The Filthy Series: The Complete Dark Erotic Serial Novel (34 page)

“It’s over.”

“What?”

“The case. The trial. It’s over. They found him guilty.”

I froze in place.

“It’s over,” he said again, running his fingers through his hair. His eyes were bright, the green shinier than I’d ever seen it.

“Did they…” I was afraid to ask the question. It was there on the tip of my tongue.

“He got ninety-nine years. The maximum sentence.”

My breath caught in my throat. The air in my lungs seemed to pause. Everything seemed frozen in time, in space while Rhett’s words bounced around in my head.

“The judge didn’t even wait to sentence him. Once the jury announced their verdict he set down his sentence.”

I shook my head. “But I fucked up. I didn’t testify—”

“It doesn’t matter. You shouldn’t have had to sit up there anyway and go through that.”

I bit down on my lip, my mind whizzing through a thousand questions, scenarios. “It’s really over?” Tears pressed at the backs of my eyes. “He’s not getting out?”

“No.” Rhett smiled. “No possibility of parole. He’s never getting out, Faye. He can never hurt you again.”

I let excitement flood my body and before I knew what I was doing I was embracing Rhett, clinging to him. His body was hard, perfect against my own. I could start my own life now. I could—

But I shut those thoughts down. Exterminated them before they could worm their way through my head. I pulled back from Rhett. This was too clean, too easy. Taylor was too smart. This wasn’t the end. It couldn’t be.

“That’s it? It’s just done?”

Rhett touched his hand to my cheek and I fought the urge to rub my face against it. “Yes.”

“But it can’t be that simple.” I took a step back.

“Simple? Do you call the last year simple?” He gave me a half smile and that was when I really saw it. The joy, the excitement. It was there on his face in a way I hadn’t seen since I was just fifteen years old—a little girl with a crush.

And then he was hugging me again. I don’t know if I stepped into him, or he to me—maybe it was both. I would remember this embrace for the rest of my life. There was no doubt in my mind. I had a hundred thousand questions. Some of them the same that I wanted to ask over and over just to be certain, but I could accept this for now. I could live in this moment with Rhett. I could cling to him and bask in the good things. The blessings of life I never thought I would see.

“Is everything okay?”

Sarah’s voice was like a rusted knife slicing through the air. I jerked away from Rhett awkwardly to see her standing at the door holding her purse and keys.

“They gave him ninety-nine years,” Rhett said, his attention on Sarah as well.

“They did?” She pressed her hand to her chest and dropped her purse on the floor.

“Yes.” He nodded.

“Well that’s…” She glanced between the two of us, that sourness that had become part of her complexion seeming to intensify, “great.” She looked at Rhett. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
First.
The word was there. Implied just on the tip of her tongue. I could see it, feel it, in the way she stood, the way she looked at him. The way she looked at us.

“Just found out.” He slipped his hands into his pockets, his stance hardening, as if he was preparing for battle. It didn’t make sense to me. He and Sarah never argued, something I had been dismayed about previously. On all accounts they looked perfect on the outside.

“Oh.” She bent down and grabbed her purse off the floor. She glanced between us again. “I’m glad.”

I expected her to say more. I expected her to hug me and rejoice. The Sarah I had come to know would have done those things. But she seemed unable to cross the threshold into my room. Unable to move toward me. Toward us. Rhett and I. And for some reason that wounded me.

My phone started chiming and I grabbed it off the bed, thankful for the distraction.

Roger:
Hear the good news, kiddo? I know R was in a dead sprint to tell ya. We’re all gonna go out and celebrate tonight at the White Elephant. U better come.

In spite of all the tension in the room I couldn’t help the smile that tugged at my lips. We were going out to celebrate Taylor being locked away—forever. This truly was a day to celebrate. Everything in life was so complicated, but today I wouldn’t let the little complications destroy me. I wouldn’t let myself be sad or disappointed in myself that I had faced Taylor and failed. I would rejoice in this victory. And maybe this really could be a new beginning. I glanced between Rhett and Sarah.

