I didn’t care if she didn’t like me. As for as I was concerned she was the one with something to prove.
Tempers flared throughout the weekend. It had been storming, so we were all trapped in the cabin. My fuse was already short and getting shorter by the second. Finally I blew up at her for nitpicking poor Gabby over every little morsel she ate. “What’s the big deal? So she puts on few pounds. Is being fat really the worst thing a person can be?”
She turned up her nose. “You tell me.”
“I’d rather be a happy fat person than some stressed out Stepford wife,” I shot back.
“Please,” Daphne sniffed. “You’re not happy. It’s an act. You’re a liar. I knew it the second you walked into this house.”
Eli was on his feet in a second to run interference. “Come on, Mom. We don’t have to do this.”
“Give me a break, Elijah,” she said, using his whole name for emphasis. “Are you really going to stand there and tell me this is the girl you want to be with?”
“So what if I do?” he asked as he pulled me closer. “What’s wrong with her? She graduated at the top of her class. She’s a sweet and devoted friend, who never lets anyone suffer if she can help it. She’s not afraid to put me in my place when I deserve it. Am I really supposed to want her any more if she was thinner?”
Daphne stood. “You would and you know you would. That’s just how you’re wired. That’s how all men are wired. It’s biology, Eli.”
“It’s bullshit, Mom,” he shot back, which caught me by surprise.
“This isn’t about your roaming eye and your perverse curiosity. This is about offspring. You find a superior mate, you produce superior offspring.”
“I guess that didn’t work for you,” he pointed out. “Dad was a loser, or so you keep telling us. I guess that’s why you prefer the kid Wayne had without you. Gabby and I have never been able to impress you. You chip away at our flaws until we feel worthless.”
She scoffed. “So worthless that you’re a major pop star all over the world. How will you ever forgive me, Eli?”
“I did that in spite of you,” he corrected. “If you had your way, I’d be in some stuffy office right now, making a fraction of the money doing a job I hated, just so I could have a little ‘security.’”
Her contemptuous glance fell on me. “And look at how far you had to sink to make that happen.”
Eli stalked over to where she stood. “Carly is a step up from you, Mother. She busts my balls, but at least she makes me a better man. I appreciate her. I endure you.”
Wayne finally piped up. “I think that’s quite enough, Eli. Apologize to your mother.”
“No,” Eli told him. “Because it’s not just me she’s hurting anymore.”
“Eli,” I warned, but he was way past hearing.
“What are you talking about?” she asked.
“Gabby,” he said softly. I spotted her in a corner, her eyes wide, shaking her head. The shit was officially about to hit the fan. “She’s sick, Mom. And you’re keeping her that way.”
I squeezed his arm. He had to stop talking. “Eli, please,” I said softly.
He pulled away. “She is developing an eating disorder,” he said, dropping the bomb in the middle of the room. Both Wayne and Daphne took a direct hit, wearing the shock right on their faces. “She binges on food and then throws up. She did it at least three times that we know of at our house, and once since we’ve been here.”
Daphne turned to Gabby. “What is he talking about?”
She just shook her head. “I’ve just been sick,” she said weakly, still trying to lie. She wasn’t ready for this, especially with Michael watching. I could feel her spirit shrivel from across the room.
“Eli,” I said again, reaching for his arm.
He wrenched around to face me. “I’m not going to let what happened to you happen to her, Carly.”
I backed up a step. What was he saying?
He turned back to his mother and Wayne. “Gabby’s sick and we have to fix it. Together. As a family. If we don’t, we could lose her.” Tears filled his eyes as he turned to Gabby. “We’ve been losing her.” He turned back to his mother. “Carly was the only one who saw it. She’s doing what she can to save her, and you’re treating her like gum on your shoe because of what she weighs? How fucking heartless are you, Mother?”
Wayne stepped around Daphne. “It’s time for you to go. Get your girlfriend, get your stuff and get out.”
