Page 31 of Coming Home to You
If only I could find a way to make this work.
The next morning I wake early.Kelsey is still fast asleep and she looks so peaceful, I decide to leave her while I wander into the kitchen to make coffee.As I’m sitting out on the front porch with Bella, sipping my first cup, Ryan drives up.When he gets out of the car, he looks like he hasn’t slept for days and he’s wearing the biggest shit-eating grin I’ve ever seen.
“Guess you had a good night after all,” I say, laughing.
Ryan grins as he walks up the path to the house.“A gentleman never tells, O’Loughlin.You’d know that if you were one.”
I practically spit my mouthful of coffee out.“Since when the fuck have you ever been a gentleman?”I ask.
Ryan slaps me on the shoulder and then pats Bella before walking into the house.“Fucking always,” he says and I stand and follow him in.
“Bullshit,” I say as we walk into the kitchen and I pour him some coffee.“But if that’s the shit you’re spinning, I’ll just get Kels to ask Erin,” I say, smiling as I hand him the cup.
Ryan leans back against the kitchen island and an image of Kelsey bent over it while I fucked her from behind yesterday morning, pops into my brain.I have to shake my head to clear it before I leave Ryan and my coffee and go back into the bedroom and wake my girl up instead.Ryan smiles at me, but doesn’t say anything.What the fuck happened last night with him?
“Okay,” I say, forcing the thoughts from my head.“You don’t want to spill the beans, fine.How long are you hanging around for?”
I watch as he runs a hand through his hair.He’s still in his suit, although his jacket and tie are missing.“Gonna head back tomorrow,” he says.“Just a quick stop to fill you in on what’s happening with the case.”
I raise an eyebrow at him.“Could have done that over the phone, Summers.”
“Could have, yeah,” he says, grinning at me again.“But then I wouldn’t have met your girl or her friend now, would I?”
I shake my head at him.“You’re fucking hopeless.”
Ryan laughs.“Like you can talk, you’re so fucking pussy whipped, it’s not funny.No wonder you’re sticking around up here.”
A jolt hits my stomach, although I don’t fully understand where it’s coming from.He’s partly right, I am pussy whipped.I always have been with Kels and I’m not embarrassed to admit it’s true.The things that girl does to me, I don’t think I could ever get enough of her.But it’s more than that.It’s everything else we still share too, everything else we could have if I just stuck around.Days like yesterday, which was so fucking perfect could become regular days for us.
“So tell me about the case,” I say, not wanting to go down this path just yet.
Ryan takes a long sip of his coffee and runs his hand across his jaw.“Well, the fuckwit has decided to change his story.Says he’s not guilty after all, even though the DNA evidence all points to him being the one.”
“Fuck,” I breathe out, sure we’d gotten this fucker when we’d interviewed him last week.“But he gave us a signed confession?”
“I know,” Ryan says.“But now he’s saying we forced him into it.”
“That’s total bullshit,” I practically shout.
Ryan holds up a hand.“I know, Beck, I know.The DA thinks it’s an open and shut case; that he’s just stalling and trying to buy time.But,” he says, finishing off his coffee.“It does mean you’re going to have to give evidence in court when it eventually goes to trial.”
“Jesus christ,” I say, running a hand down my face.This whole thing would have been a million times easier if this fucker had just stuck to his original story.Ryan and I didn’t force him into anything, and he knows it.All this little shit is doing is trying to find an alternative to the twenty years he’s likely to spend behind bars when he’s found guilty.If only he’d given us a reason to put a bullet in him, we’d never have even reached this point and Jane Donovan still would have gotten some sort of justice for everything he did to her.
“I guess this means I’m going back to Boston,” I say, just as Kelsey walks into the kitchen wearing one of my t-shirts.
After Ryan and I make plans to meet up for lunch later on, I walk out of the kitchen and into the bathroom, where Kelsey is taking a shower.Stripping off my clothes, I open the door and step under the hot water, sliding my arms around her waist.
Kelsey stiffens in my arms and it makes my heart skip a beat.I lean in and press kisses along her shoulder and neck, trying to get us back to where we were last night.I know she heard what I said to Ryan about needing to go back to Boston; the look on her face said everything.She hadn’t said anything though, just made some lame excuse about needing to go to work before she walked out with barely a glance in my direction.
As I pull her ear lobe into my mouth, Kelsey still doesn’t move.My hands are sliding over her wet, soapy skin and I’m desperately trying to think of something to say to reassure her that I’m not going anywhere.
“Baby,” I whisper in her ear.“Talk to me, what’s going on?”
“Nothing,” she says, her voice flat as she reaches for the shampoo.
I spin her around so she’s facing me before taking the shampoo bottle from her hand and returning it to the ledge.“Bullshit,” I say.
“There’s nothing to say, Beck,” she says, still not looking at me.“You have to go back to Boston.I knew it was coming.”
