by J. Sterling
“I’ve wanted to do that for years, by the way,” he whispered to me before disappearing inside the cafeteria.
Glancing around the room for Kristy, I noticed her heading right for me, looking thoroughly pissed off.
“Where the hell did you go?”
“I was putting away the decorations. I told you that. You shushed me.”
She grabbed my shoulders and looked me square in the eyes. “Oh my God. What happened? What did I miss? Your face is all . . . The eagle has landed. The eagle has—”
I couldn’t stop myself from giggling as I cut her off. “Enough with the eagle stuff,” I started to say before backtracking. “No, just kidding. Don’t stop. I want to know.”
“I might just have to start saying eagle instead of the whole sentence, because the number of times he keeps looking at you is getting ridiculous. Now tell me, what the hell just happened between you two? I saw you walk in together and you’re all flushed. Eagle.”
Looking around the room, I’d realized that there were way too many of our classmates and their parents around to have any privacy. “I’ll tell you in the car on the way home.”
“Yeah, you will. Eagle. Eagle. Eagle.”
Of Course I’m Late
Dalton
My computer crashed every time I tried to upload the pictures from the stakeout the other day. I couldn’t in good conscience head to the reunion before making sure everything I needed to add to the case file had gone through and been accepted. When the e-mails to the district attorney and the federal agency finally sent, I jumped into my car and peeled out, only to get stuck in a shitload of Saturday night traffic.
I was extremely late, which pissed me off. After checking the time on my car clock display, I pounded the steering wheel and resisted the urge to lay on the horn because no one ever honked in LA. It was the oddest thing, and I only realized it after I’d been living in New York. New Yorkers honked at everything. I think they honked at the air if they didn’t like the way it felt through their vents.
I pulled at the tie fastened around my neck and loosened it. If I missed Cammie tonight, I’d have to come up with a whole new plan. I wouldn’t be able to sit by and wait any longer. I’d have to take Tucker’s advice and actually call the radio station, or arrest her or something.
But the thought of calling the station to talk to her bothered me. Talking to Cammie for the first time after ten freaking years, well, I wanted to be able to see her face, her expression, her eyes. I didn’t want our first conversation after so many years to be over the phone.
“Move, damn it!” I yelled as the car in front of me slowed down to forty miles per hour for no apparent reason. The hotel where the reunion was being held was only ten minutes away, but I couldn’t get there fast enough. There was so much I needed to tell her. Cammie changed my life and she didn’t even know it. Hell, there was so much she didn’t know that I wanted to share with her.
My cell phone blared out through my car speakers, and I glanced over to see Tucker’s name flashing on my dashboard screen. I pressed Accept and blurted, “Why are you calling me?”
“Hey, buddy. Just wanted to see if you got there yet.”
I clenched my teeth. “Tucker, are you fucking kidding me with this? You think I’m at my reunion, seeing all these people for the first time in ten years, and so you call me to check in? Come on, man!”
“I’m just trying to live vicariously through you. You could have brought me as your guest and then I wouldn’t be calling right now.”
He actually sounded sort of sad. Tucker had suggested that I bring him with me, but I thought that was a little weird. He wouldn’t know anyone, and what kind of loser brings a coworker with them to their high school reunion?
“Well, I’m not there yet,” I said, then groaned with frustration. “I’m stuck in traffic on the 101.”
“You’re not there yet? You’re late as shit.”
I glanced at my car’s clock again and silently fumed. “I know I’m late, okay? You think I don’t know how freaking late I am?” I shouted, then glanced around, hoping no one saw that. If anyone else in traffic happened to look over at me, I probably looked like a crazy person, screaming by myself in an empty car.
“Whoa, whoa. Calm down, Caveman. I’m sure your cavegirl will still be there waiting for you.” Tucker roared with laughter, and I wished he was next to me so I could hit him like I usually did when he pissed me off.