“I’m taking Gabby with me,” Eli decided.
“Like hell you are!” Wayne thundered.
“Guys?” Beth chimed in, but we all ignored her. I stood between the two men before they could come to blows.
“Are you happy now?” Daphne sneered at me.
“Guys,” Beth said again.
I turned my back to both of them to concentrate on Eli. I cupped his face in my hand and forced him to look at me. “Let’s just go.”
“Not without Gabby,” he stated again. Those sharp blue eyes welcomed no argument.
“Guys!” Beth screamed, forcing us all to look at her. “Gabby’s gone,” she said, pointing to the open door, where the rain and wind raged just outside.
Gabby was nowhere to be found.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Though the thunder boomed overhead and dangerous cloud-to-ground lightning split a nearby tree completely in two, all six of us headed outside to search for Gabby. It was dark and we were isolated on ten acres near the national forest. She could be anywhere.
We were desperate. Emotions were high. And I was livid at Eli. “How could you spring that on everyone like that?”
“What was I supposed to do? Let her keep beating the hell out of the poor kid?”
“And this is better?” I shrieked. I jumped every time the thunder clapped. “I begged you to keep quiet. But you’ve never listened to me before. Why start now?”
He spun around to face me. “This is my sister, Carly. I made her a promise.”
“So did I,” I gritted between clenched teeth. “There are better ways to handle sensitive situations like this, Eli.”
“Newsflash! I don’t know what the hell I’m doing, okay? I’m not another great and powerful OGWO, okay?”
“Then listen to me!” I shot back.
“Then talk to me!” he retorted. I spun away. “Why didn’t you tell me about Wyatt?”
Tears strangled me in my throat. So he had overheard. Great. “It’s none of your damned business, that’s why. It’s just a thing that happened a long time ago to a person I don’t even remember. It doesn’t matter.”
He closed the gap between us. We were soaking wet in the rain. He cupped my face with his hand. “It matters to me.”
The minute he touched me thunder crashed and I jumped. I pushed him away. “We have to find Gabby.”
He glanced around, trying to figure out any clue where she might be. Then he brightened. Like a light bulb. “I know where to look.”
He led me by the hand as we trotted along the muddy path towards an old barn behind the main house. Since this was a summer home, they didn’t use it for its original purpose. Instead it worked as a hideaway for a little girl, who could escape there among the bales of hay, finding refuge in the secluded loft overhead. Eli made a beeline up the ladder, and I followed suit. “Gabby!” he called as we reached the top. He pulled out his phone to shed some light on our surroundings. There were funky drawings taped to the walls, and a bale of hay dressed up with a blanket, some pillows, and an assortment of stuffed animals.
It was Gabby’s secret hiding spot all right.
“We used to sneak out here when things got too tense at the house,” he told me as he opened the latch in the roof, to show the stormy sky above.
“This has happened before?”
“Every year they’ve owned this place,” he shrugged before he uncovered the other “bed.” It had a sleeping bag, an old flannel blanket and a pillow. He landed on it with a thud. “Fuck,�
�� was all he said as he dropped his head in his hands.
I joined him on the bed. “I know your heart was in the right place, but you really need to coordinate with your head sometimes.”
His eyes met mine. “That’s why I have you.” I didn’t know what to say, so I said nothing. “Where is she, Carly? You were a scared little girl once. Where would you run?”
I shrugged as I looked around. “Fuck if I know. I didn’t run away until I was a scared adult.”
“And you’re still running,” he said softly. My eyes met his. “I get it now.”
I sprang off of the bed. “You do not get it,” I corrected.
He stood. He spoke as he approached. “You’re scared, but you don’t have to be.”
I scoffed. “I am not scared of you, Eli Blake.”
“No,” he agreed when he reached me. “You’re scared of you.”
“Fuck you,” I snapped.
“You keep saying that like a threat.” He toyed with a tendril of my hair. “Tell me, Carly. When did it start feeling like an invitation?”