Maybe I really could start over.

The White Elephant was different this time around. I couldn’t decide if it was because there were more people, that the bar was packed and the live band was really awesome, or if it was me that made it different. I wasn’t the same person I had been when I came to this bar months ago. The girl who didn’t know how to drive, didn’t have a cell phone or her GED. It was amazing the things that had happened in my life just in that short time. I was twenty years old now and for once—for the first time in years I wasn’t faced with a future I dreaded. I thought being homeless, living out in that field and fucking men for money was my freedom, but I realized now, as I stood inside the White Elephant among smiling faces that I was truly free for the first time.

Taylor was gone—for good it seemed. And I had a future. A real one.

“Here you go, kiddo.” Roger approached me through the crowd and handed me a fruity looking drink. I took a sip and scrunched my face at the strong taste.

“There’s alcohol in this.”

He chuckled. “Yeah, I know you’re not twenty-one yet, but I say, you’ve been through one hell of a year. You should be able to celebrate a little.” He winked at me and I couldn’t help but smile back. And it felt good to smile at him. He was such a nice guy, kind and caring. He went out of his way to help me out. There were numerous occasions while I was studying for my GED that he had come to the apartment to quiz me on it. Staying up late when he had to work early—even though he didn’t have to.

He wore a dark pair of jeans and a polo shirt. His dark hair was slicked back in its normal fashion. “Cheers?” He held up his beer.

“What the hell.” I held up my cup and touched it to his before taking another sip—a smaller one this time.

“There you guys are.” Rhett and Sarah approached.

“Hey man.” Roger clapped Rhett on the back before hugging him. “It’s a good day.”

Rhett pulled back and nodded, though he didn’t smile. Instead he glanced at me, then at the drink in my hand. “What are you drinking?”

I shrugged. “Roger got it for me.”

“Alcohol?”

“Chill out my man, this girl has been to hell and back. She deserves to have a celebration drink.”

“You should have rode with us if that was the case,” Rhett said, clearly agitated.

I frowned. “I’m fine. I won’t get drunk or anything.” I hadn’t rode with them on principle. By the time I was ready to go, I could hear Sarah talking to Rhett in their room, and I just didn’t have the heart to sit outside their door and wait for them. I wouldn’t let the ache in my heart over their relationship plague me today. Today was the day they put Taylor away and I would be happy and celebrate, and not let anything bother me.

“Yeah, Rhett. It’s over. There’s no reason to stress anymore. Let’s have a good time.” Roger wrapped his arm around Rhett’s shoulder and gave him a squeeze.

Right around that time Cayden and Katie showed up along with Jim and his wife and few coworkers from the firm. The band started playing again and everyone was moving to the music and laughing over their drinks. The whole time I tried not to look at Rhett, to watch him, but I couldn’t help it. I wondered if I’d ever get over the way I felt about him. The deep-seated feeling that had been embedded in me for so many years. I watched him with Sarah. The way she leaned in to him with the music playing loud. How his arm automatically covered her shoulders, even though he was talking to someone else. It was as if they knew each other inside and out. It made me sick.

And when Roger offered to get me another drink, I didn’t turn him down. And soon I was two drinks in and feeling better than I’d felt in a long time. It was why I let Roger pull me out onto the packed dance floor. Again I was back to tripping over my own feet and his, but he didn’t seem to mind. We both laughed the entire time we stumbled around the dance floor.

A slow song came on and I made to move back to where everyone else was standing, but Roger stopped me, pulling me into his embrace.

“One more song, kiddo?” He smiled down at me, and I nodded, feeling a little breathless. There was no denying how beautiful he was. It was just a fact. He was different from Rhett, dark where Rhett was light.

Stop comparing him to Rhett!

He pressed his hand against my waist and pulled me into him, our stomachs pressing against one another.

