Chapter 19
“Wanna come and grab a celebratory drink with us?” Brandon, one of the guys from my class, asks as we walk across the quad.
“Can’t, sorry.”
“Yeah, someone’s being whisked away for the week.” Low teases me.
I can’t stop the grin on my face as I’m sure my cheeks are flushing, but trying to play it off by rolling my eyes.
“So, in case of an emergency, where are you gonna be?” She asks me as we approach my car.
“Topanga.”
She gives me a strange look, and I just shrug.
“He wants to surprise me. He sent me to the location, but I think he’s already heading up there.”
“Why?”
“I don’t know.” I shrug again. “I’ll send you my location when I get there.”
“Have fun.” She whispers, squeezing me tightly.
* * *
“This can’t be it.” I mumble to myself as the gates open, revealing a single-story home… or really, the roof of a single-story home is what I can see. A bridge creates a path through the landscaping, which conceals the rest of the house.
Well, I think a single-story home, but I’m probably just looking at the top story.
I’m about to turn around, calling Eli and telling him I’m lost and for some reason the code he gave me opened this gate as well, when I spot his bike.
Shaking my head, I kill the engine. Stepping out of the car and walking over to the bridge, following it until I can see past the greenery and see the vast canyon at our side.
“Eli?” I call out as I see the doors wide open to the breathtaking view.
No answer.
“Elias?” I call out again as I move into the kitchen.
Still no answer.
I’m down the hall before I see a light on from a back bedroom. The primary bedroom, a vast room with French doors that are open, and I hear muttering coming from the other side.
Curious, I follow the noises out onto the balcony.
I can’t stop the gasp as it falls out from the view of the canyon and the small stream that runs next to the house.
He stiffens and stands as I turn, looking at him. His face’s flushed and his eyes wide, before I look past him, leaning slightly to see what he’s standing in front of, trying to hide.
“Don’t freak out, Sketch.” He shakes his head. “I swear this isn’t what it looks like.”
The rose petals littering the ground as the words ‘Will You’ are spelled out with the rest of them all scattered around.
“Then what exactly am I looking at?” I ask, trying to maintain my breathing as I continue to look past him.
“Apparently, this place is a popular spot for…”
“…And…”
“There was a miscommunication.” He whispers, I can see the fear spreading throughout him.
I can’t help when the laughter falls out loudly, immediately setting him at ease.
“What kind of miscommunication?”
“Well,” his hand comes up, rubbing the back of his neck.
“I was gonna do like candles and rose petals on the bed. Ya know, the real cheesy shit. They were cool with having them delivered today before I got here.” He shakes his head.
“Only when I got here, an hour ago, I couldn’t find them.
I looked everywhere, so I called. The hosts said they had left them on the balcony for me.
Thinking that I was gonna…” He trails and I can tell he’s trying not to spook me.
“Please tell me you were still on the phone with them when you found them.”
“I was.” He laughs again. “And I shouted, ‘What the fuck?’.”
I can’t contain my laughter as I walk up to him, smiling. Leaning up and kissing him. “I love you.” I’ve still only said it a few times, so the way his face relaxes makes my heart flutter. Leaning up, I kiss him softly before pulling back and looking him right in the eye. “But no.”
“Ugh,” he groans as he looks down at the petals again and back at me with a shadow of a smile. “I’m never living this down.”
“Never.” I shake my head, laughing again. “It’s so cheesy, but also sweet. Thank you.” Leaning up and kissing him again. “This is gorgeous.” Pulling back and walking over to the balcony, taking in the scenery.
“Yeah, the pictures don’t even do it justice.”
“This couldn’t have been cheap.”
“Don’t worry about it.” He whispers again, causing me to look over at him. “What?”
“Dad used to tell my mom the same thing anytime he pulled some outlandish shit on her.”
He laughs a little, wrapping his arms around my waist and pulling me backwards to lean against him. “Maybe that’s where I got it from.”
“Yeah, but…” I pause. “No offense, but Dad’s circumstances were a little different.”
It makes him laugh this time as he shrugs. “No offense taken.” Then pauses and leans into me. “I’ve seen the accusations of what the club was into.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. It went back decades. They were never able to get any of it to stick, though.”
“Like what?”
“I’m not sure if you want to know.”
“I do.” I nod. “I’m not naive. I know the club isn’t law-abiding.”
“Running guns and cocaine.” He walks inside. “And they’re pretty sure they were making and distributing MDMA for a long time.”
“Pretty sure?”
He nods his head, turning and looking at me. “They were making it in purgatory back in the day.”
“How do you know?”
