21. Storm
The bed is empty when I wake up. It’s 8:08 AM and she’s not here. I scramble to my feet and check the washroom, empty. The balcony, empty. A small part of me feels defeated that she left, but maybe she had plans she didn’t tell me about. Now I’m upset that she didn’t tell me about her plans. Then I see it. A note on her pillow.
Went to get breakfast at the café, be back soon
Auden, xx
I can’t help but smile. Things will be different. I’ll make sure they’re different. I screwed up last night. One slip could have cost me her. Never again.
I change, brush my teeth, and crack the bones in my neck. I’ll meet her at the café, and we’ll have a proper date. I’ll even stop by the flower shop and pick her up more flowers. I think she’ll like that. I’m tying my shoes when my phone rings; it’s a collect call from the county jail.
Oh, fuck. He couldn’t have gotten my letter already. No, he couldn’t have, could he? The postman was just leaving when I dropped the letter off yesterday, could he have seen Denny’s name on it and hand-delivered it for me?
Oh, fucking, fuck.
With a heavy, shaking breath, I answer. “Hello?” my voice cracks, tears welling in my eyes. “D-Denny?”
“You have some fucking nerve writing to me.” Denny’s voice is deeper than I remember, scarier, even. “I may be in fucking prison because of you, but that doesn’t mean I’m not getting out. And when I do, your little call for attention will come true. See you soon, brother.”
He hangs up, saying enough to send me over the edge. I can’t breathe. The room is closing in on me. The fucking room is spinning. I get up from the bed and drop my phone, pushing the back door open and clawing at my throat. I’m wheezing, coughing, and gasping for a breath. Denny’s getting out soon. He’ll get out and find me.
He’ll kill me and I’ll leave Auden in more grief than she needs.
I have to get out of this town. I have to right my wrongs.
But I can’t do that if he’s going to kill me.
I drop my head between my shoulders, resting my forearms on the railing, and take a few deep breaths, calming my racing heart. “Fuck,” I sob, body shaking. “I’m so sorry.”
I’ve always been a disappointment, but I’m changing. I’m going to make people proud of me. I wipe my eyes and sniff, looking at the café down the street. I’ll see my angel and everything will be fine. Everything will be fine.
Please, God, tell me everything will be fine.
As I pick up my phone, I sit on the bed and smirk at the picture of Auden and me as my background. I put it there last night before we fell asleep. She smiled and bopped my nose when I showed her. She’s part of me now. Forever.
I push the growing panic as deep as I can, and that’s when I do it, I open my Safari app and search for managerial positions in New York City. I’m not entirely sure where her place is, but I can drive wherever I need to go. As long as I’m with her.
About fifteen minutes go by and I apply to three jobs, describing my working experience through email since I don’t have a CV…I don’t even know how to make one. But maybe my skills will be enough to score me one of them. Ross will have my back, too. I’m sure of it.
I slide my phone into my back pocket and inhale a deep breath, forcing a grin to disguise my fright. Auden deserves me at my best, and that’s exactly what she’ll get.
I open the door and take in the silence of the BnB. I wonder who was here last night, who heard my angel and I consummating our newfound love.
When I make it to the bottom step, I see Stacy in the backyard setting everything up for the lunch she’s throwing. She does this lunch a few times a year, bringing the local folks together. Ross said he wasn’t coming this year, but I’ll be there to represent Creed’s until I’ll no longer be an employee. My future is changing. I will be the right man for Auden, the perfect man. Everyone will see.
I squint when I step outside, crossing the street with a jog as a car passes. Despite the phone call, I can’t stop smiling. The sight of Auden makes me smile. It sparks a fire in my stomach and it fills with nerves and excitement, which I’m sure are butterflies. I haven’t had butterflies since I was a teenager.
As I approach the café, the windows are open to either side of the door, letting out the smell of fresh coffee, scones, and bacon. Sam makes the best BLT I’ve ever had, I can’t wait to share one with her.
I see Auden sitting next to Gerri. She’s smiling as they talk about her car; something she won’t need because we’ll take my Jeep to New York City. Aside from my belongings, it’s the only thing I own.
Gerri nods, looking into his coffee mug, and clears his throat. “You and that boy Storm.” I pause with my hand on the door, hearing my name roll off his tongue sends a pang of guilt through me. Tarnishing her beauty. Gerri slowly looks up at her and eyes the hickies I left on her neck. “You seem like a smart girl, Miss Summers. Don’t let him taint you.”
She pulls in a rush of air and sits up straighter as two coffees are placed in front of her. “Who says I’m not the one tainting him, Gerri?” She stands, tapping the counter. “We shouldn’t judge those because of their past mistakes. Storm is a good guy if you take the sleeping around aspect out of the way. Get to know him a little, you’ll see.”
He nods, sipping his coffee and glancing at me. “I do apologize, then.”
“You should, and you should pass on the message that people shouldn’t be judged for what they did. They should be looked at for who they will become. And Storm will do great things one day.” She looks at Sam who places two fruit cups by the coffees. “And you know what? I’ll be right by his side praising him. He’s not this slimebag everyone perceives him to be—”
I shove the door open and charge right for her, taking her head in my hands and kissing her like the damn world is ending. No one has ever defended me before. No one has ever seen the good in me.
But here she is, a drifter who came into my life on a pouring night, seeing the good in me.
I hope that never goes away.
“Hey,” she says, licking her lips.
“Hey, yourself.”
She jerks her head at the counter. “I got us coffee and some snacks.”
I smile, taking the bag and coffee. “Morning, Gerri. Sam.”
