by D. Kelly
I look over at Max, and he’s smirking at me. Bastard knows exactly what I’m thinking. They chat back and forth as I make his food, and by the time he digs in, Sage is almost finished. Aurora joins them, and she and Sage talk like old friends about books while I make myself and Aurora some breakfast.
“I’m stuffed, I can’t eat another bite. That was really good, Gabe. Where did you learn to cook?”
She must be dead tired if she’s complimenting me.
“Random places, I guess.” My answer is non-committal. I don’t want to get into my history with Sage right now.
Max picks up on my hesitation and saves me. “Gabe is a jack of all trades. This guy is like a modern-day MacGyver. He can pick up anything and know what to do with it or how to make it work in his favor. We’re going to miss him around here when he leaves.”
“Hmm, that’s interesting.” Sage looks at me like she’s seeing me in a whole new light. Probably not, though; it’s likely my sleep deprivation making me see things that aren’t there.
Once I’ve scarfed down my pancakes, Sage yawns, and I use it as my cue to get her out of here. “Let me walk you to your room.”
“I don’t need your protection, Gabe, I’m a big girl.”
The sun is barely rising, and we’re in the middle of nowhere. I’m sure she’s safe, but I’m not letting her go alone.
“Okay fine, then can you walk me to my room, please? I might need your protection since you’re such a badass.”
Max snorts, and Aurora shoots him a warning glance. They haven’t been together long, but they’re perfect for each other. I’ve never seen Max happier either.
“Fine … let’s go put you to bed.” Her faces flushes, and she shakes her head. “You know what I mean. That came out wrong. I’m tired.” Then she releases an exasperated sigh. “Ugh, let’s just go.”
I follow her up the stairs and enjoy the view. I can’t remember a time when I wasn’t attracted to this girl.
“Here you go. Unlucky room 13.”
“Hmm, I’m not so sure about that. This room is special now. It’s the room that brought you back to me.”
Her eyes widen with surprise before quickly narrowing in anger. “I’m your ride home. I wouldn’t call that being back in your life.”
“Potato, potahto. Let’s have lunch together later and talk. I have some things I need to get off my chest.”
“Maybe. I’ll see how I feel when I wake up.”
“Don’t worry, I’ll make it worth your while. I promise.”
Once she’s inside her room next door and I hear the door lock behind her, I call Aurora and ask her to pack us a lunch. I’m going to take Sage on a picnic, and we’re going to talk this out once and for all.
CHAPTER FOUR
SAGE
THERE’S AN INCESSANT KNOCKING AT my door, and when I lift my head and look at the clock, I see it’s already three in the afternoon. With a groan, I throw back the blankets. “I’m coming, hold on.”
I throw open the door without a care in the world as to how I look. Gabe is leaning against the doorjamb looking sexy as hell. “Get dressed. It’s time for our picnic.”
My stomach grumbles at the mention of food. It’s been almost ten hours since we ate breakfast, I guess I can see why. “Why do you want to go to lunch together anyway?”
He leans closer, his body inches away from mine. “This has nothing to do with food and everything to do with clearing the air between us once and for all. You’ve got thirty minutes before I come back. Be ready.”
When he saunters back to his room, my heart skips a beat. The needy woman in me who wants to fuck the hell out of Gabriel Ross is dying to know what he has to say. But my inner teenage self is afraid of knowing what happened all those years ago and having my heart break all over again.
As I close the door behind me and make my way into the bathroom, I gasp. My hair is shooting out in all different directions, and I’ve got pillow creases all down the right side of my cheek. My heart beats a little faster knowing he didn’t make fun of me.
There’s a knock at my door exactly thirty minutes later as I’m tying my tennis shoes. When I answer the door, Gabe’s eyes troll my body, and he takes a deep breath before meeting my eyes. “Those shorts are probably illegal in some states, but damn, baby, your legs are … wow.”
