Chapter 16
Rex
Michael hands me a beer as I lean against the railing on the upstairs patio deck.
I hadn’t planned to be here tonight. I’d rather be wrapped around the sexy Gwendolyn Coppola.
But after she called and left me high and dry thirty minutes before I was supposed to pick her up, I had no choice, and nothing else to do on a Friday night.
“You alright, man?” Michael asks as he leans against the railing next to me. We look into the house in front of us, full of people we know from school, and I frown.
After my parents informed me earlier tonight that they would miss my graduation next month, but please make sure and send them pictures, my head became all sorts of fucked up.
Yeah, right, sure, I’ll send them pictures.
I didn’t even tell them about my full ride to Ol’ Miss. Why the hell would I send them shit?
It’s going to be nice to leave the house next year and get far away from their bullshit. But then again, far away means away from Gwen. And hell, that’s a reality I’m not ready to face yet.
“Never been better,” I say, clinking my glass against his.
His sister begins to walk toward us. Eva Monroe.
The girl all the boys at school want, but none of them can have.
Too bad I have never looked at her that way, being she is a grade younger than me and is my best friend’s sister.
My younger brother, on the other hand, has had it bad for her since the third grade.
“Well,” I say as she saunters towards us. “Look what heaven brought me tonight. Must have known I needed an angel to save me from the hell inside my head,” winking at her, I pull her into a hug.
“Hilarious, Rex,” she sasses before she hits me in the shoulder playfully. “Where is Gwen tonight?”
“I was about to ask you the same question,” I respond, bringing the beer to my lips and avoiding the confrontation about a relationship that is getting harder and harder to hide.
I know Eva has been on to our scent for a while now, but there is no way I am letting that secret out of the bag tonight.
Gwen deserves better than me. She shouldn’t be with someone who wants to hide her, but with someone who screams how much they care about her from the highest fucking rooftop.
I know she needs me to tell her. I know she deserves to know.
But shit, I feel like I show her how I feel about her, do I really need to say it?
I have only had eyes for her since I first saw her dropping her books coming up the high school steps two years ago.
Hair a mess and late for class. I couldn’t take my eyes off of her.
Swallowing hard, I push back the memory, bring my beer to my lips, and hope the two people standing in front of me don’t notice.
“Mhm,” Eva eyes me. “Well, all I know is she was vague when I called her earlier. That’s not like Gwen at all. Maybe I will drive over there and check in on her and Belle after this. I know Belle has been going in for all those treatments, and the last news they received wasn’t exactly good.”
I look off into the distance, remembering holding Gwen as she cried, watching as she fell apart in my arms for her sister, her twin, a girl I know probably won’t make it. If she dies, that’ll tear Gwen apart. If I am across the country at Ol’ Miss, who would be there to pick up the pieces?
“Well, tell her I say hi when you see her,” I say, trying to act nonchalant.
“Sure,” Eva chuckles. “I’ll do that.”
She walks off towards the crowd inside the house, and I breathe a sigh of relief, knowing I don’t have to put up a guard any longer.
Michael knows the history between Gwen and me.
Shit, he has known since day one. I needed someone to talk to about the little vixen rocking my world and the fact that I gave her my virginity.
What he doesn’t know is that I also gave her my heart.
But shit, Gwen should be the first to ever know that, and I’m not sure I will ever have the guts to tell her.
What they both don’t know is that I am secretly thinking about giving up my scholarship so that I can be with her.
We stand in silence for a moment before Michael speaks. “Want to talk about it?” he asks.
“Nope,” I say, taking another drink of beer.
He nods. “Well,” he shrugs, straightening up and taking a few steps towards the door. “I think I saw Summer walk in a few minutes ago. Think I might go see what she’s up to. Sure looked like I needed to take her home later.”
I laugh as he walks off towards the party. Alone on the deck, I look up at the sky and wonder where Gwen is. What she is doing? And why she couldn’t meet me earlier?
That is twice lately that she has canceled on me at the last minute. I know the situation with her sister is serious, but I needed her tonight, too.
