Wicked: Sweet Temptation [Wicked Series Book 4] (9 page)

He laughed and slid closer to her, rubbing a hand across her stomach as he peppered kisses along her breasts. “You mostly,” he mumbled against her skin. “But I don’t think I’ve ever gone that long without sexual gratification.”

“What?” she said. “You can’t tell me you haven’t even beat off since Vegas.”

“Ah, masturbation. What would a man do without his hand?”

“Fuck anything that moved?”

“Probably.”

“And?”

“And what?” he asked.

“You haven’t even masturbated since then?”

He snorted and bit her nipple. “I jerked off twice a day thinking about you. Thinking about shooting come all over these pretty little titties of yours.”

“Lord, you’re so nasty, Mick.”

He leaned up on his elbow and grinned. “And you love it. Admit it.”

She raised her arms, wrapping them around his neck. “Yes. I love it.”
I love you
, she thought, but kept the words to herself.

“Good,” he said. “Now, what do you say we sneak back to your house, grab you some clothes and get the hell out of this town? I have three weeks before we head to Europe. Sounds like just enough time for a proper Honeymoon. What do you think?”

Faith stared up at him not entirely sure she could answer him. The lump in her throat grew with every passing second and she had to take several deep breaths just to try and slow her pulse down. A Honeymoon? He wanted to take her on a Honeymoon? Like … a real married couple? The tears started to burn her eyes the second she thought it and she kissed him to keep from blubbering like a fool with one thought running through her mind. He did want her.

They arrived back at the house after stopping by the Inn to tell the others to pack it up and be ready to go in an hour. Mick wanted to be gone by nightfall and Faith couldn’t wait to start her new life. Of course, she had to squeeze out of the old one first and to do that, she had to actually get out of the SUV and go inside. For some reason, facing her father had her scared shitless. She glanced over at Mick who was staring at her. His face showed nothing so if he was nervous he hid it like a pro.

“I guess we should get out, huh?” she said.

“Probably.” He looked toward the house, tapping his fingers on the steering wheel. “Guess we could always buy what you needed and just avoid this all together.”

Faith nodded her head. “We could do that.”

Neither of them moved.

She sighed heavily and finally reached for the door handle. “Are you coming in or playing it safe?”

He grinned. “I’d love to play it safe, Tink, but I’m sure that would just give your father more reasons to hate me.” He opened his door and said, “Let’s go.”

They made it to the front door before Faith felt her stomach roll in on itself. If she could do this without throwing up, she’d treat herself to an entire chocolate crème pie, using Mick’s abs as a serving dish. She took a deep breath before opening the door and walking inside.

She stopped when she saw her father sitting in his chair by the fireplace. He didn’t say anything but the look on his face made her feel like an eight year old that’d been caught being naughty.

“Daddy,” she said, taking a step further into the room. “I’m…” her throat closed off and she found it hard to breathe all of a sudden. She heard the door close behind her and wondered if Mick was on this side of it or if he’d chickened out and stayed on the porch. She got her answer when she felt his hand on her back.

“Let me guess. You’re leaving,” the Reverend said, glancing past her to Mick. “With him.”

Faith glanced at the floor. His tone of voice told her how disappointed he was.

“You don’t have to answer, Faith. I can tell by the way you can’t even look at me.”

She sighed heavily and looked up, forcing eye contact with him. Tears burnt her eyes as she did. The look on his face was her undoing. She’d broken his heart … again. He stood, taking them both in before shaking his head.

“I raised you the best I could, Faith. I can see now I failed in some respect.” He crossed the room, stopping at the end of the sofa and looking past her to Mick. “Never in all my life did I think you’d turn out so rebellious. None of your brothers were.”

“They’re not the angels you think they are,” Faith said. “Their souls are just as stained as mine.”

“Maybe,” he said. “But the stain isn’t visible for every person who looks upon them to see. I’m not so naive as to believe my children have all walked the path I set them on but I do believe they’ve all tried. Well, the boys have. You, I’m not so sure about. I’m beginning to believe you purposely defied me just to see if you could get away with it.”

“I’ve never purposely tried to do anything to hurt you, daddy. Why would you even think such a thing?”

