CHAPTER EIGHT
Edward, eighteen
I pulled up near Cara’s, but a bit down the street.
It’s not like I could park in her driveway and then go climb her tree to knock on her window.
I might as well just knock on the front door if I did that.
Instead, I parked on a dirt road in the woods with a clearing used as an overnight storage area for some of the farm equipment.
It was hidden by trees and difficult to find, but Declan had told Lufton and me about it the summer we were sixteen and could drive ourselves over.
Ever since, we’d used it whenever we came over at night.
A lot of times, we’d ‘left’ only to park there and walk back to the lake through the woods.
Tonight, I sat for a minute once I parked.
My hands were shaking, and I wanted to calm down a bit before I saw Cara.
I’d just had a shouting match with my father, while my mother sat off to the side, sobbing.
I’d told him I was going to live and work in Charleston so I could be near Cara.
I’d said that I planned to fill out an application for College of Charleston so that I might get in for the winter semester.
When he’d brought up money, I talked about the financial aid forms I planned to fill out.
I was more than willing to take on student loan debt to be with Cara.
The more details I gave him about my plan, the worse and worse things got between us.
I think it was because he knew he’d lost; I was leaving.
He’d ended up screaming at me, his face purple, veins standing out on his forehead.
He’d looked scary, and I knew that he would have hit me if I weren’t a good four inches taller than him.
And while he outweighed me, he wasn’t in good shape like I was.
He knew he couldn’t hit me like he had my mother.
I’d fight back, and he knew it because I’d told him I’d kick his ass if he ever laid a hand on Mom again.
Still, there was nothing to keep him from yelling and refusing to see reason. I’d finally thrown my hands in the air and told him I didn’t care if I ever saw him again. I’d given my mom an apologetic look and told her I’d talk to her later. All she did was sob as I walked out the door.
And, at that moment, I hadn’t cared if I ever walked back through the doors of my childhood home. That was good, since my dad had yelled after me that he was getting the locks changed and I wasn’t welcome anymore.
I’d slammed the door and stormed to my car, not even considering packing a bag or anything practical like that.
So now, here I sat in the woods taking deep breaths to settle down some before I went to my girl.
Because that’s what she was. My girl. And I wanted her to always be mine.
That, at least, brought a smile to my face, and I knew I’d made the right decision.
You didn’t let a girl like Cara Hargrave go if you ever hoped to get her back.
There would be no way she’d come home from South Carolina a single woman.
She was too good, and kind, and gorgeous.
And she was a freaking ballerina. No telling how many guys she’d have flocking around her the moment she stepped foot on campus.
I texted her, letting her know to be on the lookout for me. Then I took off through the woods to get to her. There was a well-worn path that Lufton and I had made that first summer we’d started using it. It had been easy to wear it down again each summer.
I started jogging. I was eager to see her.
I rounded the corner of her house and headed for her tree.
It was a massive old water oak, and it was the perfect climbing tree.
It had gnarled branches that looked as if they’d been made specifically to hold generations of the Hargrave family’s children as they’d escaped from the upper stories of the farmhouse.
I climbed up easily, so used to every branch that it was basically a ladder to her window at this point. I rapped on the glass lightly, and she appeared almost immediately.
“Hey,” she smiled, taking my hand and helping me through her window. I was a big guy, and it wasn’t easy to bend myself double to get inside. That was actually the hardest part of the entire process. Climbing the tree and getting out the window were easier.
I didn’t even say hello. I just grabbed her to me and held her tight for several minutes, breathing hard and trying not to cry.
“What’s wrong?” she pulled back and reached up to touch my face. “You look so upset.”
“I’ll tell you later,” I said, pulling her to me and kissing her. I was desperate for her, not only because I’d wanted to fuck her for years, but because I wanted to forget all the awful things my dad and I had said to each other.
I kissed her over and over, backing her up until her legs hit the edge of her bed.
Then, I pushed her backwards and crawled over her.
I barely came up for air, and our kisses turned more and more passionate until we were both gasping for breath.
