The Thing About Goodbye, page 9
Every part of me froze when I gasped. “Are you serious right now?”
He chuckled through the phone. “Why don’t you come on out and see?”
My pulse sped as I rushed to the front and slammed out the door looking around for him, and when my eyes landed on the car he’d driven that morning, I broke into a run. It was stupid to be so excited but I couldn’t help it.
Laughing with the joy of it all, I yanked the door open and slid in shouting, “Go, go, go!” Like we were a modern day Bonnie and Clyde rushing from the scene of our crime.
Not one to let me down, Luka spun gravel in the drive as he pulled out onto the road and sped away.
He drove for a but before pulling into the park that overlooked the lake and parking. He looked at me with a smirk. “So, pick your poison. Truth or Dare? Never Have I Ever?”
I took in his face, the openness of it and the way he seemed happy just being in my company. And then I laid it on him. “Truth or Dare?”
He scanned my face and I was sure he knew where I was going but still he said, “Truth.”
I was hoping he would pick that one, so I hurriedly asked him something I needed to know before I could chicken out, “Who’s the guy at school? Why does he keep stopping me to warn me about you?”
He didn’t even pause before giving me the truth. “His brother is the one I beat the shit out of and ended up in jail over.”
I probably looked like a cartoon character when my eyes went wide with shock and my mouth opened and shut again before I found my words. “Really? But that doesn’t have anything to do with— Wait. He said something like, ‘don’t come crying to me when he beats you senseless and makes you suck through a straw’ or something like that.”
He held my eyes and nodded. “His name is Tyler, and his brother, Ryan, was the one I fought. And he was on a feeding tube for quite some time.”
“Are you-but-uh-what?”
He nodded. “Yeah. It’s not something I feel proud of. I already told you it was bad.”
I worked to keep my breathing even as the extent of what he’d done sank in. I didn’t want him to see how much this affected me. He was watching my face closely and looking for any sign of emotion. I’d never in my life tried to keep a neutral face as hard as I was doing in that very moment.
“Cutie?”
“Just give me a minute to process.”
He reached across and took my hand in his, pulling it to his mouth and brushing a kiss to it. Softly, he spoke, “I’ve never lied to you about what happened. I know it’s shocking, but you know me. You know I would never hurt you, and you have to trust that I have myself on lock and can control it because I can promise you, I’m fine. I’m not going to snap on you. Ever. I would rather cut off my hands than ever hurt you.”
I knew what he was saying was true and I couldn’t strand to see him so uncertain so I turned to him. “Luka, I’m not scared of you. I told him, Tyler, that I wasn’t his concern and you would never hurt me. That’s not it. It’s just… I don’t know. I guess I didn’t picture it being so bad that someone was severely injured and hospitalized.”
“I told you that I went to jail over it. They don’t send you to the slammer just for the hell of it. It was serious. It was bad. It was eye-opening for me because I had no idea that I was capable of such brutality. And it was a lesson that I will never forget.”
As he spoke, I felt myself loosening up. He was right, and the boy I knew now wouldn’t aimlessly beat someone up over a few cross words. If that were the case, he would have already confronted Tyler.
Instead, it was a horrific tragedy brought on by youth and pride.
He gave my hand a squeeze and asked, “Any other truths I need to lay on you?”
“One.”
“Okay, lay it on me.”
“If you found yourself in the same situation, whatever it was that Ryan was talking about your dad, would you react the same way?”
He looked a little offended and sat up straighter in his seat as he declared, “Hell no. I don’t know if you’ve noticed or not, but I ain’t my old man’s greatest fan. The worst thing I ever did was try to pretend he was an actual father. Also, jail’s a bitch, and I am never going back.”
A smile tugged at my lips. “Excellent. My turn, right?”
The corner of his lip perked up. “So, Cutie. Truth or Dare?”
I full-out grinned then. “Dare.”
He thought for a moment and then gave me a huge shit-eating grin and said, “Perfect. I dare you to get over here and kiss your man.”