“Don’t call me baby, and that’s what happens when you wear heels ten hours a day.” I don’t tell him I go to soul cycle as often as I can. He doesn’t need to know I work hard for this figure. Hell, I like to eat way too much to not exercise often.
“Ready?”
Nodding, I grab my key and lock the door behind us. With a quick stop at the restaurant, he comes out of the kitchen with an actual picnic lunch. It would be sweet if it were anyone else but him. Who am I kidding? It’s still sweet that he’s trying to make nice. The fact he’s sexy doesn’t hurt, either, but it does make me cautious.
“Where are we going?”
“You’ll see,” he answers with a smile, and I follow behind him. It’s gorgeous outside today. The sun is shining brightly, the temperature in the low seventies. We walk to the far end of the motel and take a dirt path that veers to the left. After maybe a quarter mile we enter a clearing where there is a huge tree and a picnic table underneath.
“This is so pretty. Is it still part of the motel?”
Nodding, he begins to unpack our lunch. “Yes, Aurora said she used to come here all the time when she was little. This was her private place to read and relax. She used to have a swing in the tree, but it’s not there anymore. Max says he’s going to build her a new one made to fit grownups.”
“Is that code for a sex swing?”
Laughing, he motions for me to have a seat. “Knowing Max, it’s probably going to be dual purposed. Sit, let’s eat.”
He’s plated two sandwiches, cut up fruit, and a couple of bags of chips. Then he pulls out two bottles of water and two sodas. “I wasn’t sure what you’d want to drink.”
“Water is great. Thanks. You really didn’t have to do this.”
“It’s a good thing I wanted to then, isn’t it? Let’s eat and then you can ask me anything you want to know. I’ll do my best to answer your questions.” His tone is sincere if not a little guarded.
“You’ll tell the truth? About whatever I want to know?”
“Yes.”
It’s a simple word, but it’s a heavily weighted one.
“Why now, Gabe? It’s been, what, almost thirteen years? Why after all this time will you finally agree to the truth? Hell, to even have a conversation?”
Gabe leans forward, wraps his hand around the back of my head, and pulls me close. He drops his nose to the top of my head and inhales deeply before backing up and dropping a kiss on my forehead. My pulse kicks up a notch as my burning desire for him blasts into high gear.
“There are so many reasons, Sage, but let’s just leave it with the main one for now. I’m not a scared kid anymore, and you’re not a such a mama’s girl anymore.”
“I wasn’t a mama’s girl back then.”
He releases me, but his eyes never leave mine. “Maybe not, but you still needed your parents. Come on, eat. I don’t need you mad at me because you’re hungry. I need you to be in a position to listen to what I have to say.”
I eat my food slowly as I watch him. I admire the way his well-defined jaw muscles move as he chews, how he licks his lips slightly after taking a sip of his soda, and how he groans in admiration of the flavors bursting on his tongue. These sandwiches are incredible; Aurora sure knows what she’s doing in the kitchen.
Maybe I wouldn’t be feeling this desperate for him if I’d gotten laid in the last month. I’m supposed to hate him. As I push my plate away, I let those feelings of anger take the lead.
“Okay, Gabriel, I’m ready to listen now. It’s time for you to tell me why you bailed after dating for nearly a year and confessing our undying love. We had the perfect weekend love nest set up for
you to take my virginity and you never showed up. Tell me why, when I finally found you, you had your tongue down some skank’s throat. Tell me why you played me and took off without an explanation. I want to know how you can love someone so much and hurt them so badly.”
Leaning forward, he brushes his thumb across my bottom lip. Our eyes lock, and our lips meet. His hand drops to my ass, and he slides me closer to him on the bench. I shouldn’t be kissing him, but as our tongues meet, my rational mind shuts down and my hormones take over. He pulls my hair with just the right amount of force and trails kisses along the front of my throat.
“Gabe … what are we doing?” I’m so close I’m practically in his lap, and as his length grows against my core, I give into the wanton slut who lives inside of me and rub against him.
