Read Chayton's Tempest for Free Online

older?”
    Crack! Her palm exploded across his smooth face. “Don’t
    you dare!”
    He caught her wrist in his hand and glared at her.
    “Damn it, that hurt!”
    “Good.” A twisted smile crossed her face. “You have no
    right to judge me.”
    Tugging her closer to his hard body, he put his face close
    to hers. He tried not to think about how much he wanted to
    kiss her full lips or how soft her skin was beneath his hand.
    “But you can judge me?”
    “You’re damn right,” she snapped self-righteously.
    “By what right?” he queried.
    “Because I am not the one who abandoned the other.”
    “What the hell are you talking about?” he bellowed.
    Wrenching away from his grip, Tempest told him. “I’m
    talking about the fact that I was shunned by both our families.
    The fact that I had to move away and begin a new life, while
    you were allowed to grow up where you knew people. While
    I...while I had to face the reality that you didn’t care for me,
    and weren’t coming to find me.”
    Maverick frowned as a deep dread settled in the pit of
    his stomach. Licking his firm lips, he looked at her and said,
    “Tell me how I know you.”
    “My name used to be Sarah, Sarah Whitehall, and when
    I left that little town of Little Creek,
South Dakota
at the age of
    thirteen, I had no one. My family disowned me, and you and
    yours didn’t want me. You know me, because five weeks
    before I left, you got me pregnant. You got me pregnant and
    then left me to raise our child on my own. That young man you
    accused me of sleeping with is the result of that pregnancy. My
    son.”
    Her voice no longer had any emotion in it at all. It was
    empty, dead; and for that reason, Maverick knew she was
    telling him the truth. Tempest felt drained and empty as she
    climbed silently into her vehicle and drove away.
    Pregnant? Maverick felt his legs wobble as his chest
    tightened. It can’t be true. He remembered Sarah. She’d been so
    full of life, even though her family constantly put her down,
    especially her three brothers and one older sister.
    At fifteen, he remembered walking out beyond the city
    lights and finding her where she normally sat, along an
    outcropping of rocks. He’d met her there and dried her tears
    before kissing her tenderly.
    That night he’d bumbled around like any teen who
    wasn’t experienced in love. But he’d taken her virginity; and
    then to his immense embarrassment, after doing that, he’d shot
    his load deep within her, leaving her without finding any type
    of pleasure.
    Shamed, Maverick had run off, leaving her alone in the
    night. He’d seen her a few times around town after that, but
    he’d made sure he never spoke to her, his embarrassment was
    too great. One day, he’d realized she was no longer in school
    and neither his nor her family spoke about her.
    But with the typical care of a teen, he’d moved on with
    his life and in time forgot about her.
    Moving slow with shock, Maverick was unprepared for
    the fist that shot out and connected with his jaw. Stumbling
    back from the force, he looked to see the young man that
    worked behind the bar coming in for another hit.
    “Bastard!” the man shouted. “I hate you!”
    Wanting to contain the irate man, yet not get hurt
    himself, Maverick tried talking to him. “Calm down.”
      “Don’t tell me what to do!” He was swinging with each
    word he snapped out.
    Finally, some off-duty cops who were inside the bar
    pulled them apart. The one who had the young man
    reprimanded him, “Shame on you, Dakota. What is your mom
    gonna think when she has to bail you out of jail?”
    “I’m not pressing charges,” Maverick announced. “We’ll
    just forget it.” He rubbed the spot on his chin that Dakota had
    hit repeatedly.
    “Are you sure?” the officer holding him asked.
    “Positive. No harm done.” Maverick waited until the
    officers agreed and then headed off toward his bike.
    The drive back to his hotel room was done in a way