As I pull into the parking spot Leah told me to use, I freeze. Should I just go home now? I want Leah so bad, but I feel selfish for being here. Yes, Leah asked me to come over, but maybe she didn’t even mean it. Maybe it was just flirting, and she doesn’t really want to see me.

  I scrub a hand over my face and a bang a fist on the steering wheel. I’m never like this. I know what I want, and I take it. I don’t care about other people. I don’t care about feelings or emotions. But everything with Leah is different.

  I want her life to be perfect. I don’t want her to ever have to deal with extra drama because of me. I’m just going to fuck up her life like I fuck up everything else.

  I take a deep breath and exit my truck. As much as I know I shouldn’t be here, I can’t stay away. I need to taste my girl. Even if this has to be the last time.

  But fuck, who am I kidding? This won’t be the last time. Unless Leah tells me to, there is no way I can stay away from her. She’s mine, even if she doesn’t know it yet.

  I feel the sweat on my forehead as I knock on her door. I know this isn’t the first time I’ve been here, but things feel different. I want to ask her to be my girlfriend. To try and make this work. Even though I know it’s a selfish thing to do, I can’t stay away anymore. The time apart has made me realize that she is what I want in my life. She was willing to keep it a secret before. Maybe she still is? Or maybe I’ve already blown it, and this is just a booty call.

  When Leah pulls the door open, my breath leaves my body. She’s in a pair of yoga pants and a loose-fitting t-shirt. Fuck, she is so hot. Even in comfy clothes, she makes me want to groan. I could easily pick her up and take her to bed right now, but I’m trying to change my ways, and hopping right into bed with her isn’t what the new and improved Johnny Crown would do.

  When my eyes finally meet Leah’s, she has a giant grin on her face. She’s leaning against the door frame and just watched me completely check her out.

  “Are you done gawking? Would you like to come in? Or would you like to stare a little more?” she teases.

  Her smile is fucking perfect. Her plump lips separating just enough to show a sliver of white teeth. I really want to see them wrapped around my cock right now. Fuck. I’m supposed to be a gentleman now. Why am I still having these stupid thoughts? I guess I can’t change that much.

  “You could take a picture. It would last longer,” she jokes.

  I shake my head and take a step towards her, placing my hand on the small of her back and pulling her towards me. Her eyes go large and her mouth parts open.

  I lean down and whisper my lips over hers. “Thanks for inviting me over.”

  I feel her take in a large breath before pulling away.

  She bites her lip and I’m fighting a fucking chub again. Every little thing this woman does drives me crazy.

  Following her into her living room, I notice her previously white chair is covered in gross brown splotches. There is stain remover on the floor, but even I can tell that chair is completely ruined.

  “What happened here?” I ask.

  She looks at the ground and her cheeks turn that perfect shade of red.

  “I was trying to get back at Rayna for stealing my last piece of pizza, but I didn’t think about what that would do to my furniture.” She grabs the back of her neck. “Note to self: white furniture is a horrible idea.”

  I chuckle. “Yeah, even I would never buy white furniture.”

  “Yeah. Not only is it not kid-friendly; apparently, it’s not prank-friendly either.”

  My heart flips at the sight of Leah’s smile. The last time she left my place, her smile was gone, replaced with a look of loss. The look I put there. I don’t ever want to see her like that again.

  Also, the mention of kids makes me think of Mikey. Tia should have had the baby by now. I wonder how they are doing. Neither of them talks to me, so I know nothing, and I don’t want to ask Leah about them. I don’t need to give her another reason to push me away. I already know this is a bad idea. That’s why I need to think of some way to get Mikey and Tia to forgive me.

  “Duly noted,” I tell Leah while walking over to her and pulling her into my arms. “So, what’s the plan, sweetheart? Want to watch a movie? Just talk?”

  She cuddles into my arms and I feel her take a deep breath. We stand still for a few moments, just breathing. I close my eyes and breathe in her scent. I’ve missed her more than I even realized.

