Hardin Scott has been madly in love with Tessa Young since the moment he first laid eyes on her, but there's no way she could ever see him as anything more than a friend. After all, he's a bad boy with a promiscuous past and she's a sweet and innoce...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
"No, Hardin," Tessa scolds as she pulls out of our hug to look at me.
"No? He has to pay for all of this. He's done so much shit to you, to us! He can't get away with it," I growl.
"I know he has. That's exactly the point."
"What does that mean?" I ask, confused.
"He's already taken so much from me. He cheated on me, threatened me, humiliated me countless times already and now he's taken my good reputation from me. I can't let him take you from me, too," she says while looking me directly in my eyes and holding my hands. Damn, she's good.
"What? No one could ever take me from you."
"I mean... let's say you go beat the crap out of him. What do you think he's going to do? He's going to get you arrested on assault. He's already threatened me that I better not be with you. He would jump at the chance to get you away from me."
"I know..." What she's saying makes sense, but I need to make him pay. "But Tess, if we do nothing, he'll just keep coming after you. I won't let that happen!"
"I think he's already done everything he can do to me. What's left?" she sighs.
"Tess, he's already proven he's not the person we both thought he was. What if he does something worse than we thought even he was capable of?"
"Like what?"
"Well, he seems to be obsessed with getting you back. Why else would he have tried to threaten you into staying with him? And the night of your fight with him, he came here and purposely tried to make me believe he had slept with you with all the vulgar things he said."
"What are you trying to say?"
"What if he tries to assault you?"
"You think he would try to abuse me?"
"No, I mean sexually." The thought alone makes me want to vomit.
"Hardin..."
"Damn it, Tessa! The guy is telling everyone you're a whore and pretending you guys made sex tapes together. I hardly think he's concerned with your virtue," I shout.
"Hardin, please stop saying those things."
"Well, Tessa, I'm worried what he might do. He's a scumbag who's clearly obsessed with fucking you."
"Hardin!" she cries.
"I'm sorry, Tess!" I bring my hand to cup her cheek and wipe the tears away with my thumb. I realize I have tears running down my face, too.
"Oh, Hardin," Tessa says as she places her hand over the one I have cupping her cheek and rubs her thumb back and forth.
"I'm so sorry for my harsh words, but I'm scared for you. What if he tries to just take what he's always wanted from you?"
"I don't think he's that cruel, Hardin, but I'll steer clear of him, okay?"
"It's not enough," I say with a few tears still running down my cheeks.
"Hardin, come here," she says as she wraps both arms around my neck and pulls me into a gentle kiss. She pulls back to say, "It's going to be okay. We have each other now. And I only want you."
I look into those amazing blue-grey eyes and pull her back into a kiss. This kiss is different from our first time kissing. This is still full of passion, but also a desperate need to be close to her and keep her safe.
I pull away from her, stand up from the couch and reach for her hand to help her up, too. I cup her cheeks with my hands to force her to look into my eyes. "I'm always going to protect you. You're safe with me, you know that, don't you?"
"I do." She smiles.
I pull her into another kiss, reach down and grab the back of her thighs and lift her up while she wraps her thighs around my waist. I pull back, look into her mesmerizing eyes and tell her, "I'm taking you to my bedroom now."
