Between Friends (Between the Raindrops #3)

by Susan Schussler

  Chapter 24

  Liam

  THAT LITTLE dick. He’s talking to Meg again, filling her head with all kinds of half truths about me. He acts all high and mighty, as if he’s never made any bad choices in his life. I’ve seen groupies funnel in and out of his band’s buses, and Nick is not the only guy to take part in that candy. Hayden is so full of it if he thinks he’s more virtuous than me. I’ve heard the stories. Hell, I’ve seen it for myself. I can’t wait for him to leave tomorrow. Then, I’ll quickly make his words a distant memory in Meg’s mind.

  I walk up behind them, winding my arms around her. Her body melts into me, and as a victorious smirk forms on my face, I glance at Hayden. “Here you are,” I say, my voice sweet as saltwater taffy. “Nick and some of the other guys are getting ready to do karaoke over at the pavilion. Should we head over?”

  “I’ll sing with you, Megan. Nordstrom peels paint when he sings,” Hayden says smugly. Woo, nice one.

  “Okay, I’m not the best singer, but I can lip-sync while dancing to Timberlake and you’d be convinced he flew to the island just for the night.” I nuzzle into her neck. “Come dance with me. You know you’ve been dying to ever since our first time.”

  Her head curls toward me.

  “Is that a yes?”

  “Let’s go, before I change my mind,” she says, grabbing my hand and pulling me toward the pavilion.

  I look back at Hayden and he flips me the bird. I silently laugh and then give Meg my full attention, hanging my arm across her shoulder. “I thought we settled this competition between Hayden and me.” I’m not going to say I claimed her because she complained on the phone about guys who sleep with a girl and then act as if they own her. I need to act indifferent.

  “We were just talking.”

  I wish I could crawl into her head and have a look around, just to see what she’s thinking.

  When we reach the pavilion, Nick has just started cooing a Sheeran song. I cover Meg’s ears. I don’t need any more competition. Nick uses his haughty British accent like a snake charmer uses a pipe, except he hypnotizes girls to fall on his dick.

  “Don’t listen,” I say.

  “But, it’s so good.” She smiles as if she’s joking, but I can see her eyes glaze over as she spots Nick on stage.

  I have to work fast to pull her back to me. My hands slide to her jawline and I lift her chin covering her mouth with mine. My tongue pushes into her mouth and I envision pushing into her hours ago. Damn it. I’m hard just thinking about it. Her responsive moans tell me I’m the one she’s thinking about now. I continue to kiss her until Nick signs off. I can’t dance with a hard-on so I move her toward the table where Nak and Leslie are already seated. Immediately, Gorboni joins us with two girls I don’t know and we listen as some old guy sings a country song that sounds a lot like a dog slowly drowning. I guess not everyone here has talent. Nick joins us at the table alone and we all shoot the bull until the server comes for our drink orders. I slip her our requested song for karaoke.

  Three songs later, Meg and I are up on the raised platform, freestyling through the hip-hop song in perfect sync. God, I love the way she dances. It’s as if she’s making love to me right on stage and no one else exists. It’s not a show, either. It really feels as if no one else exists. My theory about a girl’s dancing holds true with her. On the dance floor, our bodies move in perfect harmony without needing instruction. It’s instinct. In bed, it’s the same. No thought required. No awkward pauses. Every movement synced as if choreographed by a higher being. It’s the best sex I’ve ever had. Even now, as we gyrate tandemly in classic boy-band-esque style, I can’t help but think about being inside her again.

  As we catch our breaths, exiting the stage to whoops and claps, I pull her to the side, not wanting to return to the crowded table before tasting her sweet lips. My hand slips to the back of her head and I feel a shiver quake over her body. I press my lips to her soft, luscious ones and claim her mouth. Even though she hates that word, it’s the best description. Her mouth is mine. She’s mine. Shit. What’s wrong with me?

