Falling for Seven (29 page)

Angel had gone white, the truth of how selfish I was too much to listen to. Wait till she found out it could get worse.

“The ear infection story stops most questions. My mom and dad didn’t want everyone to know I’d caused his disability. He’d be a normal kid now if I’d have just taken the damn ball outside.” If I could go back and take away everything that happened that day, I’d give up football forever.

We were both silent, the wave brakes crashing in front of us. The sea was black, stretching for miles. It was too dark to tell the difference between sky and water. I could sit here all night, the repetitive lapping of the waves overriding all the shit in my brain.

Angel tore at the silence. “How come you’re telling me this?”

“You wanted the truth, so I’m starting from the beginning. It’s the one truth nobody else knows.” I looked at her, wrapped in the blanket, her arms wound together. “And I thought you should know this about me. You should know what I did.”

“You were a kid and it was an accident.” Her voice was softer than I deserved. “But thank you for telling me.”

She unraveled the blanket and it fell onto the sand. She took her jacket off next and then her arms came over her head, peeling away the T-shirt. The pink lace of her bra paled next to her dark hair, swirling around her slim shoulders. I licked my lips. She was fucking edible. She sat on her knees and they unfolded as she got to her feet, skimming her skirt down her legs and stepping out of it. She walked in front of me and in-between my legs, her hands on my raised knees.

“Take off my tights,” she demanded, the want in her eyes set and arrowed on me.

“Is this a pity fuck?” I asked, never too far from a joke.

“I don’t pity you. I just need to feel you inside of me. Now.”

She grabbed my hands, setting them on her waist, and I followed order, sliding the sheer material down her silky, smooth legs. Her pink G-string matched her bra and barely covered what was inside them. I jerked her towards me, nipping at the measly underwear with my teeth. Her head fell forward over mine, her hair enveloping us in a private darkness, shutting out the rest of the deserted beach. I bit down gently on the fleshy skin between her legs and moved the lace to the side with my finger, my tongue slipping into the warmth of her hidden skin. Her hot breath pebbled my skin and I tore off the G-string and then undone my jeans. I pulled her onto my lap and took a condom from my pocket, giving it to Angel. She ripped into the packet and rolled it over me, her hand guiding me inside as she lowered herself slowly. I sunk inside of her with a painful caution. Really I wanted to fuck the life out of her, but she was still new at this.

“Am I hurting you?” My hands were on her back and I undone her bra, bringing her towards me so she wasn’t on full display.

“A little.” Her smile was sinful. “But I like it.”

Her nipples tightened in the cold air and she picked up the blanket and brought it around her shoulders. She moved so sweetly over my dick, I was starting to ache. But she felt amazing on me.

If tonight never ended that would be perfectly fine with me.

THE ORANGE MAXI-DRESS my mom wore fit like a glove. I loaned her my cropped jean jacket and she twisted her hair onto the top of her head, exactly as I do with my own. “Can you see my Spanx?” she asked, swiping Vaseline onto her lips.

“Mom, you don’t need Spanx. Your body is amazing.”

“I need Spanx,” she said, sliding her feet into cork sandals. “Why do you think I look so amazing?”

I’d just finished drying my hair. It was almost straight, but the volume was still on full amp seeing as I hadn’t bothered with the flat-iron. I buttoned up my white sleeveless shirt, leaving the top two buttons open and tied the loose shirt ends at my waist. I had on jean shorts and a fresh pair of white Nike Air Max because I had it on good authority that the grounds of the fair were uneven as hell. I stuffed a wad of dollar bills in my pocket, not wanting to carry around a purse all day, and my mom and I went downstairs in time for Julian pulling up outside. Only when I opened the door it wasn’t Julian sitting out in the silver Jag.

It was my dad.

“He agreed to come?” I asked mom.

“I’m going to ride with him. You go with your friend.”

“Why? I thought we were going together.”

“We’ll meet up. I need some time with him.”

“You aren’t going to fight are you?” My hesitancy to leave them alone in something as small as a car was validated with the vexed expression on my dad’s face.

“I haven’t got all day, Selene,” his voice floated from the cracked-open window. “You wanna go to this thing or what?”