  Pulling back slightly, she looks into my eyes. “Will you spend the night? I’ve missed you.”

  She looks so vulnerable right now. Not the strong badass I’m used to. How could I say no? I lean down and kiss her perfect lips. God, she tastes like heaven.

  “I’ll have to leave early because of the game tomorrow, but I’ll stay,” I tell her.

  I feel her sigh and melt into my arms. Did she think I would say no? I know I’ve pushed her away, but it was best for her.

  “I’d do anything you ask,” I whisper into her hair.

  She looks back into my eyes.

  “Then come to bed with me,” she whispers, pulling me toward her bedroom.

  Damn right, I’m following. Yes, I said I was going to be a gentleman, but would a gentleman deprive his woman of what she wants? I think not.

  Waking up with Leah in my arms is like a dream. Her scent is perfect. I crave it, almost like a drug. I don’t think I’ll be able to smell watermelon and honey ever again without thinking of her.

  I lie still for a couple of minutes, thinking about last night. It was amazing. I probably should have gotten more sleep, and I might be exhausted for today’s game, but it was worth it.

  I roll out of bed and kiss Leah on her forehead, letting my lips rest on her skin for a moment. I wish I could stay in bed all day with her. Why do I have to work? Sighing, I grab my stuff and leave.

  Never in my life have I wanted to miss a game. Especially not for a woman. My life is changing every minute I spend with Leah.

  I didn’t get to ask her to be my girlfriend last night, but I’m hoping we can get together tonight, before I leave for another ten days.

  “Great game, guys,” Coach says, slapping me on the back. “I can’t wait to win the World Series again this year.”

  I chuckle. “Well, I know I’m amazing, but the rest of these guys need to step it up a notch. I mean, you guys did okay today, but it wouldn’t have been so close if I was pitching.”

  I hear some grumbling and a couple “fuck you’s,” but they know I’m joking. We’re doing amazing this year. With any luck, we will be bringing home another win at the end of the season.

  Grabbing my stuff from my locker, I head toward my truck, stopping for a couple of high-fives along the way.

  I’m about to text Leah when I get a call from an unknown number.

  “Hello?” I answer.

  “Um, hi. Mr. Crown?” I hear a timid female voice.

  “Yeah. Can I help you?”

  The line is silent for a moment, and at first, I think the woman must have hung up.

  “Hello?” I ask again.

  “Sorry. You don’t know me, but I really need to meet with you. I have some things of yours I think you’d want back.”

  What? How would some random girl have my stuff?

  “How did you get my stuff?”

  Was she a one-night stand that stole my shit? No, this girl sounds really young. That can’t be right.

  “I’m…I’m Amber’s sister,” she stumbles then takes a ragged breath. “I didn’t realize she was as sick as she was. She was staying with us and I found a box of her stuff. You’re not the only one she was blackmailing.”

  Amber? Ugh, that bitch is popping up in my life again.

  “Keep the shit. I don’t want it,” I tell her.

  “But I have some stuff of Mikey Ecosta’s as well. You two are friends, aren’t you? I can’t get a hold of him. The number Amber had for him has been disconnected, and when I tried to call his manager, they thought I was just some fan and sent me a signed CD, but no contact. Please, sir. I’m just looking to make right of what my sister has done. Please let me return the stuff. I’ve already deleted all the files off her computer. Once I give you your stuff back it will all be over, and I can move on with my life,” she says, sounding flustered.

  “Why does this matter so much to you? You never did anything to me.”

  “Because I think I’m the reason she got sick.” She stops for a second and I hear her small cries and deep breaths. “She was fine before I was born, and then she started acting funny when I was about five. It’s all my fault. I need to fix this.” She breaks out into sobs on the other end of the line.

  This poor young girl thinks she’s the reason her sister is the way she is, but it’s not true. Just like I’m not the reason my father was an asshole.

