You

by Nella Tyler

  “Maybe when Brandon is grown up enough to ask for it himself, we can talk.” The poor kid was probably not even eighteen years old yet. He looked like one of those guys whose body grew much faster than his face and even his brain matured. He still wasn’t looking at me. The other two laughed as I walked away, and when I got to the counter and looked over at them, Brandon was looking at me. He was a cute kid; I’ll give him that, but a kid for sure. I had just turned nineteen, but when you add in my years on the street, it’s more like thirty-five. Besides, I have turned down every offer I’ve gotten in the past nine months anyhow. The closest I’ve come to “a night out on the town” was the over eighteen club downtown that I go to every so often with my roommate Matt. I don’t need that kind of complication in my life.

  “Summer!” My body jerked and I’d be willing to bet that the asshole was smiling behind me.

  “What, Jace? I’m standing right fucking here.”

  “Don’t curse at me.”

  “Don’t fucking yell at me. What do you need?”

  He slammed a plate up onto the stainless steel lip of the window. It had a giant biscuit in the center of it and a big bowl of gravy. “It’s for table nine, remember?”

  “I remember. Why can’t you just sit a plate up there underneath the warmer like a normal person, instead of a crazy one?”

  He smiled. I remember when I started here six months ago how attractive I thought he was.

  Now, I just think he’s an asshole, plain and simple. “Because I’m not a normal person.”

  “Ain’t that the truth?” I picked up the plate and carried it over towards table nine. I was almost there when the diner door opened and I was caught staring into the face of Derek’s friend, Lance. I looked down at the floor quickly and slipped past him, but it was too late, he’d seen me. What the hell was he doing here? I had a hard time imagining he was just in the neighbourhood. I tried to linger at table nine when I dropped off the biscuit, but I could feel him still standing there behind me the entire time. When the people at the table I was hovering over started looking uncomfortable, I was finally forced to turn back around. Lance was still looking at me and smiling like he just found a wallet on the sidewalk.

  “You can take any table you like.”

  “Summer.”

  I grit my teeth and just got it over with. “Lance. Please don’t tell him you saw me.”

  “I’m going to take that table over there by the window. Before I leave, you’re going to take a break and come over and sit with me. We need to talk.”

  “I’ve already had my break.”

  “Take another one.”

  “You’ll have to discuss that with the big guy behind the grill. Coffee?”

  “Yeah.”

  I watched him go sit down with a lump in my throat and butterflies in the pit of my stomach. What did he want? Surely, Drake has moved on by now. I have…for the most part. I went and got the coffee pot and a menu. Taking a deep breath, I walked over, poured him a cup, and sat the menu down in front of him. “Just let me know when you’re ready.”

  “Summer, please sit down.” He was resorting to please; I’ll bet that was hard for him. I looked around. Table nine was good and the three boys were still lingering over their breakfast. No one else was here. I glanced behind the counter. I could see Jace glaring at me. Fuck him. My work is caught up. I slid into the booth across from Lance.

  “I’ve literally got two minutes, so talk.”

  “Okay, you broke my friend’s heart. He’s not the same. He hasn’t been the same since you snuck out on him without so much as a note or a goodbye.”

  I’d gone over and over that in my head so many times. If I had waited and tried to say goodbye, he would have talked me into staying. If I had stayed, he would have changed all of his plans for me and me for him, and we would have ended up hating or at the very least resenting each other later on in life. I never wanted Drake to hate me. “So is that what you came to say?”

  “You think I drove all the way up here to tell you that?”

  “I have no idea why you drove up here. I have no idea how you found me.”

  “Phoebe.”

  Fucking Phoebe, I’m going to kick her ass. I called Kobe’s shop a few weeks ago to see if he’d seen her and she answered. I just missed her and wanted to find out how everyone was doing. I thought if I could trust anyone not to tell where I was, it would be her. She told me that she and Kobe are living together now and she works in the shop. She sounded happy, and I was so happy for her. Now, I’m just pissed. Just wait until I get a chance to go see her. I looked up at Lance and he was still staring at me with those damned intense brown eyes.

