“You know, when I received confirmation that I had been accepted with both U of T and NYU, words can’t describe the excitement I felt. It made everything so real for me. One day, I was this little girl walking to school that first day and then before I know it, I’m choosing which university I will be going to. It makes you realize just how quickly time goes by. I’m happy I chose U of T, my cousin has an apartment close to the university, her sister is about to move out, so we’ll split the rent. I can’t wait to get out on my own, experience the world, and take chances. I’ve wanted to be a journalist since I was thirteen years old and here’s my opportunity. What about you? You must be excited about the police academy.”
“I am. I’m not so sure about living in Madison though,” he admitted nervously. “I don’t know anyone there so it’ll be a fresh new start that’s for certain. But I am looking forward to moving on. The old man’s pretty happy that one of his sons is following in his footsteps. I guess once I finish there, I’ll try hooking up with Door County’s Sheriff Department in Sturgeon Bay.” He turned to face Meg, “Looks like we’ll both be moving on around the same time.”
“Yeah, three weeks and we are out of here,” she slurred and laughed at how the words came out. She looked back at Will. “You think maybe I had too much to drink?”
“Nah, you need another one, that’s what you need.” He handed her a beer. “Here drink this,” he said.
“Beer, Will? Come on, since when do I drink beer?”
“Since right now; drink up, you’re falling behind, missy. I‘m three drinks ahead of you already.”
Meg tilted her head back and took a sip, she winced at the taste. “Will, what about Julie, what’s going to happen between you two?”
“She got accepted at the medical college in Wisconsin for nursing. She prefers to stay close to home so she can keep an eye on her mom. She’s worried her dad will beat her. So that will be the end of us.”
“That really sucks. I know how much you care about her, and you guys are so good together. I’m so sorry.”
“Ah, it’s for the best. We’ve been together for the past four years and things aren’t moving forward. Her father makes damn sure I see her as little as possible. These past four years hasn’t been easy on either of us. It’s been more frustrating than anything. If her old man had his way, she wouldn’t be going to medical school either. He would love nothing more than to control her life for as long as he can. Did I tell you what that son of a bitch did to her?”
“What are you talking about?”
“Last Saturday, Julie came over for a few hours, and we talked about the future and what we should do with the distance between us. There were no answers; she knows how I feel about her and I know she cares about me too, but we can’t go on like this. She’s never allowed out on a Friday or Saturday night and her curfew is nine o’clock for fuck sake!” Will looked turned to Meg, and she could see the frustration; his face turned red. “Who does that to an eighteen-year-old? As much as I want to blame her for not standing up to that asshole, I can’t help but worry what would happen if she did.”
“Yeah, I get it. I feel so bad for her family. So tell me, what happened last Saturday?”
“Oh, sorry, I always get worked up when I’m talking about that fucker. Once I get started, there’s no end to what I have to say. And none of it is good. Anyhow, I’ve been saving some money over the past few months, and I finally got enough to buy Julie the bracelet I’ve had my eye on for a long time. So I gave it to her last week as a keepsake and something to remember us by. She loved it; she was so happy, she cried when I gave it to her. The next day, she didn’t call, didn’t come by and then three days go by and nothing. Finally, I ran into John last week.” Meg’s heart sped up at the sound of his name. “I asked him what was going on with Julie.” Meg sensed that Will was getting more and more upset as he went on with the story. She listened to him clearing his throat, and watched his Adam’s apple move up and down when he swallowed his emotions.
“John told me when Julie got home that evening, her father was sitting at the kitchen table waiting for her. The minute she walked in the door, he was all over her, accusing her of whoring around with that Protestant boy. He eyed the bracelet right away, held up her hand, and shoved her wrist in her face yelling, and asked where she got it. John told me Julie refused to tell him but his old man guessed. He tore it off her wrist and threw it down the toilet. When it didn’t flush, he made her put her hand in the toilet and fish it out. Then he walked her over to the kitchen sink and made her throw it down the disposal. John said she was up crying the whole night. Then her old man grounded her for the rest of the week—no friends, no phone and no going outside were his exact words.”
“Couldn’t John do something to stop him, Will?”
Will let out a sarcastic laugh, “Meg, John has to pick and choose his battles with his old man; there wasn’t a thing he could do to make the situation any better. If he had any intentions of hitting her, John would have stepped in, that I know for sure. But this wasn’t worth getting beaten up over and then he would have turned on their mother.”
“My God, Will, what kind of life do they have with that asshole? I don’t get it. She’s eighteen. Why doesn’t she just leave home, get away from here, and get on with her life?”
“She’s scared, Meg. She worries about her mother, and staying close to home will make it easier to be there if her mom needs her. Her younger brother finished high school this year; the kid’s so smart they moved him ahead one year. He’ll be going to university in September, so at least he’s getting away soon enough.”
