After two hours on the road, Lennie starts to relax. “Do you want to tell me why tonight?” She looks over at me, confused. “Don’t get me wrong. I’m happy to be with you, but why did we leave tonight? Why not wait until morning or even the weekend?”
Lennie twist her finger around a strand of her hair. “My parents wanted me to come to dinner.”
I can’t help but smile. “I take it you expected a similar outcome from when we had dinner at my parents’ house?” I’m joking, but Lennie doesn’t even crack a smile.
“No.” Her voice is sad as she looks out the passenger window. I drive for miles before she finally gives me something.
“I lied to my parents and they found out.” My eyes dart to hers then back to the road. Lennie has never struck me as a liar. If anything, she doesn’t hold back what she thinks...good or bad.
“What you lied to them about...it was a big deal?”
I know it is something big if it sent her running, and as much as I don’t want to push, I can’t get past the idea that she’d lie about anything.
“Yes,” she whispers without looking at me.
“Are you hungry? We can stop and get something to eat if you are.”
“Yeah, I could eat.” I pull off the next exit and into the parking lot of a chain restaurant. We make our way inside and quickly order.
I pull out my phone and start looking at hotels in Galveston. “Do you care where we stay?”
A small smile plays on her lips. “No.”
“What?”
“There was a hotel there called the Flagship. It was on a pier out over the water. That’s where we stayed when I came with my family.”
“We can stay there,” I reply.
“No we can’t. The Flagship was ruined in hurricane Ike, but I still want to go there. Pleasure Pier was rebuilt in the same place and it has attractions. I heard the roller coaster there is good.”
I groan. Even as a kid, I never enjoyed rides that flipped me upside down. “Oh, you did great at Six Flags. You’ll be fine.”
I look back at my phone and instantly find the hotel I want to take her to. “Hotel Galvez looks good.”
“That’s where my Dad stays when he’s there on business.” Her eyes wander off.
“Would you rather me pick somewhere else?”
“No, that’s fine. I was just thinking how different my Dad was when we were kids. If he had his way, we would have stayed at Hotel Galvez, but he knew how much Jodi and I wanted to stay at the hotel over the water. Back then, it felt like I could do no wrong.”
Her sad face pains me. “What changed?”
Her eyes glass up. “Everything.” Like always, I wuss out and refuse to make her tell me something she’s not ready to.
We’re back on the road in thirty minutes. “We should be there soon.” Lennie perks up with a smile before lacing one of her hands with mine. As we start to cross the bridge to Galveston, her face lights up like a kid at Christmas.
I don’t know why she lied to her parents. I don’t know why she felt the urge to run, but as long as I’m with her, I’m going to let my fears go and concentrate on living in the moment.
WHEN WE CHECKED INTO THE hotel, it was after midnight. I attempted to give the hotel clerk my credit card, but Tyler wouldn’t let me. I dragged him on this unexpected adventure. I felt the least I could do was pay for it.
“This room is beautiful.”
Tyler shakes his head. “The whole hotel is amazing.”
“No wonder my dad likes staying here.” Tyler grins as I dump my bag on the floor next to the bed.
“I’m tired. Are you ready to go to bed?”
I’d love nothing more than to take a walk on the beach, but Tyler drove for close to five hours and it’s late. “Yes, I could go to bed.” Tyler pulls his shirt over his head and tosses it on the floor. My mouth waters the second I see his flat stomach. He starts unbuttoning his pants when I hear him clear his throat. My eyes snap to his to find him smiling at me.
“Do you like what you see?” His husky voice causes my body temperature to spike.
“I love what I see.” His eyes flash from my comment. He kicks his pants off before making his way to me.
“I think you’re a little overdressed for what I have in mind.” Tyler lifts my top over my head then his hands immediately go to my bra. Once it’s unclasped, he tosses it on the floor with my top and circles my nipple with his fingers. “You have the best tits I’ve ever seen.” He cups one in his hand as he takes the other deep into his mouth.