So, I did.
I mean, it was a dare.
Twenty
Saturday morning came bright and cool. We were swinging into summer, but there was still a nip to the air in the early mornings. I rolled over and grinned when Luka’s arms tightened around my waist and he pulled me back to him.
“’S too early. Come back here and warm me up.” His head went to my neck and his breath there warmed me.
Stretching, I looked at the clock on the nightstand and groaned. “No can do, hot stuff. Leah will be here in a little bit. Today’s facials and lunch.”
“Shit. Do I need to leave so you can have a girls’ day?” He sounded sad at the idea.
I thought about it for a second, but really, there was no point in him leaving. Everything Leah and I talked about, we could discuss in front of him. And they got along just fine. “Nope. You can stay in with us, but you have to let me give you a facial.” There was no way he would agree to that. I snickered at the mental image I had. This muscled, tattooed bad ass with some pastel colored clay slathered on his face. Yeah, there was no way in hell.
“Oh, hell no. You aren’t getting my man card that easily.”
I snorted. “I don’t really see the correlation here. Getting a facial means you’re taking care of your skin. It doesn’t have anything to do with gender. You don’t really want an oily face, do you?” I lowered my voice trying to make it sound unappealing.
Still talking to my back, he responded, “You like my face just fine, last time I checked. I think it’ll be okay if I give the mud mask a pass.”
“C’mon, bad boy.” I cajoled him. “Afraid you’re going to lose your street cred? Please? Do it got me? It’ll make me so happy.” The last I said in my best impression of a perky cheerleader. I wasn’t one, but that didn’t mean it wouldn’t work. It was always worth a shot when dealing with the opposite sex.
He didn’t speak for a moment before relenting, although not prettily. “Fine. But one word, one word, and I’m not kissing you again for at least a week.” He squeezed me to give his statement emphasis.
I grinned. “I think I can get behind that.”
Hopefully.
I really liked his kisses and didn’t want to lose them ever, but especially for a solid week. I was spoiled to them. I loved that he was so affectionate with me.
His only response was a sarcastic sounding, “Mmm Hmm.”
Snuggling back into his warm body, I wiggled my behind to get right against the curve of his body before finally settling in and sighing.
Luka was holding himself stiff, and it didn’t feel like he was even breathing. “Luka?
No response.
His silence was strange, so I turned over to face him and saw that he was wide awake with a pained expression on his face. His hand came up from my side and buried itself in my hair. Before I could even process a single thought, he yanked me to him and devoured my mouth.
I was hot, burning with heat and need. I was aching, aching in places that he had never been. I couldn’t breathe.
So intense was the kiss he laid on me, I wasn’t even sure who I was or what planet I resided on. I was French kissed into another universe.
When he pulled away from me, we were both desperately gasping for air. Looking deep into his eyes, I couldn’t stop myself from lifting my face to his and kissing him with everything in me.
There was nothing in the room but the two of us and the electric need circling us, and I felt certain that if every inch of my skin wasn’t touching every inch of his within the next second, I was going to combust.
He rolled into me and took over the kiss, his body pressing into mine and building the fire infinitely higher. I burned so sensually.
Without a single thought directing it to do so, my legs wrapped around his waist, and he pressed into me, only the clothing between us protecting my so-called innocence.
He ground into me, an erection fighting the zipper on his jeans in its desperation to get to me, and I moaned at the sensations that were building up around me.
And of course, of course, that’s when my charming best friend would use the key I’d given her the other day to burst into the apartment. Unannounced and for the first time ever, unwelcome.
Thankfully, before the haze had disappeared completely and either of us could fully grasp that someone else was in the apartment, someone we couldn’t be sure rather they were friend or foe, Leah called out, “Pack ‘em and sack ‘em, boys and girls. Best friend in the hizzouse, and I don’t wanna see your naughty bits! Oh! And I brought breakfast, so get your asses out here!”