“You want to know something?”

“Hmm?” I blinked up at him as we started rocking slowly back and forth.

He smiled and glanced around us as if he was embarrassed. “Never mind. I told myself I wouldn’t do this.”

“Do what?” I chuckled.

“You’re beautiful, kiddo. Did you know that?”

His words sucked the air out of my lungs and I blushed. “Roger, are you drunk?”

“I’m tipsy.” He smiled, the movement lighting up his whole face. “And I shouldn’t be telling you this. I promised myself I would wait. But oh well, fuck it.” He brought his hand up and cupped the side of my face. “I think you’re beautiful. I’ve always thought that.”

“But—”

I never got to finish what I was going to say because he was kissing me. His lips pressed firmly against mine. Another dancing couple bumped into us, but neither of us paid attention to them. I’d never been kissed by anyone who was a John, Taylor, or Rhett. I’d never been kissed by a nice successful man in the middle of a slow dance. That kind of thing happened in movies. Not to girls like me—who had been fucked the way I had.

But he was kissing me. There was no denying the firm press of his lips against mine. His hot hand on my cheek in the even hotter bar. The world seemed to be on fire and I reveled in the fact that this was truly a new start. I could do whatever I wanted. I could
be
whoever I wanted. And in this moment I could kiss anyone and it wouldn’t matter. Taylor didn’t matter—Rhett and Sarah didn’t matter. The world didn’t matter—only I did. Here in this split second of time.

I kissed him back. Pressing my body closer to Roger’s. His hand gripped my waist. The one on my cheek snaked into my loose hair.

Until it was over. Until Roger was jerked backward away from me and I was left breathless there in the middle of the crowd.

“What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” Rhett shouted into Roger’s face. Rhett’s hands were buried in Roger’s polo shirt, stretching out the smooth fabric.

“Chill out man, okay? It’s not—”

Rhett’s fist slammed into Roger’s face sending his head reeling sideways.

“No!” I rushed forward knocked from my momentary stupor. “Let him go Rhett!” But he hit him again before I could get to him.

“She’s not yours!” The crowd parted and bouncers rushed in before Rhett could get in another swing, separating them. They started dragging Rhett off. “Don’t you ever fucking touch her like that again!” he shouted over his shoulder, wrestling with the bouncers.

“I think we should go.” Sarah seemed to appear out of nowhere. The sour look that I’d grown used to, seemed to be even more pinched, pressing down on her pretty features. She didn’t look right at me when she spoke. She seemed tired more than anything.

Roger was standing up again, talking to Cayden and holding his nose.

Something inside me told me I should feel bad for Roger. That I should go to him, worry over him. He took a punch for kissing me after all. But I didn’t. Instead I followed Sarah outside, my heart pounding a million times per second. The look on Rhett’s face when he hit him. The vicious anger in his eyes. It did something to me.

Rhett was arguing with the bouncers when we made it outside. “There’s someone inside that I have to get!” He ran his fingers hard through his hair, his breath coming out in a white fog from the cold. “I can’t just fucking leave without her!”

Was it wrong that my heart sank? That even though he had just punched the shit out of Roger for me—he was demanding to come back in and get Sarah.

“We’ll go get her, but you have to stay outside, got it?” one of them said.

“Fuck. Fine. She has dark hair, brown eyes. Her name is Faye.”

My heart leapt into my throat at the sound of my name. He was going to come back in there for me?

His gaze met mine seconds later.

“Never mind.” The look he gave me was lethalaqad. It wasn’t soft, caring, loving. It wasn’t full of compassion or pity. Not even hate. None of those things. Instead he looked pissed the fuck off, like he wanted to rip someone’s head off. His green eyes sparkled with it. His chest was heaving, breathing hard from the fight and the struggle with the bouncers.

He approached slowly. His feet crunching on the pavement.

“Give Sarah your keys.”

“What?” I frowned, remembering that Sarah was standing next to me.