Live for You (13 page)

“
Guess you two are getting
to know each other?” Lacey asks.

Wyatt crosses his arms. “I
think they know a lot about each other. Right, Cole?”

Chapter
Thirteen

Violet

I can’t believe we got
caught. More importantly, I can’t believe what I allowed Cole to do
to me. My body is sated but wanting more. I want Cole inside of me,
with his promise to take me home with him, but I’m not with him
right now. This night is for Lacey, not my raging
hormones.

The cold night air hits me
as we walk to the restaurant from the parking lot. I rode with
Lacey over here while Wyatt caught a ride with Cole. I rub my arms.
A warm coat covers my shoulders. I breathe deeply, relishing the
smell of Cole.

“
Won’t you be
cold?”

He shoves his hands into
his pockets. His black hair sticks out from beneath his knit cap.
“I’m fine.”

Lacey and Wyatt walk ahead
of us. I catch pieces and parts of their conversations.

“
So today in class we were
discussing that worms have both male and female parts, yet still
need another worm to mate.”

“
Is that so?”

“
Yes, but some worms are
asexual and use their own—.”

Were they really talking
about the mating habit of worms?

“
Lacey’s going to school
to be a vet’s assistant. She loves animals, even the not so
attractive kinds,” Cole says, as if reading my thoughts. Or he’d
caught pieces of their conversation, too.

“
Wyatt likes to hear about
that?”

“
Lacey could talk about
the mating habits of sloths and he’d be enraptured. God help him if
she ever talked about human mating habits. He’d probably go
nuclear.” Cole laughs and Wyatt glances over his shoulder, flipping
him off.

“
They’re a couple? I
thought—”

“
They’re friends, nothing
more. Well, there can never be anything more,” he says, lighting a
cigarette. He offers one and I decline. Cigarettes and healthy
vocal chords don’t play well together.

“
Why—her parents don’t
like Asian guys?”

“
No,
his
parents only want him dating
Japanese girls from the right side of the tracks. Ones with
ambition, and don’t work as a hostess at their
steakhouses.”

“
Oh.”

We head inside the pizza
joint, hot air and the smell of garlic hitting me all at once. My
stomach growls.

Lacey turns to me. “Booth
or table?”

“
Booth,” I say, feeling
just a little more than exposed standing here, but no one’s even
looking our way. I’m still safe from prying eyes. A shaky breath
leaves me.

Cole grabs my hand and
squeezes.

The hostess walks us over
to a booth. I sit beside Lacey instead of Cole, because I know I
won’t be able to keep my hands to myself. He smirks at me, sitting
with Wyatt.

“
Dude. Personal space,”
Cole complains.

“
I got over personal space
while sharing a hole in ground.”

I stare at Wyatt. “What
would you share a hole?”

He glances at Lacey, her
eyes are wide. He’s concerned for her, for her reaction. “It was my
bed for fifteen months.”

“
You don’t have to talk
about it,” Lacey says, her hand tightening around the glass of
water the waitress just bought her.

He flashes her a smile. “I
don’t mind, sweetheart.”

Her lashes flutter rapidly
and she frowns. Maybe she doesn’t like terms of endearment? She
turns to me, all serious. “Wyatt hasn’t been home that long and I
don’t think we should talk about what he’s been through. He could
be suffering from PTSD and have flashbacks.”

Even I know what that is.
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. The therapist I saw for a couple of
months after the wreck claimed I was suffering from it. “I’m sorry.
I didn’t know.”

“
Lace, calm
down.”

Cole taps his fork against
his knife. “Attention, please. I’d like to get down the business of
ordering pizza, not psychoanalyzing why we’re attracted to the
color blue.”

We laugh, the tension that
had been slowly bleeding into our conversation stopped.

“
The color blue?
Seriously?” Wyatt shakes his head and drinks some beer.

Cole winks at me and
shrugs. “Best I could come up with on the fly.”

After the waitress takes
our order, the guys get caught up with the football game on the
television at the bar and wander over.

Lacey turns to me again. “I
want to apologize for snapping at you.”

She thought she’d snapped
at me? Clearly she’s never been in a screaming match before. My
former best friend and I could screech at each other for hours
before we calmed down. I’m pretty sure it was an art we perfected
over time.

“
It’s okay.”

“
I had a very nice time
with you this evening. It was nice not riding alone to the rally.
And I wondered if you’d like to do something tomorrow, after church
service?”

She’s so formal and so
stilted that I’m not sure if she’s trying to put me off so that I
never want to spend time with her again. Take a chance, Rae, I
remind myself.

“
Sure.”

A smile curves her lips,
shy and pretty. Apparently, the only place she really feels
confident is when she’s skating. I totally get that. Performing is
where I feel confident, too.

The pizza arrives and the
waitress sets the big silver pan on a matching silver stand. She
serves me and Lacey a slice each since the guys are still at the
bar, cheering for their teams.

“
He’s a nice guy, you
know,” Lacey says.

“
So I’ve
heard.”

“
And you’re pretty nice,
too, despite what they say about you on the internet.”

My pizza slides from hands
and onto my plate. “Excuse me?” I croak. Panicking, I search for
Cole, but he’s not at the bar with Wyatt anymore.

“
You know, when you
crashed your car into a tree? I’m sorry about the miscarriage. But
most women who have one usually get pregnant right away when they
try again,” she says, focusing on rearranging the pepperoni on her
slice. “That’s a good thing, huh.”

She can’t be serious. She
can’t know about my secret. No one but Jaxon and Nana does. And for
damn sure, Nana hasn’t told anyone.

The sound of rushing water
fills my ears. I lurch to one side in the booth, then begin to
shove against Lacey. I’m trapped and I can’t breathe. “Let me
out…please. Let me out.”

