Rotten by JL Brooks Page B

woman underneath you every night.”
    David laughed at my admission. “Well, sugar, that’s true, though. Why did you get all pissy about it? Though I am not complaining. I won’t ever deny the opportunity to get between your legs.”
    I felt like an idiot. David didn’t care what was said about him. He found it funny that was the word on the street. I thought he would be upset, but I was incorrect. “I was wrong. Sorry. It just bothered me that that was the thing he used to define you. You’re so much more. I won’t do it again.”
    It suddenly hit him what I was doing. I was trying to defend him. “I appreciate what you did back there, but it’s not necessary. I wish I would have done it for you, though.”
    I sighed heavily. We hadn’t gone down this road, yet. I wasn’t sure I wanted to. “It’s in the past.”
    He pulled off on the side of the road and shut off the engine. There were no highway lamps or lights of any kind. Even the moon was hiding its brilliant light.
    “Toni, I need to tell you something. You wouldn’t let me tell you then, so let me tell you now. I told you not to say anything because I didn’t want you to get hurt. It was easier they thought you were some dyke rather than a whore, because most people just left you alone. I didn’t want some asshole thinking you were easy and heaven forbid attacking you like that. I wouldn’t have been able to protect you and just thinking about it made me sick. I know what they were thinking about you, because I was thinking the same thing. You have always been beautiful, and I took advantage of your trust. I did the very thing I thought I was keeping you safe from. I don’t give a fuck what people think of me, because I destroyed the only person whose opinion mattered.”
    His truth pained me as if a spear were running into my flesh. Hearing it put that way made sense, but I was so hurt at the time, I wouldn’t let him explain. It was still awful. The internal damn burst, and there was no holding back the tears in my eyes. I sat up in my seat, hopped the console into his lap and cried. Yeah, he fucked up more times than I could count, but when it came to me, he still tried. I was too caught up in my pain to see it. David’s arms cradled me tight as I soaked his t-shirt with tears. I could smell the day of sweat come off of his chest and permeate my senses. Although I was broken, there was nowhere else I wanted to be.

 
     
    I should have been sleeping. Unfortunately, the past week’s events had me wound tight. I watched David’s slumbered state and studied every curve of his upper body. His chest and arms were carved deep with hard-earned muscle, and the lines along his face and eyes told the story of a lifetime passed. He was devastatingly handsome, and I couldn’t help but wish our situation was under different circumstances. He must have sensed my restlessness and opened his eyes. As he caressed my waist, his actions seemed as natural as breathing.
    “What is it, babe?”
    I could see the concern in his dark brown eyes, the way his brow furrowed in thought.
    Shaking my head, I curled into his chest and draped his arm around me. “My naive familiarity with you. I think that it is dangerous. I can’t pretend to know anything about you. And for a moment, I thought I did. That was stupid on my part. Who you are in my head is vastly different than who you are in real life – I have to keep reminding myself of that. I fear I’ve made a dangerous mistake in assuming one above the other.”
    He stilled against me, taking the words in.
    “I don’t get it, Toni, explain.”
    I sighed wistfully and shook my head. “I just wish things were different, that’s all.”
    David’s hands ran slowly up and down along my spine in a hypnotic motion. “Tell me more.”
    I brought my hand to the curve of his neck, and we came eye to eye in the moonlight that streamed through the window and illuminated the bedroom.
    “I know I can’t change anything,