Give Me You (26 page)

“You came,” I whisper against his lips.

“Of course I did, crazy girl. You told me to.”

I smile and continue my greedy exploration of his mouth.

“You’re not going to rub it in?” I pull back and search his face for the familiar traces of arrogance. “That you were right?”

I bite my tongue and wait. He can gloat. I deserve it.

“Maybe later.”

His lips land on mine and I can’t stop myself from turning to straddle him.

“You didn’t call,” I say stupidly. Obviously he knows this.

“I was busy.”

I suck in a breath, because shit, that stings. “Oh yeah? Busy got a name?”

He brushes his nose against mine and there is mischief gleaming in his gaze. “Yeah. I was busy climbing the fucking walls trying to figure out why you left and how to get you to say those dirty things to me while you were sober.”

I groan and let my head fall to the crook of his neck. “I can’t remember what all I said, but I can imagine.”

He places a chaste kiss on my forehead and lets his head rest against the seat. “Something about being naked and wet in my bed. And needing my help with something.”

I moan my despair and he tightens his grip on me.

“Easy on the moaning while you’re in my lap, babe.”

My lips press to his neck because I can’t not kiss his smooth throat when it’s this close to my mouth.

“I was jealous. And then I was drunk and jealous. Not the best combination.”

He tilts his head away to grin down at me. “Oh, I don’t know. It was…enlightening.”

“I bet.” I hide my face again. I’m blushing. Me. Blushing. I pray he can’t tell in the darkened backseat.

“We’re here,” he says at the cab pulls up to the curb in front of Jax’s—well, my place now. “Can I come in?”

I nod. “Yeah…I was hoping that you would.”

The apartment is dark when we step inside. Skylar pulls me tight against him and devours my mouth.

“Sorry,” he says, pulling back before I’m ready for the kiss to end. “I had to have one more taste.”

“Just one more?”

He nods. “You’ve been drinking. And I’ve got two months, Corin. I’m not going to fuck it up on day one.”

I’m not sure what he’s implying but when he starts setting up the game console, I’m more than a little disappointed.

But as we play, or as I kick his butt at Mortal Combat for the millionth time, we settle into something I’ve grown to realize feels like home.

“That first night, you gave me the bed,” I mention casually. “But you didn’t try to get in with me and make a move.”

Skylar clicks a few more buttons on his controller before turning to me. “Yeah?”

“How come?”

He’s quiet for so long I’m not sure he’s going to answer. After he takes my player down and gloats for a few seconds he says, “It wasn’t exactly a date. We were here because Layla and Landen needed to be alone, not because you were into me like that. I got that you were guarded. I figured I was pretty special that you were spending time hanging out with me alone. Didn’t want to do anything to make you regret it.”

“I don’t,” I say barely loud enough to be heard. “Regret spending time with you,” I clarify.

Skylar nods and disregards the game completely, setting his controller aside. “I’m glad. I know I haven’t exactly been a gentleman at all times and I have fucked up royally more times that I can to count. But I hope you know that while we may not have the fairytale romance that Landen and Layla do, we do have something, Corin. Something that matters to me. A lot.”

I watch him, memorizing his face, his jaw, his eyes and the dark lashes that line them. “I like our story better than the fairytale anyways,” I tell him.

“You do?” His brow creases. “How come?”

I smile and touch his cheek with the palm of my hand, enjoying the stubble on my sensitive skin. “Because it’s real. And it’s ours.”

“You know what I realized, during our weekend of cross-country insanity?”

“That you will never have a better cheesesteak than you did in New York?”

He laughs lightly. “Naw. I think Philly still has you beat, sweetheart.” Before I can argue, he continues. “I realized that as different as our backgrounds may seem, we’re actually very similar.”

“Uh, Sky, I was raised in a shoe box. You lived in a mansion the size of this building.”

“Nuance,” Skylar informs me. “That’s just the technicalities. We both have parents that focused more on themselves and were oblivious to how that affected us. We both learned how to have our own backs. But that’s what I want to talk to you about…”

“Getting me on my back?” I tease.

One corner of his mouth lifts in response. “Whenever you’re ready, Red. But no, that’s not what I’m referring to.”

“I’m listening.”

Skylar looks so intense and serious it feels like he’s about to propose. “I have your back, Corin Connelly. I want you to know that. Wherever I am in the world, wherever you are. You need anything, you tell me, okay?”