  I run a hand over my face. I probably shouldn’t meet with her, but maybe if I had someone when I was younger, I wouldn’t be this fucked up now.

  “I’ll meet you. Can you meet me in an hour at Sip and Savor on 110th Street?” I ask.

  “Yes. I just landed in Sienna an hour ago. I’ll take an Uber.”

  “Okay. See you soon.” I hang up and lean my head on the steering wheel.

  I always blamed myself for my father being the crazy man he was. I thought that if I had never been born, then he never would have beat my mom and she would still be alive today if it wasn’t for me. But I know now that isn’t true. He was a lunatic, a sick man. Something else would have caused him to snap. I wasn’t the reason he was who he was. I just had to deal with it.

  This poor young girl is blaming herself for the shit her sister did, when she is not responsible at all. I need to help her and let her know that she’s not the reason her sister is sick.

  I sit in silence for a while, then text Leah. I still want to see her tonight, but shit might be weird after I meet with Amber’s sister.

  Me: Hey, beautiful. What are you doing tonight?

  Leah: Getting together with Tia.

  Me: Damn. I was hoping I could see you before I leave for 10 days.

  Leah: Sorry. I’ve been blowing her off a lot. She’s my best friend. I have to be there for her.

  Me: I understand.

  Of course, I understand. It still fucking sucks though. Our secret…whatever the fuck this is, is putting a distance between Leah and her best friend. I’m such a fucking asshole for doing this to her. Maybe after meeting with Amber’s sister, I’ll have an excuse to talk to Mikey and can mend the broken bridge.

  Leah: I’ll miss you, though.

  A smile spreads across my face. She feels the same way about me. I have to do everything in my power to get Tia and Mikey to forgive me. Then Leah and I can have a proper relationship and stop having to hide this from her friends.

  Me: I’ll miss you too.

  Pulling up to the coffee shop, I’m nervous as fuck. What the hell am I doing, meeting some stranger, who also happens to be related to the craziest bitch I have ever met? What if this is some sort of weird fucking trap?

  I order a large black coffee and sit down at a table in the middle of the café.

  A little while later, a teenager with fiery red hair walks in. She orders a drink and walks over to me.

  “Mr. Crown?” she asks.

  I swear she is shaking in her shoes right now. I bet if I said “boo,” she would go running.

  I smile at her and extend my hand. “Just call me Johnny. Please sit.”

  She gives me a timid smile and sits down across from me. She’s got to be only thirteen, maybe fourteen, which would make her at least fifteen years younger than Amber.

  “Thank you for meeting me,” she says, staring at the table and playing with her cup. She is completely avoiding eye contact with me.

  “Hey, it’s okay,” I try to console her.

  “I swear, no one knew what Amber was doing.” The tears in the young girl’s eyes are starting to pool, and it makes me nervous.

  I don’t do crying. A couple of times, the women I brought home didn’t understand the deal and would start crying when I asked them to leave. It’s so awkward to me. I don’t deal well with my own emotions. How am I supposed to help someone else deal with theirs?

  “What’s your name?” I ask, trying to build a relationship and distract her.

  “Kate.”

  “Kate, you’re not your sister’s keeper. You aren’t responsible for what she does.”

  She nods. “My parents told me stories about how normal she was before I was born.” She picks up her drink and takes a sip. “They said she kind of snapped when she found out about me. I was an oops, if you can’t tell by the age gap.” She lets out a dry laugh and glances down at the table again. “She was so used to being an only child, and she didn’t take the news that she was going to have to share our parents very well.”

  I nod and let her continue, not really sure what to say at this point.