  “So, what else?” I kept the emotion out of my voice. I keep telling myself it’s been a long time and I hadn’t really even known Drake that long. But no matter how long it’s been, I still feel that ache in my chest when I think of him. He was my first love. Maybe that ache never really goes away.

  “Drake will be home for a couple of weeks. Go see him.”

  “I don’t have time or money for a trip to California.” The day I left, I bought the cheapest bus ticket out of the state. It took me to Bend, Oregon. I lived on the streets for two weeks before I met Matt. He was advertising for a roommate. I wasn’t going to be able to rent a place in my name because of my history, so I gave it a shot. I was honest with him, and he and I really hit it off. He’s twenty-four and works at an auto shop restoring classic cars and trucks. He’s laidback, easy to get along with, and in six months, he hasn’t hit on me once. It was perfect.

  I registered for classes at Community College and started hitting the pavement every day trying to find a job. I had no work history and no qualifications, so it was no small task. Jace had a sign in the window when I walked by one day three months after I came to Oregon. I walked in when he was desperately alone and he hired me on the spot. We’ve had a hate/hate relationship ever since, but he hasn’t fired me yet. My life has just recently become safe, warm, and comfortable. I’m not about to shake that up with the kind of drama Lance is proposing.

  “Okay, then I’ll tell him where to find you.”

  “Why? What good would it do for him to see me now? It’s been almost a year. I’m sure he’s moved on.”

  He gave me a hard stare and said, “He went on with his life, but he hasn’t moved on, Summer. I told you, he’s different.”

  “And, that’s a bad thing? I mean, everyone changes.”

  “Yeah, it’s a bad thing. He’s just going through the motions. He’s not happy.”

  “And, you think seeing me would change that?”

  “It would at least give him closure. That bothered him a lot, you not saying goodbye. Not knowing where you went or if you’re okay bothers him, too. I don’t know if seeing you will make him happy or not, but I’m tired of seeing my friend miserable, so it’s worth a shot.”

  “Summer!” Jace was booming from the kitchen again.

  “I have to get back to work,” I told Lance.

  “Fine, but think about what I said.” He wrote a number on the napkin and tossed ten dollars on the table as he stood up. “That’s my number. Drake will be home from Istanbul on Monday. If I don’t hear from you before, I’m telling him where you are.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

  DRAKE

  I felt the blankets stirring next to me. My head was pounding. I got in late last night from Istanbul and I was expected to make an appearance at Catalyst’s beach party for its newest division and models. While I was out of the country, they came out with a lingerie line.

  I turned over on my back and glanced at their latest model. The lingerie she had been wearing underneath her tiny little dress last night is strewn somewhere in the house…by the front door if I recall. Her name is Melinda, and she just turned twenty-one. She had been celebrating her new job and her birthday last night. I thought it was only right of me as her colleague to help that party along.

  She pushed back the she
et so her full breasts were staring at me before she opened her big, dark eyes. “Hi,” she said with a sleepy smile.

  My morning wood throbbed worse than my headache at the sight of her with her hair all dishevelled and her gorgeous tits standing straight up on their own. I turned slightly so I could rub it against her thigh. “Good morning.”

  “What time is it?”

  “I have no idea. You have a shoot today?”

  “Mm hmm…” She closed her eyes again. I leaned down to kiss her full lips. She smiled against mine and said, “Mmm, nice way to wake-up. I have to be at the cove by eleven.”

  I reached over blindly and grabbed my phone. I had a voicemail from Lance. I cleared that and looked at the time. “It’s nine-thirty. How long will it take you to get ready?”

  “They’ll fix me up. I’ll just need a half hour or so to shower and braid my hair.”