“I’ve wanted you for so long. Fuck, Sage, don’t hate me.” His husky words caress my ear, and with a quick nip of my lobe, he pulls back, giving me a final peck on the lips before his confession rocks my world.
CHAPTER FIVE
GABE
SAGE CARESSES HER LIPS WITH her fingers as if she’s savoring our kiss. Kissing her only reminded me of how much I missed her and what a stupid fucking kid I was.
“Talk to me, Gabe. Nothing you can tell me will hurt me more than what’s already happened.”
“I’m not so sure about that, but it’s time you knew the truth, and it’s time for me to let it all out once and for all.”
“Okay, lay it on me.”
Birds are chirping above us in the tree, and the sun shines through some of the sparser branches. A slight breeze keeps the air on the cooler side, but it’s still a beautiful day—one I’d much rather spend buried between her legs than talking about the past—but I’ve got the chance to right this wrong, and I don’t want to fuck it up.
“That last day we were together, I was excited. Bax and his parents were out of town, we had the house to ourselves, and the two of us were going to finally have sex.”
She nods as she remembers.
“After you went home to get your things, there was a knock at the door. When I answered it, your mom was on the other side.”
“My mom came to see you?” Her brow furrows with the new information.
“She came to threaten me. She overheard you talking to Holly about what was going to happen, and she let me know she was putting an immediate stop to it.”
“That doesn’t make any sense.”
Sage has always been close with her mom; it’s why I never wanted to tell her what happened. I knew firsthand what it was like to have a crappy relationship with your parents; it’s why I was living with Baxter. Sage still had two years left under her parents’ roof, and I didn’t want her to be miserable. After all, I was graduating the following week and taking a gap year to see the world.
“Look, Sage, your mom loves you. What she did that day was beyond fucked up, but even though she had a shitty way of going about it, she was fighting for you. My parents never fought for me.”
Her shoulders tense and her eyes narrow. “Tell me what she said, Gabe.”
“She said she knew about our plans. She’d overheard you and Holly talking about it. Then she said she wouldn’t call Baxter’s parents or file statutory rape charges if I backed out and didn’t go through with it.”
She gasps as her eyes fill with tears. “She didn’t. Please, Gabe, tell me she didn’t do that to us.”
“I’m sorry, Sage, I wish I could. She went on and on about all the laws we’d be breaking and how long I’d be in jail. Not to mention spending the rest of my life on the sex offender registry.”
She closes her eyes, and a single tear streaks down her cheek. When I wipe it away, more tears follow, and I pull her close to me. We sit under the tree hugging for a while as she lets her mom’s betrayal sink in. Eventually, she pushes me away.
“Why were you with that skank then? If this was all on my mom, why did you cheat on me?”
“Aside from being a stupid kid? I didn’t know what to do. Your mom was intimidating, my family life was shit, and I didn’t want to bring more drama into my aunt and uncle’s home. I loved you, Sage, but I couldn’t stand to be the one to come between you and your parents, and that’s exactly what would have happened.”
She shoves me in the chest. “You don’t know that!”
“Yeah, I do. We were already playing with fire. Two kids in love, about to have sex, knowing full well I was off to see the world just a few weeks later. I convinced myself it would be easier to make you think I didn’t care than to break apart your life.”
Sage stands and begins pacing back and forth. Every so often she tosses and evil glare my way before pivoting on her heel and pacing some more. She’s adorably cute when she’s angry. She always has been.
“You had no right to make that decision for me. None! I might have been young, but I wasn’t stupid. I knew you were leaving. I never loved anyone before you, and I never loved anyone after, but fuck, Gabe … I wanted you to be my first! I wanted it to mean something, and I hate that she took that from us and that you let her!”
“Come on, Sage, I didn’t have a choice. You’re a lawyer. You know I’d be fucked for life if she pressed charges.”
Indecision flickers in her eyes. She knows I’m right.