Luka groaned and buried his face against my neck, and in another one of his signature moves, he pressed his lip to my sensitive skin, sending a shiver arcing from the place his lips met my neck and out through my entire body. “I know I said I was better about the violence, but I will love you forever if you walk out there right now and punch your friend in the face for me.”
My body shook with my mirth, and I couldn’t help myself when I asked, “Someone feeling a little… cock-blocked? You know how it thrills you to no end to get me all excited and then pull away from me?”
“Mmm. But you can’t pull away from me, Cutie. I’m all up in your lady bits and outweigh you by a hundo, easy.”
Rolling my eyes, I said, “Yeah, but you aren’t going to do anything but complain and move off me. Besides, I’m starrrrrrrving. Do you really want your girlfriend to die of starvation?”
He growled against my throat, which sent even more tendrils of pleasure racing through me, but my stomach growled back to drive my point home, and Luka rolled off me and onto his back. “I swear you’re going to be the death of me. My friend down there hasn’t been this tortured since I was going through puberty. He really fuckin’ hates me right now.”
I laughed. “You’re such a drama king. If anyone should be complaining, it’s me. You’ve been running blistering hot and then ice cold on me for weeks. I don’t know whether I’m coming or going these days.”
He snorted. “I can promise you right now, you’ll be coming a lot more than you go if you stick with me, if you know what I mean.”
I giggled and started to touch my lips to his chest when I heard Leah shout again, “If you two don’t get your asses in here, I’m feeding your food to my hamster!”
I thought about that for a second, but I already knew. “You don’t even have a hamster, you giant cry baby!”
“Cammy, you don’t want me to come in there. I will come armed with a camera, and the pictures will be posted online for the viewing pleasure of the entire world.”
I grinned at Luka, and he rolled his eyes but smiled back at me as I rolled away from him then out of bed and stomped to the kitchen shouting back to Leah, “Have I ever told you what a giant pain in the ass you are?”
“Yeah, yeah. Tell it to someone who cares. Wah-wah-wah.”
My attention was caught by the white pastry boxes on the counter. I started sniffing and asked, “Is that…?”
She grinned a huge grin at me. “Yup. Those specialty donuts you love and a box of pigs to go with.”
I raced the rest of the way to her and dramatically threw my arms around her neck. “I love you. Be my bride. I’ll take you somewhere beautiful and pledge my never-dying love. Please, please, all I ask is that you hand over this decadent treat.”
Clearing his throat from behind us, Luka inquired mildly, “So, am I interrupting something? Should I come back when you two are finished?”
Leah lobbed back her response sassily. “You may watch, human. Our love is so great, we don’t care who bears witness. Forevermore, you shall address us as Mistress and Mistress.”
Arms still wrapped around my crazy best friend, I burst out laughing. She was utterly ridiculous sometimes.
Luka walked into the kitchen and lifted the lid to the box of deliciousness and sniffed. “What’s this?”
Leah answered him before I could. “Why, it’s the sign of true love, darling boy. Donuts from Harry’s and pigs from Lucille’s. Because you can’t get pigs from Harry or donuts from Lucille’s. I mean, you could, buuuut it just wouldn’t be the same.”
Luka snagged a donut and his movement shook me into action. “Wait, wait, wait. Hold up, mister. These are my donuts. Keep your paws off them.” I moved away from Leah and snatched the donut out of Luka’s hand, licked it from one end of the deep-fried delicacy to the other, and started to take a bite when Leah, the traitor, shoved the whole thing in my face and I had no choice but to fill my mouth with it or watch it fall to the floor. And that wasn’t happening.
Luka rolled with it, seemingly unaffected by our morning antics, and picked up a different donut instead, biting into it and tearing a piece away with his strong white teeth.
Leah snatched up a pig and tore a packet with her teeth before she squirted some mustard on the end and devoured it.
After my third donut, my stomach was starting to hurt, so I moved away from the food and started to dig out the products from our last facial session, sans the pot.
When it was all mixed up, Leah handed me and Luka headbands and put hers on to keep our hair from the clay mixture. We looked ridiculous.