  “She was diagnosed as schizophrenic when she was eighteen and was doing really good on her medication. It looks like she stopped taking it a few years back. When she’s not on her meds, she can hear voices and hallucinate. She usually clings to one person and tries everything in her power to own that person. I was reading her journal and found entry after entry on Mikey. She thought he was everything to her, and she would do anything to stop from losing him.” Looking down at her fingers, she starts to fiddle with her them before staring back into my eyes. “Johnny, she wasn’t only planning on leaking those photos of you to the press. She was going to kill you and Mikey.”

  My eyes go wide, and at first I think I must have heard her wrong.

  “What did you say?” I stammer.

  She reaches into her backpack and pulls out a notebook and a box. “Her journal explains everything. I believe the only reason she didn’t go through with it was because she got pregnant and her doctors put her back on her medication. She finally got clearer thoughts and decided to move home.”

  I grab the back of my neck as I look through the journal. She was stalking both Mikey and me. She knew she needed a way to keep Mikey close to her, so she stalked me in case things ever didn’t go her way. She might have been crazy, but she was fucking smart.

  When I open the box, my mouth drops open and my whole body turns cold. There are hundreds of photos of Mikey and me. It’s really fucking creepy. There is also a bunch of Mikey’s shit. We noticed some of his stuff missing, but thought he was forgetful and forgot it in various places, especially since he was high more often than not in those days.

  “I’m really sorry she put you guys through all this. I’m just happy she didn’t go through with hurting you.”

  I close the box and look at Kate. “This is pretty crazy. I think I’m going to have to call the cops.”

  Her face falls and she stares at the table. “That won’t be necessary. She killed herself last week. That’s when I found all this stuff.”

  A shiver runs down my spine. I hated Amber, but I never would have wished for her to die.

  “I am so sorry, Kate.”

  Looking up at me with a look of pure sadness, the tears start to fall down her face. “It’s probably for the best. She was sick and now she doesn’t have to deal with pain anymore, and now she can’t hurt anyone else.” She wipes her tears. “I just wish I could have stopped her from hurting you and Mikey, and the others.”

  “The others?”

  “Yeah, you guys aren’t the first people she did this to, but they weren’t as lucky.”

  My eyes go wide. Does she mean what I think she does?

  “I’m going to the cops in our hometown to let them know what she did. It’s documented in other journals and she has pictures on her computer. I just didn’t want them to find your pictures because I know you have images to protect. I failed so many people. I just figured if I could save you and Mikey from humiliation, then I could forgive myself for what happened to the other people. My best friend is a computer whiz and says the photos of you and Mikey will never be found. I’m so sorry she did this.”

  I have no idea what to say. I knew Amber was crazy, but a murderer? That’s even more fucked up than I thought she was.

  “You are not responsible for what your sister did,” I repeat.

  “But if I was never born, she wouldn’t have gotten sick,” she says, more tears pouring down her cheeks.

  I need to think of something to say, but words aren’t coming. I’ve been in that situation. I know how she feels.

  “I fly back home tomorrow; my parents think I’m here for a contest I entered. Thank you for listening to me,” Kate tells me, breaking me from my thoughts

  “Do you have a place to stay?” I ask.

  She shakes her head. “I was just going to sleep at the airport.”

  “Bullshit. You helped me out by deleting those shitty photos. You didn’t have to do that. You could have gone straight to the cops. Hell, you probably should have. The least I can do is pay for your hotel and flight home.”

  She doesn’t smile. “This never would have happened if I was never born.”

  I reach across the table and grab her hand. “Your sister was sick, Kate. It would have happened, no matter if you’d been born or not. Thank you for helping me out, but please don’t blame yourself. You can’t let what your sister do affect you and change you. You have your whole future ahead of you. Let it be bright. I let the actions of others affect who I am as a person, and I don’t want that to happen to you.”

  She gives me a small nod. “Thank you.”

  I take Kate to a hotel that has a free shuttle to the airport and pay for her stay and her flight home. I also give her two hundred dollars cash to cover her food and other expenses.

  “Thank you for sharing all this information with me, Kate. I promise to pass it on to Mikey,” I tell her.

 

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