Here With Me Read online

  He looks at me for a moment, saying nothing. It’s like he’s taking what I said into consideration. I know he has to feel the same way I do. We can’t sit in a house forever, even if it has its own zip code. As I wait for his reply, I dig into the yogurt. I shovel a huge spoonful into my mouth as he starts to speak.

  “I understand we can’t stay here forever. And I’m actually really surprised you know how to handle a firearm. Let’s just give it another day or so to see if we can catch her. If not, we can’t go back to your place or mine. We would still have to be careful everywhere we went.” His expression is serious. “I can’t have her trying to get at you when I’m not there.”

  I put my free hand over his. “She’s not going to get me. I’ll agree to a couple of days, but that’s all. I love your family’s place and all, but enough is enough. And I’m not going to let her dictate our lives.”

  “Okay, baby. We’ll play this by ear.” His lips gently touch my cheek. “Right now, you need to eat, So don’t let me stop you.” He hands me a bowl of the fruit salad and a fork. I throw some into my yogurt and scarf it down so fast, I’m shocked I don’t choke on it.

  After we eat, we decide to head down to the stables. Surprisingly, the heat isn’t that bad right now, thanks to the clouds covering the sun. I want to go horseback riding. The last time Donovan showed me the property, we were on his ATV and I almost died. Okay, not quite “almost died,” but I thought I was going to.

  As soon as we see the barn and the fence, I see a buckskin horse trot up to greet his owner. He’s an old boy, but still looks as strong as ever.

  “Allie, this is my old buddy, Buck. Buck, this is my girlfriend, Allie.” He smiles from ear to ear and laughs as I pat him on the nose. He nuzzles me and my heart instantly melts. I can imagine Donovan teaching his kids to ride and it makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. Then out of the corner of my eye, I see a beautiful black mare trotting up towards us. He introduces us again, with a huge grin.

  “Allie, this is Cinders, my Tennessee Walker. She’s the one that you’ll be riding today. She’s great with beginners.” He nudges me with his hip and I giggle.

  “I’m not a beginner. It’s just been awhile. I think I remember how to do this.” We walk down to the barn together as the horses follow us along the fence. We tack them up and start our way back up the hill.

  “Can we go to your happy place again? I really like that spot,” I ask as we take in the natural beauty around us. The trees are a lush green, the wildflowers are a brilliant array of colors, and the fruit trees are in full bloom with peaches, oranges, and apples.

  “Of course.” He clicks his tongue and Buck starts to run. I follow suit and get Cinders to do the same. It takes a bit longer to get there, but it’s much easier and calmer this way. When we finally reach the place that Donovan loves, we let the horses graze as we sit under that black walnut tree in a comfortable silence. Even with the turmoil going on in both our minds, we can still enjoy each other’s company. It’s so nice to know we’re in this together, and he doesn’t have to fight it alone anymore.

  Chapter 10

  Donovan

  The clouds take on a grayer look to them, making me think it might rain. I don’t care; I just want to be here in the moment with Allie. I can’t take my eyes off her. I try to memorize every single inch of her, not wanting to miss one detail. Her chestnut hair shines, even when it’s cloudy outside Her green eyes remind me of the summer time grass growing in the fields. Her legs are long and lean. Her hands are soft and delicate. She smells better than any of the flowers out here. In fact, they pale in comparison to her.

  “You’re beautiful, do you know that?” It gets her attention and she turns to face me. I can see the blush on her cheeks and it’s so damn sexy. “You are. And you have no idea just how much.” I can’t stop the words that are flowing from my heart to my mouth.

  “Ever since the day we met, I knew you were amazing. With each passing day, I find out a little bit more about you, and I am in awe. I didn’t know God could pack this much perfection into one person, but baby, with you He did.” Her eyes start to well up with tears, but I don’t stop. “One day, I hope you know how much you mean to me. You saved me, Allie. You saved me from my path of self destruction, that was surely sending me straight to hell. I didn’t know what I wanted out of life until you bumped into me that fateful day. I never looked back.” I want this girl to know just a fraction of what I feel for her.

