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He was gone…truly gone.
I watched as the man who had raised me, resting safe inside a wooden box, got rained on. It was the most horrible thing to witness.
His entire life was confined to that one moment, and I couldn’t save him. Couldn’t ask him anything. Couldn’t tell him that no matter what, I loved him. I just watched the rain beat harder down on something I’d never be able to change.
My breath fogged as I exhaled deeply, my hands bunching on my lap. Water poured around me—
Around me. Not on me.
I frowned at the ground that was sopping, except for the patch beneath my heels.
I wasn’t getting wet.
Glancing up, a large black umbrella was perched over my head, and an even blacker pair of eyes glowed from behind it.
“Jack,” I whispered.
He was standing tall, in a dark suit and chiseled frame, holding out the umbrella to shield me from the rain, while he stood beneath nothing but the gray sky, taking a beating.
“Why are you here?” I asked, hypnotized for a whole other reason. His jet hair was sopping wet, drops of water trailing from his head to his striking face, weaving down the five o’clock shadow that masked his high cheekbones. He blinked once, sending another drop dancing along thick eyelashes. All I could was follow the path of rain from his brow to his lips. Soaking. He was standing beneath the storm, while holding out a cover for me to hide under.
My wall.
Shielding me from the harshness that nature—life—was throwing out.
“I’m here for you,” he rasped.
Those four words struck my chest like a spear. Four words that made me feel instantly not alone. Four words I would have given my soul to hear a few months ago when he’d walked out on me.
Jack Powell was one of the two reasons my heart refused to beat correctly. He was my first love. My first passion. My first safety net. And he’d taken all three the day he left me.
Once, he’d been the man who helped me find strength. Helped me tackle the demons from my past and push me to be stronger. It broke every emotion I had when he’d l
eft, and rebuilding had been the hardest thing I’d ever done. And I’d done it with his best friend, Cal. Only, Cal was no better than Jack. He may not have left me, but he had deceived me. And my world was in a shambles, because the truth was a nasty thing to swallow.
But the truth was, Jack and Cal had set me up. Had split my life in half and taken turns pursuing me. Problem was, I’d fallen for both of them, and figured out too late that they had agreed to share time in order to have me.
I looked at Jack. Intensity radiated off of him thicker than the clouds and buzzing with even more energy. Being near him tore at my heart so badly that I could hear the seam rip from deep in my chest.
“I don’t need you,” I whispered, rising to stand. He moved to keep me shielded as I turned to face him. “I don’t need this either.” I grabbed the handle, collapsed the umbrella, and gave it back. Rain instantly battered the top of my head and ran quickly down my face like the spray from a shower.
“I don’t want you getting cold and sick,” he said.
“Now you’re worried about me?” I scoffed.
He hit me with a dark glare and stepped forward. “I’ve always been worried about you.”
I wanted to yell and scream and tell him he was full of it. Because he’d watched me cry, heard me beg—beg—for him to stay, and still turned away. The memory sickened me, but it didn’t change the outcome.
I’d begged for him.
Something a weak person would do. I hated being weak. Tried so hard to feel anything but that single emotion. Which was why Jack was the best kind of sinful pleasure. Because in one breath he made me feel strong—and in another he made me beg. Only he could cause a war between two such powerful emotions. But I couldn’t give in now. My father was gone, my world wrecking like a slow moving train collision, and I was on the brink of snapping under the pressure.
“I’m done with you,” I whispered.
Wild heat flamed like melting obsidian behind those electrifying eyes. He pushed the chair that separated us out of the way, toppling it over onto the soaked grass, and the force made mud splatter on my ankle. Jack stepped into the newly open path and didn’t stop until the tip of my nose brushed against his wet chest.
He pinched my chin and lifted my face to the rain. I stared up at him, eyes fluttering from the drops of water hitting me. His gaze was ensnaring and his expression burned me up as he looked down at me, haloed by the gray sky and thick blanket of rain.
