Hanging by a Moment (Keeping Score #2)

by Tawdra Kandle

  “He didn’t do anything. He was just there for me. When I cried, he held me. When I needed to talk it out, he listened. And when I wanted to forget about everything for a while, he did everything he could to distract me.”

  I nodded. “That’s what I’ve been trying to do for Quinn. But it doesn’t feel like enough.”

  “Of course it doesn’t. You’re a male, honey. You want her to just be over it already, because it stresses you out when Quinn’s hurting. But no matter how much you love her, you’re not going to be able to take away this grief. If you want to be a real man, though, you won’t walk away from it, or pretend it’s not happening. Every minute you’re standing up with her, or helping to hold her up, you’re being who she needs.” My mother set down her coffee cup and reached across the table to pat my arm. “I’m proud of you, Leo. Most boys your age would freak out and turn tail in a situation like this.”

  “Yeah, well . . . I already did that once. I guess maybe I learned my lesson.”

  She laughed. “I doubt it. Like I said, you’re a man.” Standing up, she snagged my plate and headed for the dishwasher. “Have I mentioned that I wouldn’t be your age again for all the tea in China?”

  I rolled my eyes. “Thanks.”

  Now, sitting on the beach listening to Gia and Quinn laugh and chatter, I remembered my mom’s advice. Maybe there were a few things I couldn’t give to my girl, maybe I couldn’t be here all the time, but there were others who could give them to her and be here for her.

  “Hot today.” Nate dropped a folding chair next to me, leaning carefully to make sure it was stable before he sank down. He wore a baseball cap low over his eyes, the brim almost hitting the top of his dark sunglasses. Any kind of temperature extreme was risky for Nate, so he took precautions, protecting himself from the sun as much as he could.

  “Yeah, well . . . it’s summer, dude. And you’re out here in the middle of the day.”

  “I know. But it sucks to be the only one hanging out inside, when the rest of you are on the beach.” He grimaced. “Plus if I had to listen to our mothers talk about hot flashes any longer, I was afraid I was going to start growing boobs.”

  I laughed. “Too much estrogen, huh? I don’t blame you for that. But I’m glad your mom and mine are down here with Carrie this week. It’s been good for her.” I lowered my voice. “Good for Quinn, too, to have you around, and Gia here today. It’s too bad Jake couldn’t make it.” Quinn’s former editor-in-chief at the school paper had remained a good friend, and I was secure enough in her love for me that I didn’t mind that. Although they’d dated for a while during our junior year, it had never been serious. His summer internship at our county newspaper had kept him from visiting this week.

  Nate watched the girls, and his face softened. “Yeah. It’s nice to see Quinn relax. Gia’s good for her, even though it’s weird to think about her having a friend who’s a girl. I’m still getting used to that, and it’s been over a year.”

  I cocked an eyebrow at him. “Why is it weird?”

  “I don’t know. I guess I’m just used to her being fine with only you and me. She never hung out with girls when we were growing up.”

  “True.” I smiled as Gia leaned over to whisper something in Quinn’s ear and pointed to a guy walking by in the surf. Quinn fell back on the blanket, convulsing in laughter. “Maybe that wasn’t such a good thing.” I settled back in my chair and pushed my sunglasses over my eyes. “Nate, when I’m away, you’ll watch out for her, right? You’ll make sure she doesn’t feel alone or lonely?”

  The chair creaked as he shifted. “Of course. I’ll keep my eye on everything. She’s going to be okay, though. Quinn’s tough.”

  “She still cries sometimes.” I spoke softly.

  “Of course she does. She just lost her father. She’s going to keep on crying a lot. But I’ll sit with her when she does, and Gia and I’ll both keep her busy.”

  I sighed. “I was mad at first that she decided not to go to Evans, but I’m really glad she’s going to be at Birch with you two. I won’t worry so much.”

  “Yep. We’ll take care of her.” He stared straight ahead. “And you don’t have to worry at all, Leo. Not about anything. I know what I did before was wrong, getting between you two. I won’t say or do anything again.”