I contemplate his words carefully. “Layla was the first real girl friend I ever had. Not sure what that says about me that it took nineteen years to make a friend. And now, there’s you. So…yeah. I accept. And I promise to have your back too, Sky. I might not being able to knock guys out in a single punch, but I can cut a bitch if I need to.” I nudge him and he smiles but it doesn’t reach his eyes.

“Landen was the first real friend I ever had. The guys I hung out with in high school would just as soon hang out with you as screw your girlfriend.”

I wince at the pain current flowing beneath his words. “That actually happen?”

Skylar nods. “Harrison Hayes was like the brother I never had. We played little league soccer together, learned to ride bikes together, went to summer camp together every year since we were eight. But by the time we got to high school, he quit the Varsity soccer team and fell into the same shit a lot of my friends with money to burn did. Coke. Drinking constantly. Trashing his cars and reputation and relationships like they were disposable.”

“Including yours?”

His Adam’s apply bobs as he swallows. I want to wrap my arms around him but I sense that he needs to get this out without getting distracted. “Especially mine. I’d been dating Fallon for nearly a year when I walked in on them fucking in her bedroom. High out of their minds and both acted like I was the messed up one.”

I wince at the sound of her name. Fallon Kensington will always be a sore spot for me. Or tender at least.

“Anyways,” Skylar goes on, shrugging off the pain of the past and rejoining me in the now, “I just walked away. Told myself I’d keep things light in college—wouldn’t get attached to anyone ever again because people were seriously fucked up. And then I got Landen as a roommate and that plan was shot to hell, though my theory about fucked up people was spot on. Then I met you.”

“And I am as fucked up as they come,” I say, only half-joking.

Skylar’s expression tightens. “No, you’re not. You’re strong as hell and braver than anyone I’ve ever met.”

I exhale on a half-laugh. “Yeah right.”

“I’m serious.” He stares straight into my eyes. “So much of what you’ve been through would’ve broken lesser people. Would’ve knocked them down and kept them down. But you get up and keep going. Every time. That’s no small feat, Red. You impress the hell out of me.”

I can feel the heat rising to my face. “Good to know,” I say, snuggling closer to him. “So you won’t think less of me if I tell you I teared up a little when I got this?” I pull my dress up just enough to show him the black and blue butterfly tattoo on my left hip. “Because it hurt like hell, honestly.”

Skylar’s eyes widen as he takes in my ink. Or maybe my panties did it, not sure. His fingers graze the delicate wings and I shiver at his touch.

“It’s beautiful,” he says reverently. “Why a butterfly?”

Memories of that day, the day I learned I lost the baby, the day I had to go home to my mom’s, the day I decided my story wasn’t over, flood my brain.

“Because they survive. They’re nearly smothered in darkness, probably convinced that it’s the end. But they emerge, more beautiful than ever and they have the courage to fly—maybe they fly farther and faster and braver because they appreciate it more—escaping the darkness.”

“Like you,” Skylar says softly.

I think about his parents and all the shiny, superficial people I saw at the auction—people who barely knew him much less seemed to actually care about him. “Like us,” I amend.

F
or two months, I am a complete gentleman. I almost don’t even recognize myself.

Corin comes to my games, sometimes even pops by practices, or I drop in the diner as her shift ends, we grab dinner, hang out at her place, and at curfew, I say goodnight and head back to my dorm. In every sense of the word, she is my girlfriend, though neither of us has said as much.

Something has been building between us and we will either take an important step towards moving forward tonight, or I’ll have to say the hardest goodbye I’ve ever had to.

In some ways, it’s been a long two months. And yet it still feels like it flew by entirely two fast. Corin goes into exhausted zombie mode during finals week and I’m busy packing and getting vaccinations and everything else I need for Brazil. Landen and I compare schedules and make plans to meet up when we can. We actually have a tournament in Madrid in a few months where both our teams will compete and I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t looking forward to seeing some familiar faces. I’m hoping Corin will come as well, but I don’t know if she sees anything for us beyond these past two months.

Tonight is my last night at SoCal. Whatever Corin feels for me, whatever she’s willing to admit she feels, tonight is the night I’ll find out. I place the small black box on my dresser before getting ready for dinner so I don’t forget it.

We have reservations at seven.

I have reservations about leaving behind the only girl I’ve ever loved.

“Be there in ten,” Corin tells me over the phone. I hang up and tuck my phone into my black suit jacket.

Seventy-Five West is a trendy but intimate place about half an hour from campus. I was supposed to pick Corin up at six, but her last final exam ran long so she promised to meet me here. I’m not sure what to expect when she walks in, but it doesn’t matter because when she does, I’m nearly taken to my knees.