Chapter 33

Kate

Have you ever felt truly beautiful before? And invincible at the same time? Have you ever just felt completely and totally free ? Like you’re in some dumb commercial and you just spin around and your hair does what it wants and your dress just flails the way it wants to…

Oh, fuck, I’m in love. Madly and crazily in love.

Of course I’m in love with Corbin. How can I not be in love with him?

He was my first of all the firsts. Everything. He took care of me years ago. And he’s doing the same now. Just in a very different way.

I feel sexy in this black dress.

I feel revealing and that I’m going to be seen but I know nothing bad can happen to me. It’s impossible for anything bad to happen when I’m with Corbin.

It’s like living in the depths of hell and worrying about something other than fire and flame.

“I think we’re far enough away,” Corbin says as he hangs a right turn into a gravel parking lot. “I don’t give a fuck at all, darling. I never have and never will.”

I nod.

It bothers him. It secretly bothers him.

This is my power.

The power of a promise. The power of a ring, even if I’m not wearing it.

The power of having an upper middle-class life, no matter how processed and boring it is.

“Don’t move an inch,” Corbin orders me as he turns the truck off.

He slides out of his seat and walks around the front of the truck to my side and opens the door for me.

His hands are all over me, instantly.

Protection.

Part of me thinks he’s looking for a fight.

I can’t help but wonder…

Is he going to end up in jail tonight?

I’m on my second shot of whiskey.

Corbin is on his second beer.

We’re sitting at the end of the bar, tucked away against the wall.

There’s a blend of rock and country music that plays from a jukebox. Three TVs above the bar capture the attention of most of the patrons. Sports.

The place smells like a cheap dive bar.

If you dare order food you make sure it’s from the deep fryer to ensure that most of the bacteria is killed.

It’s a dirty, cheap date.

It’s fucking perfection.

The whiskey teases my head and warms up every nerve in my body.

“You’re like heaven in a hellish black dress, darling. I want to suck the honey off your cunt lips right here.”

“What’s stopping you?” I ask, leaning toward Corbin.

He grabs my mouth.

I gasp.

We’re in public…

He pulls me toward him and we share a quick but very dirty kiss.

“I’m not giving anyone a show but you,” he growls at me. “Fuck all these people around us right now, Katie. They’re lucky to be in your presence. Do you understand me?”

I swallow hard and nod.

Corbin slides his hand to the back of my neck and squeezes tight.

I groan.

My eyes well up with tears.

I’m smiling.

My pussy… don’t even …

I’ve soaked through my panties already. At this rate I’m going to have a wet spot at the back of my dress.

He releases his hold on me. “Tell me about that bakery. What’s your dream?”

“I don’t know, Corbin.”

“Fuck that,” he growls. “Don’t tell me you’ve lost yourself, Katie. Don’t make me burn that fucking house down. I will.”

I blush. “Corbin, it’s not that easy. Time and life…”

“Are you going to try and preach to someone who spent ten years in prison?”

Fair point.

“The bakery is more of a for fun thing,” I say. “I… we … don’t need the money.”

“Do you enjoy it?”

“Yes.”

“Have you ever thought about opening your own?”

“Of course I have,” I say with a smile. “I know exactly how I would have it.”

“Then tell me,” he says. “Every fucking detail.”

I giggle. And I lean toward him and bump my body into his rock-hard shoulder.

I then tilt my head and rest it against his shoulder.

I’m overcome with emotion.

I’m telling you, I cannot have whiskey. Ever.

My eyes fill with tears and my throat starts to clench. My chest grows heavy.

You’d think maybe I’m acting this way because I’m cheating on my fiancé with my ex…?

No.

I want Corbin in a way that I can’t have him.

There is no happy ending to our love story. There never will be.

“Just something that’s my own, Corbin,” I say to him as I chase away all that emotion. “I picture a place where people stop by in the morning for a coffee and a pastry on their way to work. I get to know the regulars. Have their orders ready in advance. I make their family’s birthday cakes and maybe do special holiday cookies. I have a staff of good people. Someone in college who wants to do what I do. Others who are just happy to be there with me.”

I lift my head and start to laugh.

“What’s so funny?” Corbin growls.

“Listen to me. I’m describing a TV show, Corbin. That’s not real life. That’s not how it works.”