  “Donovan…” her voice wavers as tears start to run down her face. I wipe each one away.

  “Why are you crying?” I wonder if I upset her with my confession of love. Was it too much too soon? Did I move too fast? I don’t want to push her away. I hold her stare as I wait for her to speak.

  “I’m crying because I do know how much I mean to you. If it’s even half of what you mean to me, then that’s enough for me. No one has ever said anything like that to me before. Never.” Her palm covers the back of my hand. My heart does a flip inside my chest and I feel relieved that these are tears of happiness.

  “I love you. I love you so much it hurts. Please don’t ever leave. I can’t bear even the thought of it.” My lips touch hers and it is by far the sweetest kiss we’ve ever had. Thoughts of her becoming my wife flash through my head. Allie holding Jackson’s hand and a newborn baby in her other arm. I stand beside them and watch my family, and I swear I feel my heart doubles in size. We walk towards our new house and my life couldn’t be more complete.

  She turns our kiss from gentle to fierce within five seconds, not even long enough for me to finish my daydream. Her tongue lashes around mine as she straddles me. I think I’ve created a monster, but I’m certainly not complaining.

  “I love you, too,” she whispers against my lips, then she nips my bottom lip, causing my dick to go stir crazy. I bring my hands up to her breasts and stroke her nipples over the top of her shirt. They harden under my touch and she groans, letting me know how much she wants me. Her arms lift up, giving me the cue to remove her shirt. When I do, I see her has no bra on and it turns me on even more. Moving my lips from her mouth to her nipple causes her to grind her hips down harder against me. I know she can feel just how hard she makes me.

  “Let me show you just how much I love you, baby.” I move back and forth between her firm breasts, running my tongue over every inch of them. Her head rolls back and she says my name. By now, my cock is ready to rail her as hard as I can. So much for just making love. It always turns to insanely incredible fucking with her. I grab her under her knees and ask her to lay back so I can get those shorts off of her. When she does, I try my best not to rip them right off her body. She helps by shimmying out of her panties as well. She starts to take off her cowgirl boots and I stop her. “Please leave those on. They are so damn sexy.”

  She stands to get the clothes off that are covering the body I want to see, and she manages to keep the boots on. I follow suit, standing up to undress, which she gladly helps with. Within a minute, all we have on are our smiles and her black boots.

  Holy hell.

  “Turn around and let me see that pretty ass of yours,” I instruct, turning my index finger in a twirling motion. In true Allie fashion, she does it gracefully and even puts her hands against the tree and poking it out for me. I stand behind her and skim her sides with the palms of my hands. “Just like that, baby.” My rock hard iron rod rests against her backside. To my surprise, she doesn’t play any games. Reaching around her back to grab my dick, she lightly strokes, causing me to go weak in the knees.

  I can’t stand it anymore. “Let me inside you.” Those words are all it takes, because she guides me into that sweet spot and I feel the warmth of her on my tip. I take over from here, sliding in all the way, filling her to the brim.

  “Fuck!”

  I love when she cusses.

  My hands grip her hips, holding her in position for just a moment. Then, with a steady rhythm, I start to gain speed. Her hands return back to th
e tree so she can keep her balance. Bending my knees slightly, I push all the way in so that I’m hitting that spot she loves. She pushes back into me, matching my thrusts,. The friction we have going could start a fire and burn a whole damn forest down.

  I pull out and spin her around so that she’s facing me. She gives me a pouty look, like why did I stop? I only give her a smirk right back, cup her ass with my hands, and lift her up. She immediately wraps her long legs around my waist and I start where I left off. Her hips move up and down while she holds her arms around my neck. This is hard work, but damn, it’s worth every minute. My legs are cramping, my back is hurting, and I wouldn’t trade it for anything in the world. I know I’m making my woman feel good and that’s all that matters right now to me. Her pleasure comes first before mine.

  “I’m gonna come! Shit!” Allie screams and she tightens around my cock as she climaxes. I feel her body shudder, so I pound into her a few more times before releasing myself into her. I sit down on our pile of clothes and just cradle her. Feeling her in my arms means more to me than she’ll ever know. I stroke her hair that’s now damp with “sex sweat” and rest my forehead against hers.

