Chapter 35 #2
On the way home, we listened to “The Other Side” by Jason Derulo, screaming at the top of our lungs to the lyrics.
Jackson turned the volume up as high as it could go.
“This one’s for the love of my life, Addison Bianchi!
” I laughed and shoved him in the shoulder as we continued to sing.
Friends to lovers—the oldest trope in the book.
Peter’s car was gone when we pulled into my driveway, and Jackson leaned over to kiss me as “Earned It” by the Weeknd started to play.
I put my hands in his hair, pulling him against me. His hands trailed up my thighs until they were around my waist, rubbing back and forth along my hip bones. He laughed against my lips. “Oh my god, I forgot to give you your underwear back.”
“Don’t need them,” I replied as I dragged my hands down his chest to the button of his pants.
Jackson put a hand on my wrist. “I didn’t bring a condom.”
He pulled his head back to look at me, and I smiled up at him. I could never get sick of this view. “That’s okay, we have all summer to finally do that in the truck.”
He smiled back at me before taking off his shirt, then he started kissing down my neck and chest. He lowered his head to kiss the inside of my right thigh, and then the left, alternating a kiss on each one as he got closer and closer to where I wanted him.
Jackson looked up at me before centering himself. “It’s you and me, Addison.” Then he put his head beneath the hem of my dress. This time we didn’t have to try to keep quiet.
The only thought my brain kept repeating was, Two more months, and then it’s just Jackson and me forever.
It was impossible to think anymore once Jackson’s mouth touched me.
He spent the next thirty minutes learning my body, and how it reacted to him.
He paid attention to what made me moan, whimper, tremble, and tighten.
And when it mattered most, he put what he’d learned to good use.
After the final waves of pleasure rolled through my body, we switched positions.
When I reached to undo his belt, he didn’t stop me, and I tasted him in all the ways I’d spent the last four years imagining.
I took my time, putting as much effort into learning his body as he had mine.
The way he held my hair back so he could watch what I was doing to him drove me wild, and the adoration in his eyes as he bit his lip just confirmed how real this was.
He told me he loved me, how good my mouth felt, and moaned my name over and over again.
He tensed beneath me before finally relaxing against the seat, and I looked up at him and repeated his words from earlier: “It’s you and me, Jackson. ”
When I finally walked inside the house, I slipped off my shoes and left my yearbook behind them by the front door. I was so exhausted from the emotional high I was on today that I flopped down on the couch without changing.
A part of me wished I was going to the senior all-night party to spend more time with Jackson, but I would see him tomorrow morning. My heart fluttered—not just tomorrow, but the rest of my life would be spent with Jackson Delvecchio.
I let out a yawn and wrapped myself in a blanket, falling into a deep sleep. I could rest easy now that we weren’t playing any more games with each other.
We were finally together, and I wholeheartedly believed that one day I would be Addison Delvecchio.
***
I woke up to the sound of the front door opening. I peered up at the clock on the wall, surprised to find that it was one in the morning. I turned from where I was curled up on the couch to see Peter standing in the doorway of the family room, watching me.
“You’re just like Mom,” he said as he stared down at me.
I rubbed the sleep from my eyes, wondering what he was talking about. I tried to blink him into focus while I spoke. “Peter?”
He was illuminated by the lights in the kitchen, his reddened eyes glazed over as he swayed in the doorway. He was completely obliterated.
“I knew you’d be just like Mom. You’re going to leave, too.” I couldn’t even process what he was trying to say.
He took a step toward me, and I sprung up from the couch. He started undoing his belt, and for a second, I felt a punch of fear that my own brother might try to rape me. My body flung itself into fight or flight mode.
“Woah, what are you talking about?” I took a step back, the backs of my knees hitting against the coffee table.
“I went to your graduation, you know. I saw you with the Delvecchio boy.”
My heart was punching against my ribs. I hadn’t expected Peter to come to graduation; I hadn’t even told him when it was. I put up my hands defensively.
“He’s just my friend,” I lied. “You know this, Peter. We just work together.”
Peter folded the belt in half, and a chill swept over me as I realized he took it off so he could hit me with it. I was ready to run, but he was blocking the only exit.
“I saw you with him!” I started to wrack my brain for what he could’ve seen at the ceremony.
Jackson did give me a piggy-back ride from the field to the parking lot, and I had sat with him in his truck.
Did we kiss in the truck at the school? I couldn’t even remember anymore.
I was focusing too much on what Peter was about to do to think about anything else.
