Graceful Scars Read online

  I honestly couldn’t think of what I assumed would be his job, but a day trader definitely wasn’t it. It did explain how he was always available, for the most part, to take Zoey places during the day as well as at night. Talon took complete care of the two of them; I was happy he had a job that allowed him to do so without a ton of stress financially.

  “Where do you see yourself ten years from now?” I had expected that to be one of his questions but I still fell silent as I tried to think of how to answer it.

  “I honestly don’t know.” I paused. “I used to think I would be at Juilliard, pursuing my dream of dancing and one day making it my profession. The way life has been recently, I honestly don’t know anymore…Hopefully I will be able to say that I’m fully happy, wherever I am.” I couldn’t hide the sadness in my voice, and I knew Talon noticed it as well. I choked back my emotions and quickly changed the subject. “What’s the story behind your tattoo?”

  Talon’s eyes darkened, to a saddening shade of almost brownish-grey as he looked past me to the trees outside the large windows of the cabin. “I got it not long after the fire.” I felt chills form on my skin at the mention of the fire that took the rest of his and Zoey’s family. I wanted to ask what it meant but before I could he continued on.

  “I blamed myself for a long time because I couldn’t get to my parents or Madden. When I say blame, I mean I beat myself up for it. I fell into a dark funk until one day, Zoey had wandered off from our first apartment and I couldn’t find her. I prayed so hard that day, I prayed that if I found her, I would get my act together and be the person she needed in her life. I wasn’t the best role model back then.” He sighed heavily. “A few hours later a neighbor called saying they found her at McDonald’s ten minutes from our apartment complex. They knew something wasn’t right because I was nowhere in sight, so they brought her home. I took that as a sign, like I was getting a second chance at being her guardian—a second chance at being a good role model. Later that week I got the tattoo. For I Have Sinned stands for everything bad I have done in my life, it’s a reminder that I haven’t had the easiest road, due to circumstances out of my hands and some I brought on myself. It reminds me that everyone has a tainted past, but you don’t have to let that define you. So from that day forward, I stopped letting it define me.”

  “You’re a wonderful man, Talon. Zoey is lucky to have you, and so am I.”

  We continued our question game for hours; asking each other silly questions like what’s your favorite color or favorite food, and more serious ones like have you ever been in love before. Talon had talked about a girl named Bree who he had spent four years with before the house fire that killed part of his family. I was jealous about how he talked about her, I couldn’t lie about that, but I knew his feelings for her no longer existed because of the way he was with me. Talon was one of those straightforward guys: if he loves you, you’ll know it; if he has feelings for someone else, you’ll know it. He wasn’t one to hide things, especially something that could change your life altogether. When it came to love, I hadn’t been lucky enough to find it until I met Talon. He was the unexpected love of my life and I just hoped I could keep it that way without some form of tragedy pulling us apart.

  My legs were burning as I ran as fast as I could towards the tree line ahead of me. I could hear the sound of leaves crunching behind me, letting me know that he was close to catching me. My chest was heaving as I pushed myself harder and harder when my foot caught on a downed tree limb. I went flying face first to the ground, smacking the left side of my face against the gravel below me. My hands were shaking as I reached up to touch my sore face. Blood trickled down my shaky hand.

  “You can’t run from me forever.” His hands came down hard on my back, jerking me up to a somewhat standing position. I screamed until my voice cracked from being strained, but no one came.

  “Tegan! Wake up! You’re having a nightmare!” Talon’s voice broke through the dream I was having. I shot up in the bed as my chest heaved. My body was sweaty and my face was moist from tears that had been streaming down my cheeks.

  I whipped my head around towards Talon beside me in the bed. He looked bewildered, I’m sure I had terrified him. “I—I don’t know what happened.” I tried to make sense of the dream I just woke from.

  “You were screaming.” Talon ran his hand up and down my arm, trying to soothe me.

