We were going to take care of Charger. That meant beating him into the sand and making sure he took that message back to whoever he reported to. From there, it was up to Aaron and the other douchebag baseball players to stand their ground. And then Jasmine was going to get herself right and move forward.
I was going to find Mara with a drink in her hand. Her third drink, the one that would make her giddy but not drunk.
We’d kiss like crazy and I’d tell her it was time to leave.
And then I’d take her…
“I can’t sleep either,” Lake said as she appeared from nowhere, making me jump.
“Hey,” I said.
She wore a black, fuzzy robe and hugged herself. “Where do I start?”
“Nowhere,” I said. “Go inside and sleep.”
“Yeah right,” she said. “I can’t believe you finally needed Calypso.”
“Another secret of my life, huh? I never knew about her.”
“I did. She’s not bad. Vicious though. Broke her heart when she quit on your father to open her own practice.”
“He didn’t get pissed at her?”
“Your father? No. He embraced opportunities. He wished her luck. And she never forgot that. She was always there in the wings so to say. Waiting in case anyone needed her. She did a lot of paperwork when your father was still alive and when he died. She’s more of a court attorney but still has her corporate roots.”
“Shit,” I said. “And I had no idea.”
“She saved your ass. What the hell is wrong with you? You hit a cop?”
“That’s dramatic,” I said. “It was a tussle. Between the two of us. As Caly said, we were both in the wrong. And I didn’t do anything wrong, Lake. I was trying to make sure Mara was safe.”
“How so?”
I shook my head. “I’m not talking about this with you. No way in hell.”
“Okay,” Lake said. “Remember who’s here for you too. That’s me. And if you don’t think I see what’s happening, you’re crazy. This isn’t you. This isn’t Ulysses. This isn’t Uly. And that’s fine. Hide behind it. Have a good night.”
Lake walked toward the door.
“You know, this is my house and I could kick you out, Lake,” I called out.
“I’ll go pack my bags.”
She went inside, getting the last word.
Lake was like a pain in the ass older sister. And sometimes she was right.
I stood up and grabbed my notebook and my cigarettes and slowly worked my way into the house. I wasn’t going to go fucking running after her and ask for advice.
But I didn’t want to be alone.
I wasn’t going to call Them. Or Belle.
Or Mara…
I walked through the first floor of the house.
I skipped the guest area because that was nothing but a memory of Belle. And it was where I wanted to take Mara. To turn it into our spot together in my house.
In the kitchen, Lake was at the counter, making a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.
“That’s some sad eating there,” I said.
“It’s for you, dumb ass,” Lake said.
“Me?”
“You used to eat these all the time,” she said. “When you were sad.”
“When was I ever sad?” I asked.
Lake tilted her head. “You know, you weren’t born an alien or something. You’re a person. You’re allowed to feel things and go through things.”
“Like what?”
“Like what happened to your parents. Or maybe your father dying…”
I curled my lip. “Don’t do that to me.”
“Do what? You have that stuff blocked away. The day your father died, I made you a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. It was always your version of crying.”
“Crying?” I asked. I laughed. “I’m not crying over anything, Lake.”
“Well… guess what? You’re different now.”
“Different… now…”
“I mean, the way you’re acting. Compared to when you met Belle, for example.”
I shook my head. “Seriously…”
“You know I’m right. You’re in love with this girl.”
“I’m not talking about this,” I said. “You can eat that sandwich. I don’t want it.”
“You never act like this,” Lake said. “Think about everything you’ve done… and now you’re acting like this? Ever since your mother hurt her leg.”
“Don’t talk about my mother,” I said. “You hate her.”
“This isn’t about me.”
“It’s not about me either,” I said.
“You were arrested tonight.”
“And let go.”
Lake stabbed the sandwich and walked out of the kitchen.
I was alone again.
Rightfully so.
I was really good at pushing everyone away.
Fucking up was just the thing that made me who I was.
I pulled the knife out of the peanut butter and jelly sandwich and put it on the counter.
I looked down to my notebook and opened it.
There was only one thing I attempted to work on.
I said I love you as the cop took me down. The music from the party the only noise to drown. Out what’s left of this crazy, messy night. And the hearts that make it so and the feelings just are right.
I shook my head.
I grabbed the peanut butter and jelly sandwich.
As I took a big bite, I shut my eyes.
I wasn’t done with Mara just yet.
Chapter 16
I stepped out of my car and saw Calvin walking down the porch steps.
He was messing with his suit jacket with one hand and staring at his phone with the other.
He was in an obvious rush and didn’t see me until he almost walked into me.
I wasn’t going to move out of his way.
“Christ, Ulysses,” he growled.
“Off for another run?” I asked.
“It’s called work,” he said. “A real job.”
“Tough break,” I said. “I inherited all my money.”
I yawned and stretched my neck.
Just to piss Calvin off.
And it worked with ease.
“Good for you, kid,” he said. “Leave your mother alone. She’s resting. She had a rough night. Because of you.”