Fear crawled over every inch of my body as he took another step toward me. “Just like Mom. You’re going to leave me for a man.”
I couldn’t fully wrap my head around what he was insinuating. Peter hated me, so why was he mad that I was finally leaving him alone? He didn’t even know about my plan with Jackson. Why would he even care? This was what he’d always wanted. Right?
I tried to think of something to say to calm him. I moved to take another step back, but I’d forgotten about the coffee table behind me. I fell on top of it, my dress sliding up my body. When Peter saw I wasn’t wearing underwear, his nostrils flared.
“I knew it.” That was the last thing he said before lunging for me.
The first crack of the belt hit my right arm, and I cried out in pain. This was the first time he had ever intentionally hurt me. That shocked me more than the sensation of the leather.
“Peter, stop!” I tried to fight my way out from beneath him as the belt kept smacking against my skin, hitting a different spot each time. He was too heavy, and he was pressing down on my stomach with his full weight. I could barely get out the words to plead for him to stop.
I clawed at any piece of him I could. Everything was happening in one quick blur. Eventually, he dropped the belt and pinned my arms to my side. I could feel blood trickling down my right arm from where the buckle had struck me.
When I looked in his eyes, I couldn’t see any piece of my brother left. I cried beneath him, feeling the tears drip down my temples as his eyes turned sad in a quick moment.
“I hate you, Denise,” he said weakly.
I was breathing heavily, trying to catch my breath. He called me by our mom’s name.
“I’m not Denise,” I said quietly.
Peter stared at me for a while, like he was trying to figure out who I was. He finally let go of me, then fell to the side with a whimper. His body heaved with heavy sobs that had me frozen in place next to him on the floor.
“I hate her. I fucking hate her!” Peter yelled.
He buried his face in his hands, rubbing them up and down. He turned to look at me, and I saw my brother again. Just like that, Peter was back, but he looked like a hurt little boy.
“I’m sorry, Addie.”
I didn’t respond. I jumped up, grabbing my purse and running outside. I wasn’t wearing shoes, but I couldn’t even feel the bite of the cement under my feet as I ran down the street.
I didn’t stop until I made it down the block, then I got down on my hands and knees, crawling into a heap of bushes on the side of the road. I couldn’t even get in my car and drive away, because it was still at the high school.
I finally registered the stinging on my arms from the smack of the leather as I dialed Jackson’s number.
When he didn’t answer, I felt my breathing grow more rapid, to the point that every inhale was a gasp. I left him a shaky voice mail.
“Jackson, I need you to come get me. Something happened with Peter. I want to leave now. I can’t wait till August, I wanna go right now.” My breath caught in my throat and I choked back a sob. “I really need you.”
I hung up and tried calling him again. When he didn’t answer by the tenth time, I grabbed at the bushes and pulled out a chunk.
I picked off pieces of brush until I felt my phone vibrate with a text from Jackson.
I’ll be there in twenty minutes. Stay where you are.
I let out a breath of relief. He was coming.
He would get me. We were leaving this place for good.
I waited and waited. Twenty minutes turned into thirty, then thirty turned into forty-five. The last time I checked the clock, it was almost three thirty in the morning. I lost count of how many times I had called him. I tried again, only to find that his phone was shut off.
He wasn’t coming, and he never would.
I tried dialing Julie’s number, but got no response from her either. A sob wracked my body as I dialed Marie’s number. “Please,” I whispered as the phone rang. “Please . . .” As soon as I heard her voice mail message start playing, I disconnected the call.
I stood up on weak legs, and walked back toward the house slowly. I thought I would pass out from fear when I opened the front door and peered in.
Peter was still on the floor in the family room, but he was sleeping now. The house was a complete disaster. Glasses were broken, framed photos were thrown from every surface, and lamps were overturned. It was even worse than last Christmas.
I tiptoed to my room, grabbing anything of importance and throwing it into a duffel bag. I left the house faster than I ever had before. Pure adrenaline was coursing through me as I ran the two miles to Tostela to get my car.
I started driving away from town with no destination in mind. I would never come back here. I was starting a new life, with or without Jackson.
I had no idea how long I had been on the road when my phone started to ring, interrupting “Breakaway” by Kelly Clarkson, which I’d been blasting through the speakers.
I didn’t even look to see who it was before I rolled down the window and threw the phone out across the highway.
I couldn’t let myself be let down again.
This would be the last time I ever let Jackson hurt me.