Adriane Leigh - Light in Mourning

“You ready for this?” I squeezed her knee as she directed me to Kyle’s apartment building in DC.

“As I’ll ever be,” she huffed and then opened the door of the Jeep.

“Hey.” I slipped a palm around her neck and brought her against me. I rested my forehead against hers as we huddled over the console. “Everything's going to be okay,” I murmured before brushing my lips against hers.

“Yep.” She nodded, but I could tell she was still worried. I frowned and massaged her neck before letting her go. We stepped out into the cold December air. She’d finally agreed to let me come up to DC with her to collect her things and now here we were, the weekend before Christmas, and I was about to see her douchebag ex for the first time since the summer.

Georgia finally confessed he’d been harassing her with phone calls and texts, threatening to come down, begging her to talk to him, insisting he would throw her stuff away or bring it to the beach house for her. Neither was a viable option. I didn't want him anywhere near her in North Carolina, especially if he was as unstable as he sounded.

We walked up the steps and took the elevator to his floor. She slowed as we approached the apartment door, hesitation and dread pouring off her body. I grabbed her hand in mine and brought her knuckles to my lips for a kiss.

“It’s going to be okay.”

She nodded and then dropped my hand from hers. She tapped softly at the door.

“Georgia, God, it’s so good to see you.” Kyle swung the door open and looked about to embrace Georgia before his eyes landed on me. Confusion and then anger flared. His jaw hardened. “What’s he doing here?” he asked, without tearing his gaze from mine. I clenched my fists at my sides. So he wasn’t going to make this easy.

“He’s here to help.”

“I could have helped. We didn’t need him, Georgia.” Kyle tore his eyes from mine and back to her. He stretched his arms and scooped her against his body in a hug that was more than friendly and lasted way too fucking long in my opinion. I narrowed my eyes and waited for her to push him away. She recoiled as he slid his hands up her back and then his gaze caught mine again. The asshole was doing this for my benefit. I clenched my teeth, waiting for her to take action because if she didn’t, I was going to fucking annihilate this guy and not think twice about it.

Finally, Georgia pushed him away with a weak smile. He moved aside and we strode into the apartment. A white puffball of a cat sauntered up and curled itself around Georgia’s legs.

“Hey, sweetheart, I've missed you.” My beautiful girlfriend nuzzled into the cat’s fur while Kyle watched her and I watched him. Georgia showered attention on her pussy for a few minutes, which made me a sick fuck because I kind of liked the sound of that, before glancing around the apartment.

“I thought you had my stuff in boxes?” She tilted her head and looked at Kyle.

“A few things, I didn’t have time—”

“You said you were throwing out everything if I wasn’t here to get it this weekend.” Her gaze cut to him and I was sure she was shooting daggers. She was pissed and I was ready for her to lay into him. I also wondered if Kyle got turned on as much as I did when she was all angry and hot. And then I was pissed again and wanted to kidnap her and her pussy and leave everything else behind, mostly Kyle.

“I wouldn’t have. I just wanted to see you. We need to talk, which is why I’m kinda fucking pissed that you brought this guy. He your bodyguard? Come on, Georgia. We were together for years, and you just left. I wanted to talk and you never answered my calls. You owe me a conversation.”

“She owes you nothing,” I spat.

His eyebrow arched at me. “Not your concern, buddy. Just talk to me for a minute, in private.” He glanced from her to me.

“Not happening.” I stepped closer to her.

“Okay, stop with the pissing contest. I’ll talk to you for a minute, Kyle, but that’s it. I’m here to get my stuff and I’m leaving.”

“Sure, babe.” Kyle placed a hand at her back and guided her down a hallway, a sneer on his face as he glanced back at me. What was she thinking? I was here so she wouldn’t have to be alone with him. I was her fucking boyfriend and here she was ducking off into a room to have private time with her ex? Not fucking cool. My blood was boiling.

And then I remembered all the things she’d said to me about her past and Kyle’s place in it. Like it or not, he’d played a big part of who she was, so I needed to let her talk to him if she felt she needed to for the sake of closure and all that. Only my stomach was rolling at the thought of him convincing her to stay.

I looked around the apartment they'd shared and found it hollow. Perfect—like out of a magazine. So perfect, as if no one lived there. Her beach house was so much more her; it looked like whoever lived here was void of personality. I couldn’t even pick out what might be Georgia’s. I took a few steps farther into the living room and my eyes landed on the mantle with framed pictures: her and Kyle together, Drew and Silas in college, the four of them, a young couple with a baby in their arms. I squinted and held the last picture up; it looked like the baby could be Georgia, presumably with her parents. She was a sweet baby with the roundest cheeks I’d ever seen. Chubby legs and a shock of dark hair. Her mom’s bright smile mirrored her own. She was the spitting image of her mother, except for her eyes. Her dad had shocking dark eyes and heavily lined eyelashes. He sat on a bench, his wife at his side, a protective arm wrapped around her shoulder and a squirming baby Georgia in her arms. So unaware of the pain that would hit them nearly a decade later. A night when Georgia’s parents would be ripped from her life.

“I’m not doing this with you, Kyle.” Georgia stomped out of the room, cat still in her arms. “Hang onto her.” She thrust the cat in my hands. Diva looked up at me, eyes narrowed. I was sure the cat was glaring at me. Maybe she smelled Charlie and wasn’t impressed.

Georgia stomped back to the room she’d just exited and I heard a bang and heated whispers before I walked after her. I knew Kyle was fucking with her head, trying to cajole her, guilt-trip her, do anything he could to get her to stay, but my girl was going home with me.

“Don’t fucking touch me,” I heard her bite out. I dashed into the bedroom and found her shoving him away from her body, a suitcase and a duffle bag at her feet. My eyes flared and my jaw clenched when he tried to go back to her, his eyes pleading.

“Baby, come on; this is you and me. Don’t let whatever you think you have with him get in the way of us. I know his type; he won’t be around for long, Georgia. It’s always been us.”

“You need to shut the fuck up.” I glared as I stepped closer to them, Diva still in one arm, my other fist clenched.

“Back the fuck off; you don’t even know her. Who do you think has had her from the beginning? She’s not leaving me, man. Georgia won’t leave me. She’s too fucking scared of the unknown to leave,” he sneered at me. I pulled my arm back, cat in one hand, arm cocked in the other, ready to land a blow to his smug face, when Georgia’s fist shot into my line of vision and landed on Kyle's cheekbone. He spun and looked at her, eyes wide with shock.

“What the fuck, Georgia?” he roared as his other hand grabbed at her neck.

Oh, fuck no.

“Get your fucking hands off her.” I barreled, shoving him away before landing a fist square on his nose. He spun and landed on the floor, his hand cupping his face and blood pooling in his fingers. With Diva still perched in my arms, a front row seat to the destruction, I leaned over Kyle and landed two more blows to his jaw and his cheekbone in quick succession.