  My tongue makes a final call, before I pull back. She’s amazingly beautiful in the moonlight—a soft sheen on her face. She smells floral and sweet and salty. A growl churns in my throat and I have to kiss her again. She is mine. I push into her mouth again and one of her hands presses against my chest as her other grasps my bicep, pulling me closer. I could stand here kissing her all night. I’d ask if she wants to go back to her room, but I refuse to give up an opportunity to dance with her, and we are going to dance again tonight. We kiss through another song and then head back to the table, the sexual tension between us so thick I swear it glows like an aura.

  Two hours later, I slide my hands down the silken skin of Meg’s perfect ass as I peel her out of her panties. We danced two more times on stage and I’m so tired, I thought about just going to sleep when we got back to the room. But, as I watched Meg lift her dress over her head, I realized that wasn’t going to happen. I’m rock hard and it is not going to go away on its own.

  “I thought we were going to sleep,” Meg says meeting my eyes.

  “Yeah, about that…if you actually want sleep I’m going to have to go back to my room, because the big guy downstairs doesn’t want to sleep when you’re in the same bed.”

  She smiles as she presses her lips to mine and pulls me in to deepen the kiss.

  ***

  The next morning, I order room service breakfast as we linger in bed. I don’t make it out of the room to say goodbye to Nick and the guys and I’m okay with it. With everyone trapped in their own separate lives, the time we get together is scarce and almost sacred. Normally, it would have bothered me giving up my bro-time, but I’d much rather lie in bed with Meg. We’ve spent most of the morning talking. It’s so different for me. I don’t usually reveal myself to girls. Sure, I give them enough so they think they know me, but I usually hold back. The mysterious brooding persona has always worked for me in the past. It doesn’t work with Meg. I feel as if I am baring my soul, and she hasn’t lost interest yet.

  I’ve given her an overview of Nak and my adventure in the heroin den.

  “You know, when we made it to the fourth floor and I saw the guy on his knees in front of the other guy, I didn’t think anything could be worse than that. I mean selling your body for a high, you can’t get lower than that. But then when I found Seth, part of me wished he had been the guy by the door on his knees instead of the zombie with the needle in his arm. At least the guy by the door was breathing. The whole ride to the hospital I kept thinking he was going to die. I kept hitting him, trying to keep him awake and the whole time, I couldn’t get rid of the feeling of impending doom.”

  “That must have been awful. I’m sorry he ended up that way.” She lays her cheek against my chest and I feel a tear against my skin.

  “He’s all right, Meg. They got him breathing at the hospital right away.” I stroke my hand through her hair. “He was sitting up by the time my parents arrived. I never told them how bad he looked when we found him, but I think they know somehow. He’s got a long road ahead of him in recovery and I’m going to do everything I can to make sure he pulls out of this.”

  “I think you are wrong, Mr. Nordstrom,” she says lifting her head and looking me in the eyes.

  “What am I wrong about now?”

  “I think you’re wrong about love not existing. It’s obvious you love your brother or you never would have gone through all that to keep him safe.”

  I smile at that thought. “You may be right,” I say, before kissing her forehead. “You may be right.” I push the emotions her words spark to keep tears from forming in my eyes. “I do love my brother.”

  She snuggles her head into the crook of my arm as her arm stretches across my stomach. It doesn’t feel sexual. It just feels natural as if she’s always been there next to me. I have never felt closer to a person in my life. She calms me.

  “Why did you wait so
long to tell me what happened to your mother?” I ask. I want to fall deeper into her. I want to know how she thinks.

  She lifts her head and rests her chin on my chest, meeting my eyes. “You really do know how to ask the tough questions, don’t you?”

  “You have a problem with that?”

  “No. Not with you. I don’t tell people about my mom’s suicide because I don’t like to disappoint them.”

  “Explain.”

  “You tell people your mom died and they look at you as if you’ve suffered a loss, which you have. You tell the same people your mom committed suicide, and they’re disappointed. Disappointed in her for taking her life, disappointed in you for not stopping her, disappointed they couldn’t stop it themselves. I don’t like disappointing people. Besides, they look at you differently as if her suicide rubbed off on you. Once they know, you are now infected with their worry that you will follow in her footsteps. It’s hard to make people forget once they know.”