She scrambles out of the
booth, a look of genuine concern on her face. “Are you
okay?”

“
No, I am not okay,
you…you heartless bitch,” I snap at her, then lower my voice. “Do
you really think any woman who has a miscarriage is reassured by
the—” I make air quotes. “—fact she’ll get pregnant right
away?”

Blood drains from her face.
“I’m sorry. Sometimes, I say things and I’m…” She pauses, fat tears
sliding from her eyes. “I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings. I
swear it. I’m not normal.” Then she runs out of the
restaurant.

Wyatt shoots me a glare,
the chases after her, calling her name.

I sag against the booth,
very aware that a few people are watching me. I have to go. I start
for the door, but strong arms come around me. “Where is
everyone?”Cole asks, then kisses me on the cheek.

“
I made Lacey cry,” I
whisper as Wyatt reappears, his face drawn tight.

“
What did you say to her?”
Wyatt demands.

I smash my lips together.
I’d rather take the accusations of being a bitch than reveal what
either of us said. I shake my head, break free of Cole’s hold and
rush outside.

*** *** ***

Cole

I watch in disbelief as Rae
runs out of the restaurant.

“
Remind me to never leave
our dates for the bar again.” Wyatt says and punches my shoulder, a
little harder than necessary. “Lacey’s taken off, wouldn’t talk to
me…Damn, I should go after her. Make sure she gets home
okay.”

“
Rae will need a ride
home.” I stare at the pizza, grab some money from my wallet and
leave enough to cover it and a tip. Then head for the
door.

Shit. It’s freezing outside
and the only thing keeping Rae warm is my coat. I hear a muffled
sob and turn around. Rae’s crouched down, leaning against the brick
wall. Her phone is in her hand. Thumbs flying over the
screen.

I cross the distance
between us and crouch down beside her. “Want to tell me what
happened back there?”

“
No,” she sniffs, still
staring at her phone. She smacks it. “Piece of—”

I take the phone from her
and she looks up at me. The street light illuminates her face. It’s
streaked with tears and mascara. My heart turns over in my
chest.

“
Go on; read it,” she
says, rubbing the corner of her eye with a knuckle. “Find out the
truth about me.”

The temptation to read
whatever’s on her phone is there, like picking fruit from a low
hanging branch when you’re starving. Instead, I turn off her phone
without looking at the screen, then slip it in my pocket. “The only
truth I want to find out is from you, not second hand sources and
sure as hell not from a gossip site. When you’re ready to tell me,
I’m listening.” I stand, holding out my hand to her. “Until then,
let’s get you out this nut-freezing cold.”

She sniffs, then laughs,
just a little, but it’s enough to make me smile. Her small hand
slips into mine. “Can you drive me home? My ride’s left
me.”

“
Yeah, let me drop off
Wyatt first though.”

We walk to my Jeep, where
Wyatt is waiting. His hands are shoved in his pockets, but at least
he has on a coat. I glance at Rae, smiling wryly. The things we do
for women.

After driving in total
silence back to the parking lot where Wyatt’s truck waits and
dropping him off with a promise to text him later, I head out of
town.

The engine has finally
warmed up enough for me to turn on the heat. As soon as it starts
to blast, Rae holds her hands out in front the vents, turning them
this way and that.

“
Does that offer of yours
still stand?” she asks as I downshift into fourth gear.

Anticipation jumps through
me, meeting up with lust and desire. My dick gets hard. My fingers
tighten around the gear shirt. “Which one?”

“
About going home with
you.”

“
Yeah.” I’ve gone all
monosyllabic on her. Nice, Morgan, real nice.

“
Take me then.”

She wraps her arms around
her middle and I’m not sure if she should come home with me at all.
There’s a reason I don’t sleep with girls who are drunk or high.
But I never thought I’d have to add emotionally compromised to that
list.

Reluctantly, I pull into
the driveway. I’m nervous as hell, my leg threatening to shake.
Braking, I roll to a slow stop and cut the engine. “Are you sure
about this?” I stare out the windshield, at the stars and the moon
hanging low in the sky. I can’t look at her; I’m too afraid of what
I’ll see in her eyes.

“
I’m sure I don’t want to
be alone.” Her hand slides across my thigh and I can’t help but
look her way then. Her eyes are soft and her lips are close. “Let
me stay.”

I nod, then unlock the door
and get out. She’s out of the Jeep before I can even get on her
side. A part of me wants to sweep her up in my arms and start
things now. But she seems so fragile at this moment that I opt for
taking her hand in mine again.

The connection between us
hums to life.

I can barely unlock the
front door, but I do and pull her inside after me. She reaches for
me, her hands on my face and then her lips on my throat. I groan,
pulling her up and around me, my hands under her thighs, as I
stagger to my bedroom. I manage to cut on the light with my
elbow.

She nips at my chin, my jaw
and—holy hell—my earlobe. I lean into her bites, wanting more and
craving skin to skin contact.

“
Are you sure?” I make
myself ask, another attempt at being noble, at doing the right
thing and not being a selfish bastard who only wants to bury
himself inside of her and get off. Only I know tonight, it won’t be
like that between us. I’m not using her to fight my inner
demons.

I just want to touch and
feel her, be inside of her and take her breaths as my
own.

In answer, she shoves her
hands down the front of my jeans and grips my dick. She’s not
gentle about it at all and I fucking love it. “I want you inside of
me, Cole,” she says echoing my thoughts.

I kiss her then, hungry for
her taste. Dumping her on the mattress, I make quick work of
getting both of us out of our clothes.

Condoms are in the
nightstand by my bed, and I root around the drawer and grab a
couple, slinging them on the wood grain top. One overshoots and
falls behind the bed.