  “I trust you, Nate.” And it was true. I did. “And even more than that, I trust Quinn. Things are different now. I know what it’s like to lose her, and I know I can’t handle that. So I’m sure as hell not going to screw it up.”

  “It’s not going to be easy.” Nate’s voice was mild. “But I guess you both know that.”

  “We do. But we’re going to make it work.” I was beginning to feel antsy, so I pushed up from my chair and stretched, then leaned down to sprinkle a little sand into the enticing curve of Quinn’s back. “Hey, gorgeous. Want to go for a walk with me?”

  She rolled onto her side and shaded her eyes with one hand. “Did you just put sand on me, Leo Taylor? Do you know it sticks to the sunscreen? It’s a pain in the ass to get off.”

  I reached down and grabbed her hand, tugging upward. “It just means longer in the shower, babe.” With a leer, I added, “I’m more than happy to help you wash off those hard-to-reach places.”

  “You’re a degenerate.” Her cheeks were flushed, though, and I knew she was turned on, too.

  “And you love me for it.” I pulled harder, and Quinn stumbled to her feet, landing smack against my chest, just as I’d hoped. She was wearing a black bikini that set off her tanned skin and showed off her curves. Her body was utter perfection: long slim legs, flat stomach and rounded hips . . . an ass that was just right for grabbing, and those tits? Well, when they were on display in the two triangles that made up her bathing suit top, my dick was in perpetual state of arousal.

  And now, with that luscious body pressed against me? God help me. If our friends weren’t right there, I might’ve tossed her back onto the beach blanket and figured out a way to get us both off without anyone guessing what we were doing.

  As it was, I had an idea of how to get her alone, in a less public setting.

  “C’mon. I need to move around a little, or I’m going to get stiff.”

  She tipped her head back to see me and smirked. “I think maybe you already are. Stiff, that is.” She murmured the words so that I was the only one who could hear them.

  I leaned my forehead against hers and whispered back. “Can you blame me, when you’re bouncing around in those little scraps of fabric? You’re killing me, woman.”

  Quinn winked. “That’s the idea, right?” She bent to retrieve my T-shirt, which she’d been using as a bathing suit cover-up, and dropped it over her head. I helped her pull her arms through.

  She freed her pony tail from the neck of the shirt and nudged Gia with her toe. “You okay to hang with Nate while the Neanderthal drags me along the sand?”

  Gia grinned, her eyebrows arched. “Hoping to find a cave for your woman, Leo?”

  I mock-scowled and pounded my chest. “Make cave for woman. Have big fun.”

  Quinn shook her head, but I saw the smile playing on her lips. “What can I say? He’s unenlightened, but he’s mine. Let’s walk, big guy.”

  We made our way down to the ocean’s edge before we began heading along the beach, our joined hands swinging between us. Quinn was silent, but she seemed content, stopping now and then to examine a shell and skirting the occasional washed-up jellyfish.

  “Mia.” I squeezed her hand. “Are you going to be okay when I leave on Sunday?”

  She didn’t answer me right away, but her mouth tightened a little. “I don’t want to think about it. I’m going to miss you like crazy, and it’s going to suck and it’s going to hurt.” She took a deep breath. “But I’m going to be all right.”

  Our steps slowed, and Quinn turned a little to face me. “Last year, when you broke up with me, I thought I was going to die. I felt like you’d cut out my heart. But I decided that I had to
keep going on. To do that, I had to pretend that you didn’t exist anymore.”

  I felt an iron band of guilt and regret constrict around my chest. “God, I’m sorry, Mia. If I could do things over—”

  “But we can’t, and everything happens for a reason. I’ve got to believe that.” She moved closer to me, so that her boobs teased against my chest. “I only mentioned last year because at least now, this time, I can still talk to you. We can text and video chat, and I’m going to visit you. Even though I won’t be able to kiss you and touch you every day, I’ll still know you’re with me. And you love me. So . . . will I be happy? Not really. But am I going to be okay? Yes, I am.” She punctuated her words with a single hard kiss on my mouth.

  I pulled her tighter. “I wish we were past this already. I wish we were on the other side of four years of college, and beyond the good-byes. I hate this, us being separated.”

