Page 18 of Then and Now (The Edge of Retaliation 3)
“Chase put himself in the middle of it years ago, honey, he made that choice.”
I nod. “Yeah, he did. Tatum though …”
Jo’s face softens, just a little. “Yeah, he’s a good person and he’s a good brother. He tried to do what he thought was right, I get that, I’d do it for someone I loved, too.”
“Yeah, but now he has to watch Chase go down again.”
“Yeah, I know, but he’ll be okay. He’s strong and, in the end, he owes it to Tanner to do the right thing now. If he ever wants their friendship back again.”
I nod, exhaling. “This has been insane.”
“You’re right about that. I didn’t expect things to go so bad.”
“No, me either. Now we’re facing even more drama.”
“We’ll be okay,” Jo says. “We’ve been through worse, we’ll get through this, too. We just have to stick together.”
Yeah, maybe.
Or maybe it would be best if we all went our separate ways.
I don’t know what’s right anymore.
I just know we’re about to open Pandora’s box.
And once it’s open, it’ll change everyone’s lives.
Forever.
“TANNER,” I WHISPER, arching backward, my body aching for more even though he’s already deep inside me.
“Fuck,” he growls, driving his cock in and out of my pussy, bringing me to the brink and then slowing down, taunting me, teasing me until I’m begging for more.
“Please,” I moan, clutching his back, holding his big shoulders in my hands and squeezing his muscles. I want all of him, even though he’s already inside of me, it just doesn’t feel close enough. Like I just need so much more. “Please.”
His thrusts become more intense and my legs tremble around his hips as he finally lets me reach my peak, exploding beneath him, until I’m gasping his name and shaking as a well-earned orgasm rips through my body. A few moments later, his follows with a raspy growl in my ear that makes my skin prickle.
When we both come down from our high, he presses his forehead to mine. Our eyes meet, and I whisper, “That was amazing.”
He makes a murmuring sound in his throat and says, “Fuck yeah, it was.”
“I wish we could just stay here forever, just like this, and never have to face the world outside.”
He rolls off me, pulling me carefully into his arms when he lands on his back. His biceps press me closer to him, and I feel safe, like nothing in the world could touch me while I’m lying right here. That’s a nice feeling, even if I know it’s only going to be fleeting. I exhale and turn my face into his chest, breathing him in.
“Me too, but we can’t. We need to go to dinner and face the music, it’ll never stop playing until we do.”
“Very poetic,” I mumble.
He chuckles, a sound that I’m coming to love more and more every time I hear it. “I like it when you laugh.”
“Like it too, been a long time.”
“Your family are going to hate me,” I blurt, but I can’t help it, I’m terrified of facing them, terrified of what they’re going to think.
“They won’t hate you, they’ll understand, even if it takes a bit.”
“What if they don’t understand?”
“They will, I promise.”
I don’t like promises, they’re made to be broken.
Rolling out of Tanner’s arms, I start getting ready. Neither of us says a lot as we dress and get into the car, heading over to his family home for dinner. A dinner they don’t know I’m attending at this point—he figured it would be easier to just show up. Shock and explain. If he told them he was bringing me, he said they’d likely refuse, and he didn’t want to ruin any chances of getting this out in the open.
My stomach twists the whole drive over, and at times, I actually feel like I might just stop breathing. Tanner reaches over, grabbing my hand and squeezing, but I can hardly feel it. I’m sure at one point he also whispers for me to breathe. I don’t answer. I feel like I’m going to pass out, and part of me wishes I would, just so I don’t have to feel this anymore.
I’ve thought about this moment a thousand times over the last six years. I’ve thought about how it would feel, to have them all finally learn the truth, I’ve even imagined that we’d all get along and everything would be perfect. That’s the problem with imagining things, though. They are unrealistic expectations, and those lead to problems in the long run.
They’re not real.
I need to accept that.
Still, I can’t believe I’m on my way to put Celia to rest finally. To get her truth out, to get her the justice she deserves, to let her finally rest the way she deserves. She never wanted her family to know what happened to her, it’s why she kept it to herself, but in doing that, she allowed herself to drown. That should have never happened.