He laughed but there was nothing amusing about the sound. He stared at her for long minutes; the only sound in the room the soft ticking of the clock on the fireplace mantel. When the silence became deafening, Faith took a step toward him. “Daddy, you always said all you ever wanted for any of us was for us to be happy.”

“And you are?” he asked. “You’re happy with him? You’re happy about this baby? Happy that every person in town thinks of you not as the sweet girl you were but of a wanton young woman who has disgraced her father.”

“I’m sorry, daddy.” She hung her head. “I’m sorry I’m such a disappointment to you.”

“You’re not a disappointment, Faith, but your actions have disappointed me. I raised you better than this. I trusted you to behave yourself in a respectable manner and put you on that plane to Vegas knowing you would still be the proper young lady I raised, but I was wrong.” He shook his head and the look of disgust on his face tore at her heart. “Drinking. Partying. Having sex with a man you know next to nothing about. A man I’m almost positive will tire of you once the reality of his situation sinks in or the next pretty girl who crosses his path jumps into his bed.”

“You know nothing about me, or how I feel, Mr. Weston,” Mick said, speaking for the first time.

“And how do you feel, Mick?” the Reverend asked. “Let me guess. You took a girls virginity, soiled her and now you feel like a man. Is that it? Is that how you rock stars get your kicks nowadays?”

“I don’t need a woman to make me feel like a man,” Mick said. “And her virginity was the farthest thing from my mind. It wasn’t there anyway.”

If the floor had opened up in that moment, Faith would have vaulted over anything in her path to be the first one in it. The look on her father’s face froze her lungs and caused her heart to leap in her chest. When he turned his gaze on her, she wanted to crawl into the deepest, blackest hole she could find.

“You weren’t a virgin when you went to Vegas?”

Faith’s tongue felt like it grew three sizes and the inside of her mouth felt as if sawdust coated every inch. She couldn’t speak and was finding it hard to breathe. When her father took a step toward her, she took a step back, bumping into Mick.

“Is the baby even his?” the Reverend asked, looking past her to Mick. “Or do you even know?”

The comforting wall of Mick’s body behind her was suddenly gone and she stumbled to gain her balance. A glance over her shoulder confirmed what she thought. The doubt now shining in Mick’s eyes tore at her heart and she just wanted to start this entire day over again.

“I can tell by the look on your face that thought never entered your mind,” the Reverend said, looking at Mick. “I guess Faith’s actions are now a mystery to us both. I hope you’re both happy with the lives you’ve created for yourself.”

When her father turned and walked out of the room, she swallowed the lump in her throat. “The baby is yours, Mick.”

“Is it?”

The fact he even questioned it broke her heart. “I wouldn’t lie to you about that.”

“So you’d lie to me about something else instead?”

“No,” she said. “That’s not what I meant.”

“What did you mean, then?”

Faith raised her hand, pushing her hair out of her eyes. How had things gone from bliss to a total disaster so quickly? “Mick—”

“The day I met you in Vegas, you said you knew who I was.”

“Yes,” she said. “A person would have to have been living under a rock not to know who you were.”

“The fact I was a member of Wicked didn’t have anything to do with you jumping into my bed so quick? Were you just out to make it with a rock star or did you have bigger plans, Faith?”

Faith gaped at him and tried to speak three times before getting her tongue to work properly. “What are you implying, Mick? That I planned this? That I purposely threw myself at you, poured liquor down your throat and dragged you by the hair to the nearest wedding chapel and married you before you sobered up? Oh, and I just happened to get knocked up in the process? Is that what you’re saying?”

His face had turned red, fire shined in his eyes and a mask of inconsolable hatred so noticeable on his face nothing would have penetrated the barrier he put up. “I think you spelled it out quite nicely, Faith. Thanks for the history lesson. Not only am I a fool but I’m an idiot as well. Your real name wouldn’t happen to be Jennifer, would it?”

She gasped. How dare he even imply she was anything like his ex! There wasn’t a magazine in the world that hadn’t plastered his nasty divorce from that woman on every cover for over a year. To even be put in the same category with her left Faith feeling as if he’d punched her square in the face. Her blood boiled. She felt it racing through her veins, heating her limbs before rushing past her ears. “How can you even stand there and accuse me of playing you, Mick?”