I took the paintbrush and directed my boyfriend to one of the kitchen chairs before painting his face a bluish gray color. When I was done, I moved on to Leah and painted her face as well.
Leah excused herself to the restroom before starting on my face, so slyly, I tried to sneak my phone from my pocket and take a picture of Luka, the local delinquent, wearing a face full of charcoal and clay, his shaggy hair pulled back in a baby blue headband. The shutter sounded on my phone when I snapped the picture, though, and quicker than I would have thought possible, he was across the room and snagged me around the waist. “Oh no, you don’t. You’re being a bad, bad girl, Cutie.”
I laughed and laughed as he spun me in circles and shared in my joy.
Leah stepped back into the room and rolled her eyes. “Lord save me, the lovebirds are back at it again.”
Twenty-One
Saturday night, Leah and Luka both stayed over. Leah crashed on the couch and Luka in bed with me. Everyone who could want me was already under my roof, so when someone started hammering on my front door, Luka was out of the bed with a jolt, shushing Leah as he stalked to the front door and yanked it open.
“Figured I’d find ya here, boy. Need you to come help me take care of some business.”
“Dad, it’s the middle of the damn night. Can it wait until morning?”
“Boy, you remember what you asked for? Remember what you agreed to in exchange for that sweet piece of ass you have in there?
You want that to fall apart? Because it’ll happen, you don’t stick to your end of the deal.”
“Jesus, how the fuck are you even my father?”
“Ask myself that question all the time. Now, you coming or what?”
While Luka was at the front door, Leah had snuck into the bedroom and was leaning against the wall, in full-on freak-out mode. When he slammed the door, thankfully leaving his father on the other side, I climbed out of bed and rushed to him. “What’s going on?”
He pulled me into his arms and kissed me softly before setting me gently aside and snatching his shirt and boots up from the floor. “Nothing to worry about, Cutie. You two go back to sleep. I’ll drop in later to check on you, but for now, I need to get going.” He stopped at my side once more and looked into my eyes. “I promise you that if it wasn’t completely worth it, I would tell him to piss off and curl right back up with you. But I gotta take care of this.” He brushed a kiss to my mouth again and then took my hand, leading me to the front door. “C’mon, Cutie. Lock up after me. It’ll be daytime before I can get back to you.”
I could tell something was off, but his eyes were a solid calm in the storm, so I drew strength from them and kissed his cheek before opening the door and watching him step through. As soon as the door was shut completely, I locked all the locks. Something I hadn’t done in weeks.
Walking back into my room, I saw that Leah was still leaning against the wall, and she had yet to say a single word. I sat down and patted the bed beside me. “May as well take advantage of the toasty covers since we’re both wide awake.”
Slowly, she moved away from the wall and made her way to the bed. It took her a moment to decide to sit, and when she did and turned to me, I could see something in her eyes. Something that reminded me of a deer caught in the headlights. She murmured softly, “I don’t know why, but I really don’t like that man. He is hella creepy.”
I nodded in agreement. “I don’t know how Luka puts up with him.”
Settling in, Leah reminded me, “Probably the same way you put up with your mom. The same way I put up with my dad on his random weekends. We love them because for better or worse, they’re our parents.”
I couldn’t argue with that and instead, I flipped the switch on the lamp I’d turned on as Luka had stood at the door with his father and rested back into my pillow. The sun had yet to rise, and I was still tired, so I settled in and sighed. “I guess. But why do our parents have to be such train wrecks? I mean, aside from your mom.”
“It’s the question of the century, isn’t it?”
Well, that was certainly one way to put it.
Twenty-Two
The rest of the weekend creeped by with Luka not coming back until late Sunday night. It sucked that he was gone for so much of the weekend, but I was happy that he came to me as soon as he could. I was ready for whatever work he was doing with his dad to hurry up and come to an end. I missed having his undivided attention the way I had in our early days. But in the last couple of weeks, he seemed to be on a deadline of some sort, and work consumed him.
