God, I wish the brunette was here. I’d give that curvy young thing the night of her life. And I’d have one hell of a time letting her go in the morning.
But it’s better for her if she stays away. She’s a sweet, innocent girl and I’m nothing but an animal. I’m nothing but a wild beast who lives in the woods.
A wild beast with a rap sheet and a penchant for ruining lives no less. Fuck me.
So yeah, Emma has to stay away. Every time she comes here and leaves, it’s harder for me. It’s harder for me to say goodbye and watch her disappear into the town that ruined my life.
But when I hear the knock at the door, I practically shit myself. Yanking my hand free from my pants, I wipe my fingers on my thigh and cross the room. My heart is thudding as I wrap my hand around the door handle and yank it open, expecting to see Emma standing there with a sweet smile on her angelic face.
Except Emma’s not standing there. There’s no sight of her luscious curves or shy brown gaze. Instead, there’s a man standing there in an Armani suit with a briefcase tucked under his arm. The sight of him makes me scowl.
I haven’t seen him in years.
“Dane, I need to talk to you,” he says in a high, nasally voice. “It’s important.”
My arousal vanishes completely and I’m left with an acrid, bitter taste in my mouth that reminds me of vomit. My stomach turns and twists and suddenly, I’m nauseous. Pushing past the man, I stumble out onto the porch and vomit.
“Hey man,” the suit wheezes. “Nice to see you, too!”
I wipe my mouth with the back of my hand and turn to face the man with a glower. He’s standing there with an amused smile on his wide face. In the years since I’ve seen him, his brown beard has gone almost completely grey, and his hair is streaked with white at the temples. He still looks as foppish as ever though, with shiny shoes covered in mud and a gold Rolex glinting at his wrist.
“Jed,” I say in a tired voice. “What the fuck are you doing here?” I step back into the doorway, closing it around me so that Jed can’t come inside my domain. “I thought we agreed – no surprise visits.”
“Well, it’s hard to get in touch with a man who doesn’t have a phone,” Jed jokes. When I don’t laugh, his grin fades and he shakes his head. “Come on, Dane. I’ve got news. Good news,” he adds. “News that you’re definitely going to be interested in.”
I start to close the door in his face but Jed sticks his foot in the door so it catches his Gucci loafer. He howls in pain but I don’t ease up, staring at him and wondering what he could possibly have to say to me.
“Ouch!” Jed squeaks. “Dane, come on! Don’t be such an ass! Let me in!”
I sigh and step back to open the door. Jed limps inside, glaring at me as his wounded foot drags across the ground. What a pussy. I roll my eyes. Even when Emma had her sprained ankle, she was still up moving around. I didn’t do anything more than bruise Jed and he’s acting like I cut off his damned foot.
All I can do now is hope that wherever she is, Emma’s not about to show up and make an appearance. Jed is the last person I want her to meet. I’m still not ready for her to find out about my past.
And I’m not sure that I ever will be.
“Why are you here?” I ask warily as Jed drops down into a leather armchair by the fireplace. He doesn’t answer, instead cradling his wounded foot and letting out a pitiful whimper.
“You got a first aid kit around here?”
I groan under my breath and stomp into the kitchen where I grab the meager kit from under the sink. I bought it back when I first moved out to the woods, anticipating lots of cuts and scrapes. But after the first couple of weeks out here, I was so used to being banged up that I didn’t even notice. And now my skin has practically hardened like some kind of reptilian hide.
The price I pay for being an animal instead of a man.
“Yeah. Here.” I walk back into the living room and pass Jed the kit. He takes his shoes off, wincing again at the mud caking the expensive patent leather, and puts his feet to the fire. I see blood covering his right foot and I realize that the door must have scraped his toes.
Oh, well. He’s always been the world’s biggest pussy.
We sit in silence punctuated with Jed’s little cries of pain as he dabs hydrogen peroxide on his cuts and covers them with all of the band-aids in the kit. When he hands the box back to me, I smirk.