by Camryn Eyde
“Sit in the back,” I said against her throat. Feeling her swallow beneath my lips, she started to shake her head. “Now,” I said, sucking hard against her pulse point.
The back seat of my car was easily accessible considering the doors were leaning against the garage walls. She sat on the dusty leather and looked up at me with darkened eyes. I looked at her skirt and said, “Off.”
She glowered at me for a moment, before hiking her skirt to her hips.
“Unless you want greasy panties, take them off.”
She was scowling when she did as I requested. “I find this highly unsanitary.”
And I didn’t care. Dropping to my knees, I pressed my face against the flushed skin she revealed and made her forget all about sanitary environments. As promised, I didn’t touch her with my greasy hands, and because of her expert instruction on our first night of making love, I guided her writhing form to the crevasse and pushed her promptly off. It was quick, it was satisfying, and I was exuding arrogance as I smiled up at her when she recovered from her climax.
Balanced precariously on the edge of my own orgasm, I could see she was willing to repay the favor, and the way she tugged me to her for a kiss, I was flooding with anticipation.
“Darcy?”
I yelped. That was my dad. I heard the screen door of the house close. “Crap.” Scrambling off Olivia, I tripped over my sagging overalls as I tried to pull them up and landed flat on my back.
“Darce?” Dad said, walking into the shed and frowning at me.
“Just taking a time out,” I said, noticing a colony of cobwebs on the ceiling.
“Olivia?”
I looked over to see Dad had spotted my girlfriend sitting in the back seat. She had managed to yank her skirt down, and she stood, dusty from the seat, and nodded at him. “David.”
Dad looked between the pair of us, confused, and then we all noticed simultaneously that Olivia’s red panties were lying on the ground next to me.
“Oh!” Dad said. “Umm…”
I swiped at the panties and tucked them out of sight. Scrambling off the ground, I said, “I checked out the engine.”
Dad blinked.
“I think I need to check the fuel line.”
Dad went bright pink and glanced at Olivia. He whispered to me, “Ah, Darce, honey, I’m not sure that’s information you should be sharing with me.”
“What?” My eyes widened and I gasped. “No! Not Olivia’s engine, that one!” I pointed under the hood. “God, why would you—why?” I shook my head wondering how the hell Dad got so off-topic. I hid behind my hands and groaned. “Oh, my God.”
Dad cleared his throat. “Yes, well…umm.” He turned and practically sprinted from the garage. “A tie on the doorknob next time please!” he yelled at me from the back steps.
I remained shaking my head.
“Need to service the fuel line, huh?” Olivia whispered soft and low in my ear.
I shivered. “Don’t you start. I’m mortified!”
“Just imagine, he could have caught you servicing me.”
I gaped at Olivia and her amused grin as she walked back to the house, leaving me in a state of abject humiliation, and keen arousal. Groaning, I hung my head. “My life isn’t fair, Mavis.”
Degreased and unable to meet my father’s eye, we sat around the kitchen table a little later with Taylor and her parents. Charli was notably absent, and Taylor looked depressed.
“So, dears, how was your first year at medical school,” Mrs. Robbins asked us.
“Good. I passed.” I shoveled more of my mom’s meatloaf in my mouth and smiled.
“You passed?” Olivia said. Turning to Mrs. Robbins, she said, “Unbeknownst to a majority of the community, Darcy is exceptionally bright. She finished in the top five of the class. Just.” Olivia gave me a rueful glare after that. I had been as shocked as her when I just topped her at the overall results.
I smiled at her.
“That’s wonderful dear,” Mrs. Robbins said. My mother and father beamed and Taylor gave me a congratulatory wink. “Just think, a couple more years and you’ll be back here with your smarts making us all better,” Mrs. Robbins said.
I nodded.
“With her grades, Darcy has the potential to make significant headway in the medical profession. Wherever that may be.” Olivia sipped at her water as everyone paused.
“You’re not coming back here?” Taylor said.
“What?” I put down my fork.
“Your girlfriend just said you’re not coming home.”
“No, she didn’t.”
“She may as well have. You’re too smart for us now?”
“What? No.”
Taylor stood. “Good luck to you.” And with that, she walked out of the door.
What the heck?
Jumping up, I chased her without thought. Taylor had nearly reached her car when I called out to her. “Wait.”
She turned and said, “What?”
“What’s wrong with us?”
Taylor shook her head. “I don’t know.”
“Have I done something wrong?”
Taylor shook her head. “No, I have.”