  “It’s like being an addict. Once people know you’re an addict, they don’t ever look at you the same way again, except in your case, it wasn’t anything you could control.”

  “You can control being an addict?” she asks with a smile in her voice. I know she’s right. Addicts don’t have control.

  “I can now,” I say. “For the most part anyway. I can choose to stay away from drugs. I just meant they look at you differently for something that didn’t involve you.”

  “Yeah, and they act as if you no longer suffered a loss because she chose it. I didn’t choose for her to kill herself.”

  Everything she says makes sense. Everything about her makes sense. Our talk is not helping me get her out of my system. If anything, it makes me want her more.

  Chapter 25

  Megan

  I’M SITTING AT a table near the pool with Jessica, Jeff, Leslie, and Nak. We are the last of the bridal party left on the island, besides Nordstrom, and he insisted I go ahead to meet up with everyone while he stopped at the gift shop. He’s probably picking up more condoms for our last night together. I’m trying not to worry about what’s going to happen after we leave the island. Nordstrom and I have talked a bit about being together. After all, I will be living in Los Angeles by the end of next month. But it’s one thing to be together in paradise and a completely different story to be dating in the real world. I’m afraid Liam will realize how messed up I am and decide he’s better off without me.

  “Sarah says you start at UCLA this fall. That’s where I went for my undergrad. It’s a great school. You’re going to love it,” says Leslie. She glances at Nak and some unspoken words pass between them.

  Jessica pushes out her bottom lip as if she’s pouting and says, “I’m so sad you’re moving. I’ll be stuck with Alli, while you and Sarah get to hang out all the time.” She touches my shoulder and adds, “At least you’ll get away from Chase.” She smiles.

  Chase has completely slipped my mind. He is the least of my concerns right now.

  “Who’s Chase?” asks Leslie.

  “Her kryptonite,” answers Jessica. I can’t believe she said that. Doesn’t she know Nak is Liam’s roommate? I glare at her, but she doesn’t even look at me.

  “He’s just an ex-boyfriend,” I say trying to downplay her words.

  “A toxic ex-boy toy she can’t seem to stay away from,” Jessica adds.

  “Really, Jess? He’s just an ex. I’m excited to move. L.A. has so much to offer. Please tell me you are never going to talk to Alli again. I don’t even know how you could consider it,” I say changing the subject.

  “I don’t know. I just feel sorry for her. There has to be a reason why she felt so cornered she would sell Sarah’s secrets,” says Jessica.

  “Yeah, there’s a reason. She was born without a soul and has no conscience,” I say, and the more I think about it the more I believe she’s always been too self-focused to care about anyone else.

  “Did I miss anything?” Liam asks as he pulls up a chair next to me.

  “Just talking about Chase,” says Nak, raising his eyebrows and glancing toward Liam. He’s going to tell Liam what Jessica said about Chase, I just know it.

  “A distant memory,” says Liam. He dumps the contents of his purchase on the table and I expect a box of condoms to come tumbling out, but it’s not condoms.

  Skittles and saltwater taffy.

  “I brought snacks. Meg’s favorites.” He opens the bags and scoops some Skittles into his mouth before turning to me with a smile. “You want some?” he asks still chewing, a devilish grin brewing on his face. “These two candies will always remind me of paradise. What do you think, Meg?”

  Oh god. He’s doing it again. He’s trying to shock me, to make me so flustered I’m speechless, and it’s working. He bought the candies I told him the flowers on the tree smelled like outside the window. I stare at his gorgeous grin for several seconds before I reach over, grab a pink saltwater taffy, hoping it’s cherry or at least strawberry, and start to unwrap it.

  “Are you sure you don’t want vanilla?” Liam asks, his grin growing bigger.

  “I’m sure,” I say. Last night we talked about vanilla verses spicy sex, and then discussed the places on the island we wanted to explore. My top pick was the top of the bar by the beach. He couldn’t decide between the beach, the pool, the public bathroom on the first floor of the resort, or the rock wall that goes straight up at the end of the beach. “I was thinking about taking a run down to the end of the beach later. I’m going to need the energy.” I pick up a couple of the flavored taffies.