  “Think we should head back? Or do you want to stay here awhile?” I ask just as soon as our panting subsides. I look down towards the horses and they don’t seem to have a care in the world. Too bad we aren’t them.

  “I guess we should go back. I’m sure your dad will worry about us. He seems a little overprotective for some reason.” She gives me a weak smile and I know she’s covering up her true feelings. Whether those feelings are anger, sadness, or fear, it’s hard to say. Perhaps it’s a combination.

  “We can leave after a day or so. Just give this a little more time to calm down. Okay?” I tilt her chin up so she’s looking directly into my eyes. “I told you before, it’s about your safety.” She nods slightly and I know this sucks for her. It sucks for me, too. She lifts herself off me and stands to grab her clothes, only to realize that I’m still sitting on them. I get up and hand her clothes to her and I grab mine. We dress in silence, then I go down to round up the horses. I take the reins of both horses when I hear something in the trees. I freeze in my tracks, not knowing whether it’s my imagination or not. My eyes try to scan the woods to see if I notice anything. It’s so thick I can’t make out anything. I stand there for another minute and don’t hear another sound, so I start up the hill with Buck and Cinders. Before I make it very far, I catch a figure moving in the brush. Make that two figures.

  “Who are you?” I call out, scared out of my ever-loving mind. “Come out and show yourself!”

  Okay, please don’t come out and show yourself. Bad choice of words.

  My only answer is silence. Not a rustle of leaves, not a snap of a branch. Nothing but dead silence. Even the birds aren’t tweeting and the wind isn’t blowing. It’s eerily quiet and it makes me haul ass up the hill. Allie stares at me with her mouth hung open as I race towards her.

  “No time to explain. Get on and run.” I try to remain collected and calm, but I’m pretty sure judging by the look of horror on her face I didn’t pull it off. We both mount the horses and I turn around to look behind us one final time. When I do, I see her. And him.

  Claire and Frankie. And Frankie has a gun, pointed right at us.

  “Shit, Allie! Go, now!” I shout as I kick my heels into Buck’s side. “Go!” Our horses take off running as I hear a gunshot sound off close by. “Duck!” We both lower our heads, almost resting it against the necks of our horses when another gunshot fires.

  “Oh my God!” Allie screams in terror as one more goes off. My heart is in my throat and I’m praying that one of those bullets doesn’t get us or the horses, because if it does, we’re both dead.

  “Keep running, don’t stop until we get home,” I yell over to her. And that’s exactly what we do. The poor animals are completely worn out by the time we trot up to the barn. One of the stable guys are outside, carrying bales of hay.

  “Josh, please cool down the horses.” I hop off, then help Allie down. Her whole body is rigid with fear and sore muscles from all that stress. “Come on, baby. Don’t stop now. Let’s get you into the house.” I tell her to get on my back so she doesn’t have to walk. I can tell her knees are like jelly and she just doesn’t have the strength. We make our way to the back door and stumble in. Megan is walking past the door when she sees us.

  “Are you two okay?” She rushes up and wraps her arms around Allie, whose face is tear streaked and red. “What happened? Are you hurt?”

  “No, we’re fine—physically, anyway. I saw Claire and Frankie down by the pond. Frankie…shot at us.” Both the girls look at me with surprise. I realize that Allie didn’t even know who was shooting; I just thought she knew already.

  “Frankie? He was there?” Allie says with a surprised look on her face. “Why…why is he with her?”

  “I have no idea, baby. But I’m going to find out. And I’m calling the police.” I reach for my cell phone in my pocket. It’s not there. “Where the hell is my phone?” Frantically, I search all my pockets and there’s nothing. “Oh my God. My phone was in my pocket. I think it must have fell out when we were…” I stop mid-sentence, not wanting to tell my sister we were getting our groove on.

  “It fell out? That means…” Horror sets in as I realize I have so many numbers on that contact list that I don’t want them seeing.

  “Yeah. She has all the numbers. Including yours and Megan’s. Not to mention the house number.” As if right on cue, the telephone on the wall rings. All three of us look back and forth at each other. I walk slowly over to pick up the receiver.