  “I was?” I looked at him as a round of tears raced down my cheeks.

  “You were, loudly.” He looked sad. “Do you want to talk about it?” Talon scooted closer to me and leaned back against the headboard. He wrapped his arms around me, pulling me against his chest. I rested my head on him and blinked my eyes a few times.

  “It was him. He was chasing me through this open field. I was trying to get to the tree line when my foot caught on something and I fell face first into gravel. He told me that I couldn’t run forever.” I sounded like a zombie as I relived the horrific dream. I hadn’t dreamt about him in a long time, but I knew that him being killed during Heather’s attack was most likely my trigger. Hopefully he wouldn’t continue to haunt my nights, I didn’t need him taking my sleep from me as well.

  “Do you dream about him a lot?” Talon’s voice was soft as he asked.

  “I used to,” I admitted. “But I hadn’t in a long time. I think what happened at the studio triggered it.” I ran my hand up and down his bare chest.

  “I’m sorry, Tegan. If I could take away your pain from it all, I would in a heartbeat.” Talon took the piece of my hair that was hanging in my face and looped it behind my ear.

  “I know you would, and I love you for it.” I kissed his chest before a yawn escaped me.

  “Why don’t you try to get some sleep?” He kissed my forehead. “I’ll stay awake for a bit to make sure you’re okay.”

  We snuggled father down into the bed. I kept my head on his chest and closed my eyes, hoping for sleep to find me quickly.

  Chapter Fifteen

  It was our last day in the cabin. It had been the best getaway for the two of us–nothing scheduled to do, peace and quiet, with no worries beating down on us. If it wasn’t for Zoey or Adalynn, I wouldn’t want it to end, but life was waiting for us to return, even if we didn’t want to. I packed my last few items into my bag as Talon loaded the others in the car. He wanted to get it out of the way so that we had the rest of the time to relax with one another.

  “Is this the last one?” He bent down and picked up the bag I had just zipped shut.

  “Yep, the last one.” I tilted my head up towards him and smiled. He leaned down just enough to place a loving kiss against my lips before heading back out to the car.

  I got up from the floor and made the bed we had been sleeping in for the past three nights. I definitely wasn’t ready to trade that amazingly comfortable bed in for the not-anywhere-near-as-comfortable one I had at my place. After I double-checked the bedroom and bathroom, I made my way out into the living room and took a seat on the couch. I watched Talon load the last bag into the trunk and shut it. He reached for something in his back pocket and once he pulled it from his jeans I instantly saw that it was his cellphone. We had been without them for the entire trip so I thought it was odd that he had it out, especially since service here was pretty much nonexistent.

  He turned his back towards the cabin as he held the phone up to his ear. I couldn’t help but wonder what was going on and the moment he turned back towards the cabin I looked away. I knew he could see me, and he knew that I could see him, but why did I feel like I shouldn’t let him know that I was watching him through the window?

  I could still make out what he was doing from my peripheral vision. His forearm was resting against the trunk of the car while he chatted away on his phone. His eyebrows were furrowed just enough to show that he was upset about something. I was curious as to what that something was. After a few seconds I decided that I was going to walk outside so I grabbed my long Indian print cardigan from the back
of the couch and secured it around myself tightly as I headed for the door in the kitchen. I opened the screen door just as Talon went to grab for it, causing us to crash into one another.

  “Shit!” Talon grumbled as I accidentally smacked him in the junk with my hand.

  I covered my mouth with my hands. “I am so sorry!”

  Talon was bent forward holding himself. “It’s okay,” He strained to say, “wasn’t your fault. Just give me a minute.”

  I continued to hold the door open until he was ready to walk inside. I felt horrible for knocking him a good one. If I hadn’t wanted to be nosy it wouldn’t have happened. I grabbed a bag of frozen peas from the freezer. “Put this on your—umm—package.” I felt my face redden. I was embarrassed, which was odd. It’s not like we hadn’t seen every inch of one another before.