“What?”
“Charli and I broke up last night.”
“What? Why?”
“I told her about what happened at Christmas this afternoon.”
I frowned and cocked my head.
“I told her I kissed you.”
I gasped.
“She knew you were coming back for summer vacation and said if I wanted you, I could have you and she walked out.”
“Oh, Tay.” I walked over and wrapped my arms around her. She rested her head on my shoulder and started to cry. “Do you still love her?”
Taylor nodded against my shirt. Her affirmation made me smile. Gone was the pain it once induced. Gone was the heartache. Gone was my infatuation with my friend, and in its place, a sympathy and desire for her to hold the one she loved.
“Then tell her,” I whispered into her hair.
She shook her head. “She won’t believe me. She thinks I want you.”
I pulled my head back. “Do you?”
Taylor’s red-rimmed eyes brimmed with salty tears. “I don’t know. I’m so confused.”
I shook my head at her. “You’re not in love with me, Tay.”
“But what if I was?”
Sighing heavily, I kissed her cheek. “It’s too late.”
Taylor stepped out of my embrace. “Because of Olivia.” It was spat out like fact.
“Yeah. Because of Olivia.”
Taylor took a deep breath. “Your mom never asked me to call her Ma.”
I blinked as that information settled in. Taylor had known my parents her entire life. They were essentially her second family, and always would be.
Before I had a chance to reply, Taylor shook her head. “Sorry. I…I don’t mean…” She huffed.
“You’re jealous?”
“I have every right to be!” Taylor snapped suddenly. “She’s stealing you away from us. Away from me.”
I flinched. “Come on, Tay. You don’t mean that.”
Taylor paced a little, shaking her head. She ran a hand through her hair. “I’m sorry. It’s just…I’m so used to being the only one you needed, you know. All we ever dreamed about was growing old together by the lake, and now…I don’t know what the hell you want. I don’t know how to deal with this.”
“Deal with what.”
“You and her.”
I narrowed my eyes. “Olivia is my partner, Tay.”
“Really? Because as far as I recall, you used her to make me jealous.”
“That was a long time ago, and you know it. Things have changed.”
“Have they? Really?”
I stepped in front of her. “Look, I might have started out pretending to be in a relationship with Olivia, but everything about her and I is real now. I loved you for such a long time, and I would h
ave been yours forever if you’d only shown me you were interested, but now it’s too late. You fell for Charli and I accepted I could never have you.”
“So you chose leftovers?”
I slapped Taylor. A strike that had tears forming in both of our eyes. “No. You don’t get to talk about her like that. Olivia is not second best. Not to me. I was falling for her well before I let go of my infatuation with you. She is real, not some fantasy. She’s not some second choice. She’s my only choice. Do you understand me?”
Taylor was crying as she nodded at me.
“I’m sorry,” I said, reaching out and covering her hand with mine as she held her cheek.
“So am I.”
“I still love you, you know. Just not…romantically. You’re like a sister to me. Family.” I took a deep breath. “Forgive me?”
She dropped her head. “I don’t know how to deal with this. I’m so confused.”
“Then start getting used to it, because I hope Olivia is in my life for a very, very long time.”
Taylor nodded and I pulled her close. “I think Charli and I are over.”
I sighed and hugged her tighter. I didn’t know what to say to that. Letting Taylor go a little while later, I drew her in the direction of the house and froze. Olivia was standing there watching us. How long had she been there?
Taylor stiffened at my side. She muttered something about leaving us alone and tried to dash past Olivia. Olivia snatched her by the arm. “Are you okay?”
Taylor blinked with surprise. So did I. “Uh…yeah. I will be. Sorry about…you know…everything.”
“You’ve nothing to apologize for, but I believe I do. I’m not trying to steal your best friend away. Yes, she’s got smarts that will take her anywhere she wants to go, but if that means staying here, then I’m not going to protest it. She’ll always have a choice. Besides, she’s got several years left to fail, anyway. She might turn out to be hopeless.” Olivia smiled and winked at me. I poked my tongue out at her.
Taylor smiled too and left after a nod of acceptance to Olivia.
“So,” I said, walking up the steps to my girlfriend. “How much did you hear?”
“You slapped her.”
I grimaced. That means she would have heard a lot. “Yeah. I kinda regret that.”
“She was out of line.”
I shrugged. Maybe so, but slapping my best friend…not part of my highlight reel. I huffed out a breath of air. “So you heard a lot then?”