“Well, other than a very brief family history, and that you’re a wildcat in the sack, I don’t know a damn thing about you,” he said. “For all I know you were in league with Jessi from the minute we stepped foot in Vegas. Our tour schedule is plastered in every available medium there is. Did you two follow us just to sink your claws into a couple of rich, rock stars?”

“So, you’re saying Jessi trapped Christian as well? Are you insane?” She stared up at him and laughed until tears leaked from her eyes. She turned and walked across the room, staring at nothing. How had this gone so wrong? How did they go from running away together to nasty accusations being slung at each other? Why did he let the first hint of doubt cloud all judgment and cause him to believe the worst of her?

If he loved me, he’d have no reason to doubt anything I said.

She turned back to face him, watching him stare at her. The look on his face ripped a sob from her throat before she sucked it up and straightened her spine. She wouldn’t cry in front of him. She wouldn’t let him know the mere fact he doubted her broke her heart. That she was foolish enough to think he loved her and now knew differently. “You know what, Mick,” she said, clearing her throat when it cracked. “Just … forget it. Go back to your glitzy lifestyle, and your loose women, and leave me alone.”

The tears were unstoppable now and she bit her tongue to keep from bawling in front of him. When he just stood there staring at her, she turned her back to him.

The divorce papers were on the coffee table.

Crossing the floor, she snatched them up and walked to the desk in the corner, grabbing a pen and signing them without even reading them. “There,” she said, turning and walking to where he stood. “It’s over. Here’s your fucking divorce papers.” She shoved them into his hand and turned, walking to her bedroom. When the door was shut, and locked, her knees gave out. She slid to the floor, her heart breaking into a million pieces. When she heard the front door slam shut, the first sob broke from her chest.

She knew without looking Mick was gone.

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“Aren’t you missing something?” Devin asked.

Mick ignored him, throwing his bag into the back of the SUV before walking to the side door. “Let’s go. I want to get out of this shit-hole town.”

They all stood staring at each other and Mick wanted to scream, or punch something. He’d left Faith’s, the tires on the SUV burning as he peeled out of her driveway, his head feeling as if it would explode at any moment. He’d made it back to the Inn, walked straight to his room, grabbed his bag and told them to head out. He was ready to go and thankfully, so were they.

“Are we picking up Faith on the way out of town?” Jessi asked.

Mick shot her a glance that caused her to take a step back. Christian raised an eyebrow at him before wrapping an arm around her waist. “What’s going on, man?”

“Faith isn’t coming,” he said. “Now, let’s get going. I want to get out of here.”

He climbed into the front passenger seat, slamming the door and sat waiting. They’d either get in or he’d slide behind the wheel and leave them all standing on the side of the road. He was done with this town. Done with Faith, and done with women, period. They weren’t anything but lying, manipulating cunts as far as he was concerned.

The sound of doors opening and the others getting inside was the only thing that kept him from crying like a bitch. When Luke started the SUV and pulled away from the curb, Mick stared out the window and had to close his eyes to stop them burning. His heart felt heavy, his chest aching until he found it difficult to breathe. How had this happened? Why? Had Faith set out to trap him like Jennifer had? Was he so gullible, and controlled by his dick, that he would fall for any scheme perpetrated by any manipulative woman that crossed his path?

Apparently.

When they hit the highway, he leaned back and kept his eyes closed. The sound of whispered voices penetrated the space inside the vehicle and he tuned them out. Them and the visions of Faith that danced in his mind’s eye.

How could he have been so stupid? Had he not learned his lesson with Jennifer? Had she not done the exact same thing? She lured him in and sunk her claws in before he had time to even think.

Faith didn’t do that.

He scowled at his own thoughts because they were true. He’d been the one to pursue her. He’d wanted her ten seconds after laying eyes on her and the minute he got her alone, he laid on the moves and was genuinely happy she’d reciprocated. Those sweet little lips of hers tasted like pure nectar and once he got her into his bed, he couldn’t get enough. She was so tiny and gorgeous and made his heart skip a beat when she flashed those pretty eyes at him and smiled. She wanted him and spent hours proving it. His cock twitched just thinking about her. How many times had he fucked her that week in Vegas? How many times had he thought about doing it the weeks they were apart? Every day? Every hour? Every time he lay his head down at night and longed to feel her there with him. Ached to feel her skin next to his. To bury himself in her heat and hear her whisper his name while he loved her.