Bad Things(127)

I barely left Tristan’s side, because that was where he needed me to be. He seemed to draw strength from me, and I was desperate to be what he needed, in the face of his pain.

His mother held a reception at her home after the ceremony. Friends and family brought food, and drinks, and no one seemed to want to leave, so it went on into the late hours of the night.

Tristan drank too much, stayed eerily quiet, and kept me close. It wasn’t hard to talk him in to retiring early.

We shared his childhood room that night, clutching each other close on the twin sized bed. There were other places to sleep, more comfortable places, but I didn’t even consider it. This was where he wanted to be, and I would be there with him.

“I love you,” I murmured into his ear before he drifted off.

“I love you. So much. You’re my rock, Danika,” he said quietly.

Finally, for the first time in days, he drifted off into a deep sleep. I gazed at him with tender eyes the entire time.

Watching him sleep, feeling his heart beat under my palm, I could admit it to myself. I would love this man to the end of my days. I’d fallen too deep. Middle of the Pacific deep, with no land in sight. There was no going back. My heart was his forever.





BOOKS BY R.K. LILLEY

IN FLIGHT (UP IN THE AIR #1)

MILE HIGH (UP IN THE AIR #2)

GROUNDED (UP IN THE AIR #3)

LANA (AN UP IN THE AIR NOVELLA)

BREATHING FIRE (HERETIC DAUGHTERS #1)

BAD THINGS (BAD THINGS #1)





TRISTAN AND DANIKA’S STORY CONTINUES IN

ROCK BOTTOM (TRISAN & DANIKA #2)

COMING SOON…





AN EXCERPT FROM ROCK BOTTOM





DANIKA





It had already been a shit of a day by the time I made it to Tristan’s apartment. Shitty was really an understatement, though. It had been hell. Pure hell. Right in the fire of it.

I had too much on my plate, and my boyfriend was out of town for weeks at a time, which just sucked. Knowing that I’d get to see Tristan at some point on a day like this was all that had helped me keep it together.

I had a key to his apartment, but I knocked first, out of courtesy. I wasn’t that courteous, though, because I unlocked it and walked in before anyone had time to answer.

I saw right away that they wouldn’t have answered, anyway.

It was three o’clock in the afternoon, but you wouldn’t know it by the state of the apartment. Women were everywhere, slutty, groupie looking women, and I instantly felt my temper starting to boil.

Dean was lying, shirtless, on the couch. His jeans were undone, and some tramp had her hand down his pants, even as another bimbo sat hip to hip with him, sharing a joint.

Dean saw me and smiled, and I knew that this wasn’t going to be a good visit. Just as I could read a different meaning into every one of Tristan’s smiles, Dean’s only ever meant one thing. Trouble. Not fun trouble. Just bad trouble. Ruin your day trouble.

“Hey! You come to join the party? I think your boyfriend is busy, but you know you’re always first in line to suck my cock.”

I walked through the living room, heading to the back of the apartment, where the bedrooms were. If I’d been thinking clearly, I’d have gone through the kitchen, but a few words out of his mouth and my brain was already too scrambled with my temper to have a mature interaction with him, if there was such a thing.

“You might not want to go back there. I believe he said he wanted privacy…”

I whipped my head around to give him one smoldering glare.

He just chuckled. “You know I think you’re f*cking hot when you’re mad. I mean, I’d f*ck you any time, but when you’re mad, mmmm, now that would be a treat.”

I stifled my first urge, which was to tell him to go f*ck himself, because I knew he’d just turn it into a suggestion. Instead, I settled for specific and childish. “I hope you choke on one of your own used condoms, and die, you *,” I told him, striding out of the room.

I heard him laughing behind me, and my fists clenched hard.

“Babe, I don’t use condoms,” he called after me.

“Disgusting pig,” I muttered as I reached the closed door to Tristan’s room.

I didn’t knock, just opening the door quietly. I figured girlfriend rights superseded some common courtesies.

I froze in the doorway as I took in the room.