“Me, huh?”
Calvin laughed. “Good thing you inherited all that money. Too bad it’ll be pissed away in the legal system.”
Calvin walked around me.
Of course he knew about me being arrested.
Mara called Paula. Paula picked up Mara and brought her here.
And my mother knew everything.
Or at least what she was told.
I was here to see Mara, but now I had to face my mother.
Not that she had a leg to stand on… no pun intended…
I could do whatever I wanted, when I wanted.
I went into the house and to the sunroom.
My mother lifted her eyes from her phone.
She shook her head.
“What?” I asked.
She dropped her phone. “Janice called me. Bethany texted me. And then Kate had a group text with Allie and Bethany.”
“Sounds busy,” I said.
“It was all about you, Ulysses. They all know. It’s all over the place around here. What is wrong with you?”
I gritted my teeth. “Yeah. It’s all my fault.”
“Is it not?”
“I’m not in jail, am I?”
“Oh, please,” my mother said. “That lush your father liked got you out of it. I know how the game goes with that. You’ll never really get in trouble because money talks and that pretty whore knows just who to get on her knees for.”
“Wow,” I said. “Well said. Did Calvin rehearse that with you?”
“Excuse me?”
“That’s what I thought,” I said. “Too bad he’s not here now. To
comfort you. He’s all you need, right? You can’t even give me a second to let you know what happened last night. Because the rumors are too good, right? You can swim in those waters for a while. Blame my father. Blame me. It’s good drama for you.”
“Get out of here, Ulysses,” my mother said. “Just go. Go away. I don’t need to see you right now. Don’t hide here anymore. You want to do that stuff with your life? Then go. Leave.”
I rubbed my jaw and walked out of the sunroom toward the front door.
Fuck me, she got to me…
I let my mother actually mess with my feelings.
Her words were always worthless, but now…
It was like a new door inside me had been opened.
I reached for the front door and a hand grabbed my wrist.
When I turned my head and saw Paula standing there, I gritted my teeth even harder.
Paula shook her head. “You’re not leaving just yet, Uly.”
“Why not?” I asked.
“Because you and I need to have a talk.”
* * *
We stood in the kitchen and I watched the way Paula cut lemons.
Stabbing first. Pushing the blade down into the skin. Slicing back and forth.
The way her lip curled… the way her eyes looked at me…
“You’re pretending that’s me, right?” I asked.
Paula lifted the knife. A droplet of lemon juice dripped to the cutting board on the counter.
“If I wanted it to be you… it would be.”
“So then I’m in your good graces,” I said with a grin.
Paula stabbed a fresh lemon and let the knife balance in it.
“This situation is beyond anything I can imagine,” Paula said. “I never thought in my wildest dreams that my daughter would ever entertain the idea of you. And the same for you to her. That’s not what this is about. No…”
“I’m sorry, Paula,” I said. “For everything that happened. Mara was safe though. I was following her.”
“And then the cops just showed up?” Paula asked.
“Yeah,” I said. “Look, the truth is simple. Mara and I got into an argument and she walked away. I didn’t want her to walk alone, especially on a dark road, and she’s too damn stubborn to listen to me, so I followed her. I was going to let her walk as far as she wanted to. Then this cop came out of nowhere. They were busting up a party and wanted to ask me about it. I didn’t give a damn about a party. I just wanted to make sure Mara was safe and got home safe.”
Paula grabbed the knife and pulled it out of the lemon. “That’s the story?”
“Yeah.”
“And you just decided to… fight a cop?”
“I didn’t fight anyone,” I said. “I wasn’t going to be questioned while Mara walked away. I was…” I looked around the kitchen. “Shit. I was scared, Paula. For Mara. And it was my fault too. I took her somewhere she didn’t want to go. I wanted to just have a relaxing night on the beach. And some people ran their mouths. She got hurt. And it was my fault because I took her there.”
Paula stared at me. Studying me. Her bullshit meter was on high.
But there was no bullshit from me. At least not right then.
She put the knife down and scooped the lemon slices into a container.
Then she began to cut another lemon.
“I always told Mara if she ever needed to call me she could,” Paula said. “And believe me, I know how this works, Ulysses. You’re both adults. Right?”
“I didn’t say anything.”
“You want to be two nineteen-year-olds who run off and do crazy stuff… wait. No. Not at all. You can do things she can’t.”
I looked over my shoulder at my mother.
She scrolled on her phone with a horrific look on her face.
Digging into the drama that was her son. Desperate to find a way to make the drama her tragedy. To just add to what happened to her leg.
“I think you should go,” Paula said. “I know your mother kicked you out already. But I wanted you to hear it from me. I warned you. This isn’t going to happen, Ulysses. With one word, I’m out of a job. Your mother could take it away as fast as it she gives it. That’s something you will never understand. I’m not faulting you for that. But you’re not going to drag my family into it. And my family is Mara. It’s just me and her. Always has been.”