Corbin’s right hand collides with my face. Gently, but he’s never actually that gentle.

I gasp.

“If that’s your dream, Katie, then that’s what you deserve. Do not discount that for a second. If you were with me…”

Corbin twists his neck and suddenly stands up.

The beautiful young bartender looks at him, worried.

“Another,” he says to her.

She moves fast to get him a fresh beer.

I reach for his left arm. “Hey. You can talk to me too, Corbin. It goes both ways here. We have history.”

He pulls him arm away and rubs his jaw.

I stand up and face him. I move toward him, seductively.

This dress and Corbin’s presence give me a sense of confidence.

“I know you want this,” I purr at him.

I touch my right pointer finger to my bottom lip and pull. Then I run my finger down my chin to my throat.

I tilt my head back and groan.

“You should take me right here, Corbin,” I tease. “Or drag me out to your truck. Throw me against it as hard as you can.”

My finger moves down to my chest.

Dipping down into my cleavage.

Corbin jumps at me.

He pulls my finger away from my chest and then his other hand grabs the back of my dress. A tight fistful, hand turning. He towers over me.

“I will fucking crack your ass so hard right now, Katie, you won’t sit for a week,” he growls. “Fuck your dreams. One little question and you think you matter now? Time for you to go home and get into your fucking cage where you belong.”

I groan deep in my throat.

I’m soaked again. Or still soaked. Or even more soaked.

I’m not sure what it is.

I swear my panties are going to give up trying to absorb my wetness and it’ll soon be dripping down my legs.

My body is tight against his.

I feel myself swaying just a little. Almost like I’m dancing to a song that’s only playing in my head.

“It’s very dangerous to be near you, Katie,” Corbin says.

“What do you think you are to me? My life is fucked now. Completely fucked.”

“The whiskey makes you talk a lot, darling.”

“Maybe we should be talking. A lot.”

I want to know more about what he’s actually doing. It’s not my business, but…

What’s the deal with the garage? What’s the deal with the bikers? What’s the deal with that package… which is obviously drugs. Again. All that risk and all that money…

Corbin’s right hand grabs my jaw again.

“Excuse me, dude, how about you lay off the woman?”

The second I hear the voice…

“What the fuck did you just say to me?” Corbin asks the stranger without looking at him.

I look at the stranger.

He’s a big guy. A very big guy.

Wearing a dirty baseball cap turned around on his head.

“I’ve been watching you,” the guy says. “Grabbing this beautiful woman the way you are. Pulling at her. Damn near smacking her in the face. Who the fuck do you think you are?”

I let out an audible gasp.

Corbin slowly turns his head.

The stranger then has the nerve to offer his right hand to me.

“Come on, sweetie, you come with me now,” the stranger says. “Me and my friends will keep an eye out. Get you home safely. You don’t need this.”

My mouth falls open.

I’m in complete shock.

Who the fuck does this guy think he is?

Corbin throws a right fist faster than I’ve ever seen a punch happen in my life.

The sound of Corbin’s knuckles against the man’s jaw is bone crunching and stomach turning.

The wannabe hero crumbles to the floor in a second, knocked out cold.

I look at the bar and see the bartender with her hands over her mouth.

She’s in shock.

Then she reaches for her phone.

“Police,” I whisper. My heart jumps. “We have to go, Corbin. I can’t lose you again. I love you. Please. We have to leave!”

Two other guys are now running toward Corbin and me.

Corbin grabs me once again, picks me up off my feet and runs toward the door.

Great—now it looks like he’s kidnapping me.

As soon as we’re outside, Corbin drops me to my feet and grabs my left arm.

He’s squeezing fiercely, insanely tight.

I groan in pain.

“We’re out of here,” he says. “This was a fucking mistake.”

“Hey, asshole!”

I feel my legs give out, realizing the guys from the bar have followed us outside.

Corbin throws me forward.

I stumble and trip over my feet and fall to the ground.

This whole things looks so bad right now.

Corbin turns to face off with the two men.

I’m tempted to call out his name but I know it won’t do a thing.

“Think it’s cool to sucker punch our friend?”

“We’re going to make your face look like hamburger meat!”

The two men are drunk and they have no clue what they’re doing.

They have no clue what’s about to happen to them…