With a regretful look on his face and eyes filled with sadness, Will continued. “I can’t wait around for her forever. That man will go through extreme measures to make sure she isn’t anywhere near me or any other guy that’s not Catholic. So we’ll spend as much time together as we can over the next few weeks, but she and I both know where this is headed. We’ll just have to move on. What choice do we have? Julie will never turn her back on her family, and she’s too scared of that bastard and what he’ll do. Christ, she may as well run off to a convent and become a nun, maybe that will make her old man happy.” Will took a swig of his beer before he slammed the bottle a little too loudly on the bar. He stared off at nothing for a while and started picking mindlessly at the label, tearing it off into little pieces. His entire composure was slouched over, like he had the weight of the world on his shoulders. Meg nudged him lightly with her shoulder. “Okay, so much for that talk. This is getting far too deep, and we need to get our drunk on.”
“You got that right.” Just like that, Will was back in party mode.
A few shots later and they were both feeling more than a little tipsy. Will looked at Meg with a devious grin on his face. Her eyes flew open when she felt his hands grasp her waist, and he pulled her toward the pool. She screamed, begging him to stop, but he continued laughing and shouting at the few people standing in front of them to move out of the way. Then he pulled her up into his arms, swung her entire body back once, twice, then on three, he threw Meg up in the air and directly into the pool.
The moment she surfaced, she swam over to the side, reached the ledge, and pulled herself up onto the interlocking deck. Immediately she searched for Will, and it didn’t take long for her to find him. Once she got the water out of her eyes, she looked up to see him standing there in front of her, throwing his head back in laughter. “You jerk! You were just waiting for the right moment to do that, weren’t you?” She couldn’t help but laugh along with him.
Will’s face changed to a more sensual look, and Meg watched his smile fade; he stared directly at her chest without a hint of embarrassment. Shit. She looked down to see her nipples standing at attention, and every guy had their eyes fastened to her tits. How embarrassing. “Stop looking at me like that, asshole.” Meg hugged her arms around her breasts, and as quickly as she could, she walked over to the bar, dragging Will along with her. “Please t
ell me you have a towel down here and maybe some extra clothes inside that I can change into?” She wasn’t sure if she was mad, embarrassed, or if she should simply give in to the fun that Will was having at her expense. She quickly decided to go along with the latter of the three. They both broke into laughter again, and Meg realized there was no way she could possibly stay mad at him.
“I should make you suffer while the rest of us get an eyeful and a hard on to boot,” he said with a glorified grin.
“Just hand me the damn towel, Will. I can’t stay here all night like this; I didn’t bring any extra clothes. Actually, I wasn’t planning on getting thrown into a pool this evening,” she added with sarcasm and threw him a murderous look.
Will chuckled loudly and handed her a towel from behind the bar. Meg wrapped it around her shoulders and followed him to the door leading into the house. “Come on, Meg. I have a change of clothes upstairs in my bedroom, just your size,” he laughed.
They headed up to his room on the second floor, and the house was quiet. With the exception of a handful of people, everyone seemed to be partying outside and having a good time. The music continued to play loudly and was now belting out the latest tunes. When they made it to the bedroom, Meg walked over to the full-length mirror that covered the sliding closet doors and braced herself when she saw her hair was a complete disaster and matted to the sides of her face. Black mascara was smudged underneath her eyes, giving her the look of a raccoon, and she was soaked from head to toe. Will stood there laughing at her. “Bastard,” she muttered under her breath. Finally, his laughter subsided, and his features softened. Meg knew that look; he was about to make a move on her. “Will, I know that look; don’t do this.” She backed away slowly. “We’ve been down that road before,” she reminded him.
“What? I’m just looking at you and thinking how much I’ll miss you when you leave.”
“No, that’s not what you’re thinking, and we both know it. What about Julie, Will? This isn’t fair to her and ...”
Will cut her off in mid-sentence. “She’s not here. She’s never here. Hell, I can’t even touch her. She’s too scared. I’ve always had a thing for you, Meg. Have you ever thought about me, since that night a few years ago? Sometimes it’s all I can think about. We never did get to finish that kiss, so what do you say?”
“Will,” she whispered. She had to think of the right words to get her point across to him without hurting his feelings. “I can’t do this; you’re one of my best friends, and I refuse to screw that up. I don’t want us to feel awkward around one another. Look, I care about you, but not that way.”
Will’s expression tensed up a little. “You know what, Meg, all you think about is John, and he’s the only guy you ever talk about. Fuck John. He doesn’t care about you the way I do. He had his chance with you, and you leave in three weeks. I’m not trying to hurt your feelings, but you need to get past him. You need someone that knows you exist, and clearly, he’s not that guy.”
With a little bitterness in her voice, Meg responded. “Oh, and you are? Come on, Will. You’re not making this easy for me; just let it be. You’re right, it’s too late, and I’ll never get the chance to be with him. But that’s fine with me. I’ll move on, and I’ll get over him.” She lowered her voice and managed to soften her tone before continuing. “But your friendship is the best thing I have, you and Sarah, I want us to stay close, I won’t screw that up, Will.”
