Chapter 25
Twenty-Five
XANDER
Fifteen years earlier
Sun beats down on us as I drive Jade to my favorite surf spot. Strands of her hair fly free from the braid she quickly wove it into as we left the house. I can’t help sneaking glances every possible chance I get.
Getting her alone since both Dad and Suzette came back from their trips has been a nightmare.
We’ve fucked all over the house, hiding from them.
Sneaking into each other’s rooms and holding our hands over each other’s mouths to muffle our moans.
The worst part is not sleeping beside her, though.
There’s nothing harder than letting her go or crawling out of her bed before we fall asleep.
I’m obsessed with the way she curls herself around me, like leaving causes her physical pain.
She looks over at me as we fly down the highway with music blasting, and the beaming smile she aims at me makes my heart feel like it’s exploding. I reach over and grab her hand to bring it to my lips. When I settle our joined hands on my leg, she leans over and kisses my cheek.
I love her.
Holy shit.
I fucking love her.
Realizing this right before she leaves for a quick trip to Palm Springs with her mom before she moves into her dorm really sucks. This is the last night we have alone together. I force the lump in my throat back down. Tonight is about us having fun doing what brought us together in the first place.
The parking lot is crowded, but after a few circles, I find a spot and pull in. I forgo a wetsuit today, but she opts to use one. Even though it’s hot outside today, the water is perpetually chilly. I’m used to it, but she’s not.
We grab our boards and head across the sand, playfully bumping into each other as we go. There are still a lot of beach goers out. Kids play and run along the shore. A handful of surfers bob out in the swells taking turns on the waves coming in.
As we paddle out I take the opportunity to show off with my turtle rolls. She hasn’t felt comfortable trying them yet but loves when I do the maneuver. When we get to a good spot, we both sit up on our boards, legs dangling in the water.
“I could honestly just stay out here for hours,” she says looking out over the horizon.
“Me too. Too bad it gets sharky when the sun starts to set.”
She shrugs. “It’s their home, we’re just visiting.”
“So you would be cool if one took a bite?”
“I’d prefer they didn’t, but I wouldn’t hold it against them.”
“Well I like my limbs attached, personally. So if they’re going to grab me, they better make a feast of me.”
“I like your limbs attached, too.”
Our knees knock into each other’s as we bob in the swells. I reach over and pull her board over until it bumps into mine and kiss her until the water tears us apart again. Her eyes open as she gives me a slow smile.
We spend a couple hours out on the water, taking turns catching waves and cheering each other on. As the sun sinks to just above the horizon and the beach clears out, we surf back to shore. My muscles ache with the comforting strain of a couple hours out on the water.
She strips out of her wetsuit while I put the boards away. What she doesn’t know is that I packed a picnic for us. She walks around to the back of the Jeep with her crocheted cover up on. Her skin has the prettiest glow from the sun.
I pull the beach blanket and cooler out. “Surprise.”
Her eyes sparkle with delight. “A beach picnic?”
“Yep. To watch the sunset.”
She reaches up, wrapping her arms around my neck and presses a kiss to my lips. “I’ve always wanted to do this.”
“I know.”
“Can I carry anything?”
“Do you want to grab my phone from the glove compartment?”
“Sure.”
We walk side by side back onto the sand. I set down the cooler and lay out the blanket. She kicks off her flip flops and sits down, stretching out her long legs. I settle down beside her and open the cooler.
“Here you go,” I say, handing her a Diet Coke.
“Thank you.” She pops the top and takes a drink, giving one of her little delighted moans and wiggling her shoulders.
“Do you have any idea how cute you are when you take your first sip?”
“What?” She lowers the can. “What do you mean?”
“You make this sexy little moan and do a happy dance every time you crack one open.”
“No, I don’t.” She tilts her head completely puzzled.
“Oh, you do.” I lean over and press a quick kiss to her lips. “It’s so fucking adorable.”
“I’ve never noticed.” She peers over the side of the cooler. “What else do you have in there?”
“Cheese.” I hold up a bag of her favorite pepper jack. “Crackers, berries, and chocolate chip cookies.”
We set everything between us and go to town on the food. Being out on the water always makes me ravenous. There’s a good chance I’ll be swinging through the drive-through on the way home, but this will tide us over.
We chat about everything and anything as we munch and watch the sun moving lower over the horizon.
There’s only one thing we have both avoided talking about at all this summer.
What’s going to happen when we each leave for college.
I don’t want to stop this, but I also don’t want to push a relationship on her, especially when our parents are still married.
Honestly, I’m not sure I want to keep hiding us, either. It’s not like we grew up together or something. We are both legally adults at this point. Is it really that big a deal if we tell our parents? I don’t want to spend years living a double life.
As twilight creeps across the beach and even more people pack up and leave, we stay right next to each other.
The playlist I created for her plays on my phone while she rests her head on my shoulder.
I’ve added all the songs that she loves, a few I think she’d like based on those, and then some of my favorites that she knows.
I hope she plays it and thinks of me when she’s gone.
“I can’t believe this is our last night together like this,” she says.
“I know.” I kiss her forehead. “But you’ll have so much fun at UCLA.”
“Yeah.” Her voice is laced with melancholy. “Are you set on Berkeley?”
“I think so.” I look out over the water. “It’s a good program.”
She links our fingers and presses a kiss to my shoulder. “When do you leave?”
“A few days after you.” I force lightness into my voice. “At least Dad and Suzette will have time to themselves again.”
She grunts. “I don’t think it’ll change anything. They’ve spent so much time apart this summer that I’m guessing there’s weeks until Mom loses interest.”