  “I hate it, too. But then, I’ve hated a lot of stuff that’s happened lately. It doesn’t seem to make much of a difference.”

  “We’re going to do everything we can to make it work. I’ll do anything, Mia. Anything and everything for you.”

  “I know.” She twined her fingers at the back of my neck. “I trust you, Leo.”

  “Do you?” I raised my eyebrows. “Because if you do . . . I have an idea.”

  “Oh, no.” Her eyes went wide, but I didn’t miss the spark of interest there, too. “What kind of idea?”

  “The best kind.” I slid my hand down to take hers and began moving up the beach, away from the water. “I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but time alone has been kind of scarce this week.”

  One side of her mouth quirked up into a smile. “Maybe I have. Kind of hard for you to sneak into my room when I’m sharing with my mom.”

  “Right, and since I’m in the same room with Nate, I don’t think he’d appreciate us using my bed.”

  “Yeah. He’s been so much better this summer, but I think that might be pushing things.”

  “True. So . . .” I led her around the dunes, through a break in the sea grass, and under the boardwalk. “I remembered this place. We came down here one time with your mom and dad, remember? For your birthday one year, I think. Your parents let you bring Nate and me, and we were on this beach instead of the one right in front of the house. We were playing hide and seek, and it was Nate’s turn to be It. You and I hid right . . .” I pulled her under with me, into the shadows. “Here.”

  “I remember.” A genuine Quinn smile lit up her face, and seeing it made my heart falter. She hadn’t smiled like this for too long. Her eyes were filled with delight as she glanced around the small alcove. “Nate found us, but not right away. You and I sat in here for a while, and we talked. Like, really talked. I think maybe that was around the time I began to fall in love with you.”

  I wrapped my arms around her waist. “Really? Way back then? I was such a little jerk.”

  She laughed. “You were not. You were adorable.” She traced my jaw with the tip of one finger. “So when did you know you loved me?”

  “I’ve always known I loved you. As long as I can remember.” I spoke without having to think about it, because the words were true. “But I knew I was in love with you . . . in middle school. We were over at Nate’s, and I said something, probably some stupid joke, and you laughed. Like, really laughed, threw back your head, and I remember thinking, God, Mia’s so beautiful. I wanted to be near you more then, but I was kind of dating Sarah. And I knew how Nate felt about you.” I shrugged. “I was an idiot fourteen-year old. How I felt about you was confusing and kind of scary. But the longer I pushed you away, the harder I fell.”

  Quinn sighed. “And yet here we are.”

  “Yeah. In spite of ourselves.” I skimmed her hair away from her face, combing my fingers through the strands. She shivered and pressed against me, grinning when my body responded.

  “And here I thought this walk was supposed to help you from getting stiff.” She ground her pelvis into mine.

  “Mia.” I groaned her name. “I hope you know what you’re starting here.”

  “Oh, like you just brought me under here to reminisce.” She rose on her tip-toes to kiss me, her mouth opened as her tongue sought mine. “This has make-out spot written all over it.”

  “Mia Quinn, you’re a vixen.” I dropped my hands to her ass, slipping my fingers under the material of her bathing suit bottoms. “As if I would think such a thing.”

  “Ha! As if you wouldn’t.” Her hands left my neck and roamed down my back, tracing the lines of muscle. “It is really private under here. I mean, I can hear people, but I don’t think anyone would notice us.”

  “I think you’re right.” I ventured one finger a little further, parting her folds, nudging her legs a little further apart. “God, babe. You feel so fucking good.”

  She hummed, letting her head drop back. “You make me feel so fucking good.”

  Since Quinn rarely dropped an F-bomb on me except when she was really revved up, I knew she was right there with me. I shifted, moving my hand to go under the front of her bathing suit for better access.

  “Turnabout is fair game, right?” She eased down the elastic of my trunks and grasped my cock.

  “Feels damn fair to me,” I muttered, my eyes dropping half-way shut with pleasure. “Are we doing this?”

  She paused. “Aren’t we? Why else would you bring me under here? To talk politics?”

