straight out ask my dad.

I didn't want to wake Carter so I got dressed quietly and left him a note by the bed that I was out doing errands. I walked through Carter's one-story house and it was exactly how I remembered it—sparse furniture, stained carpets, and broken drywall. Nothing had changed because Carter had been imprisoned.

I went to the kitchen and took the keys to his Ford truck that he only used to haul stuff. His Harley was parked next to it and was tempting to ride. Carter had never let me drive it before and he'd freak if he found out I took his bike without asking. The truck would do fine to get me to my apartment.

My phone rang as I started the truck. The screen read Ivy.

“I'm so sorry, I totally forgot to call you last night,” I blurted out.

“What the hell happened last night?” Ivy replied.

“There's too much to talk about over the phone. I went home safe and sound with Carter.”

“Want me to come over and we can talk?”

I desperately wanted to spill my guts to Ivy but my father took priority. “I have a couple things to do but I promise we can talk soon.”

“You sound different, Taylor. Is everything all right?”

I didn't even know how to answer that question. Carter and I were back together but my father was probably the reason he was in jail for all those years. “I'm fine, Ivy. Just have a lot of things on my mind. I'll talk to you later.”

I hung up the phone and raced over to my apartment to change. I tossed the red dress into the laundry hamper and put on jeans and a black blouse. I needed to look respectable if I was going to my father's building to interrogate him.

Kyle Enterprises took up almost an entire city block and was the pride of Saint Marks. My father provided jobs to more than seventy percent of the town's population. Over the years I'd only visited him a handful of times at his office. My dad was a busy man and I normally needed to make an appointment.

But today was different. He was going to speak to me no matter what.

I pulled up to the security booth and showed the guard my driver's license. “I'm Mr. Kyle's daughter.”

He took off his sunglasses and looked at me and then my license. “Good to have you back here again, Ms. Kyle. I'll ring up and let them know you're coming.”

I took a special elevator that went straight to the top of the highest tower. The doors opened to an enormous lobby with a tiny desk at the far end. A blonde woman—younger than me—sat behind the desk, her nails clattering against the keyboard.

“You must be, Ms. Kyle,” she stated. “Your father is in a meeting right now that could take a couple hours. You can come back if you want?”

I didn't care about some stupid meeting. Nothing was as important as this. “No, my father will see me now.”

The secretary tried to stop me but I reached the door to my father's office before she could get her hands on me.

My father's office was as big as my apartment. Expensive paintings covered the walls and floor-to-ceiling windows showed off an impressive view of the town. His huge oak desk stood at one end with a long rectangular table surrounded by office chairs on the other end.

My father sat at the far side of the meeting table and almost every chair in the room was filled with business suits. Everyone turned their attention to me.

My dad stood up in his chair.“Taylor, I'm in the middle of a meeting right now. If you could wait until it's over and then we can talk.”

“No Father, we're going to talk right now.” I rarely ever crossed him so he knew it had to be serious.

“Gentleman, if you would please excuse me. It seems a family emergency has come up. We'll reschedule for tomorrow.”

I waited by the door until the entire office emptied out.

“Taylor, this is most unusual. That was a very important meeting.”

I walked over to the opposite end of the meeting table. “Cut the shit, Daddy.” I hadn't been this angry with him since before Carter went to prison. I set both palms face down on the table.

“What's the matter, Taylor?” he asked.

“I want you to tell me the truth. The whole truth. And don't lie to me.”

“Taylor, I always tell you the truth,” he interrupted.

“Are you the reason Carter was arrested?”

My father sighed and slumped back into an office chair. “I never wanted you to find out about that.”

So it was all a lie. Carter was telling the truth.
Rage boiled in my stomach. I would have slapped my father across the face if he was close to me.

“How could you, Daddy? I loved him.”

“That was exactly the reason why. Carter wasn't the right man for you. I could see you going down the wrong path and I had to do something to stop it.”

“By ruining a man's life!” My palms on the table had formed into fists.

“By saving yours, Taylor,” he said softly.

I pounded against the table, taking my frustration out any way I could. “I didn't believe you were capable of something like that.”

“I was only trying to protect you.”

My voice began to waver.
Hold it together, Taylor.
“You went too far. I don't want your money anymore and I don't want to see you again.”

“You'll see it my way eventually. Carter is a bad guy and he will only hurt you in the end. Please stay away from him.”

Tears formed in my eyes. My father meant the world to me. But I never knew how evil he was. I turned around and ran for the office door before I started to sob.

My father called to me but I ignored him. I closed the door behind me and fell to the ground, letting it all out. I didn't care that the secretary was right there, watching me cry my heart out.

I picked myself up and went for the elevator, wiping my nose. The doors closed just as my father opened the office door and looked at me one last time.

Anger and sadness stormed through my soul. I didn't want to believe my father could do anything that insane. But he did. And it wasn't right.

Carter went through so much hell and it was all for me.