“She better be,” I said, secretly praying to everyone holy to not let Cammie leave the reunion before I got there.
“Make sure you take pictures.”
“Of what?” I stared at the brake lights lining my upcoming freeway exit as I changed lanes.
“Of Cammie. Of any hot single girl you think I should bang, I don’t know. Just text me. I’m bored,” he admitted before crunching into something that sounded like potato chips.
“You’re worse than a girl. You know that, right?” I put on my turn signal and maneuvered my car toward the exit.
“I don’t even care right now. That’s how bored I am.”
“Tucker, it’s Saturday night. Go out. Make some friends,” I suggested, knowing that he wouldn’t do it. He hated going out alone, and since we worked most of the time on our case, he hadn’t had a chance to meet new people since we moved. “Ask one of the other guys to go grab a beer or something with you.”
“I hate most of those assholes. Twenty-year-old punks who think they’re invincible. They don’t know nothing. They’d shit themselves if they had to walk a beat in one of the boroughs,” he said, referring to New York.
I cleared my throat, but couldn’t disagree. Most of the officers assigned to our station were really young guys straight out of junior college. They were filled with piss and vinegar, and their egos rivaled that of a reality TV star. Basically, they thought they were far more impressive than they truly were. I only hoped I hadn’t been such a dickhead when I first got out of the academy, but I probably was.
“All right,” I said, throwing him a bone. “I’ll send you pics. Maybe. If I remember. I’m hoping I’ll be too busy.”
He huffed out a quick ha! before saying, “I’m hoping you’ll be too busy too. That way I won’t have to hear about this girl anymore.” His voice went up an octave as he mimicked a girly voice. “All your stupid-ass questions about if she remembers you, or if she still thinks about you, or if she might like you, all that whiny bullshit.”
“You’re the one who wants to live through me, remember? So you must not hate it too much.” I pulled my car off the freeway and made a left turn. His groan filled my speakers as I spotted the hotel up ahead in the distance. “All right, buddy, I’m about to pull into the hotel, so I gotta go.”
“Okay. Go get your girl, Caveman.”
“That’s the plan,” I said before ending the call and pulling up to the parking attendant.
He’s Here
Cammie
“He’s obviously not coming. I think I’m gonna head up to our room.” I faked a yawn and looked at Kristy, who pulled out her cell phone so she could check the time.
The thought of staying here another minute no longer appealed to me. My disappointment level had hit an all-time high. Dalton wasn’t here, he most likely wasn’t coming, and I was clearly a crazy person for believing that he would. Or more so, for believing he might actually come here to see me the same way I had come to see him. I felt like a fool, and I hated feeling foolish.
“Uh-uh. It’s only nine twenty. You’re not going to bed yet. He could still show up. This thing goes until midnight. Come on, Cinderella, don’t give up on your prince just yet.”
“No one shows up this late. We’ve already eaten dinner and dessert. You don’t really think he’s coming, do you?” I asked Kristy seriously, pleading for an honest response.
She tugged at her bottom lip before admitting, “Probably not.”
I wanted to cry. I hadn’t realized just how badly I truly wanted to see Dalto
n until him not showing up was an unavoidable truth. Disappointment and I had become one. Look up the word in the dictionary, and you’d see my face right next to it.
“Oh God, look who’s here!” Jenna squealed as she pointed toward the open double doors. “Look.” She nudged Kristy. “You were asking about him earlier, and now he’s here!”
I turned to look in the direction Jenna was pointing, and it was as if the room had become the Red Sea and parted in the wake that was Dalton Thomas. My stomach clenched as a flood of emotions filled me.
He was here. And as far as I could tell, he was alone, thank God. Right when I would have bet my hard-earned money that he wasn’t showing up, here he was. And Christ on a cracker, had he aged well. He might not have been all that good looking in high school, but the years had been more than kind.