Gerri nods, putting his head down. “Morning, Storm.” He has always been judgemental. In all my years of being in this town, a day hasn’t gone by that Gerri’s stupid opinions haven’t spread like wildfire. He’s the one who told the town about what I did to Leah after catching me with Desire, which made everyone look down on me as a cheat and a whore. I’d say I’m not the biggest fan of Gerri, but Auden doesn’t need to know the bad this town oozes.
She deserves only the sunshine she brings to it.
“See you later, Gerri. Let me know if I need to bring anything to the lunch,” Auden adds, following me out the door with the rest of the food.
I look down at her and grin, putting my arm out so she can slither hers in mine. Just the sight of her calms my racing heart. It sends Denny’s threat on the backburner knowing he’s still locked up. I’m safe for now. She’s safe, too. “So, what kinda snacks did you get?”
“Scones and some fruit,” she replies as I lead her across the street to the BnB.
“Good, I’m starving.”
We enter the BnB and head straight upstairs, locking the door behind us. She puts the fruit down on the side table and begins getting out of the wedge sandals she’s been wearing for three days straight. I really like them on her. Come to think of it, she could be wearing a burlap sack and I’d like that, too.
I put the coffee on the nightstand and sit on the bed, leaving the bag beside me to pull her close. “Morning, beautiful.”
She giggles, kissing me softly. “Morning.”
“I wanna spend the day with you,” I tell her, kissing the tip of her nose.
“Why?” she asks, biting her lower lip anxiously.
“Because I wanna show you around town, show you where I grew up.” I shrug slowly, letting her see how vulnerable she makes me. “I want you to know everything about me, babe.”
She chuckles. “Don’t call me babe.”
“What can I call you?”
“My name.” She shrugs, taking her coffee and sipping it. “I don’t like pet names.”
“That’s too bad because I do.” I narrow my eyes and scrunch my nose. “Well, maybe I only do because I forget people’s names pretty easily.”
She laughs. I love it when she laughs. “Oh God.”
My fingers move lightly on the back of her legs, sending goosebumps along her skin. “Thank you for defending me.”
She winks, bringing the coffee to her lips again, and sips it. “Everyone has a past; it does not define who you are.”
“Is that why you wanted to find your birth father? So you can discover who you are without waving the adoption card around?”
She shakes her head, taking a breath. “I always viewed my life like I was inside this glass bubble. Everything seemed perfect. I was the adopted kid people pitied and the family disapproved of because I wasn’t like them. I worked hard for them to accept me, worked so hard I was an outcast my entire life. Sean was the only constant.”
Her gaze is focused on her hands, the way she picks at the pale pink polish on them. I hate this for her. Hate all of it. “I got the scholarship for a full ride to Princeton and all my family did was roll their eyes and say, of course, she did…I’ve learned to ignore their comments, but as time went on, my glass bubble started to crack. Th-then three years ago my dad was shot in the line of duty. The bullet missed his heart by a damn centimeter.”
She sniffs, frowning as she picks the polish off her thumbnail. “I almost lost him—shattering my glass. And I just couldn’t live with the fact that if I lost him, who else would I have aside from my mother? The woman who is always away on business trips, risking her life to defend criminals. My life seems all fine and dandy on the outside, but looking in, it’s not.” She sniffs again, finally meeting my eyes. “I decided to find Frank because I need some form of certainty in my life. I needed to know where I came from so my broken glass could start to repair itself.”
I pull her closer to me, kissing her stomach. “I’m here, okay?”
She smiles down at me, licking her lips slowly. “I know,” she whispers.
I’ll be what she needs. The most stable, boring motherfucker on this planet. I’ll show her true happiness. I prove to her that I’m not going anywhere. I will never leave her.
“I’ll bring all the super glue your glass bubble needs and make sure it never breaks again.”
She chuckles weakly. “Or make me a new bubble.”
I kiss her stomach again, my thumbs grazing the back of her legs. “One for us.”
Running her fingers through my hair, she smiles, wiping her cheek on her shoulder, and steps back, nodding her head at the coffee. I don’t want to let her go, but I can see she doesn’t want to dwell on what she shared with me. And that’s okay. I’m happy she opened up, happy she’s letting me in.
Releasing her, she sits comfortably on the bed beside me. I take a sip of the coffee and I grimace. She didn’t put anything in it. Not even milk. “Why is it black?”
“That’s how I like my coffee…and I didn’t know what you put in yours.” She takes the fruit cups out and dumps the rest of the contents in my lap, pointing at the sugar and creamer.
“Two sugars and three milks, not creamer,” I explain, putting the creamer in my coffee regardless.
“What’s the difference?”
I gulp some coffee. “Cream is too thick, but milk is just right.”
She looks at me as I stir it and sip it with another grimace. But she bought it for me, so I’ll drink the entire damn thing no matter how much I hate it.
I can feel her staring at me as I take another sip and smirk. Side-glancing at her, I stick my tongue out and sip the coffee once again. She takes it from me and puts it on the side table with hers, straddling me. Her hair falls onto her shoulder, framing her face. She’s so fucking beautiful. How did I get so lucky?
She giggles when I turn her onto her back, my tongue bathing her neck. “Be careful, you’ll squash the scones.”
“I don’t care,” I say, kissing her.
We make love on our breakfast. Squashing the scones, and I almost kicked over our coffees switching positions. She is irresistible, I haven’t been addicted to something like this since I smoked pot in high school. She’s my drug and I’m going to need a fix lasting more than a few days.