Beyond Appearances

Goodbyes Aren't Forever

Sarah gave me the past couple of days to gather my stuff around and to spend time with Hunter. We leave on Friday morning, and sadly it's Thursday night.

Hunter took the whole day off of work to spend time with me more so than we have been. He's currently cooking my, as he likes to call it, "Goodbye meal." Steaks with his famous mac and cheese. And by famous, I mean Kraft that he adds hot sauce to.

We sit at the tiny little table, drinking boxed wine, and talking about memories from over the years. We laugh, I cry, and sometimes I find my heart hurting that I am leaving this big goofball.

After dinner we go and lay in his room. We tangle our hands together just messing around. "Ron, I'm gonna miss you like crazy," He says out of the blue. This tugs at my heart strings. I start to cry. "I'm gonna miss ya too." I cover my eyes. I'm so sick of crying, but can't stop. He pulls me into his side and I put my head on his chest, listening to the familiar beat of his heart.

When I finally stop crying I look up at him, and he sees my eyes. He knows what I'm about to do, and he doesn't stop me. I grab his muscular jaw and kiss him. He kisses me back tenderly. He caresses my face with his rough hands.

We eventually make love. I know we aren't dating, and we are strictly best friends, but he will always have a piece of my heart.

The next morning he helps me get my luggage around and waits with me until Sarah pulls up in her Range Rover. For being 5 years older, she has her
life together. He loads my stuff up and pulls me in for one last kiss. When he pulls away we are head to head and he whispers, "Goodbyes aren't forever." I hug him and he kisses my forehead. "Call me when you get there." He waves as we pull away.

I immediately start bawling my eyes out. Sarah stays focused on the road but rubs my back. "RJ, it's all going to be okay. You'll call each other, and visit each other. Y'all act like it's forever." It sure feels like forever.

I doze off on the long ride from Georgia to Louisiana. Sleeping helped numb the hurt that my heart was feeling.

Hunter may have only been a friend, but he was my one and only love. He accepted me for the tomboy I am. During high school, I was just one of the guys. Hunter saw me for more. He saw that deep down I'm like any other girl, just wanting to feel loved. He gave me that. He made me feel safe, when I lived a life that was anything but.

My eyes grow wide as we start pulling down a long dirt driveway. The road was lined with beautiful magnolia trees, that were in full bloom. When we finally get to the house, my jaw drops. It's a beautiful plantation house. It's a light yellow with a wrap around porch. The white pillars complimenting the black fixtures. It's ten times as big as our childhood home.

Sarah smiled as she looks over at my expression. "Welcome home RJ!"

I just smile wider than ever before. I knew Sarah's husband, Trent made good money, but I never imagined they'd lead such a lush life.

After we park, and start unloading Trent comes out to greet us, followed by my niece and nephew.

Trent is a tall, lanky man. He has dirty blonde hair, and killer blue eyes. I see the same eyes smiling back at me from the little girl hanging off my leg. Landry is even cuter in person, the pictures Sarah showed me just didn't do justice. After I pat her head and smile back at her she runs off to talk child gibberish to her brother, Trent. He looks just like Sarah, with his dark brown hair, and hazel eyes. He's not as outgoing as Landry. He's shy, so shy that when I wave at him, he looks to the ground before running off after Landry.

Just by the greeting I received, I know I'm going to love it here. That is until he walked out the door.

I'm immediately intrigued. The mystery man has gauged ears, neck and sleeve tattoos, and a nice ass. He's tall, lean, and muscular. The ball cap covering his eyes, just adds to the mystery. Sarah didn't mention anybody else living here. When I'm finally done perusing his gorgeous body, I raise my eyes, only to realize, he just witnessed me checking him out. He's smiling and does the same to me.

I immediately start blushing, and turn my back to him. There's no way in hell that I'm gonna show him the effect he has on me. Suddenly, I feel a hand grab my ass. I whip around ready to raise some hell. Only to find him staring into my eyes. I can finally see what's underneath that ball cap. He has the sexiest chocolate eyes.

Being completely entranced by his monotonous eyes, I'm snapped back to reality when he says, "Sweetheart, turning away to cover your blush gave me a better view of your ass." He's wearing a shit eating grin. I notice he doesn't have the typical accent everyone around here has. He's different, it's not refined. Sounds what some may call "southern ghetto."

Sarah, who I hadn't even realized disappeared into the house comes out and yells from the porch. "Johnny, leave her alone. She had a long ride and doesn't need to deal with your antics." She laughs. Apparently they know each other well. "Alright chica, I'll catch you tomorrow." He laughs as he takes off for his black pick up. Pulling out sending gravel flying. Leaving me once again with my mouth wide open.

A/N: I hope you liked this chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it. You finally got to meet the mysterious bad boy!!! Don't forget to vote and comment.❤️❤️❤️