His sandy-brown hair was still a little too long and almost hung in his eyes, the way it had back then. The charcoal-gray suit he was wearing looked damn good on him, like it was tailored for him. He might have been a boy ten years ago, but his body was all man now, complete with broad shoulders, defined arm muscles, and thick in places I could only imagine.
Stop imagining.
My world immediately imploded at the sight of him. Everything I’d tried to convince myself of over the last ten years had been an absolute lie—that he no longer affected me, that I was all but over him, that it was just a high school fling that meant nothing. Seeing him now made me realize that Dalton would always be a part of me. It was as simple, and as complicated, as that. Whether he wanted to be or not, he was my first love. Whether I wanted him to claim that title or not, it was his, and it always would be. You could never give the firsts of anything away to someone else; life didn’t work like that.
My stomach rolled and churned as he walked deeper in the room, his presence even more commanding than it once was. The invisible cord that stretched between us tightened, yanking on my heart. Knowing Dalton was near, my body reacted. My breath came out in shortened bursts, my heart pounded so hard I heard each throb in my ears, and heat flooded my entire body.
Fascinated, I watched as grown men ran excitedly to his side and slapped him with high fives, fist bumps, and manly back-patting hugs. Women ran from all directions to greet him with full-body hugs. Was it my imagination, or was Dalton looking past the people who surrounded him? He searched the room, his eyes scanning for something, and hope lurched in my silly chest.
“How you doing?” Kristy whispered, the question innocent enough.
“I think I’m gonna be sick,” I admitted before abruptly shoving away from the table and making my escape, heading as far away from Dalton as I could get. Pushing open the women’s bathroom door, I raced to the sink and gripped the counter with both hands. I squeezed my eyes shut and tried to steady my breathing, which was unsteady, to say the least.
Memories of kissing Dalton filled my head, and I shook it, trying to release them . . .
• • •
“What are we doing? Not that I mind kissing you or anything,” I’d mumbled against Dalton’s lips as I broke the kiss and struggled to catch my breath. Pressing against his hard body in the photography darkroom, I’d silently prayed that no one would come in and interrupt us. “But what is this?”
“Do you want to define it, Cammie?” He squared his jaw to look at me before he leaned down and kissed me again. “Is that what you want?” he asked between kisses, his hands firmly holding me in place. “Tell me.”
I did want that. I wanted to define what we were, have a T-shirt made with the definition, and wear it every single day to school. But I was terrified if I admitted that to Dalton, he’d go away, and whatever this was between us would stop. And kissing Dalton Thomas had become the brightest part of my darkest days. I wasn’t ready for it to end, whatever this was.
“I don’t know,” I said, then my mouth betrayed my brain. “No. I guess we don’t have to.”
“I like kissing you.” He spoke the words so sweetly that I not only believed them, but I would have bought whatever he was selling.
“I like kissing you too.”
“Then don’t stop.” His mouth covered mine as my hands slid up his neck and tangled in his hair.
• • •
Seeing Dalton, the one thing I came here for, had thrown me. I thought I was ready to face him, our history, and the way he had once made me feel so much after not feeling anything at all, but he rattled me.
It had been ten years, for crying out loud, but right now it felt as if no time had passed. Nothing I told myself could have prepared me for what it felt like to see him in real life. Up until this point, the idea of seeing Dalton again had been just that—an idea, a notion, a fantasy.
To have him standing in the same room as me, breathing the same air, it was overwhelming. I thought I knew what I wanted, but I had no clue what that was anymore. All rational thoughts flew out the window the second he entered the room. Kristy had mentioned closure, but that was the furthest thing from my mind. Right now all I wanted was the opposite of closure, whatever the hell that was.
When I opened my eyes, I stared at my reflection, surprised. My makeup and hair still looked flawless. For whatever reason, I’d half expected my outside to be just as frazzled as my insides.
The restroom door burst open as Kristy entered. “Are you okay?” she asked, sounding genuinely concerned.
