Break Me (The Summer Series)

by James, Harper

  “I mean it. It’s been fun today, hanging out with people I can actually relate to instead of a bunch of ten-year-olds.”

  “Well, it doesn’t have to be a one-time thing. You’re welcome to hang out with us whenever you want. You know that, right?”

  “Uh, no?”

  Gemma laughed loudly, “I promise I’ll make Kate be nice if she has a problem with it. You are my brother too, remember? I say that you’re welcome to hang with us anytime, and my feelings will be hurt if you don’t start.”

  “Cool.” He smiled down at his hands, and Gemma felt a little of the guilt for her behavior toward Kate and Gray fall away. It’s never too late to make amends.

  Just then Abe walked up with a brown paper bag and a tray of drinks. “Dude, this is seriously your lucky day,” he said to Gray as he sat down. “He had pretzel buns. You’re welcome.”

  “Uh, thanks?” Gray replied, looking to Gemma in confusion.

  “He has a thing about his hot dogs. These hot dogs in particular. Just humor him and say it’s the greatest thing you’ve ever eaten, even if you hate it.”

  “If you hate it, you’re dead to me.” Abe said before stuffing a huge bite into his mouth.

  “Sounds good,” Gray said before taking his own bite and closing his eyes in ecstasy.

  Gemma looked down at her phone when it buzzed in her lap. “Kate must finally be awake,” she told the boys as she unlocked her screen.

  Kate: Where are you?

  Gemma: At the beach come join.

  Kate: Simon?

  Gemma: No.

  There was a delay after the text and Gemma was almost certain Kate wouldn’t be joining the group without Simon. She chuckled to herself as she followed up with a second text.

  Gemma: Slut.

  Kate: Shut up.

  Gemma: Truth too much to handle this late in the day.

  Kate: You’re one to talk. Is he coming L8R?

  Gemma: No idea. Stop texting me and get your A$$ down here.

  Kate: Fiiiiine. OMW.

  “She coming?” Gray asked as he took a swig of his Coke.

  “Yeah, she’s on her way.”