  “Then that gives up plenty of time.” I tossed the phone back where I got it and ground my hips into her. She turned towards me and rubbed her hard nipples into my chest. I kissed her again, harder this time, and let one of my hands wander down between her legs. She was warm and soaking wet, and a gasp escaped her lips into my mouth as I slipped two of my fingers up inside of her. I felt her fingers claw their way down between us until they reached my cock. Her lips rolled across mine and our tongues twisted up as we masturbated each other. It’s usually not my favorite thing when I’m with a beautiful woman, but fuck, she’s good.

  I slid my free arm across her hip and grabbed a handful of her juicy ass. She broke our kiss and brushed her lips down my neck, stopping to take a bite of my shoulder. Her hand was still working magic on my cock and I was already on the verge of one hell of an orgasm. She suddenly used her free hand to push me on my back and then she let go of my cock and straddled me. She kissed me again while grinding her wet pussy into my throbbing erection before she slithered down my body and in one smooth motion, sucked my cock into her mouth. She had definitely done this before, more than once. Her lips felt amazing as she wrapped them around my head and continued working the shaft with her skilled hand. She wasn’t just working my cock. She was running her hand from the base of my abs, down my shaft, across my balls, and back up again while she licked and sucked. It was incredible. My body felt like it was on fire. I wasn’t going to last much longer. I didn’t pull out of her mouth because I honestly didn’t feel like stopping and putting on a condom.

  For some reason, the only woman I had ever trusted enough to have sex with without one was Summer. She told me she wouldn’t get pregnant and I believed her. I think part of me honestly didn’t care if she did. That should have scared me, but it didn’t. I felt a sharp pain in my chest at the thought of her and wondered if that was ever going to stop. I had an incredible woman…a fucking lingerie model with her lips around my swollen cock; Summer French should really be the furthest thing from my mind.

  Melinda stopped sucking and pulled her head up and looked at me. She smiled and pulled herself back up my body until she was sitting on top of my cock. I felt her reach down and start to slide it inside of her. It was tempting…I hate condoms. I want to feel that silky flesh – but I don’t want to be chained to this woman for the next eighteen years.

  “Condom,” I groaned out.

  “We don’t need one.”

  “Yeah, we do,” I grunted out as she gyrated her hips and pressed down into me. She rolled her eyes, but reached over and pulled open the drawer. We had used three the night before, so she already knew where they were. She ripped open the package with her teeth and had started to roll it over the head of my cock when the doorbell rang. “Fuck!”

  “Ignore it,” she said, continuing what she was doing. There was a pause and then a knock.

  “Damn! My family knows I got home last night. I better see who it is.”

  She pouted and climbed off of me. She dropped down on the bed. I stood up and found my shorts. I pulled off the condom and slid them on. “Don’t move. I’ll be right back.”

  She cupped a breast in one hand and slid her other hand down between her legs and started humping it. “Hurry or I’ll finish myself.”

  With a growl, I grabbed a t-shirt and pulled it over my head. I closed the bedroom door just in case it was my mother or worse yet, my father at the door. The knocking stopped, so before I pulled it open, I was hopeful they had gone away. I almost got my wish and it would have been a cruel twist of fate if I had. When I opened the door, I saw Summer stepping onto the elevator. I wasn’t sure that I wasn’t dreaming. I felt an explosion deep down in my core when her eyes met mine and my whole body started to shake. “Summer?” She was still staring at me as the elevator doors slid closed. I was already at the door to the stairs when they slid back open.

  “Hi, Drake.”

  God, she’s beautiful. She looks…older or more mature, but otherwise the same. Her blonde hair was in a chunky side braid and the tips of it reached her waist. She was dressed in a skirt and blouse and a pair of short heels. She didn’t have any make-up on, but she didn’t need any. I felt like I couldn’t breathe. “What are you doing here?”

  She had stepped off the elevator, and I could feel the heat of her gaze as she took me in. “I was wondering if we could talk.”

  “Yeah, sure…” Fuck! I forgot Melinda. I can’t take Summer in there. “Let me get dressed and we’ll go have a cup of coffee or something.”