I nodded. “So this is all about money, right? That’s what everyone goes to. Money.”
“Ulysses… don’t play that card. Don’t try to be a victim. What is Mara to you? Huh? She’s just some girl. And you’ll have your fun and then leave her behind. Then what? I have a job here. A life to provide for my family.”
“She smart,” I said. “She’s amazing. She makes me feel crazy all the time, Paula. She makes me forget a lot of things I need to forget. I want her to keep going with things. For how smart she is. I’m in the same classes as she is. Crazy smart.”
“What?” Paula asked.
“I would never hurt her,” I said. “I never set out to hurt her. Or have last night happen the way it did. I know you have the queen of all drama in the other room. And she’s loving all of this. And I know that guy Calvin isn’t all the way there and honest. So I get what you have to do here with Mara. But I was protecting her. Caring for her. Making sure she was safe. Because if I tried to get her into my car she would have punched me.”
Paula stared intently.
I wasn’t trying to sell her anything.
I wasn’t sure what the hell I was even doing.
So I gave her what she wanted.
What my mother wanted.
I left the house.
As I stood on the porch and looked around, I realized just how much time I had been spending there. And it wasn’t for my mother. Or her leg. Or Calvin. Or anything else that it should have been. A part of me wanted to give up everything in BFH to just be with Mara. I couldn’t whisk her away to BFH and have her live that life with me.
It wasn’t like with Belle.
Where Belle just showed up and stayed.
This was different.
I made it down two steps on the porch when I heard a voice behind me.
“What you said… was it true?”
I turned and saw Mara.
Standing in an old hoodie that was stretched, worn, and ripped. There were girls at BFH that paid hundreds of dollars for a hoodie that looked like that but Mara’s was homemade. Which meant it was made through time and lack of money.
The hoodie was so big on her that it covered her jean shorts.
It made her look like she wore nothing but the hoodie.
And her hair was messy, her eyes looked tired, and she was as beautiful as ever.
“What did I say, doll?” I asked her.
“Last night,” Mara said. “What you said. When you were getting arrested. I can’t believe I even get to say that…”
“I said I was going to take care of you,” I said. “And I did. I mean, I tried. I wasn’t going to let some fucking cop get in the way of that. There was no way you were going to walk home by yourself.”
Mara looked over her shoulder. “I heard what they both said to you. They kicked you out, huh?”
“Shocker,” I said. “Not the first time I’ve been kicked out from somewhere. Not going to lose sleep over it.”
“But it’s all because of me,” Mara said. “All of this crazy stuff is now happening because of me.”
“Or maybe you think it’s because of you,” I said. “You’re just getting full of yourself, doll.”
Mara stepped down a step and leaned toward me. She put her hands on my shoulders.
“You love me, Uly,” she said.
“Yeah,” I said. “I do. And it has nothing to do with anything else in my life or yours.”
“Which means… it’s real…”
“Fuck me, doll, it’s real,” I said.
I grabbed her by the waist.
Mara bit her lip.
Figh
ting that notion of right and wrong. And the space in between each.
“You should go,” Mara said.
“Right,” I said. “Four for four…”
“Huh?”
“You’re kicking me out. Your mother did. My mother did. And good ‘ole Calvin did too.”
Mara’s lip curled. “Yeah… well… whatever.”
Mara pushed away from me and stepped back to the top of the porch.
We stared at each other for two seconds before Mara said oh fuck and she hurried down and back into my arms.
Our lips touched and she pulled away.
She let out a deep breath.
Her face twisted with confusion.
“I know, doll,” I whispered.
“You don’t though,” she said.
We kissed again and she pushed away and ran back up the steps.
“So tonight I’ll be at that place,” I said. “Playing a show. If you feel like getting out of here. You know, just something casual for yourself. A night out. A night away. Without the mention of my name. Since I’m so taboo now.”
I backed down the porch steps and walked to my car.
Mara didn’t move.
I started my car and revved the engine, knowing I needed to make a loud exit. I needed to kick up some dirt, rock, and sand.
Mara touched her lips and shook her head.
I knew how she felt.
I couldn’t figure out how the fuck I fell in love with a girl like her. This shy, dorky, wearing old, ripped clothes kind of girl. Who listened to music and read books and kept to herself (for the most part) and just tried to enjoy what she had.
And she was thinking the same thing about me.
How the fuck did she fall for a guy like me?
I didn’t understand it either.
And I wasn’t going to worry about figuring it out.
It was here.
It was happening.
And her mother and my mother kicking me out of the beach house?
That made me laugh as I slammed my foot on the gas pedal.
My car spun around with a cloud of dust behind it and I took off down the beach road to the main road.
I’d fucking buy the land next to my mother’s beach house and build an even bigger beach house just to make sure I was in everyone’s way. And I’d fucking put up a banner that said I LOVE MARA, MOTHERFUCKERS. And then I’d spend the rest of my life living up to the banner.
ULY (Bay Falls High - Them Book 1) Page 15