  “Cool,” Gray said, trying to hide his smile. Abe caught Gemma’s eye and winked at her. Of course his sixth sense would pick up on what was going on between the siblings. Her barriers were falling faster than she would have thought possible. Looking into Abe’s eyes, she knew who she really had to thank for the thawing of her heart.

  ~~~

  The four of them spent the day together, and it was almost as if Abe filled in the gaps between the siblings. In the past, any time they’d run out of things to do or talk about, they’d go their separate ways, but now Abe was there to keep the conversation going or laugh at a joke the other two may not get. Gemma fell a little bit more in love with him as he bonded with the siblings she had only just started to get to know. When dinner time rolled around, Gray exited the group since he was the only one of them who would be expected home. Abe made him promise a rematch at the arcade before he walked away, which only solidified his newfound hero status with Gray. As soon as he was out of sight, Gemma grabbed Abe and pulled him into a searing kiss. Kate groaned but allowed the make-out session to continue a little longer than Gemma expected her to.

  “What was that for?” Abe was panting as he rested his forehead against hers.

  “Being amazing, what else?”

  “Okay,” Kate raised her voice, “on that note, let’s figure out what Simon is up to tonight. Abe, be a doll.” Kate looked up at him and fluttered her eyelashes.

  Laughing, Abe pulled out his phone and sent off a quick text to Simon. “That better?” He pulled Gemma into his arms and buried his face in her neck. Within seconds, his phone went off in his pocket, and he reached in and pulled it out without lifting his face away from Gemma. He held it between their bodies and read it, letting out a laugh. “Apparently he’s planning to stay in tonight, but if I know anyone who wants to hang out with him, he is, and I quote, ‘up for it.’”

  “Oh, goody.” Kate smiled. “See you two love birds later.” She started to walk away and then turned back. “Don’t lock the window this time, Gemma.”

  “Don’t come home at five and then act all grumpy the next morning, Kate.”

  “Abe, when are you going to start teaching your girl to mind her own business?” Kate stuck her tongue out at Gemma.

  “When you stop making me set up your booty calls,” he answered, not taking his eyes off of Gemma.

  “Oh-ho-ho.” She let out a loud fake laugh. “The funniest couple in America, ladies and gentlemen.” Kate smiled at them and then turned to run toward what Gemma could only assume was Simon’s place.

  “You think that’s smart?” Gemma asked Abe when she turned back to face him.

  “What?” he asked, already distracted by the shoulder he was nibbling on and completely unaware of the concern Gemma wore on her face.

  “Sending Kate off to meet Simon two nights in a row.”

  He pulled back and looked up at her. “Why wouldn’t it be? I thought she said they had a good time last night.”

  “Well, yeah.” Gemma blushed. “They had a good time, I’m sure. I just mean . . . Don’t you worry one of them is going to get hurt?”

  “Nah.” Abe pulled Gemma closer. “They were both pretty upfront about what they are looking for, and besides, they both seem like the type that if one wants out they’ll talk about it and move on.”

  “You really think after someone has sex they can just ‘move on’ like that?” She snapped her fingers and this had his full attention.

  He looked at her nervously. “I feel like there is no right answer here.”

  “Yes, there is. It’s whatever you think. I’m not trying to trap you, Abe. I’m just checking on my sister.”

  “Okay.” He looked at her sideways. “Then, yes, I do think that some people can do that. And some people can’t. And for some people, it just depends on the chemistry and where they let the sex end up. You never know what will happen going in. That’s why most people say to avoid it all together. Sometimes you can walk away unscathed, and sometimes you crawl away torn in two. But with Simon and Kate, I don’t know, I just get this feeling that in the end, it will all be okay.”

  “That sixth sense of yours?” She smiled up at him, a little shocked with the faith she had in just a few words of encouragement from him.

  “Something like that.” He chuckled. “So”—Abe began kissing her neck and pulled her body against his—“anything you have planned for the night?”

  “Hmmm.” She tried to keep from letting the moan at the back of her throat escape. “I wonder what Gramps is up to?”

  “You know I think he was hanging out in my place. Let’s go see if he’s still there.”

  Gemma laughed and wrapped her arms around his neck. “Yeah, we need to be sure and check your room. I hear he likes to hide.” Abe picked her up by her hips, and she wrapped her legs around his waist, laughing as he hurried them to his waiting car.

  Thirteen

  Shocking everyone a few days later, Simon showed up with Kate as they all sat around a table at Dockside Coffee. Gemma moved to Abe’s lap, per his aggressive pulling, so Simon could take a seat. The group sat and laughed together while constantly returning to the fact that the untamable Simon was actually hanging out with same girl for the fifth day in a row. Though both of them adamantly denied anything serious was going on and that it was just easier together than trying to find others who understood their arrangement, Gemma saw the way Kate was beginning to look at Simon.

  While Gemma silently worried over her sister, the phone she had sitting in front of her on the table rang. Looking down, she saw that it was her mother. She groaned as she pulled off a very loud face palm, distracting the group from their current conversation. She couldn’t even remember the last time she had called or texted her mother. Most summers she barely let any time pass without reminding her mother how miserable she
was. This summer she had barely thought about her mother at all. Abe saw her misery and was instantly on alert.

  “Babe?” He rubbed his hand over her back. “What is it?”

  “My mom is calling.”

  “Oh.” He looked at Kate in confusion, and when she simply shrugged her shoulders, he looked back at Gemma for more help.

  “I haven’t called her all week. She’s probably freaking out.” She stood, her head hanging, “I’ll just take this over there.” She pointed to the corner with the sugars and creams. “Be right back.” She leaned over and kissed Abe before turning and calling her mother back.

  It didn’t even finish the first ring before her mother answered. “What the hell is this, Gemma Rose Andrews?”

  Gemma looked around, thinking her mother was seeing something around her. Abe must have noticed her worry because he sat up straighter. “Mom, what are you talking about?”

  “What am I talking about? Hmm, let’s see.” She huffed and rustled something on the other end of the line. As soon as Gemma figured out that it was paper, she knew what was coming. She knew exactly what her mother had found. Her face grew pale as she collapsed into the green antique couch nearby. “Dear Gemma, We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted into the University of—”

