All Things Pretty (22 page)

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX- SIG

It’s Sunday and, despite the easy smile
she’s wearing, I know Tommi is as aware of Tonin’s return tonight
as I am. The fact that we don’t have an exact time is unnerving as
hell. I feel like we’re both just waiting for the axe to fall.

Travis seems to be enjoying the last couple
of days. I know it’ll be hard on him when Tonin comes back, too.
And that pisses me off. It’s not just Tommi that Tonin’s screwing
with. It’s an innocent kid, too.

We finish our pancakes and head out to
“Shoot the Hooch.” I promised Travis I’d take them tubing down the
Chattahoochee today. We are well on our way to the closest entrance
when Tommi’s phone rings. A silence steals over the cab of my truck
and I know that we’re all thinking the same thing. And even though
Travis doesn’t
know
everything that’s going on, he’s a
bright enough kid to figure out that the way things have been will
change dramatically when Tonin gets back.

Tommi glances at her phone and then up at
me, her heart in her eyes. She looks almost frantic.

She turns her upper body away from me,
clears her throat and answers the phone, plugging her other ear.
“You back?” I hear her ask, a note of hopefulness in her voice.
It’s pretty damn convincing, which bothers the shit out of me.

I don’t even try not to listen to each muted
“yeah” and “uh-huh” and “I missed you, too.” It’s when I hear her
say, “Today?” that I curl my fingers into a fist.

When she gets off the phone, I see her chest
rise with a deep breath and she turns a disappointed face to
Travis. “We’ll have to shoot the hooch another time, Trav. Lance is
back and he wants to see me.”

“So? What about what
you
want?” he
snaps.

“Travis, you know I–”

“Save it. Just take me home. I’ll go to
Trip’s.”

“Travis, we can still go,” I offer.

“Just forget it. I wanna go home.”

On the way back, the atmosphere inside the
truck couldn’t be any more different than it was five minutes ago.
I could chew steel and spit nails, yet Tommi’s just sitting in her
seat, quietly pretending this is all okay.

I drive them home in silence. When Travis
gets out, Tommi turns to me, “I’ll be right back.”

I watch her walk stiffly to the front door
and let them in. I watch her walk stiffly back to the truck fifteen
minutes later, her hair flowing smoothly down her back, her body
encased in a knee-length little dress that’s open halfway down her
back.

I’m so pissed, I don’t say a word until we
get to the garage. I cut the engine and we sit in the strained
quiet until Tommi finally speaks.

“I have to go.”

“You don’t
have to do
anything.”

“I do. You knew this was how it would be.
You knew it couldn’t last.”

“That’s your choice, not mine.”

“If I could make any other one, I would. But
I can’t.”

“Why?” I grind out. “Tell me why.”

She worries her lip. “You know I can’t do
that.”

“Again, you
can,
you just
won’t.”

“Sig, it’s the same thing to me–can’t and
won’t. The reasons why I won’t are the same as why I can’t. My
hands are tied.”

“I don’t believe that.” I could strangle
her. Or Tonin. Somebody. I’m fuming.

Right up until I see tears fill her eyes. “I
knew this was a mistake,” she croaks.

I put an iron fist around my temper. Being
an asshole isn’t getting me anywhere. I exhale, reaching for her
hand. “I’m sorry. I…you didn’t deserve that. I just…
god,
I
hate it!” I lean my head back, stroking her palm with my thumb.

“I wish I could change it, but I can’t.”
When I turn my eyes back to Tommi, lonely tears are streaming
silently down both cheeks and her chin is trembling.

I cup the back of her neck and pull her to
me, pressing my forehead to hers. “I’d change it for you if you’d
just let me.”

“You can’t,” she cries brokenly. “Nobody
can.”

I raise my head until my lips are touching
her forehead. “But that was before you met me. I can help you,
Tommi. I promise. You just have to trust me.”

“Maybe one day,” she says, tucking her face
into the curve of my shoulder.

I wrap my arms around her, holding her tight
until her shaking stops. “Remember what I told you,” I tell
her.

She leans back to look at me, her eyes all
big and glassy and tortured. “What?”

“Think of me. No matter what, think of me.”
I take her lips in a kiss that’s meant to sear her all the way
through what she has to face, whatever she feels like she has to
hide, right down to her soul. I’m not sure, though, that it doesn’t
sear me, too. One thing is for damn sure: It only made it that much
harder to let her go, to walk her upstairs and into the arms of
another man. And it was already hard as hell.

“Maybe you shouldn’t come up,” she says
hesitantly, pulling away and looking at my lips rather than my
eyes.

“Why?”

Her voice cracks. “Because if you do, I’m
not sure I can go through with this.”

“Then don’t! I told you that I’d–”

“I know what you said. And you know what I
said. So here we are. Stuck. Just like I knew we would be.” It’s
her turn to lean her head back and exhale. She closes her eyes for
a few seconds and then opens them, sitting up straighter and
squaring her shoulders in determination. “But it’s what I have to
do. You…you don’t have to wait for me,” she says, gaze focused on
the windshield.

“Hey,” I say, squeezing her hand until she
looks at me. “I’m not going anywhere.”

Her smile is small, but relieved. “I’ll go
up by myself. There’s no reason to make this worse than it already
is.”

“But I want to take you up.”

“I didn’t mean for you.”

What am I supposed to say to that? I don’t
want to make it harder
for her, too
. So I won’t. I won’t to,
I won’t argue with her on this. As tough as it is to sit here and
let this happen, some part of me knows that it has to. Until she
tells me what the hell is going on, I can’t help her.

