Her eyes flared, and the heat was back. Hell yes. My girl liked sex.
“Blythe.”
“Yes?”
“You’re perfect. I wouldn’t change a thing. Know that,” I told her, then turned to go get a towel. Now that I knew she’d lived a life of being put down, I intended to make sure she spent the rest of her life being reminded how wonderful she was.
Chapter Twenty-Four
BLYTHE
Krit was outside the door. He wasn’t ready to face Malcolm, and I wondered if he ever would be. I walked into the room and sat down in the chair beside Malcolm. They said he could go home tomorrow. The church was supplying him with a nurse, and I didn’t want to stay. Not any longer. I had to get back to my new life. The one where I had something worth living for.
“You’re leaving,” he said as he opened his eyes and looked at me.
“Yeah. It’s time I went home,” I told him. Krit was my home now. I had a home to go to, and that felt good. No, it felt amazing.
“The pierced tattooed guy?” he asked.
I nodded. “His name is Krit,” I told him.
Malcolm glanced at the door. “He out there?”
“Yes, but he doesn’t like you. He, uh, he isn’t sure he should be around you. He doesn’t forgive you for . . .” I didn’t finish that. Malcolm understood.
“So he loves you then,” Malcolm said.
“Yeah, he does.”
“Do you love him?”
“More than life. He’s my home. He’s healed me. Fixed all that was broken,” I told the man who had played a part in breaking me.
Malcolm didn’t say anything. He turned his head and looked out the window. “Go be happy, Blythe. Go live the life you deserved all along. Let him love you the way you deserve to be loved.”
He didn’t say he loved me. But he did tell me to go. So I stood up and did as I was told. When I stepped out of the door, Krit’s arms were right there holding me close to his hard safe body. “You’re my home too,” he said against my head.
“Let’s go home,” I told him.
Krit slid his arm over my shoulders and we walked through the waiting room where church members sat waiting to visit Malcolm. They all looked at me and then at the sexy rocker whose arm was possessively wrapped around me. I smiled at them and walked away. Away from the life that hadn’t wanted me and toward the life that I was meant for.
KRIT
Blythe was sleeping in my arms when the knocking on her apartment door started. We had gotten home late, and she was exhausted. I slipped out of bed, jerked on my discarded jeans, and headed for the door before Blythe was disturbed.
Trisha stood outside Blythe’s door with Britt and Jedrick Owens. I’d gone to school with Jedrick. Last I heard, he was playing football at Oklahoma State. Dude was a monster on the field. “What’s this?” I asked, rubbing the sleep from my eyes.
“Inside!” Trisha barked, and strutted in. She had her “don’t mess with me” look on her face. Britt and Jedrick followed her, and Jedrick’s eyes met mine.
“Your sister scares the shit out me, man,” he muttered as he sauntered into the apartment.
I managed a grin and turned to look at Trisha, who looked like she was ready to lay the smackdown on anyone who interrupted her. “I took Britt to the doctor. I was tired of her not going, so I made the appointment and took her myself. She fought me on it a little, but then she decided it was in her best interest to do as I said,” Trisha said, shooting a glare at Britt, who stiffened. “She’s pregnant, all right. Four months pregnant to be specific. Four months ago Britt wasn’t even in Sea Breeze. She had gone to see her aunt in Oklahoma. It was summer break, and she and Jedrick had hooked up during spring break and had been talking on the phone.
“Problem was, Britt’s daddy is a redneck and a racist. Britt knew her daddy would never let her date Jedrick. Didn’t matter that he was already being drafted into the NFL. He was the wrong color. So, Britt ran off to spend time with him.” Trisha stopped and looked at Jedrick.
“Now you tell us all about the protection you used with Britt,” Trisha told Jedrick.
The guy stifled a yawn. Apparently, my sister had woken him up too. “We didn’t. Britt said she was clean and on birth control.”