  Talon had flopped down on the couch while still holding himself. “It’s just throbbing now; I’ll be okay I think.” He cracked a smile at me.

  I put the peas back in the freezer and took a seat on the couch beside his drawn up legs. “I really am sorry,” I said sincerely.

  “It’s fine. Shit happens.” He laughed and flinched.

  “Did you get everything loaded?” I changed the subject.

  “Yeah. Adalynn had called while I was loading. For some reason I had service.” He dropped his legs off the side of the couch and motioned for me to scoot closer to him so I did.

  “What did she want?”

  “Just asking when we were heading back; said there hadn’t been anything going on except mass amounts of movie splurging and cookie baking.”

  “They stayed at your place, right?”

  “Yeah.”

  “I can only imagine what your kitchen looks like.” I laughed at the thought of it. Adalynn was one helluva baker but when it came to cleaning up the hellacious mess she created, she slacked drastically. I hoped she hadn’t done that in Talon’s house.

  I didn’t bother asking him why he had looked upset when he was talking to her, mainly because I didn’t want him knowing that I was watching him through the window, even if it was innocent.

  Talon got up from our resting spot. “Grab your coat and follow me.” A sly grin tipped the right corner of his mouth up. Every time he looked at me like that I wanted to jump his bones.

  I zipped my coat and pulled my toboggan on as I followed Talon into the back yard of the cabin. The land stretched for as far as I could see before disappearing down a small hill. We continued to walk hand-in-hand until we came across a dirt road at the foot of the hill.

  “Where are we going?” I asked.

  “You’ll see.” His smile beamed with excitement as we continued on the dirt road.

  The weather was quite a bit warmer than it had been since we got to the cabin, so the walk wasn’t unbearable. The road was lined with large trees that were bare from the cold of winter. The trees were so close together that if they were in full bloom, it would be hard to walk between them without getting stuck by a branch full of leaves.

  The road took a drastic left turn and we followed. “Not much further,” Talon informed me. My knee-high riding boots clanked against the road as it switched from dirt to gravel, that might as well have been dirt.

  As we rounded a curve to the right, a beautiful lake came into view. There were a couple of benches on the bank, and a fishing deck stretched out over some chunks of ice at the edge of the water. It was absolutely breathtaking. “Wow,” I managed to say.

  “It’s beautiful, isn’t it?” Talon’s lips were close to my ear, causing goose bumps to rise on my skin. I shook my head yes and he pulled me along towards the benches.

  I thought we were going to take a seat on one of them, but we didn’t. Talon continued to walk, circling around to the side of the lake where a covered swing sat. The sides and top were covered so the only wind you would get was from the back or front, but it was sitting at an angle to prevent most of the wind from blowing through.

  Talon let go of my hand and took a seat on the swing. It started rocking gently from his movements. “Come, sit.” He motioned me forward. I took a seat beside him and he wrapped his arm around me, pulling me into his side. I rested my head on his pec and placed a hand just below there on his abs.

  We sat in silence for a few moments as the swing rocked back and forth slowly. “It’s so beautiful here.” I sounded like I was in a daze.

  “I brought Zoey here about a year ago during the summer and she loved it. I knew you would too.” The warmth of his lips pressing against the skin below my earlobe felt nice.

  I turned my face towards his and angled it upwards so that our lips were almost close enough to touch. “Thank you.” My voice was low.

  “For what?” His eyes kept bouncing from my eyes to my lips.

  “For bringing me out here, for caring enough about me to help out in any way that you can, and for simply being you, Talon Fisher.” I smoothed a hand across and then up his cheek, stopping when my fingertips brushed into his sideburns.

  Talon ran his fingers through my hair, stopping on my neck. “I do things for those I love, and you are definitely someone I love, Tegan Carter.” He gently pulled my neck forward so that our lips would connect, and boy did they connect. I moaned into his mouth as our kiss became heated. Our tongues moved in rhythm with one another as Talon wrapped his hand around to the nape of my neck and held me in place.