  She looked towards the apartment door and then back at my face. “I’m sorry. I don’t have a lot of time. I just took one day off work so I could do this. My bus leaves at one.”

  “You’re leaving again?”

  She nodded. “I’d really like to start at the beginning, though. Can we sit down inside for a minute?” I was racking my brain for a reason why we couldn’t…anything except the truth. The door was suddenly pulled open and there stood Melinda, in her lingerie. She looked at Summer and then they both looked at me. Melinda rolled her eyes and closed the door. Summer was still looking at my face. I felt it go hot and I had no idea what to say, how to fix this.

  “Summer, Melinda is just a friend.”

  She laughed. My heart feels like it’s going to explode and she’s laughing. When she stopped laughing she said, “It doesn’t matter, Drake. I didn’t honestly expect to come back nine months later and find you celibate. I guess I should have called.”

  I took a step towards her. She had that old familiar look in her eyes, like she was about to rabbit on me. I reached my hand out and she looked at it for a long time before finally reaching out for it. That crackle in the air was still there and as soon as we touched, it shot up my arm and adrenaline rushed through my veins. “I’m sorry.”

  She looked up at me sympathetically with her pretty eyes filled with tears. “Don’t be sorry. I’m sorry that I left without telling you. I’m sorry for everything.”

  “Why did you? I thought we had made up. That night with you, it was the best night of my life. Then I woke up and you were gone. Nobody knew or would tell me where you went. I was so worried.”

  “I know. I’m so sorry. At the time, I thought I was doing what was best. I just couldn’t accept help from you, Drake. I knew if I stayed, you would want to take care of me and you wouldn’t go do what you needed to do for yourself…”

  I’m not sure what the trigger was, but suddenly, I was angry. I just didn’t understand why she thought she got to make decisions about what was best for me. “Who do you think you are?”

  “I’m sorry?” she looked confused and I almost backed off, but I was too hurt and too angry. She was leaving me again and I was going to have my say before she did this time.

  “I said, who do you think you are? Who are you to decide what is in my best interest? Who are you to take away the one thing I wanted most in the world without at least discussing it with me?”

  “Like I said, I was doing what was best-”

  “For you, and for maybe what you thought was best for me. I’m not convinced you thought o
f me at all. You waited until you had money that you only earned because I helped you and then you just left.” All of these months of hurting inside and being afraid to let myself care about anyone or anything had come to a head and I was blaming Summer for all of it. I suppose that wasn’t fair, but at the moment, I didn’t care. “I felt like I did something wrong and all along, you were planning to leave no matter what I did. You were just waiting for that money.”

  “You didn’t do anything wrong. I wasn’t planning on leaving all along, either. It was kind of a spur of the moment decision. I would have just held you back and vice versa.”

  I had so much more to say about that, but I didn’t really have the energy. Instead, I asked, “Why did you come here today, Summer?”

  “Because Lance came to see me.”

  I wondered if it would have killed her to lie just to spare my feelings. I used to admire her honesty, but like everything else, it was just pissing me off today. “So after almost a year, the reason you came to see me and explain to me why you completely devastated me was because Lance asked you to?”

  She looked down at the floor and after a long hesitation, back up at my face. I knew the one thing she couldn’t do was lie. “He said if I didn’t come here that he would tell you where to find me and you would come there.”

  I felt like she’d taken the knife she left in my guts nine months ago and twisted it. This entire time, I’ve felt like there was something else I could have done to keep her. I worried that when she left, I should have looked harder for her. I blamed myself for her leaving when all along, she was leaving, no matter what. “You spent your life with no one to be accountable to and honestly, so did I. The difference between us, Summer is that when we met, I was ready to change that, but you weren’t.”

  “We’re very different, Drake. For one thing, I didn’t have anything to offer you.”

  “I didn’t want anything from you besides you and I’m pretty sure I made that clear. For me, that was enough, but you didn’t trust me when I told you that.”