Love Renewed (Love Trilogy) (17 page)

“Well? What is your answer, oh short one?”

As he felt her laugh softly underneath him, he let out the breath he’d been holding.

“Is that your way of asking me to marry you, Trevin? Don’t you think it is too soon?”

“Yeah, I am asking you to marry me. I didn’t plan to ask you this way but you constantly surprise me, Sprite.” His voice low, he took her hand in his and laced their fingers together. “And as for it being too soon - I’ve been in love with you for seventeen years. In my opinion, it’s about damn time! So, what do you say? Will you actually marry me this time and put me out of my misery?”

She sniffled again and he pulled her against him, kissing from her jaw to her ear. When he had her gasping, clutching his hair in her hands with a passion she couldn’t deny, he nibbled on her ear, a low chuckle escaping him. Letting go, he trailed his hands down to her ass, gliding them under her panties and pulling them down. Grinding his arousal against her, he nipped her ear again before whispering into it.

“I’m waiting Sprite.” At that, he held still even as she wiggled beneath him. “You aren’t getting anything ‘til you answer so give it up!”

With a playful slap on his arm, she finally laughed happily and dragged his mouth to hers, her breath mingling with his as she answered him.

“Yes, you silly man. I love you too and I will most definitely marry you.”

Feeling as if his heart was going to explode from his chest, Trevin grinned and proceeded to show her just how much he had missed her.

Chapter Fifteen

Lying there in Trevin’s arms, Charlotte couldn’t remember the last time she’d felt this content.

Making love with him again had been amazing. He had always been kind and considerate of her needs, yet she could still tell what a difference ten years had made. Perhaps it was the bittersweet emotion of having her back in his arms when he had thought they’d never see each other again that had made his lovemaking so tender. Either way, they were made for each other and she wasn’t going to let him go ever again.

The soft snoring coming from Trevin’s chest made her giggle. Lifting her head, she could only make out the outline of his face, his mouth open slightly. Awake he was amazing; asleep, he looked younger and more roguish. Wiggling the whole way, she brought her face close to his and kissed his jaw. He mumbled in his sleep and gripped her waist tighter, one hand traveling up her side and into her hair. When he wrapped his hand in it, she realized he was awake and nipped his jaw with a quick bite of her teeth.

“Ow!”

“Aw, did I hurt you? I’m sorry!” Then she licked where she had bitten, causing him to chuckle.

“Nah, you couldn’t hurt me if you tried,” he teased. “You’re a weakling compared to me.”

“Oh yeah?” Smiling, she wiggled her lower body against his. “I don’t think I need to hurt you to conquer you.”

With only a low moan as warning, Charlotte found herself underneath him. Trevin’s body covered hers, his fingers stroking up and down her body as his mouth demonstrated that he was the one doing the conquering now.

Just as she thought they were going to have another round of lovemaking, Trevin froze, his whole body tensing.

“What is it?” Confused, she rubbed his arms and tried to pull him back down to her.

“Did you hear that?” His voice was a whisper, making her stomach clench with anxiety. “Listen!”

That’s when she heard it - the very faint sound of footsteps coming up the stairs.

Before she could react, Trevin left the bed as quietly as possible. Hearing the sound of the door locking, she slid out of the bed as well, using her hands to locate their clothing that was scattered about the floor. Easily able to separate what belonged to the other, she pulled her dress over her head. She heard him putting on his clothes as well, the footsteps coming up the second flight of stairs now.

“Trevin?” He was standing by the door, unmoving as he listened.

“The steps are coming closer.” His voice was so slow she could barely hear. “Find somewhere to hide.”

“No way!”

Suddenly, she was in his arms, her mouth being devoured by his. Just as quickly, it was over. “Please Sprite. Let me see who it is.”

Nodding, she stepped back and felt her way over to the corner of the room near the closet. That was when the voice rang out.

“Treeeeeeeeeeeviiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiin! I know you are here, I saw your car. Where are you?”

Gasping, she realized that she recognized that voice.

It was Shelby.

Opening the door, Trevin yelled out even as Charlotte could hear the relief in his voice.

“Shelby! What the hell do you think you are doing? You scared the crap out of me! What are you doing here?”