  To get a better angle I moved so that I was straddling his lap. Fisting my hands deep into his messy hair I put my all into devouring his lips. The sound of our labored breaths was the only noise around us as I moved myself against the growing bulge in his pants. Talon unzipped my coat and pushed it off of my shoulders, letting it fall off of my arms without breaking our kiss. I wanted him badly but we were out in the open for anyone to walk up and find us.

  “Tegan,” Talon’s voice came out as a warning as I ground myself down on him and groaned into his mouth.

  I didn’t want to stop. Every time we got so wrapped up in one another I never wanted to stop. It didn’t matter where we were or who was around, it was like any thought of keeping it to ourselves went out the window and lust clouded my mind. It was funny to say that because I was the complete opposite before Talon came into my life, but when you feel safe and secure with someone you can’t help the feelings it evokes within you.

  “Just go with it,” I whispered against his lips as I unbuttoned my button down shirt, exposing my navy blue bra.

  Talon sat back and took in my exposed chest as he ran his hands up my thighs, pausing when he reached my center. I closed my eyes and unsnapped the front clasp on my bra, leaving my shirt gaping open. I removed the cups from my breasts and opened my eyes as Talon’s hands moved from my center to palm my bare breasts. He groaned as he dropped his head to give each nipple its own attention with his mouth. I turned my face up towards the cover on the swing and moaned out as he nipped one of my nipples gently with his teeth. The sensation from it shot right to my core, igniting a spark within me. My heart was fluttering uncontrollably as I pushed up on my knees enough to undo my jeans, but I had to stand to remove my knee-high riding boots and jeans. I stood before him with my shirt wide open and in a skimpy pair of navy blue panties, hoping he wouldn’t stop this from happening; I didn’t think I could wait long enough to get back to the cabin.

  We stared at each other for what felt like an eternity before Talon unbuckled his belt and undid his jeans. He slid them down to his ankles and sat bare assed back down on the swing. His erection was bobbing in the air, tempting me to take it. He extended his hand to me in invitation and I wasted no time. I placed each of my knees on the outside of his legs and felt him pushing against my entrance almost immediately. Talon reached down between my legs and moved my panties to the side. His index finger swiped my entrance slowly, feeling the moistness there and spreading it around the area. I let out a slow breath as I sank down until he filled me completely. Talon’s head was resting back against the swing as his mo
uth hung slack. His eyes were molten black; I kept mine locked on his as I began to move: up and down, back and forth, and then repeat. No words were spoken between us as I continued to ride him at a steady rate. The chains on the swing were clanking together with each motion I made and his hands were kneading my breasts, becoming a bit rougher every time I picked up the pace. Before long I was slamming down onto him with such force I was sure that the swing would crash to the concrete below us at any moment but I couldn’t give a shit less.

  Talon spread his legs a little wider so that I would go down further than I had been. I slowed as I came all the way down onto him, while he leaned forward and took my lips with his own. He nipped my bottom lip and sucked my tongue into his mouth; his warm hands ran up my back beneath my shirt and loosely hanging bra as he pushed me forward so that our foreheads were resting against one another.

  “Move, slowly,” he panted out his demand.

  I rocked back and forth as we kept our foreheads pressed together and our eyes locked in a heated stare. The blissful burning in my core picked up with every movement I made, I just hoped he was as close as I was to finding his release. I moved my mouth forward and sucked his bottom lip into my mouth, gently biting down on the fullness of it as I lost myself. My release broke through, causing me to grind down on him as I moaned into his mouth. Talon gripped my hips and moved me faster and faster until he shook, releasing himself into me as he groaned through it.

  As we came back down from our euphoric state, he laughed through his labored breaths. “That was…” he paused, “unexpected.” He laughed again.

  “Are you saying you didn’t like it?” I teased.