“Maybe you would have been, but you didn’t have to kill my spirit. You didn’t have to make me want to die. I spent months doubting myself. Wondering if I wasn’t pretty enough, wasn’t good enough, what that tramp had that I didn’t aside from a set of double Ds. I’ve always been a confident woman, but you’re the one person who ever made that confidence waiver. You didn’t have to dig the knife in deeper by cheating.”
She sniffs and wipes her nose with the back of her hand. I feel awful. I’ve always felt like an ass, but seeing how that teenage shit affected her all these years later shakes something deep down in my core.
“It wasn’t intentional. Baxter wasn’t supposed to tell you where I was. I just … needed time to think. When that girl propositioned me, my buddy was pushing me to her, egging me on, saying the best way to get over someone was to get under someone else. Finally, I took her outside to shut him up. She thought it was an invitation, I needed some air.”
“Yeah, well it looked like you were sucking all your oxygen directly from her lungs.”
“It felt like it at the time, but I kept wishing she were you. I’m not sure why I kissed her, and after a few minutes I pushed away and went home. That’s when Baxter told me you saw me. By then there was nothing I could do. I believed you’d be better off without me.”
She plops back down on the table. “You were wrong.”
I reach for her hand, but she rips it away.
“Look, Sage, I’m not sure what to tell you. I am truly sorry, but if I could go back, the only thing I would change is that kiss.”
“That’s it?” She’s furious, and knowing Sage, she will be for a while.
Nodding, I confirm. “Yes, that’s it. Because the grown-up Gabriel knows I made the right choice by not coming between you and your parents back then. But I also realize how much I hurt you, and you have my sincerest apology for that. I know you’re angry—”
“Damn straight I’m angry!”
“And you should be, but I’m not the only one you should be angry with. What did your mom say about your broken heart? Did she ever give you any indication she caused it?”
She shakes her head, and the tears fall again. “She comforted me. Told me there’s a reason it’s called puppy love. She was adamant that first loves don’t stick, but their lessons do. I can’t believe she would betray me like that. You know all she does is set me up on blind dates?”
“What kind of dates?”
She snorts. “The kind who are opposite of anyone I’d ever end up with. Stable, financially responsible, boring, working men. Usually someone she met at church who is somehow involved in accounting.”
“Why do you go?”
“The same
reason I’ve ever done anything for her. To make her happy. I can easily get laid on my own time. But I’m done. I’m never going to bust my ass and sacrifice my happiness for hers again.”
As much as I’d love to encourage her anger, I can’t. “Sage, be reasonable. If you had a fifteen-year-old daughter who was about to fall into bed with a degenerate eighteen-year-old who was about to bail for a year, what would you do?”
Conflict flickers across her face until she straightens her shoulders and bolts upright. “You know what? I’m not sure, but I can honestly say I wouldn’t do what she did. I need to go think. I’ll see you tonight.”
“Sage, wait!” I call after her, but it’s no use. She waves over her shoulder but doesn’t look back. As I pack up the picnic, I just hope I did the right thing by finally coming clean.
CHAPTER SIX
SAGE
“SAGE, I HATE TO SAY it, but he’s right, babe. You might not like to hear it, but I wouldn’t want my fifteen-year-old hooking up with an eighteen-year-old either.”
Holly always has to be the voice of reason.
“I’m sorry to bug you on your vacation, but everything is so messed up. What do I do?” I flop down on my bed and kick off my shoes. This afternoon was a disaster.
“Hey, don’t apologize. I’m always here for you whenever you need me. If it were me, I’d confront your mom and forgive Gabe for being an immature jerk. At least he finally came clean. I’d say the truth was long overdue. You do believe him, right?”
Sighing, I lie back on the pillows. “I do. You know as well as I do my mom always hated him. She was just waiting to pounce. Regardless of her reasons, she lied to me for years, Holls. I can’t just let that go.”
“Do what you gotta do, babe. Call me back if you need me.”
“Thanks, I will. Have a good rest of your weekend.”