I yanked away. “Are you really going to put the moves on me while your sister is missing in a thunderstorm? Have you learned nothing, Eli?”
He dropped his hand, though whether in frustration or desperation I couldn’t be sure. “Tell me what to do and I’ll do it.” His voice softened. “I trust you.”
Just as I opened my mouth to suggest we get the hell out of the barn for a start, his cell phone rang. He answered in a second. “Did you find her?”
I couldn’t hear the other half of the conversation. Instead I watched Eli closely. He walked over to his bed, where he flopped again—this time from sheer relief. “Thank God. We’ll be right there,” he started, but the other person cut him off. “What do you mean she doesn’t want to see me?” I could feel his throat close from where I stood. His heart shattered right in front of me. He listened intently for long minutes. Finally he said, “Fine. But can you just do me a favor, Michael? Tell her I’m sorry. And tell her I love her.”
He could barely say the words. I walked over to the bed, where I sat beside him again. He tossed the phone aside, dropped his head in his hands and cried. I rubbed his shoulders for comfort, holding him together as he fell promptly apart. It took long minutes before he could compose himself.
“That was Michael,” he finally said.
“I know.”
“She doesn’t want to see me.”
My heart broke for him. “I know.”
“They’re taking her back to Denver tonight. Beth knows a treatment center they can use. One of her friends went there.” His voice cracked. “She lost her battle.”
I leaned my head on his shoulder. My little wooden puppet had finally become a real boy, but at what cost? “At least someone knows how serious it is.”
He snorted. “The irony. The most vapid among us actually developed a plan of action. Michael said she was devastated when she realized how much had happened right under her nose.”
“Maybe they can save two people,” I said.
He nodded. “Is it too much to hope for a whole family?”
I brushed his hair from his face. “Aren’t you the one who always says to hold on to your dream? Seems silly to give up on hope now, especially when you need it so badly.”
He offered a humorless chuckle. “Leave it to you to throw my words back in my face, Sunshine.”
I leaned into him. “The name is Carly.”
His eyes met mine. “That’s why you hate that name, isn’t it? Just another mask you refuse to wear.”
I shrugged. I didn’t know what it meant.
“Everyone is packing up now. They said to avoid the house for a while.” He flopped on his back and stared at the sky overhead. “Probably for the best. Gives the storm a chance to pass.”
I found myself lying next to him. I didn’t have the heart to break it to him this particular storm was going to last a lot longer than he knew. Instead I held him. He wrapped his arms around me and together we watched the lightshow overhead.
I don’t know who first turned to whom. I think maybe we turned to each other at the same time. But suddenly we were locked in a long, silent gaze. I leaned forward, my lips parting over his.
He gathered me into his arms as he deepened the kiss. There were no cameras to record it, no friends, family or fans to dupe. I wanted to kiss him. And so I did.
He eased me over on top of him, until I straddled his hips. His hands cupped my face as he kissed me harder. I could feel the desperation in his kiss, as well as the desire in his body. I knew it only mirrored my own, as I kissed him back, rubbing my body against him.
It may have started as a lie, but it was real now. I wanted this man. More than that, I wanted to be claimed by this man. He didn’t require me to change. He didn’t hold his affection out on a stick, keeping me shackled to his expectations. Instead, he learned who I was, bit by bit, piece by piece. And it was okay.
I was okay.
I was what he wanted.
And God help me, he was what I wanted. This wasn’t just some schoolgirl crush anymore. We had been true partners for months, working together, sharing our lives, our thoughts and our dreams. He had started as a thorn in my side, yet somehow evolved into a friend.
And now he was kissing me like he’d die if I let him go.
When he began to peel the damp shirt from my shoulders, I didn’t resist. Instead I unbuttoned his shirt, one by one, sliding my hands across that satiny chest. He reached behind me to unhook my bra. The second it fell away, his mouth was on my breast, toying with me, teasing me. I gasped as I writhed against him.