“Ohh,” I gasp. Tyler takes his time as heat spreads through my body. His mouth slowly works down my stomach until he stops and unbuttons my shorts. He pulls them down my leg and laughs. “Seriously, no panties?”
I shrug with a smile, but my smile vanishes when he shoves his face into my sex and sucks my clit into his mouth.
“Oh shit.” I grip his hair as he thrusts his tongue in and out. I feel my orgasm building as he pulls back. “Don’t stop,” I beg.
“Lay down on the bed.” Like a whore in need, I quickly lie on the bed and my legs open immediately. Tyler takes off his briefs and starts stroking himself. “I could stand here and look at your drenched pussy all day.” His words send another jolt of lust to my core. My hand moves down and starts rubbing my clit.
“God, watching you touch yourself is almost as satisfying as fucking you.”
I lick my lips as I watch him pump his shaft up and down. “I want you...now.”
His dick is hard and swollen, but when he gets to the end of the bed, he pauses. “Oh shit.” His face is scrunched up.
“What?”
“We left in a hurry. I didn’t grab any condoms.”
I gather up as much confidence as possible, hoping like hell the painful words I’m about to say don’t show on my face. “It’s okay. I’m clean and I can’t get pregnant.”
His eyes darken. “You can’t have kids?”
My stomach turns. I didn’t plan to share this with him, but right now, I want him more than I want to protect my secret. “No, I can’t conceive children.”
He loudly swallows. “Do you want to talk about it?”
I force a smile. “What I want is for you to fuck me like I desperately need.”
Knowing he can’t resist, I start touching myself again. His eyes dart to my hand, and whatever hesitation he had moments ago melts away.
“I want you, Tyler. Please.” At hearing me beg, he climbs up the bed and hovers over me. Our eyes lock as he rubs the head of his dick up and down my slit.
“You’re so damn wet.” He groans seconds before he thrusts deep inside me. His mouth devours mine as he alternates between hard and fast and slow and sweet.
My nails dig into his ass as my senses go into overdrive. He pulls his mouth back and lifts his gaze to mine. His pace slows down as he holds my stare. “I don’t think I can get enough of you.” His words cause my heart to pound in my chest. He slowly withdraws only to ram straight back inside of me. “You belong to me.” A knowing smile forms on his face. I force my eyes shut. “Open your eyes, Lennie.” His frantic voice makes me do exactly what he asked. “We belong together.” Tyler grabs my leg and wraps it around his waist as our bodies continue to move as one. I arch my back, taking him even deeper as my body coils tight. I scream his name as I succumb to the pleasure he’s giving me.
With a deep groan, Tyler pulses inside me. When his hips finally stop thrusting, he drops down on top of me. I lie here, listening to him trying to catch his breath. How did I allow this to happen? How did I allow myself to become attached to someone? I’ve mastered the ability of avoiding relationships, and now when there couldn’t be a worse time to have one, I fall head over heels for a man I’m going to destroy.
Tyler kisses my cheek before pulling out of me. “You are the most amazing person I know, Lennie. I don’t care what you’re running from because whatever it is, we’ll face it together.”
I can’t stop the tears fro
m forming. If it were only that easy...
***
I WAKE UP WITH A smile on my face and Tyler wrapped around me. I stretch, causing him to moan behind me. “What time is it?”
I glance at the clock. “It’s after ten.”
“Really? I don’t remember the last time I slept this late.”
“I’m finally corrupting you.”
He chuckles. “Lennie, you’ve been corrupting me since the day you asked me for that fucking oil.” His lips find my neck as he starts kissing his way down my shoulder. “Let’s start the day out right. Then we can go do whatever the hell you want.”
“Including the pier?”
His lips pause. “I’ve fallen for you. I’m willing to do just about anything.” He presses his dick into my ass.
I roll over and look him in the eyes. “Well, in that case, there’s nothing you can’t do to me.” I smirk as his eyes light up.
“Is that so?”
“You better get started because we have a lot to do today.” His mouth crashes down to mine as I deliver on my promise.