“I don’t, at least not for certain. But it makes sense. I remember going up there with Ash once; there was a lab.”
It causes me to pause as I turn, walking into the house after him.
“What?” he asks as he looks at my face.
Sitting down on the bed, I look up, even more confused. “If you’ve known where purgatory was this whole time, why have you said nothing?”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, I’m sure the Force would love to know that information. I’m sure you could get a promotion out of it.”
“I don’t want a promotion.” He laughs, shaking his head.
“Invading the question?”
Sighing, he walks over to me, sits down, and it feels as if he’s looking directly into my soul. “I told you, above all else, I’m loyal.” He nods his head. “Regardless of the circumstances. I’m loyal to family.”
“Does anyone else know?”
“Nope,” he shakes his head.
“That makes no sense.”
“I know.” He pauses, looking down, standing and walking out of the bedroom and down the hall. “It will, eventually.”
I can tell by the volume and the distance he’s put between the two of us he didn’t want me to hear the last part.
After a couple of moments, I get up off the bed, walking out the door after him.
As I walk into the kitchen, he’s looking in the fridge.
“What are you doing now?”
“I brought a couple of things up with me, but realizing now that we don’t really have anything for dinner.” He pauses, looking back at me. “We could go to the store.”
“Or,” I pause, walking over to him and slipping my fingers into the top of his jeans. “We could order pizza.”
Cocking an eyebrow, he smirks. “And while we wait…”
“Hm,” batting my eyes at him, he bites his bottom lip. “I’m sure we could find something to pass the time.”
Squealing as he lifts me up.
* * *
I’m holding his hand in public as we leave the restaurant.
It’s something that should feel strange, since we’ve never been able to, but somehow it doesn’t.
Somehow it feels natural. We’ve been at the house for a few nights, just the two of us.
Although this is really the first time we’ve left… or had clothes on.
“Come on.” He whispers as he walks across the street and down to the beach.
“What are we doing?” I ask him as he sits down on the bench, pulling the strings on his dress shoes before he pulls them off.
“Walking on the beach.”
“Why?”
He looks up at me, smiling and pulling me down to him. Our lips meet as he presses against them roughly before pulling back. “Because we can.”
“God, you’re so corny.”
“Come on.” Holding his hand out to me as he stands up.
“Fine.” Rolling my eyes, trying to seem as if I don’t love all of it, reaching down and pulling my heels off, holding them in my right hand as I grab his hand.
“Give ‘em here.”
Tilting my head. He smirks, nodding and motioning his hand, as if he’s telling me to hand them over. Rolling my eyes and giving in, I bite my lip as he slips the actual heels into his back pocket so the toes point backward.
He carries his shoes in his hand as he grasps my hand and we walk down the beach.
We’re silent as we walk in no particular direction.
Looking over at him, I smile.
“What?” he whispers without looking at me.
“I was just thinking it’s peaceful.”
“It is.” He nods. “I don’t know the last time I felt this at ease.”
“What?”
He doesn’t give me anything else, just shrugs.
We walk in a comfortable silence, not needing to say anything, not needing to fill the void.
“Drew?” someone shouts from a distance.
Glancing at Eli, I furrow my brows, wondering who the fuck would be calling out to me here.
He nods towards the voice. “Shit,” pulling his hand from mine. “Your grandmother is here.”
“What?” I gasp, turning around and looking at my father’s mother.
“Oh, I thought that was you.” She rushes over to me, wrapping me in a hug.
Looking at Eli over her shoulder. I’m bewildered why she would embrace me like this.
“Hi, Terri, I didn’t realize you lived up here.”
“Yeah.”
“But I guess that would track since none of us have seen you since the funeral.” Cutting my eyes at her.
“And look how you’re grown… you look just like your mother.”
It sounds like it’s a compliment, but it’s not. I know she hated my mother, well before my parents ever met.
“So I’ve been told.”
“Yes, but you have your father’s eyes.”
“I do.” Nodding my head slightly, knowing I can’t trust her.
“I mean, you can thank me for that.”
My father doesn’t have her eyes… he didn’t even have a fraction of her personality. You’d have to stay around long enough for that to happen, instead of just pawning your kid off on whoever was around.
I let the interaction continue, knowing I shouldn’t trust her, even if it seems like she’s appearing nice and sincere.
“And who’s your friend?”
Stepping in front of Eli, as if I need to protect him. “Just a friend.” I nod my head. “We really need to get going, though.” I mumble as I look back at Eli, motioning for him to turn around with me.
I’m putting distance between us and her faster than most people would with their grandmother.