  “Oh, absolutely not.” I palmed one of her boobs, brushing my thumb over her nipple through the slippery cloth. “I didn’t bring you under here to talk at all.” I covered her lips with mine and kissed her, stroking my tongue over the inside of her mouth.

  Quinn moaned, and her hand on my dick picked up speed. She had the perfect pressure, the exact right moves . . . and when she slid her fingers down to cup my balls, I was pretty sure my eyes rolled back in my head.

  Above us, footsteps suddenly sounded, and muted voices floated overhead. I hesitated, lifting my face away from Quinn’s for a minute to see if she was going to be spooked.

  But she only smiled at me. “It’s wild, isn’t it? They’re right above us, and they have no idea we’re here, with your fingers inside me and my hand on your cock.”

  “Wild.” I found her clit with my thumb and pressed, thrilling to the sound of her quick intake of breath. “You coming against my hand right now? Right this very fucking second? Even wilder.”

  Without breaking my movement, I plunged two fingers within her, picking up speed. Quinn let go of my dick, using both hands to grasp my shoulders, holding on for dear life. Her mouth fell open and her breath came in little pants. I watched her face in fascination, and the hottest, most erotic moment of my life was seeing her fall apart while my fingers drove her out of her fucking mind.

  When she began to come down from the crest, I yanked down her bathing suit bottoms, gripped my dick and slid into her in one fluid movement. Quinn cried out, riding me. I was fairly sure that her fingers were going to leave marks on my shoulders, but I didn’t care at all. Her tight channel was still contracting from her last orgasm, and standing here, feeling her grind on me, I knew I wasn’t going to last long.

  I fumbled with her top, pulling down the triangles of cloth that covered her beautiful tits until her nipples were free. Bending to capture one tempting pink peak with my mouth wasn’t easy, but God, was it worth it. I sucked hard, scraping my teeth over her.

  “Harder.” She half-growled the word through clenched teeth. “Do it harder. Take me harder.”

  I obeyed, rolling one nipple between my finger and thumb and then, when Quinn began to groan, dropped both hands to her hips and began to pump into her faster, rougher.

  Quinn began to make little cries, and I knew she was close. I let myself go, digging my fingers into her ass and roaring as I came hard, erupting deep within her.

  For the space of several beats, we stood clinging to each other, trying to breathe. In the silence, we heard the shu
ffle of feet on the boardwalk above us, and a woman’s voice.

  “What was that?” She sounded suspicious and faintly alarmed. “Did you hear that, Ed? It sounded like . . . like someone, uh, in pain, maybe.”

  Quinn’s eyes went huge. “She heard us!” she whispered. “What’re we going to do?”

  “Shhhh.” I put one finger to her lips, trying not to laugh. “Just wait.”

  “Ahh . . .” A man—Ed, I assumed—cleared his throat. “Ah, Frannie, I think it was just kids. Down on the beach, I mean.”

  “But it sounded like it came from right under us.” Frannie was persistent, that was for sure. “Should we check?”

  “You know how sound travels on the beach, hon. Come on, let’s set down these chairs. My back is killing me. What did you pack in this beach bag, anyway?”

  Frannie and Ed’s feet tromped over our heads, down the steps and away, and in my arms, Quinn shook in a fit of giggles.

  “Oh, my God, Leo.” She buried her face in my chest. “What if Ed had said they should look under here?”

  I shrugged. “I think Ed knew the score. I think he had our backs.” I smirked. “So to speak. He wasn’t going to let her find us.”

  “Lucky us.” Quinn rested her cheek against my chest, her warm breath fanning out over my skin.

  “Yeah, I’d say lucky us. Or at least lucky me.” I stroked her hair. “That was the most . . . damn, babe. You were fucking hot. If this is our last time together until you come see me at Carolina, we went out on top, for sure.”

  “Hey.” She stroked my cheek. “We’re not going out at all. This was one step, one small good-bye before we don’t have to say good-bye ever again. Right? That’s the plan.”

  “That’s the plan, Mia.” I brushed a kiss over her lips. “Doesn’t make it easier. Doesn’t mean it doesn’t feel like that path isn’t way too fucking long right now. Doesn’t mean I don’t wish it could be different, and the good-byes were over forever.”