  “Mom, please.” She sobbed. Suddenly Kate and Abe were on their feet, walking over to her.

  “You’re leaving me!” There were no tears, just pure hurt and rage.

  “No, Mom, it isn’t about that.” Abe sat on one side, Kate on the other. While Kate grabbed Gemma’s free hand, Abe wrapped his arm around her shoulder and she laid her head on his chest. “I just wanted to see.”

  “Well, it looks like you have seen. They want you, apparently bad enough to give you a free ride. Don’t think for a minute he didn’t have something to do with this.”

  “Mom, he didn’t even know I applied. I swear.” Another loud sob escaped Gemma and she bit her lip, trying to stop or at least control her oncoming emotion.

  “You have some choices to make, Gemma. I never thought I would even have to say this, but you need to choose—him or me. No more of this. I won’t do it anymore. If you choose me, I’ll get you home as soon as a flight leaves. You’re close enough to eighteen they won’t say a damn thing about it. But if you choose him, then know that you stay there. He can afford to get you what you need that the school isn’t already covering. It isn’t as if you don’t know how to work. You’ve had to do it for years while he had more than enough money to help us out.” Gemma gasped and then gave into her tears, crying into Abe’s shirt. “Make a choice Gemma. I’m done trying to make you see who he is; you can figure it out on your own if you need to.”

  “Mom, wait, it isn’t about him. There are other people.”

  “Who?” Her mother’s voice rose, and she knew Kate and Abe could hear everything she was saying now if they hadn’t been able to before. “Karen!”

  “No, Mom, not Karen.”

  “Oh, let me guess. Their kids, the ones he chose over you. The ones he spent every day with. The ones he loved and wanted while he only saw you the time of year in which he was locked away in a room?” The venom in her words stung Gemma through the phone.

  “Mom, they aren’t him.” Gemma gasped for breath. Just saying those words over her tears was too much.

  “Choose, Gemma.” She screamed into the phone, and all three of the people on the couch flinched.

  “Mom . . .”

  “Choose, damn it.”

  Gemma looked up at Abe and saw nothing but love and support in his eyes. She looked over at Kate and saw the tears streaking her face. She knew it was for Gemma’s struggle but also because she was hearing what Gemma had been hearing all her life. The hurt their father had inflicted all those years ago. “I choose my future, Mom.”

  “What the hell does that mean?”

  “I’ve always wanted to go UNC, Mom. I’m going to go to UNC. You can love me through that or—” The phone went dead and her mother was gone. Gemma dropped her phone on the floor and buried her face in her hands. Abe pulled her into a tighter hug, and Kate wrapped her arms around her from behind.

  “It’s okay, baby.” He smoothed his hand up and down the arm that was now wrapped around his middle.

  Kate let out a small sob, and Gemma turned to her, suddenly remembering what she must have heard. “Kate, I’m so sorry.”

  “He hurt her so bad.” Kate pulled Gemma into a hug and cried into her shoulder.

  “Kate, you and I, we had nothing to do with this, remember?” She pulled back and looked Kate in the eye. “You are the smarty pants who told me that.”

  Nodding, Kate shrugged. “I’m sorry. You’re the one hurting and I’m the one being a baby.”

  “It’s okay. I’ve dealt with this stuff all my life. You’re a bit newer to it.”

  “I love you,” Kate said, laughing.

  Taken by surprise, Gemma looked back at Abe and then to Kate again. “Okay, well, I love you too,” she said, joining in with Kate’s sad laughter.

  “So, you’re, like, going to live in the same place as me next year?”

  “Looks that way.”

  “Yay,” Kate yelled, still with tears in her throat as she hugged Gemma, rubbing her hand up and down her back. “I’m going to go back to the table. Between the group and Sarah, I think everyone is going to pass out if I don’t go tell them we’re all okay. We are okay, aren’t we?”

  “Yes, Kate, we’re okay. And I’ll be fine. Hopefully once she has a minute to breathe, she’ll come around.” Nodding, Kate stood and squeezed her shoulder before walking away.

  Abe pulled Gemma back around to face him and put his hands on both sides of her face. Wiping her tears with his fingers, he studied her. “How are you?”

  “Eh, pretty awful.” She let out a weak laugh.

  “You want to bail?” She simply nodded and then looked down at her hands. “Baby, it’s okay to want to leave. That was pretty intense.”

  “Please, I just want . . . I need to go to your place and have a minute.”

  “Let’s go, then,” he stood, pulling her up with him, and started toward the door. He simply nodded his head at the table as she smiled weakly to the girls. Without anyone speaking, they all understood and Gemma and Abe were gone.

  ~*~

  Abe

  When they got to the apartment, Abe parked in the closest spot he could find to his door. Thankfully, they weren’t making a Gramps stop today. When they got inside, he leaned forward and kissed her cheek, whispering for her to go to the room and get comfortable. He went in the kitchen and got her a glass of water, taking a minute to get his bearings so he could go back and be who she needed him to be.

  He had just seen the woman he loved destroyed. When she’d sought him out, lost in her new reality, he’d been at a loss. What do you tell a girl who feels like she has no home where she is and the one she was supposed to return to had just vanished? He knew the sound of her sobs would echo in his ears for days. There was no forgetting the palpable ache when they’d been at the coffee shop and then in the car. He leaned his head back, finishing the rest of his water in one gulp and then turned. Ready to get back to Gemma. Ready to protect and comfort his girl.

  ~*~

  Gemma

  When she made it to his room, she couldn’t think through her next action, let alone what had happened at the coffee shop. She saw a new picture on his desk, this one of her sleeping in his bed. She smiled as she considered how much he must have studied her to get so many of the details so accurate. Seeing the peace on her own face brought about a wave of fresh tears that she forced back. She would not cry. Not anymore.

  Giving up on waiting for Abe, she kicked her sandals off and then kicked out of her shorts, doing a random ninja move to emphasize how she felt about this day and the restrictions those shorts were adding. She threw her V-neck across the room, and it landed somewhere around his closet. Searching through the drawer that hel
d the comfortable T-shirts, she found a large gray one with a picture of a random soccer ball. She knew for a fact that Abe had never played soccer, so she figured she wouldn’t be ruining some keepsake if she sobbed all over it later. She crawled up on his bed and couldn’t even fight her exhaustion long enough to pull the covers up and over herself. Instead, she lay curled in a ball on the side of the sheets she had officially claimed.