That was when the shot rang out and Charlotte screamed.

~*~

As the shot rang out, Trevin hit the floor. When Charlotte screamed, he wanted nothing else than to go to her. However, Shelby had reached the top of the steps and was advancing on him, the gun in her hand obvious in the moonlit hallway.

“Don’t be scared, Trevin. I don’t want to hurt you,” she said in her usual high pitched voice as she stopped a few feet away from him. “I love you!”

Slowly standing up, he put his hand out but made no other movements. “I know you do, Shelby, so give me the gun. It already went off once.”

Shaking her head, she put the gun behind her back. “No way! That was on purpose - it was a warning!”

“A warning for what? If you didn’t come to hurt me, why are you here Shelby?”

He could see her now - and she was a mess. Her hair looked like it hadn’t been washed in a while, her clothes wrinkled and mismatched. As she rocked back and forth on the balls of her feet, her eyes dashed around the hallway. Realizing she was obviously off her medication, he tried to remain calm. Taking a deep breath, he knew he was going to have to con her out of that gun.

“What were you trying to warn me of, sweetie? You don’t need a gun to get my attention.”

Her hysterical laughter filled the hallway. “Oh, now I’m your sweetie? You haven’t even noticed me since
she
came back! So I’d say that yes, I do need a gun to get your damn attention!” She brought her arms up, the gun waving in the air and he took a step back.

“I have noticed you Shelby! What was I supposed to do? I felt guilty for your accident and what it did to you - how could I hit on you after that? That would make me a sleazeball!”

He felt dirty even saying those words. He’d never found her attractive and didn’t like lying to her. But if he didn’t get the gun away, someone was going to get hurt. Watching her, he could see her stance soften just a bit at his words.

“Why wouldn’t you tell me that Trevin? How could you not see how much I need you? Nobody else will ever want me - look at me! How could anybody ever love someone like me?” The tears were evident in her voice, as was the hurt from having her dreams taken from her.

“I do, Shelby. I love you.” He meant it. He did love Shelby - just not how she wanted him to love her - but in this moment, he didn’t have to tell her that. “Please, put the gun down sweetie. You don’t need that. We can leave here and go talk, anywhere you want for as long as you want. Just put the gun down.”

As her shoulders began to shake, he let out the breath he hadn’t known he was holding. He really didn’t want her to hurt anybody - including herself. She obviously needed help still and he would make sure she got it. Just as he went to step towards her again, her eyes snapped up to meet his.

“No!” She brought the gun up and he watched in horror as she held it up to her own head. “I just want to die. I don’t want to live like this anymore, Trevin. You don’t love me, you love her! She’s here, isn’t she?”

“You know she is Shelby. She screamed when the gun went off before but I told her to stay in the room. You don’t need to hurt anybody, including yourself,” He coaxed her, his gaze locked on hers. “I can make her leave and we can talk. Is that what you want?”

BOOM!

As something fell in the room behind him, Shelby jumped, her eyes going wide at the noise. As she unconsciously brought the gun down from her head, Trevin took his chance. Diving at her, one hand grabbed the arm holding the gun while the other wrapped around her back. As they fell to the floor, Shelby struggled to get loose. Trying to get her to quit moving so he could take the gun, he slammed her arm to the floor. The gun went off.

It wasn’t until he heard Charlotte cry out that he realized she’d come out of the room.

~*~

Charlotte hadn’t intended to make noise.

She’d been moving slowly and as quietly as possible towards the door, in order to hear what was going on better. But it was rather dark even with Trevin opening the door and she tripped. Automatically flailing her arms to try and prevent herself from falling, the closest thing to hold onto was the dresser. As everything fell off and hit the floor, she stumbled.

Straight into the doorway.

With wide eyes, she saw Trevin jump at Shelby once she’d become temporarily distracted by the noise and tackle her. As they fought over the gun, Charlotte scrambled up from her feet and turned around, intending to hide before the gun went off.

Too late.

BANG!

A sudden searing pain in her left calf stopped her attempt to flee as she cried out.

Dropping to the floor, she grabbed her leg and pulling her hand away, saw the blood.