I know shit would be so much different if we weren’t hiding. If the way I feel, how we both feel, was out in the damn open. But that means standing up to her parents about my reputation, my mom’s reputation, and letting the world know what she fucking means to me.
That means becoming vulnerable, and possibly even turning into my old man. Fuck, as much as I know I love her, I‘m not sure I’m ready for that.
The breeze blows around me, and the clouds darken. The only light is the one cast over me by the moon in the sky. I take another sip of beer and will the peace only Gwen brings to somehow manifest itself in her absence and settle me tonight.
“I thought I might find you out here,” a sultry voice says. I look up and see Christina Thompson strolling toward me. A mission is written all over her face, and I’m suddenly well aware that I’m her target.
Turning to look at her, I ask, “You were looking for me?”
“I’m always looking for you, Rex,” she says playfully.
I fight the comeback that wishes to break free. The one that screams she is always looking for something to fill a void, and it just happens to be me tonight. Too bad for her, this is one man she’s not getting.
“Not interested,” I say, pushing off the railing and trying to walk towards the house.
“But Rex,” she pouts, blocking the way. “I needed to talk to you. I needed to tell you how much it meant to me that you came here tonight. You know, you were the only one I was looking forward to seeing.”
I roll my eyes. “Really? With lines like that, you get what you want? Seriously, Chris, I thought it was assholes like me that put those one-liners to good use?”
“I’ll let you get what you want, as long as you’re the one giving it to me,” she purrs, making me completely turned off.
“Don’t think so,” I turn to leave, but she grabs me and forces herself against me.
Stumbling back a step, I catch her as she falls into me, then quickly steps up on her toes and crushes her lips against my own.
Startled, and a little thrown by her boldness, I stand still and wait for her to finish. She eventually gets the hint that I’m not kissing her back and stops. Her eyes open, and she stares at me. A hatred fills her gaze before I notice her eye catch something behind us.
Suddenly, a smile spreads across her lips, “Well, Rex. I’m game if you are, baby. Come on, I want to show you something.”
She pulls my hand, and, like a stunned idiot, I take a few steps to follow. What the hell? Now she has really lost her damn mind. I force her to stop walking, and say, “Are you out of your mind? Like hell I’m going anywhere with you.”
I turn and quickly walk back to the house. Shaking my head, I pull open the slider door coming in off the back deck and lock eyes with Gwen. What the hell is she doing here? I thought she had to cancel. Did she know I was going to be here, too? Or is she lying to me like all women do?
She shoots me an evil look that could kill a man if he stood still long enough. I ask myself if she just saw this shit show that went down outside. Nah, I assure myself, she couldn’t have. But then she hurls around the way she came and stalks off angrily towards the front door.
I catch a glimpse of Eva racing after her and know I’m in deep shit.
Walking into the kitchen, I pop open another beer.
I know I should run after her. I know I should finally take the stand I should have taken since the beginning of our relationship.
But like a fucking idiot, I stand in the kitchen and chug beer after beer instead.
* * *
I startle awake, trying to think where I am. Gwen’s naked body is pressed temptingly next to mine. Her soft skin is pushed deliciously against my front, and damn if I don’t start to immediately get hard.
Yesterday was a dream. The night, a fantasy. A blur. I didn’t expect to take her in the front room like I did, or again in the shower. But after we fell on her bed, round three really took me by surprise as she straddled me and rode me for almost an hour.
My cock throbs, remembering the way she looked. The way she tasted. The way I know I need her again right now, and there is nothing in hell that is going to stop me from going for round four.
I palm her breast and feel her arch her back towards me.
Good, she’s awake enough. If she weren’t, that still wouldn’t stop me, though.
Rolling to the side, I let her fall out of my arms, and come to rest on her back.
I trace my finger down her chest, around her nipples, and down to her belly button.
I stop just above her center. Quietly pushing back the covers, I lower myself to every man’s dream and don’t waste time before feasting on her addictive pussy.