Page 55 of Reckless

It was raw. Demanding.

Brief.

He tore his mouth away from mine, his eyes scanning my face. His frown didn’t seem accusing anymore. He looked confused.

We stood like that for a few beats. Our bodies touching everywhere, looking at each other. I thought he would pull away from me and leave, but he exhaled one sharp breath and thrust his hands in my hair, fisting it and tilting my head back. His tongue invaded my mouth again and I pressed myself into him even harder.

Both pleasure and guilt piled up inside me, but I didn’t want to end it. I wanted the recklessness of that moment to engulf me. To consume me. His recklessness. His wildness.

He groaned into my mouth and broke the kiss. He took his phone out of his pocket and looked at it. I did too and regretted the minute I saw Chloe’s picture on the screen. She was holding a little boy. He stared at his phone for a few seconds, then took a step away from me.

“I have to get this,” he said without lifting his eyes to meet mine. He just turned his back on me and left the bathroom. I stood there like someone had glued my shoes to the floor.

I just kissed Tyler Hartley, the man that broke my heart for years on end.

I just kissed Tyler Hartley and I have a freaking boyfriend. A great boyfriend.

I just kissed Tyler Hartley at his sister’s engagement party. My best friend’s engagement party.

Tyler Hartley just kissed me and then left me without even a glance to answer the phone to another woman. The same man who didn’t even bother to pick up when his sister called him for two weeks straight.

I closed my eyes for a moment contemplating on my stupidity. Then I turned to the mirror to examine my face for obvious signs I engaged in a scorching kiss just a minute ago. My lipstick was smudged. I hoped Tyler didn’t have any of it on his face.

Not more than five minutes after he left me alone in that bathroom I returned to the party with a perfect smile on my face. I noticed him on the other side of the yard. He was still on the phone.

Bastard.

I went straight to Clem and Lucas. They both looked tired and bored. I could probably entertain them with my story of how I just cheated on my boyfriend. With a man that repeatedly showed me he had no interest in me, other than maybe to fuck me. I could entertain them with that story if the man wasn’t Tyler. But since it was, I thought it might be best for them to stay bored and for me to wallow alone in my own guilt and stupidity.

“What happened?” Clem asked. “I saw Tyler dragging you out like half an hour ago.”

Half an hour? Really? How long that kiss lasted? Or I had spent a lot more time in my head before we started talking?

“My father,” I said, and I knew it would be enough for her to understand. “I’ll tell you tomorrow. Madison saw me and thought I might cause a scene.” Clem slightly narrowed her eyes at me. I pretended I didn’t notice. “He took me to the bathroom upstairs. To splash my face.”

“You have makeup on.”

“Yeah,” I laughed. “Men. What do they know?”

Clem fixed her gaze on Tyler, who walked back and forth with his phone pressed against his ear. Her parents and Mike joined us, but she continued talking to me.

“For someone who dodged my calls for two weeks, he sure as hell talks a lot on the phone.”

“Your brother?” Sylvia asked. “He’s talking with that boy again. The son of a friend of his.” So Chloe had a son. “Oh. Richard? Do you remember how you used to call him Ace when he was little? Tyler calls that boy the same way. Isn’t it cute?”

I shivered. Goosebumps covered my body.

Chloe had a son. Tyler always answered Chloe’s calls. She defended him that first night I dropped in unannounced.

What did she say to me then?

Tyler is not a bastard. He does everything for the people he loves.

Was she talking about her? Her son?

Their son?

It made sense. He was cagey about his life in Boston. He didn’t want to leave. But why would he keep them a secret? And also why would Chloe defend him so vigorously, if he was the father of her son, when he paraded his fuck buddy Tracy?

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