I rolled over on my back, pulling her on top of me.
I angled her head just right until I could get the connection with her I wanted.
I pulled back a little only to take her bottom lip between my teeth, biting gently, before taking her mouth again, my tongue wrapping with hers.
My hands were in her hair. Her hands were on my chest, and finally she pushed me gently until I pulled back enough to look in her eyes.
Her chest was heaving up and down as she sucked in air. “Are you… okay?”
“I’ve never been better than I am right now,” I said, just as winded as she was. “I want you.”
She bit her plump bottom lip, and my eyes followed the movement. “I want you, too.”
“I’m coming with you to Charleston. If you’ll have me.
If you still want me to come.” I had the sudden horrible thought that if she had changed her mind, it might be the single most embarrassing moment of my life to go back to my family with my tail tucked between my legs and admit the girl I’d risked everything for didn’t feel the same way about me.
“You are?” the sparkle in her emerald green eyes was the only answer I needed. “That makes me so happy.” She tackled me and started kissing me all over again.
We did that for a while before I gently rolled her onto her back, ready to take things further.
She reached for her shirt, a lacy pajama top with buttons down the front.
She laid back against the pillows and started unbuttoning the tiny buttons.
Watching Cara Hargrave slowly unbutton her top on her bed was the hottest damn thing I’d ever seen in my life.
It took everything in me not to knock her hands away and rip the shirt open, making the buttons fly everywhere. But I didn’t. Instead, I just watched as she slowly unveiled her body to me. The sight of her naked breasts did me in. I groaned.
“God, do you have any idea how beautiful you are?” I ran a hand through my hair and then positioned myself over her, kissing first her mouth, then dropping to her jaw and moving down her throat.
I sucked on her pulse point, wanting to taste her skin and feel her heartbeat against my lips.
I moved my weight to one elbow as I kissed over her breasts, taking one of her nipples in my mouth and sucking.
I pulled on the other one with my fingers, and she gasped, her hands going to my hair.
Her back arched and she cried out as I went back and forth between them, sucking and biting her.
“Shh,” I said with a smile, tracing her full lower lip with my thumb.
I watched her as she took it in her mouth and sucked on it.
I closed my eyes and wished it was my cock in her mouth.
But we’d done that plenty, and there’d be more time for it later.
We didn’t have to leave each other after tonight after all.
For now, I just wanted to see to her. I might be a virgin, but I’d gone down on girls before, including Cara, thank goodness. And I wanted her to be really wet before I moved inside her. I knew it was going to hurt her, but I wanted the pain to be as minimal as possible.
For as thin as she was, as she had to be to be a dancer, she had full breasts and a nice, round ass. I fucking loved her body. I wasn’t ready to move on from her tits, but I sensed she needed more. Plus, I was hard as a fucking rock. I was dying to get a release.
I moved down her abdomen, watching her stare at me with those eyes of hers. I kissed and sucked as I went. “Pull these off,” I said as I reached her silky sleep shorts. “And your underwear.” My voice was raspy with need.
She wiggled out of them, pushed them over her hips, down her legs, and finally threw them over my shoulder.
I practically dove between her legs and pushed them apart.
I kissed and bit her inner thighs before licking her wet seam.
She cried out again as I licked her firmly from her opening to her clit, and I reached up to cover her mouth with one of my hands.
I shook my head at her, trying not to laugh.
The last thing I needed was her dad flying in here with a shotgun or something. He seemed like the type to have more than one at his disposal.
He probably needed to with five daughters. Especially when one of them looked like Cara.
“You have to be quiet, okay,” I hissed at her.
She nodded, and I took my hand off her mouth.
Then I really put my mind to making her come.
I wanted her dripping wet for me. I was a big guy, and I didn’t want to hurt her any more than I had to.
I lapped at her clit, circling it, playing with it, until her hips were bucking against my face.
Finally, when I could hear her gasping with desire and sensed she was close, I moved up slightly and suctioned my mouth around it.