“Bye, baby.” My mom got in the car and I ran to the driver side before he pulled away.

“Where’s Elena?” I asked. “Isn’t she coming?”

My dad stuttered on his words, peering at me from under his frown. “You care about Elena?”

“Well, I like her. I want to know you didn’t leave her at home.”

“She’ll be there,” he said, after more frowning. “As soon as she’s finished at work.”

I stepped back, Julian’s Range Rover materializing at the end of the road. Marilyn and Mario came out of Pamela’s house. She shouted bye to her mom, slamming the door closed.

“Race you there, Angel.” Marilyn slapped my back, skipping past me with a Twizzler hanging from her mouth. She waved to my dad but he was too busy scrunching up his face, twisting his rear-view mirror. “Is that my quarterback?”

“Michael, can we go?” My mom scolded impatiently. “If we sit here any longer the fair will be closed.”

“What’s he doing here?” My dad asked me, my mom ignored and unanswered. “No the wonder he’s playing like a second stringer. Is there something you want to tell me?”

“Nope.” I turned and walked away. Marilyn and Mario had already gone and we took off before my dad had even started his car.

The fair was swarming with people, the sky clear and blue. The Ferris wheel rose above the other rides, the white metal glowing under the sun. I rode it twice, since that was Julian’s limit after labelling it ‘boring’.

I stood in line to a pirate jig, waiting for our turn on the Jolly Roger. Julian came back from the food stand with a tray of funnel fries for Marilyn. She chomped on a fry, offering one to Mario but he shook his head. “You don’t like funnel cake?”

“I don’t like any cake.”

“That’s…” she looked at Mario with a level of disgust. “Just wrong.”

“That didn’t take long.” Julian tipped his head up, drawing my attention to the other side of the line, but my gaze slid back onto him. It was a crime how good he looked in crisp navy shorts and a white tank top, loose on the waist but giving us all a show if his tanned and muscled arms. White high-tops hugged his ankles and instantly drew the eye to his mouth-watering calves.

“Darlin’, you mind if I cut in? I’m Daniel Leroux by the way, first string linebacker for the Boston Lions. You’ve probably seen me on TV.” Dan, or should I say
Daniel,
eyeballed the leggy brunette behind us. I looked at Julian when I noticed it was blindingly obvious she was here with her boyfriend.

The guys jaw set and he stepped away from his girlfriend, missing the pouty smile on her face from the attention she’d gathered. “Fucking move it along, shitface. She’s with me. Ergo, not interested in you.”

“Keep your fucking wig on,” Dan said, pushing in line, bringing Nicky with him. Drift was farther down the line, sandwiched between two girls.

“You will get the shit kicked out of you one day,” Julian said to Dan, none too happy to see him and Nicky here.
With us
.

“Who’s that with Drift?” Nicky twisted his head, leering over the crowd. “He could face swap with the one on the left and I wouldn’t know the fucking difference.”

I laughed no matter how wrong it felt. He narrowed his focus onto me. “Angel, you look sexy as all hell today. Did you like what you saw the other day? There’s more if you feel like ditching your boy here.”

Marilyn threw a funnel fry at Nicky’s head and he opened his mouth, catching it and eating it. “Nicky,” she said, “Word is, you’re a virgin.”

“Marilyn, how the fuck can I be a virgin. You were sucking my dick last night.”

“Oh that’s what that was? My bad, I never noticed.”

Getting on the ride wasn’t nearly a long enough break from all the childish chatter, but so far, every day I was spending with Julian, Jordan was sinking farther into less important territory. My temporary fix was working.

<>

Julian handed me a chocolate malt and bought a soda for himself. I took one look at the freezing dessert and a smirk worked its way free. “Is this what I think it is?” I asked, knocking into him with my shoulder.

“Yeah, yeah,” he said. “Just drink it.”

“Even though I’m not twelve?”

“Even though you’re not twelve.”

The sun was setting, the multicolored lights from the carnival a burning fire under the inked sky. The smell of frying onions soothed me, and I couldn’t recall the last time I’d had this much fun. “Didn’t Taj want to come?” I asked. “I assumed he’d jump at it.”

“He’s with his dad this weekend.”

“Oh. That’s nice.”