“Just trying to get it together.” I forced a smile. “Please tell me I’m not pathetic. I just saw him and got all emotional. Please tell me I’m not being stupid and weak and dumb.”
“You’re not. Cammie, the way he was there for you after your dad . . .”
Kristy paused and didn’t finish her sentence. It was a subject I rarely talked about, and she knew better than to get into details about my father unless she wanted me to lose it completely in this hotel bathroom.
“He’s linked to you forever because of that,” she said. “There are emotional ties between the two of you that will always be there. That’s why you’ve never been able to truly let him go. Not that I blame you.”
I nodded in agreement as I stared at myself in the mirror and willed myself not to cry. “I do feel connected to him. Even after all this time, it’s like nothing’s changed.”
“He’s always been the one guy you never truly got over. I think we all get one of those. Some of us meet him in college or at our first real job. But you met yours in high school. It is what it is.” She shrugged, spouting off this knowledge as if she were an expert at love. “Now get it together and let’s get back out there. I swear he was looking for you.”
I waved her off. “I doubt it was me, but I’ll be out in a second. Just go. Please.”
My best friend stared at me for a moment, indecision making her frown. Thankfully she had matured since high school—barely—and she made the right choice, leaving me in the bathroom alone.
I could do this. I was no longer a seventeen-year-old girl; I was a grown woman, for Pete’s sake. A grown woman who could handle facing her past and the one guy connected to it.
Once my pep talk ended, I sucked in a long, deep breath and flung open the bathroom door. I took my time as I walked back into the dimly lit room and toward my table. Dalton was still surrounded by a crowd of fans. It was like I was back in high school all over again, watching him from afar as he stood there, adored by everyone in his proximity.
Part of me wanted to walk right up to him and break this spell, but the other part of me refused to move. As immature a notion as it was, I wanted Dalton to come to me, to chase me, to choose me.
He smiled at someone, and even though I was sitting down, my knees trembled under the table.
“He looks really good,” Kristy whispered while I continued to stare, searching his left hand for any sign of a ring in the darkness.
“I noticed,” I said before forcing myself to look away.
“Oh Lord,” Kristy whispered. “The eagle has landed. Crash landed. Hard landing.”
Where Did She Go
Dalton
I scanned the room for her, feeling desperate, out of control, and needy. When I didn’t see her anywhere, I almost lost my shit and demanded that someone turn the damn lights on full blast so I could actually see.
People wouldn’t leave my side as they greeted me, annoying me by saying how great it was to see me and asking a million and a half questions that could wait for some other time. When I finally spotted Kristy but no Cammie, my heart sank to the pit of my stomach.
No.
She had to be here; she said she was coming. But what if I was too late? What if she had already left? Just as I was about to kick my own ass, Cammie rushed over to Kristy’s table, looking upset. I couldn’t take my eyes off her, even as other people chirped in my ears and surrounded me like I was a fucking Hollywood star or something.
“I’ll be right back. I need to go,” I announced as I pushed my way through the people next to me and headed toward her. It was rude to cut my old friends off that way. I knew they were only curious about where I’d been, but there would be time for catching up with them later. After Cammie. Cammie needed to come first. Everyone else could come last.
Walking over toward her table, I watched as she stood up quickly, as if trying to escape. She scooted her chair back and turned her body right into mine, her hazel eyes even prettier than I remembered.
“Cammie.” I smiled and couldn’t stop myself from taking in the length of her body in that red dress. She looked fucking incredible; her legs were still a mile long. How could one person still look so much the same, yet so different all at once?
She shifted her weight and glanced toward my hands before saying, “Hi, Dalton. It’s, uh, been a long time.”
When I opened my arms, she stepped into them, and a tiny ball of pressure lifted from my shoulders, just from having her near. I wrapped my arms around her waist and pulled her tight. She fit against my body perfectly, like she was made for me. Twenty-seven-year-old Cammie was built to fit with twenty-eight-year-old Dalton. My dick sure seemed to agree.