“I did.” Olivia stepped closer to me and wrapped her hands around my neck. “You surprise me.”
“Good.”
Olivia smiled and her eyes twinkled in the light from the porch. She studied me with those cool blue eyes until I began to fidget. “Happy birthday.”
I blushed as she pressed a kiss to my cheek.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Umm…well…technically it’s not my birthday until eight-thirty. We, uh, have this thing that we celebrate once my birth time comes.”
“That’s…different.”
“It coincides with dessert. Thus the cheesecake I know you and Mom got earlier.”
Olivia nodded.
“Umm…I know that…umm…” I bit my lip. How does one sensitively bring up someone else’s dearly departed? “About your son.” She stiffened instantly so I rushed through my explanation. “I know it’s his birthday too. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to pry, but…I…I’m sorry, and, umm…yeah, happy birthday for him, too.” I fidgeted and bit down hard on the inside of my cheek.
“Do you want to know why I’m specializing in pediatrics?”
I let out a rush of breath. “Yes.”
Olivia took a deep breath. “Walk with me?”
It was a balmy evening and I guided her to the water’s edge. Right to the place we once shared questions and answers in the winter chill. Sitting down on the pier side-by-side, she held my hand and stared over the lake as it shimmered under the moon.
“I was seventeen when I fell in love for the first time. Shamus was his name. An Irish boy that grew up around the corner from me. I got pregnant and wanted to make a go of having a family.” She heaved in a breath of air and let it leak out. “Jayden was the name of our son. A beautiful boy born two weeks early...today. At five in the morning.” Olivia smiled and my heart melted. “When he was born they noticed a congenital heart problem. Hypoplastic left heart syndrome.”
I gasped. What a devastating diagnosis.
“He underwent surgery as soon as they deemed him strong enough, but…” Olivia shook her head. “Shamus and I didn’t last. It was too much pressure and we were too young. Jayden…he was mine for ten months, and now…he’s theirs.” Olivia looked up at the stars. I leaned my head against her shoulder and silently studied the heavens with her. “I want to take care of children. To make them better and return them to their parents,” she whispered.
“And you will,” I whispered back as my heart ached for her. “You will.”
“Why did you fight for me that night?” Olivia asked. Instinctively, I knew she meant the night she drank and raged at me.
“Because you were hurting. Because you needed me.”
“I’ve never needed anyone,” she said. “I’ve never had anyone stay. Never had anyone fight for me. Not the way you did that night. Not the way you did tonight with Taylor.” She squeezed my hand and stared at me through the muted moonlight. “Are you sure?”
I screwed my brow up in confusion.
Olivia sighed. “That you want me. Are you sure that…I’m…”
“Worth it?”
Olivia nodded. “I’m not an easy person to like.”
“I know.”
“I’m not very nice most of the time.”
“I know.”
“I’m—”
“Everything I want,” I said. She let out a rush of air. “Look, I know this is about to sound corny and probably stolen directly from a Sandra Bullock movie, but you complete me.”
“That’s Jerry Maguire, dear. Tom Cruise.”
I smiled. “Whatever. Where I’m relaxed and incompetent, you’re assertive and sure. Where I’m easy and uncomplicated, you’re challenging and complex. Where I’m unorganized and random, you’re controlled and dedicated. You’re everything I’m not, but you’re everything I need.”
“You’re right. It’s corny.”
“I know, right?” I chuckled and she joined me in quiet laughter under the waxing moon. “I know that relationships take work. But I’m ready to do that. Just…please don’t shut me out. Okay?”
“I can’t promise that, Darcy.”
“I know,” I whispered and squeezed her hand. I could tell that she was protected by layers of walls, and I figured there were a million reasons why. I just hoped that in time she’d let me peek behind the curtain and let me accept all of her. “I love you.”
That earned me a sweet kiss. She leaned her forehead against mine. “I love you,” she whispered back.
And together we stared at the stars and remained close. I smiled as the crickets chirped and the light twinkled on the surface of the lake. Music drifted from the house to the lake and warmed me like the woman at my side. This is where I belonged. This is where I wanted to be. And here, by Olivia’s side, was where I would fight to remain. I wish I knew then just how much fighting I was going to have to do as the clinical years of Harvard Medical dawned.
###
Another Author’s Note
Thank you for reading the first installment of the Tricky Series. The sequel Tricky Chances will be released in early 2016. For now, feel free to leave a review, or find me on Facebook or Twitter, and at my website www.camryneyde.com.
Until next time, happy reading!
Camryn.