  “Hello?”

  “Hi, baby. How are you? Did you enjoy your romp with your little slut?” Claire’s voice is full of venom and hatred. The shivers up my spine almost rattle my head.

  “What do you want? Why don’t you leave us alone?” I’m livid. Allie wraps her arms around me and I protectively pull her in close.

  “I want you. I want you to leave her and come back to me, where you belong. I made you what you are. I own you.”

  “You don’t own me or any part of me. We are through and we’ve been done for a long time. Get over it. I’m not coming back to you. I’m with the only girl I will ever want.”

  “Oh, just you wait, Donovan. You and I will be together again. You wait and see. So we can either do it the hard way, or the easy way.”

  “How about no way in hell?”

  “Wrong answer, baby. I guess you want to do this the hard way. Just so you know, I know about your little slut’s son back in Virginia. Is that what you want? A ready made family?”

  Stunned into silence, my mouth gapes open.

  “Think about that one, baby. You don’t want anything to happen to your precious girlfriend’s kid, do you?”

  Tears start rolling down my cheeks. Jackson. She knows about Jackson. Allie looks at me and wipes them away, having no idea what this crazy bitch is willing to do to get to me. Should I sacrifice the only relationship that has meant something to me to save her son? What choice do I have?

  “No, I don’t. Don’t hurt him. Don’t you dare hurt him.”

  “Oh, I won’t. But I’m not saying your old friend won’t do what I tell him to. After all, he wants to fuck me just as bad as you do. And I’m horny as hell right now. After all, four years is a long time to go without any dick.” She hangs up and I drop the phone, letting it crash to the floor.

  “What? What happened?” Allie sounds so scared and horrified, it only makes me want to hold her closer. Her head stays on my chest, listening to my increasing heartbeat. I can’t answer. How can I? Air won’t seem to get into my lungs and I remain speechless and heartbroken. I can’t let this crazy bitch hurt her or Jackson. But leaving her would mean I let Claire win. She really wouldn’t hurt the boy…would she? I wouldn’t put anything past her. Then an idea pops into my head and I spring into action. I pick the phone up off the floor and dial.


  “George? This is Donovan. I need the plane fueled and ready to go within the hour. We’re heading to Virginia.”

  “Virginia? Why are we…?” Allie’s voice stops. “She knows? She knows about my Jackson? Oh God.” Her body goes limp and I catch her before she falls.

  “Megan, I need you to stay here with Dad. I need you to help him try to get Claire and Frankie before they do something really stupid. Allie, I need you to calm down and maintain your cool. Please. I’ll grab our things and we’re out the door in five minutes. Got it?”

  “Yes, let’s go. She can’t get to my family.”

  Chapter 11

  Donovan

  I can’t believe this is happening. It can’t be. This is someone else’s life on TV and I’m the audience. It’s one of those crazy reality shows that you know is fake, yet you watch it like a train wreck.

  Nope. This is your life, right now.

  “I had no idea your dad owned a plane.”

  “Yeah, not a big deal, really. Dad got it for a good price, so he got it for us. Mainly to fly to see our grandfather who lived in Maryland,” Megan tells Allie. Then she turns to me, her green eyes hold my stare. “Please, whatever you do, be careful. I don’t want anything to happen to you two.”

  “I know, we will.” I take her hand and give it a light squeeze.

  “Sis, I’ll call you when I can. In the meantime, please make sure Pops keeps this place on lockdown.”

  “Will do. And you two? You be careful now, ya hear?” Tears begin to flood her eyes as she pulls both of us in for a bear hug. “Don’t do anything stupid, okay, Donovan?”

  “I won’t.” We let go of Megan and head towards the waiting Hummer. I wave one last goodbye before we get in and I can see from here she’s sobbing now. I wish she wouldn’t. It’s heartbreaking, not to mention making me a bundle of nerves about what we’re up against. The only thing on my mind right now is Jackson. Would they hurt him? Are they playing some kind of mind trick on us? Are we falling into some sort of twisted trap? These are things that I can’t question right now. I have to remain focused.