I heard the tinkling of the bells that hung over the door to the coffee shop and my eyes landed on Preston as he entered. I was instantly reminded of the first time I'd seen him when he came into Bartini. He wore his amazing black leather jacket, dark jeans faded in all the right places, but this time he had on his Converse. I ignored all the live wires coming back to life throughout my body, all the prickling of attraction, all the tightening of muscles that itched to be touched by him.
He didn't bother stopping at the counter to order a drink. He marched right toward me, our eyes never losing each other. He stopped when he was just feet from me and I just sat there, staring at him.
After a few silent but tense moments, he spoke. "Mind if I sit?"
I shook my head and he pulled the chair out across from me and sat. It was then I noticed that he held a motorcycle helmet in his hand. It was him on that bike. "How long have you been in Hawaii?"
"Just a week."
"You've been here a whole week?"
He nodded, saying nothing.
"Well," I sighed. "You're here for a reason, I imagine."
"You know why I'm here."
"I really don't. All I know is I came here to get away, to start over, and I find myself surrounded by you and your immediate family."
"I need to tell you the truth. To explain to you what happened. You made the decision to leave without all the pertinent information."
"Because you lied to me the entire time we were together!"
"That's only sort of true," he said as he shifted in his seat. "The things I didn't tell you were only to keep you safe, Lena. And I always intended on telling you the truth. I never imagined I would wake up one day and you'd be gone."
"Well, that's what happens when you take someone and their trust for granted. You lose it all."
"I'm here to win it back." His voice was firm and low, and I was proud of myself for reining in all the reactions my body wanted to have to his words, merely fluttering my eyelids.
"Start from the beginning, Preston."
Chapter Seven
"Six months ago, Piper called me. She was frantic. She had been dating a guy, Caleb, for a little over a year. She'd never brought him home, but the whole family knew of him and we also knew they were pretty serious. But Piper was living on an actress' pay in New York City, so we understood why flying home to Oregon to introduce her boyfriend to her family wasn't a reality for her."
"Piper's an actress? That explains a lot," I muttered.
The corner of his mouth perked up and I watched as he pushed his amusement down. I watched that part of his mouth, the part that was aching to smile, as he continued to talk.
"So this Caleb guy, turns out he was a huge asshole. Piper will tell you he didn't start out that way, but he eventually just went down the wrong path. Regardless, he's a douchebag." He shifted in his chair again, obviously upset by thinking about Piper's ex. I made a mental note to talk to her about him later. "He got into online gambling and that led to him seeking out bookies and making real live bets with some pretty dangerous men." Preston's hand came up to rub his chin, his new beard still there, making a grainy noise as his hand moved over it. "Well, he did okay for a while, but he was a dumbass and eventually he started getting in over his head. So much so, in fact, that he ended up betting all of Piper's savings and losing it."
He shook his head. "Piper should have known better, should have kicked him to the curb, but she let him stay on the condition he started a treatment program. He told her he would get help, and it seemed like he was. He went to meetings. Had a sponsor. Everything looked like it was improving."
I saw a muscle in his jaw start to twitch and the hand resting on the top of the table clenched into a hard fist.
"One day a man shows up at her apartment and beats the crap out of her."
I gasped and my hand flew to my mouth. "Oh, my God," I whisper. Piper was so small and sweet and lovable. Who could lay a hand on her?
"Yeah. It was pretty bad. My parents got the call in the middle of the night that she was in the ICU. I flew out there with them to see her. She was a mess, but after a day or two, she woke up and, amazingly, made a full recovery. Well, nearly. She's still emotionally damaged, as one would be." He cleared his throat, bringing a fist to his mouth, and I wanted so badly to wrap my arms around him in that moment. "But she's so strong."
"Preston," I whispered, not really knowing what to say. I couldn't imagine what it would be like to watch your twin sister fighting for her life in a hospital bed.
"Anyway," he continued, powering through. "Once she woke up and told us what happened, I found Caleb and beat him within an inch of his life." The steel with which he spoke those words chilled me. "Piper said someone came to their apartment looking for payment. Said Caleb owed this guy twenty grand and he took part of the payment out on her. So I found Caleb, kicked his ass until he could barely talk, got the name of the person he owed the money to, and then I kicked his ass until he was barely breathing." He paused again, this time tapping his fingers on the top of the table. "I'm not one-hundred-percent sure he lived, but I'm assuming he did because I haven't been able to find a death certificate for him. And no one's come to look for me yet."
I didn't really know what I was expecting Preston to say to me, but this story definitely wasn't on my short list. I was a little taken aback by all the new information. "You might have killed him?" I asked, my voice small and quiet.
He shrugged. "It's possible. I wasn't concerned at the moment with sparing him, but I didn't intend to kill him. I just wanted to do to him what his loan shark had done to my sister."
I nodded like I understood, but I didn't. I couldn't relate to what he was saying at all. I was shocked and surprised and caught off guard. I'd seen Preston protective and forceful, but I'd never seen him violent.
"Anyway, I found the loan shark and made an arrangement with him. He'd forgive the debt, to which my sister was linked to through her sleazy boyfriend, and I would be in his pocket. It was a good deal. He had no idea who I was, or any real proof that I could be of any help to him, and could have told me to fuck off, but he took the bait. I gave him all my information and was told he would be in contact when he needed my assistance. It just so happened that he liked the idea of having his hands reach all the way to the West Coast. Stroked his ego, so to say."
He took a deep breath in then let it out and I watched as some of the tension that had appeared when he was talking about Piper release.
"Funny thing about mobsters and people of that nature, they trade favors like picks in the NFL draft. So eventually I was approached by Edgar."
My mind raced trying to place the name. I'd heard it before.
"He's the guy who followed us in his car after the gala. He cornered us in the alley," he supplied when he noticed I was trying to put the pieces together.
"Right," I said, remembering the round guy who'd known who I was even though I had no idea about him.
"Turns out, Derrek and Edgar were buddies. Edgar owed Derrek, for what I'm not sure, but when you made that call to the private investigation firm, you set everything in motion. Derrek wasn't lying when he said he'd been waiting for you to make your move. And," he continued, "if it's any consolation, I didn't work for Derrek I worked for Edgar."
"It's not," I said quickly, even though I was still a little confused about the specifics.
"Well, I got a call from Edgar and he told me I was to meet my mark, you, and my job was to get you into bed."
My stomach rolled at his admission and I knew he could see the unease in my eyes. He reached across the table to take my hand, but I quickly slipped them below to my lap. My defenses went up automatically. "Well, congratulations. Mission accomplished." My voice was shaky, emotions coming out that I was desperate to keep in.
"Lena," he said softly. "I watched you walk into that bar and I couldn't for the life of me understand why any man would want to give you up, would want to jeopardize you in any way. Then I met you, got a taste of your sass, learned how incredibly smart you were, and I knew instantly I was fucked."
Just like the first time we'd met, his use of that word sent unwanted, yet delicious, jolts of electricity to the core of me. I trembled and hoped he didn't notice.
"This is all very interesting, but I'll remind you that you did, in the end, jeopardize me. You fucked me. In every sense of the word. So, tell me, why are you here now?"
"Because you're mine."
"No, I'm not."
"Lena, you're mine until I decide otherwise. And right now, you need to hear the rest of what I came here to tell you."