“Really?” It’s hard for me to imagine someone not appreciating my dad. For someone with so much power in Hollywood, he’s really solid. There are no casting couch rumors, no scandals. Just a widower focused on his work and family.
“Yeah.” She sighs. “It sucks because I really like your dad.”
“He likes you, too.”
“Would he like me if he knew what we’re doing?”
“I don’t think it’d change his opinion of us.”
“It’d be weird for them, though.”
“For everyone.” I reach over and turn her head toward me. “But not for me. I love you, Jade.”
Her eyes widen at my confession, lips parting as her eyes search mine. A few heavy seconds pass as she just stares at me. “I love you, too,” she finally says with wet eyes.
“Really?” My heart feels like it’s about to burst free from my chest.
“Yes.” She launches herself on top of me.
I fall onto my back as she settles on top of me, kissing me with a fervor I haven’t felt from her before. Even in moments where we get carried away and sneak into a closet or room for a quickie. My dick perks up at the proximity of her barely covered pussy positioned right over him.
“Let’s go to the car,” I say against her lips. If she keeps grinding on me like this, I’ll end up on a list I really don’t want to be on.
She stands and grabs all the trash while I fold up the blanket. She tosses the garbage in the bin and helps me shove everything in the back of the Jeep. I press her against the side of the car and cover her lips with mine.
Her body arches against mine when I reach behind her and fill my hands with her ass. The cover up she wears has loops large enough for my fingers to thread through in search of her soft skin. I moan against her lips when she reaches up and runs her nails along my scalp.
She breaks the kiss and looks around the nearly empty parking lot. “I need you.”
I look around for a place to park that offers any semblance of privacy. There’s a spot at the other end of the lot that has trees on either side. With inhuman willpower I push away from her and walk around to open her door for her.
“Get in. There's a spot we can go to.” I reach down and adjust my raging hard on.
“Okay.”
I wait until she’s settled to close the door and then jog around to the driver’s side. Without even putting my seatbelt on, I pull out of the spot and cross the lot to the more private location. As soon as I put the Jeep in park, she’s climbing into my lap. It’s a tight fit but neither of us care.
Our lips slam together while she grinds over me. Her hands move down my body until she cups my hardness over my shorts. I throb into her hand as she squeezes me. Her fingers work the laces free. I lift my hips to help her free my cock.
“I don’t have a condom,” I blurt as soon as I realize.
“I don’t care if you don’t. Just pull out.” She’s pulled her bikini bottoms to the side, already positioned just above me.
I throb beneath her, my dick harder than it’s ever been at the possibility of being inside her bare.
She waits for me, dragging my tip through her wet folds.
I pull her to me for a long deep kiss. I wasn’t expecting to confess my feelings and then fuck in my car in a parking lot.
This isn’t very romantic but fuck it. I need her.
My hands move to her hips and pull her down slowly over me. I want to remember every second of this. Her lips part as she slides down my length. Her slick, hot walls feel like fucking heaven on earth.
“I love you,” I whisper.
“I love you, too,” she says before leaning forward and kissing me.
I let her set the pace, anything she does is going to feel incredible for me.
She rocks her hips in little circles over me, gliding up and down my length until we’re both breathless.
Her walls tighten around me as she falls over the edge.
Pleasure explodes through me, and I lift her off my cock, right as I start to come.
She whimpers at the loss of me inside her.
I press my forehead to hers as ropes of my cum lash against her thighs.
She sits back on my lap and takes my face in her hands. I turn my head and press my lips to one of her palms. Neither of us move as we catch our breath.
Eventually I hunt down some napkins and clean her up.
They’re not the softest or most comfortable, but it has to be better than having her thighs coated in sticky cum until we get home.
A really fucked up part of me hopes that some of me made it inside her.
As if just by being there, it claims her as mine forever.
“Xander,” Dad calls from his study. “Come here please.”
“Okay.” I set my violin down and walk down the hall to him.
He has a huge smile on his face while he responds to someone on the phone. “Yes, he’s right here.” He holds the phone out to me.
I look at him quizzically because who would be calling him to get to me?
“Hello?” I answer.
“Xander?” a feminine voice asks.
“Yes.”
“This Aribella McAntevs from admissions at Juilliard. We’ve had a last-minute opening in our music department.”
My eyes lock with Dad’s as she starts spouting off information that I’m honestly blacking out on. I’m going to Juilliard. Fucking Juilliard. Holy shit.
Dad takes the phone, patting me on the back as I drop down onto one of the chairs across from his desk. I vaguely hear him talking about specifics as he paces around the office. He ends the call and sets his phone down, coming to sit on the edge of his desk in front of me.
“Xander.”
I look up at him.
“You make me so proud. I know your mom would be, too.” His eyes are glassy with unshed tears.
A mom-shaped chasm opens up in my chest. I push to my feet and, for the first time in years, hug my father.
He wraps his arms tightly around me. I don’t have a lot of memories of my mom, but I do remember her hugs and listening to her play piano.
Tears spring to my eyes, and I let my forehead drop to Dad’s shoulder. A sob rips from my chest.
“It’s alright.” Dad ruffles my hair and kisses the side of my head. “It’s okay.”
He drops his arms when I take a step back and quickly swipe the tears away. “I don’t know why I just cried. I thought about Mom on graduation day, but this didn’t happen.”
“It’s just living with grief. Sometimes it hits out of nowhere.”
I nod and clear my throat. “When do I need to be there?”
“Eight o’clock Monday morning.”
My brows fly up my forehead. “This Monday?”
Dad nods.
“It’s Saturday.” My head is spinning.
He keeps nodding. “Yeah. We have a fuck ton to do to get you ready.”