***
“THAT WILL BE THIRTEEN DOLLARS.” I open my bag only for Tyler to push my hand away as he gives the hot dog vendor a twenty.
“I’m capable of paying for lunch.”
“I never said you weren’t, babe.” If he only knew the amount of money I have wasting away in my savings account. “Where to?” I look both directions before pointing to my right.
“Have you ever been to Galveston Island before?”
He nods his head. “Yeah, I came down here a few times in high school with some friends. It doesn’t hold the same nostalgia for me as it does for you.”
I smile, remembering the time Jodi almost stepped on a jellyfish. “See, that right there is what I’m talking about. You’ve been in Dallas for how many weeks now and I can’t recall you smiling that way unless you were at the shelter.”
“I used to love Dallas, but it doesn’t feel like home anymore.”
His face drops. I know he’s expecting me to stay. “Where are you going after you leave Dallas?”
I shrug my shoulders.
“I’d...” Tyler clears his throat. “I’d like to come with you.” I stop walking and turn to face him. “I know that sounds crazy, but I work from home. I can pack up my computer and travel anywhere you want to go. I’m crazy about you so my plan doesn’t sound all that insane to me.”
“You don’t really know anything about me.”
Tyler shakes his head. “Yeah, and whose fault is that? I want to know everything about you, but you won’t open up.” His tone changed. He’s verging on angry, and I can’t blame him.
“Tell me why you hate your parents. Tell me why I’ve lived across from your sister for almost four years and this is the first time I’ve seen you visit. I want to know more about you, Lennie, and more than that, I want you to trust me enough to share your secrets with me.”
If I tell him, everything will change, but if I don’t, then he’ll spend the rest of our trip mad at me.
I grab his hand and lead the two of us down to the beach and sit down in the sand. Tyler quickly sits next me.
“I came to Galveston when I was nine. We spent the whole week here. If I had any idea that would be the last vacation we’d have as a family, I would have tried to bottle up the magical feeling that week gave me.” I take a deep breath, keeping my eyes on the waves in front of us. “Shortly after my tenth birthday, I got sick. There was a nasty stomach bug going around, but for some reason I couldn’t kick it. I got so weak I couldn’t even stand up. My parents ended up rushing me to the hospital. After weeks of tests, I was diagnosed with leukemia.” I can see Tyler’s face turn towards me out of the corner of my eye, but if I want to finish my story, I can’t look at him.
“For the next year, I underwent any treatment a doctor suggested. The treatments made me feel worse than the leukemia did. I was young and all I wanted was the pain to go away, but somehow luck was on my side because on my eleventh birthday the doctors told my parents I was in remission. I had a weakened immune system but for the most part, I was a normal girl, but I didn’t feel normal. My mother hovered over me constantly. If I sneezed, she called the doctor to ask if I was going to be okay.” Tyler reaches for my hand and gives it a squeeze, but I keep my eyes focused on the water.
“It came back when I was fourteen. I knew I was getting sick again, but I hid it from my parents for as long as I could. I was only in my second year back in public school. I had friends, a life, and I knew the second my parents discovered I was sick it’d all be gone, which is exactly what happened. My dad made sure I got on a list at the Cancer Treatment Center. That hospital became my home for the next ten months, until my dad found out about an experimental treatment in Germany.”
“Wow, not too many people get the opportunity for treatments like that.”
I nod my head. “That’s not even the half of it. The type of treatments and clinics my dad took me to hadn’t cured anyone with leukemia, but he didn’t care. He listened to a doctor who said there was a chance and that’s all that mattered.”
“And...it worked?”
I exhale a deep breath. “Nope. I was told I needed to return to the US and try chemo or radiation again, but my doctor in the U.S. said my body couldn’t handle another round of treatment in the near future.” I finally look over at him.
“Then how did you get better?”
“When we returned to my American doctor, he slipped up in front of my mom. Jodi...” I pause to clear my throat. “Jodi was a match for a bone marrow transplant. She was tested when I got sick the first time, but my father refused to consider Jodi as an option.”