He stepped toward her, invading her personal space. “You have that, Meg, always. It wouldn’t matter if I kissed you, that wouldn’t change who we are or put a damper between us.”
“You’re wrong, Will, and that’s not a chance I’m going to take.” She searched his eyes for a clue as to what he was feeling and tried to figure out just how far he would take this conversation. She took his hand in hers, and their eyes remained locked. Silence fell between them, and Meg continued to study his face. Wondering what she could possibly say to him to make this better and she came up blank. She looked down to where she held his hand and let go. “I’m sorry, Will. I’m going home. I’ll walk; I can use the fresh air and the time alone right now. Please tell Sarah that I left and tell her I’ll call her tomorrow. And for God’s sake, don’t tell her about this.”
He gently gripped Meg’s upper arm with his hand. “Meg, don’t leave, I was completely out of line and I’m sorry. Our friendship is important to me too. I don’t want you to feel like you have to go, please,” he begged.
This moment between them was uncomfortable, and Meg didn’t want him to feel like she would turn her back on him. He did mean something to her, just not in the way he was hoping for. The last thing she wanted to do was hurt him and ruin their friendship. She stared back at him. “Okay, I’ll stay for a little while longer.” Meg let the air escape her lungs in relief.
Will walked over to the closet and pulled out a pair of track pants and an old black T-shirt. He handed the clothes to Meg. “Here, take these. You know where the washroom is; the hair dryer is in the cupboard below the sink and there’s a brush there as well. Go freshen up, and I better see you out back within fifteen minutes, or I’ll come looking for you,” he assured her.
Meg took the clothes and laid them on the bed and tilted her head to the side a little. Concerned for Will, she asked, “Will, is everything all right with you, I mean, I never really ask you, I always assume you’re okay. You never seem to be down and this kind of came out of left field, I wasn’t at all expecting this from you.”
“Yeah, I’m okay, just frustrated as hell with Julie, I didn’t mean to upset you, Meg, just forget about it, okay?” His face dropped, and he stared at the floor in front of him.
“I get that you’re frustrated with your relationship, I do, but, Will, please don’t do this again. You’re like a brother to me. It’s weird having you come on to me that way.”
He straightened his shoulders and held his head up high and stepped toward her. He threw his long arms around her shoulders and kissed the top of her head and hugged Meg closely. “I promise I won’t do that again, I’m sorry.”
With a boyish grin, he pulled back. “You sure you don’t want me to kiss you, just once?” Meg pushed him further away, it was clear he was joking around, trying his best to make light of the situation. She nudged his shoulder and shook her head before turning away from him, and she smiled to herself.
“Will, did I ever tell you, you were my first kiss? Although it was cut short by your very drunk brother at the time, I’m glad I shared that with you.”
“Yeah, I know it was your first kiss, we’ve been sharing secrets since kindergarten, remember?” Will’s big blue eyes lit up for a moment. “Do you know what, Meg?”
“What?”
“That was the first night I ever jerked off,” he said with a devilish grin.
“I can’t believe you just said that!”
The air around them grew less tense, and Meg was happy to see their encounter didn’t affect his sense of humor.
He chuckled and walked past her before he patted her hard on the ass and took off out of the room. Meg went in the opposite direction toward the washroom at the end of the hall and secured the door behind her. A sense of relief washed over her, and she was thankful they’d managed to talk through a very awkward moment.
Once Meg stepped out of her wet clothes, she threw them in the bathtub and found a thick white towel that fit snugly around her body. Her hair took forever to dry, as usual, and when she turned off the blow dryer, she heard a light knock at the door. Meg took one last look in the mirror just before she heard the doorknob turn followed by another light knock. “I’ll just be a minute,” she yelled through the door.
Oh shit. With nothing on but a towel, she felt pink flush crawl up her neck toward her face as she prepared herself to open the door. She had to think fast. Finally, she gave in to the fact there wasn’t a whole lot she could do. She sucked the air into her lungs and worked up the courage to open the door. She froze.
Say something, John, or just kiss me, she begged him with her eyes. The heat between them was evident, his eyes darkened and traveled slowly down her body before his gaze fixed on her eyes again. He leaned in, “I know you have nothing on under that towel, Meggie Malone.” His hand moved downward and reached the bottom of the towel, the material barely covered the tops of her thighs. “I bet you’re wet, aren’t you?” he said in a gravelly voice.
Meg stifled back a moan, her mouth went completely dry, and she almost swallowed her tongue. Her sex throbbed from the sound of his voice, his touch, and the fact that he was sinfully hot. Every part of her body was on fire and aching for him. Slowly, she licked her lips. For the life of her she couldn’t break the connection. Meg didn’t recognize her own voice when she whispered, “John, I—” Before she could say another word, a voice came up from the stairs below.
“John, are you up there, what’s taking you so long?” Panic replaced desire at the sound of Lynn’s voice, and Meg tried quickly to wiggle free from his hold. He didn’t as much as flinch, instead he continued to look into Meg’s eyes, refusing to look away.
Meggie's Secret Page 3