“I’ll be right here. Waiting.”

She turns toward the door and then, after a
moment’s hesitation, she abandons the handle and flings herself
into my arms, kissing me with all the passion I know her to be
capable of. “I won’t be long.”

I say nothing because that’s a promise we
both know she can’t make.

I watch her until she’s through the doors
and out of sight. The only constructive thing I can think of with
which to busy myself is looking over the files Finch mentioned.
Maybe there will be something in them that will help me figure out
what’s going on and how I can help get Tommi out of this mess.

I log on through the secure connection and
browse through the pages. Nothing really noteworthy comes up.

But then I come to a juvie record for Tommi.
I’m not
too
surprised to find that she’d been dinged a
couple of times for petty theft and once on a drug charge. What
does
surprise me is the intake information on the sealed
record. I stare at it for several seconds, my mind sure that my
eyes are missing something. Putting something in the wrong spot.
Misreading something. But the more I stare at it, the clearer it
becomes.

Name: Tommy Lawrence

Age: 16

Sex: M

Sex. Male.

My pulse races. I can’t make myself look
away from the little screen of my smartphone. What the hell am I
missing? I know this can’t be right. I mean, I’ve had sex with
Tommi a couple dozen times in the last few days. I think I would’ve
noticed if
she
were a
he.

Wouldn’t I?

My palms start to sweat as I think back to
those late night talk shows that have interviews with people who’ve
had a sex change. All the hormones they’re given to accentuate
certain traits while suppressing others, hormones that give guys
tits and a smooth face. And the surgeries, the procedures they have
for removing penises and making vaginas.

I wipe my damp brow and force myself to
think as rationally as I can. There’s no reason to panic. There has
to be an explanation. A very reasonable explanation. I mean, no
doctor in the world could engineer a pussy as perfect as Tommi’s.
All pink and wet. Lips almost shaved smooth. Clit that reacts to my
slightest touch. Muscles that squeeze my cock so tight I wanna
scream. Only God can make a body like that.

I relax a little in my seat. I’m finally
able to exhale, feeling better about this information already. But
only a little. In another way, I’m even more keyed up.

I knew Tommi was hiding something. I guess
she’s hiding more than I ever imagined. Obviously, she’s not Tommi
Lawrence. But then the question is: Who is she? And where is Tommy
Lawrence?

Before I can even formulate a next move, I
hear a door open. It whips so hard it hits the stopper on the
concrete wall. Tommi is practically running toward me. Something’s
wrong.

My heart leaps up into my throat. Chest gets
tight, lungs strain to move, pupils dilate–my entire body is ready
for battle.

I get out and meet her in front of the
truck, taking her upper arms and bending to look into her eyes.
“What’s wrong? Did he hurt you? So help me God–”

“No,” she breathes frantically. “It’s
Travis. Oh my god, Sig, they took Travis! That bastard has my
brother!”

TO BE CONTINUED…

As I mentioned at the beginning of this
story, due to contractual constraints with my publisher, I am not
able to publish a book that’s as long as this one is in its
entirety. That’s why I chose a good place to end it, with the
intention of providing the final part to you, FREE OF CHARGE, when
you sign up for my newsletter. It is a fully-automated process so
when you sign up, the remaining portion of the novel will be
delivered to you automatically in two weeks (on 10/14/2014) in the
format you request. This way, there is no violation of my contracts
and you still get the best story that I can tell, one where I don’t
have to sacrifice length or detail.

This is the
link
to sign up
for the remainder of their story. I hope you have enjoyed their
ride thus far as much as I simply ADORED writing it. Sig and Tommi
stole my heart and still have yet to give it back:)

Dear Reader,

Music is a big part of
this book. Songs are often referenced in my work, and many have
played a big part in setting the emotional tones of certain scenes.
If you enjoy listening to playlists or would like to know which
tunes helped inspire this novel, here is the link to my playlists
on
Spotify
.
If you don’t have Spotify, here are the songs for
this book in list form:

She Looks So Perfect, 5 Seconds of
Summer

This Is How We Roll, Florida-Georgia
Line

Glamorous, Fergie

Bottoms Up, Brantley Gilbert

Bang, Bang, Jessie J

Don’t Tell ‘Em, Jeremiah

Glycerine, Bush

Crazy, Seal

All Around Me, Flyleaf

Ain’t It Fun, Paramore

Say You Will, Mona

Undressed, Kim Cesarion

I Will Never Let You Down, Rita Ora

Love Runs Out, One Republic

Love Robbery, Kalin and Miles

Save Your Love, Great White

I Can’t Stop Drinking About You, Bebe
Rexha

You & I, One Direction

I’ll Follow You, Shinedown

Break Free, Ariana Grande

A FINAL WORD

If you enjoyed this book, please consider
leaving a review and recommending it to a friend. You are more
powerful than you know. YOU–the words from your mouth, the thoughts
from your heart, shared with others, can move mountains. You make a
huge difference in the life of an author. You have in mine. You do
every day, which brings me to my gratitude, my overwhelming,
heartfelt gratitude.

A few times in life, I’ve
found myself in a position of such love and appreciation that
saying THANK YOU seems trite, like it’s just not enough. That is
the position that I find myself in now when it comes to you, my
readers. You are the sole reason that my dream of being a writer
has come true and your encouragement keeps me going. It brings me
unimaginable pleasure to hear that you love my work, that it has
touched you in some way, that it has made life seem a little bit
better for having read it. So it is from the depths of my soul,
from the very bottom of my heart that I say I simply cannot THANK
YOU enough, which I say a lot of
in this post
.

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