The room was swimming before her eyes. She heard Trevin call out “Charlotte! Did you get hit?” the hysteria in his voice obvious.

“Yes,” she whispered, not knowing if he could hear her or not.

As the faint sound of sirens reached her ears, she closed her eyes.

Wondering who had managed to call the cops, she fainted just as the sounds of voices floated up the steps.

~*~

“Charlotte?”

When she opened her eyes, Trevin let out a sigh of relief. He watched as she blinked her eyes rapidly, no doubt adjusting to the harshness of the overhead light he’d turned on to aid her just moments before. With a glance at her leg that was now cradled in his hands, wrapped in a towel he’d fetched from the closet, her wide eyes returned to his, her face paling.

“Trevin? Is she—? Was I—?”

Nodding, he smiled to try and put her at ease as he answered her obvious questions. “The cops already took her outside. I came to you as soon as they reached the top of the steps. The bullet just grazed your leg and the paramedics should be coming any second—”

He trailed off as footsteps sounded on the steps and glanced up, the cops in the hallway moving aside to let them through.

Smiling at Charlotte, he reached over and clasped her hand in his as two paramedics came into the room to patch her up.

Chapter Sixteen

As the cops pulled away and the street was quiet once again, Charlotte turned to Trevin.

“I think I should go home now. If I’m not there when Douglas wakes up, it will not be a very good morning for any of us.”

Standing under the light on the porch, she watched as he took a peek at his watch, face grimacing once he saw the time.

“I guess so. It is nearly midnight,” he said with a sigh. “I don’t want you to go, even though I know you have to.”

The look on his face was so petulant she just had to laugh. Stepping close, she wrapped her arms around his stomach, bringing her face against his chest. When he wrapped his arms around her, she let out a sigh of contentment.

“How is your leg? I’m surprised they didn’t take you to the hospital.”

Now it was her turn to grimace. “It hurts but you heard the paramedics. It’s just a graze and there is nothing the hospital could do for me. I just have to keep it clean.”

“I know. I’m just so shocked. I never thought Shelby would do that…” he trailed off, and she hugged him tighter. “Let’s get you home.”

She walked to the car as he locked up. Once he got in, she placed a hand on his leg, squeezing gently.

“It’s not your fault. You couldn’t have known she would do such a thing.”

When he said nothing, she looked out of the window.

After a few moments of driving in total silence, she heard him sigh deeply.

“I feel like I should have known,” he finally replied. “I made her my responsibility and not only did I fail her, but you were put in danger.”

“It was definitely a more interesting version of our first date, that’s for sure,” she quipped, trying to lighten the moment.

As the look on his face changed from sadness to shock at her joke, Charlotte laughed.

“This is not funny, Sprite! You could have been killed and I would have lost you—”

Reaching over, she cut him off with her fingers over his lips, heart clenching at his words. “But I wasn’t and you didn’t. And it will definitely be a night I’ll always remember.”

She saw him glancing back and forth between her and the road a few times before his body relaxed visibly, his lips curving slightly under the fingers covering his mouth. When he playfully nipped the tips, she pulled her hand away and rested it on his leg once again.

Removing one hand from the steering wheel, he covered her hand with his. “I love you.”

She knew the words were simple, but in that moment, she was so glad to hear them.

“I love you, too.”

There was nothing left to be said and moments later, they pulled into her driveway.

~*~

Entering the kitchen the next morning, Charlotte headed straight to the fridge as her mother stared at her from the table.

“So tell me. How did you go from a first date to being grazed by a bullet from Shelby?” Her mother’s voice was close to a whisper.

Turning around, her mothers pale face and wide eyes found hers. The newspaper clutched tightly in one hand, she beckoned Charlotte with the other.

Walking over to the table, she took her mothers hand in her own as she sat down and smiled softly.

“Don’t worry, mom. My leg hurts a little but otherwise, everything is great.”

Her mother frowned. “Why didn’t you call me? Or leave me a note? I had to find out by reading the paper!”

Wincing, she removed her hand, putting them together in her lap. “I’m sorry. We didn’t get back until after midnight and you were in bed. I just figured I’d tell you this morning. I didn’t know it would be in the paper so quickly.”