  “Let me know. I’ll go with you,” says Liam with a smile. His dark eyes meet mine as he pops the vanilla taffy into his mouth and swirls it around on his tongue.

  “If you two are done candy humping on the table, then we need to figure out what we are doing this afternoon,” says Leslie.

  Liam wraps his arm around me and kisses my forehead as the group starts to discuss our entertainment options. I enjoy the public display of affection. It makes me think his comment a few days ago about Jon never knowing it was him using the condoms sent to my room is no longer true. If Leslie knows we’re together, Jon will know we’re together. I am not a secret anymore. Somehow, that makes this more real, more of a big deal.

  ***

  We spend the afternoon on the beach, taking turns on the water jetpacks. There are two, each one with its own instructor, manning the controls and showing us how to move around. Liam and I go first. It feels a bit like strapping on a rocket that you can only partially control. It is crazy exhilarating and the experience makes me want to drag Liam down to the rock ridge at the end of the beach for twenty minutes of alone time.

  Instead, he goes up for a second time with Nak because Leslie is afraid of heights or maybe she’s just too smart to strap herself to a water explosive. I watch as the female instructor flirts with Nordstrom while he gets suited up for his second flight. He smiles but doesn’t respond the way she wants him to and that puts a smile on my face.

  After a couple of hours pass with the group, Liam and I decide we need some private time. It’s our last night together before we go our separate ways. Sure, we’ve made plans to see each other in a month, but that feels like forever after the week we’ve spent together. We don’t speak as we walk down the beach. His hand rests on my hip and his finger teases under the waistband of my shorts. My hand is under his shirt and I can feel every tightening and release of his muscles as we walk.

  We are about three quarters of the way down the beach when he turns, wrapping his hands around mine and pulling me close to him. The buzz that hums across my skin from his touch sparks a nervousness inside me I’ve never felt before. The closeness I feel with him is foreign. I’ve never let a guy inside my walls like I have with him. I’ve never let another human being inside my fortress before. It’s as if I’ve given him a key to unlock every vulnerability I have. With his past, I know the probability of us lasting is nonexistent. I will have my heart ri
pped out. It’s too late to change, too late to stop how I feel about him. I guess I should just accept my fate. I lean into him and one of his hands moves to the back of my neck. His touch triggers a burning in my core I can’t douse. I need to enjoy it while I can. I doubt I will sleep tonight, knowing what’s to come.

  “This isn’t going to end tomorrow.” He definitely can read minds.

  “I know,” I say, questioning my words as I say them.

  “I live in Malibu. We can walk the beach every night if you want.”

  I smile at the thought. I can picture it in my mind. I want to believe him. I do. He takes my hands and pulls them behind me, moving his hands to my behind. His mouth presses feather light against mine. I breathe him in. Even when he’s not trying, he smells delicious. He pulls back when I smile.

  “Have I told you how much I love your smile?” he whispers inches from my face.

  “No, you haven’t,” I say with an even bigger smile. “You always know how to melt away my worries.”

  “Don’t worry about tomorrow. We’ve got this.” His lips touch mine again. “What we have will still be there when we see each other in a month.”

  I believe him. He’s right. What we have will overcome the distance.

  Chapter 26

  Megan

  “IT DOESN’T matter,” I mutter. “I don’t care.” I cover my face with my pillow. “I can’t believe I let this happen.” I roll over onto my stomach and start banging my face into the pillow. I crawl off the bed and check my phone for the hundredth time before typing out a text.

  A week.

  A whole week has passed without a word from Nordstrom. The last thing he said to me was, I’ll call you when I get home, then he kissed me with the most tender lips, his fingers tugging gently on the hair at the back of my head. We discovered that simple act drove straight to my core. I never knew such an innocent action could affect me that way. Liam seemed to enjoy nonchalantly doing it in the most public places and then watching me squirm wantonly.