Tyler’s eyes narrow in disbelief. “But...”
“He claimed if the last round of chemo hadn’t worked the first time I was sick then he would have considered the bone marrow transplant, but he couldn’t come up with a good reason why he dragged me around for months after leaving me in a hospital for almost a year the second time.” I sniffle. “My dad claims he was worried that he’d lose us both if he allowed the surgery to happen, but I’m not sure I believe him. Jodi was a month away from starting college. I’m sure he was more worried I’d fuck up her future too.”
Tyler grunts with frustration.
“My mom went over my dad and told Jodi she was a match. Jodi was eighteen by then, so the decision was solely hers.” Which is why I couldn’t stomach looking at Jodi last night. She’s the only person who has unselfishly put my needs before their own. “The bone marrow transplant was successful. I didn’t magically bounce back to an average teenager, but I slowly got my energy back. But I was done playing by my parents’ rules.” I glance up into his eyes that are still filled with fire. “If it pissed my parents off, I did it. On some level, I felt guilty punishing my mom. After all, she didn’t know Jodi could have saved me years of being sick, but she sided with my dad. She actually told me one night that she wouldn’t have risked both of our lives, not without the guarantee that Jodi would have been okay.”
“Shit,” he mumbles under his breath.
“The risk is minimal to the person donating, but Jodi had a severe reaction to anesthesia when she had
her tonsils removed as a little girl. That’s the reason my dad claims he wasn’t willing to risk her life.”
“Did Jodi have a reaction when she donated?”
My hands tremble. “Yes. She stopped breathing, but since they knew she was a high risk to side effects, she was watched closely. In the end, she was back home a couple of days after the surgery.”
“When did you get to go home?”
“About six weeks after Jodi.” I turn my face back towards the water. “I don’t have kids and because of my treatments I can’t have any, but I spent years of my life sick when my father held the cure the whole time. I can’t imagine making a child of mine go through that, not when I knew I had the power to fix it.”
The doctors told Jodi the risk she
was taking by being put under were lessened because they knew in advance what they were dealing with, and without hesitation, she told them she’d do it. Jodi is the reason I feel guilty for how I’ve lived my life. She loves me. She protected me. She rarely judges me, but none of that changes the fact that she’s perfect in every way I’m not.
“My parents refused to allow me to return to school. Their great idea was to pay for my own personal teacher. My mother went back to hovering. They’d never allow me to go anywhere or have anyone over—not that it mattered much because I hardly had any friends—but I was going out of my mind. The second I got my driver’s license, I started taking off to different parts of Dallas. I met people who I felt understood me, but of course my parents hated them. College started consuming Jodi’s time. I saw less and less of her, so I quit making any effort to get along with my parents. I skipped out on my teacher regularly. I drank, smoked pot, had sex...hell, it didn’t matter. I was out living my life. I was making up for lost time. When you spend almost half of your childhood sick or in a bubble, you look at life differently than everyone else. The sky looks bluer. The grass looks greener. You learn to not take anything for granted.” I smile at Tyler, who’s wearing a pained expression.
“I left Dallas the day I turned eighteen. I had the money my grandparents left me, and I was determined to see the world.”
Tyler reaches over and turns my head towards him. “Thank you for sharing that with me. It actually explains a lot, and I have to say, I think I would have reacted the same way. Hell, I grew up thinking my mom’s favorite was Brandon, which she claims wasn’t the case, but if she did what your dad did...I don’t know how I’d forgive her.”
“On some level, I understand my dad’s fear, but he kept it from my mom, almost like he knew she’d want Jodi to help me.”
“Why did you come back now? From the moment I’ve met you, you’ve been counting down the weeks until you left.”
“I check in with my oncologist once a year. This year is supposed to be my huge milestone because if I can go ten years without a relapse then Dr. Ross said I don’t have to come back unless I feel there’s a reason to.”
Meeting The Unpredictable Page 13