  ~~~

  Gemma woke to the sound of Abe whispering on the phone. “. . . just need the night. You could use the money anyway, so I thought you may want the shift.” He paused for a minute and then nodded. “Thanks, man. Bye.” After putting the phone down on the bedside table, he turned and was startled to see her awake and looking up at him. “Hey, baby, you okay?”

  As he lowered himself back to the bed and ran his fingers through her hair, she nodded and tried to hold the tears at bay. Seeing her, he shook his head and pulled her into his chest. “I’m sorry,” she whispered. “I’ve never heard her like that, at least not toward me. She hates me.”

  “No, Gem, she doesn’t hate you.” He kissed the top of her head and pulled her tighter. “She’s hurting and confused. You left with one attitude, and suddenly, she is finding out that not only do you want to go to school here but you’re actually choosing to stay with your dad’s family. Give her time.”

  “That stuff she said . . . I feel so bad for Kate too.”

  “Kate knew, even if she didn’t want to admit it, that her father had hurt your family. She’ll be okay. Now that you two are getting close, she’s seeing that you don’t hold it against her.”

  “I hate him so much sometimes.” Gemma cried into Abe’s chest.

  “I know. But you’re doing so well. Don’t let what you knew would be a terrible conversation ruin all that you’ve been accomplishing this summer.”

  “And what’s that?” She pulled her head back and looked up into his eyes.

  “You let Kate and Gray in and gave them a chance. You realized you’ll have to let this stuff go with Karen and your dad at some point. You fell in love when you never thought you would.” He leaned down and took her lips in a soft, lingering kiss.