We passed the portable toilets and Julian handed me his soda. “Wait here.”

I hung around on the grass. There was a line he had to wait in so I pointed to the selection of booths, letting him know where I would be. I wandered past, none of the games catching my eye enough to want to hand over my money. It took me a while to factor in Kit walking towards me, her hair pulled up in a high ponytail and a red jersey dress to her thighs, glued to her curves. She smiled when she saw me, her gaze intentionally seeking out who I was with. “I thought I saw you earlier. With Julian…”

“Yeah, he’s, huh, over there.” I waved my hands toward the porta-cabins.

“So, he did it, then?”

What was she talking about now?

“Did what?” I took a sip of my melting drink.

“You guys are with each other 24/7. It doesn’t take a genius to know he’s fucking you now, instead of me. He is, isn’t he?”

Speechless. That’s what I was.

“I want to get a few things off my chest while I’ve got you alone. I wanted to like you, Angel. You looked like you’d be a good friend, but that wasn’t why I let you hang out with me. I’m pretty close with all my friends, but the key is keeping my enemies closer.” Her finger came out towards me. “And you, Angel, are an enemy. I thought taking away the temptation and stuffing you under Julian’s nose would sour that temptation. But it did the fucking opposite. I let Jordan into my circle, hoping you would do what was right and go back to your screwed-up partnership. But not even that worked.”

Kit snickered, her lip curling and her true dislike of me spilling to the surface.

“But there’s one thing you don’t know.”

As much as I wanted to ask what that one thing was, I knew it wasn’t a good idea.

“He fucked you for a bet. A lousy bet with Nicky that he could get you into bed. Don’t you feel silly knowing you fell for it?” Her eyes blazed. She looked evil. Pure, unadulterated evil. “Hook. Line. And sinker. I should be thanking you really. There’s one thing I have to feel good about.”

Do not ask what.

“He slept with me out of choice. No wagers involved.”

Satisfied, Kit slinked past me in her heels, her arm banging against mine, knocking me unsteady. No amount of deep breaths could diffuse the anger that was swirling around, pounding through my heart and crashing against my rib-cage, fighting for a way out. I had given Julian everything. He took my hurt and he tried to heal me. He took me out of my pain and he made me smile. He let me into his life and I was happy there.

I wasn’t ready to be kicked out so soon.

Not when things were so good.

But it wasn’t real. None of it was real.

He had slept with me for a bet. It made sense. He had gone from the bane of my existence to inconceivably tolerable in no time at all. We were standing still and now I was falling to the fucking floor.

Again

How could this be happening all over again?

I knew what we had. It wasn’t love, it was freedom—a holiday from the pitfalls of life. But the sun had fucking set and I would make sure he knew it.

I didn’t wait for Julian. I wound my way through the booths and rides in a blind rage till someone snatched my arm from the crowd. I was angry enough to attack, until I saw it was only my dad. “Your mom and I need to talk to you.”

I trailed behind him, each breath of cotton candy-filled air bringing me back to earth. My mom sat at a bench and table, her anxious gaze on us.

“She’s here,” my dad said as I sat down, dividing my gaze between them. “Out with your newest and most outlandish idea.”

“What’s this about, Mom?”

She took a few too many seconds to answer.

“I’m going back to California.”

This didn’t catch me between the eyes like it should have done. It only ignited the fiery anger I was already battling to control.

“And I want you to come with me. Before you say no, you should know I’ve met someone. His name is Luiz, and he’s a wonderful man. I would love to take you home with me, Angel. It’ll be like old times. Me, you, the sun, sea. Home isn’t home if you aren’t there.” She paused for thought, and from the hot look my dad was lasering into her. “But only if you want to. This is your decision to make.
Lo que quieras
, baby.”

Going home to California. What I’ve wanted since I came here, settling on BU as the only lifeline. And the timing was perfect down to the last second. I could leave this place and the people behind, all my shit existing here and I could walk away from it without looking back. It wouldn’t follow me—it would no longer exist.

“Can I think about it?” I asked.

My mom had to hold back on how happy she was, her teeth biting down on her to lip to suppress her smile. “Sure thing, baby. I have a spare ticket. Just say the word when you are ready and we are out of here.”