He flipped me onto my back easily, crawling between my legs as he kissed his way down my shoulder, across my chest, licking every square inch of my breast until I squirmed beneath him. Those incredible blue eyes met mine. “I feel like I owe you something,” he murmured.
Our eyes locked and held as he trailed his tongue from between my breasts and across my stomach. He made quick work of the jeans I wore, unzipping them and peeling them from my body. My legs opened for him, but he took his time with his task, kissing and licking my sensitive inner thighs as he got ever closer to his target. I felt his breath warm me an instant before his tongue pinpointed my clitoris. I gasped again. Unlike the first time he had seduced me in such a manner, I didn’t take off like a bottle rocket. Instead it was a slower burn, because he took his time, savoring the taste of me. Those eyes watched my face as he gauged every move, changing his repertoire according to my gasps and groans. He’d take me right up to the brink, then slow it down again, blowing air against me, allowing me to float a little closer to earth, before he would repeat the process all over again. Finally I couldn’t take it anymore. “Eli, please,” I whimpered.
He latched that incredible mouth against me and suddenly I didn’t care about the storm raging outside. I was in outer space, orbiting Pluto. It wasn’t like the high of marijuana. This was pure pleasure releasing the endorphins in my brain, intoxicating me on nothing more than the man between my legs.
As I spasmed under him, he rose up to face me. Our gaze held as he slowly unfastened his belt and unzipped his jeans. Not-so-little Eli sprang forward, throbbing and impossibly hard. My whole body responded with need. I couldn’t stop myself from reaching for him even if I wanted to. He filled my hand, which only made other parts of me jealous. I used my other hand to reach for his neck, to pull him down for a kiss. I could taste myself on those lips. It was so primal I felt my head spin. I tugged his jeans over his ass, and he finally kicked them free before turning back to face me. He propped himself over me, to study me in the brilliant flashes of lightning just outside. When he finally lay on the makeshift mattress, he landed on his back, so that he could straddle me on top of him. His eyes focused on my face as he rubbed himself against me. “You’re so wet, so warm. I want to be inside you, Carly. I need to be inside you. Please.”
I shuddered. It was all I wanted. “Eli,” I s
tarted, though I had no idea what I was going to say.
He sat up, pulling me closer for another kiss. He searched my eyes with his as his tongue penetrated my mouth. “Don’t turn me away again. I need you. I want you. Tell me you want me too.”
I could barely speak as he kissed me deep and slow. “Eli,” I started again, as my brain and my heart waged an epic battle for control over my body.
“Please,” he repeated again, in a voice so soft it nearly shattered me. “Love me.”
I was defenseless after that. I wrapped my arms around him and kissed him hard. His fingers dug into my back as he fought to get closer. There was only one way we could. I reached in between our bodies and positioned him, sliding down on top of him until we were one.
He shuddered against me as I buried him inside of me. Our kisses grew even hungrier. Our need was even greater. He grabbed both breasts in his hands as his mouth liberally explored mine. In between kisses, his eyes locked with mine, as if he could see my whole entire life play out before him. No secrets. No lies. Every good thing. Every bad thing. He wanted it all.
His hands slipped around my back, sliding down to cup each hip in his hand. He tilted my pelvis until he found the right spot, which I rewarded with a sharp cry. The target was locked. He used those hands to guide me as I rode him. My eyes started to close the closer I got to yet another orgasm. He shook his head.
“Look at me.”
I didn’t want to, but I obeyed. The look in those eyes helped push me over the edge. Suddenly I was coming. Then I was screaming. I’m not sure when he started to cry out as he bucked underneath me. I think I was still on my second orgasm, but who the hell knew? He knew just where to touch, just where to stroke. I was incoherent as I rode him. The way he lost control made me lose control.
I believed him. How in the hell did I believe him?
Glitter on the Web Page 28
