Mirage (20 page)

Me – Hey girl. I’m with Sky at the CH.

Kylee – What??!!??!!

Me – Long story. Talk later?

Kylee – Jacoby?

Me – Nope. Going to have to leave my job.No apartment

Kylee – Fuck Mira.

Me – Sry, call u later? WRUD?

Kylee – Heading back to GR to get my stuff. I’ll ask ur mom if I can put it in the garage until we find something.

Me – Sounds like a plan. She won’t mind. When will u be back?

Kylee – Tomorrow morning. TTYL.

Me – K. Bye

Fuck, I really screwed up this time. Me trying to hide from my feelings for Skylar has now put Kylee in a bind. I’m going to have to do something amazing so she’s not too pissed at me.

Putting my phone on the bed next to me, Skylar is looking at my frowning face puzzled.

“Was it that bad?” he asks, looking disappointed.

“No, not anywhere near bad,” I laugh at his potentially damaged ego, “I’m going to have to quit my job and Kylee is a little pissed we can’t get an apartment now. You know, no job equals no money.”

“Why are you quitting?”

Well fuck, how do I address this? “The guy that I went on a date with last night, well he was my boss.” I say biting my lip, waiting for a lecture.

“Your boss? The guy from the bar the other night?”

“The very same, and it’s probably not a good idea for me to work there anymore.”

“I couldn’t agree with you more. You don’t have to stay with your mom you know, you could move in with me.”

All of the air escapes my lungs, leaving me literally breathless. “I don’t think that’s a good idea Sky. We lived together before and it lasted a weekend.”

Skylar picks me up in his arms and lays back on the bed, holding me. He starts kissing the top of my head while caressing my back.

“I know that it didn’t work out so well last time, but look at us now. We’re a little bit older. We have admitted our feelings for each other. Last year, when we were together, I had stopped myself from saying something because I didn’t want you to think less of me, but Mira I want to say it. Is that okay?”

“You don’t ever have to ask to say something that you want to me. The only way I can do this is with honesty. Brutal honesty, all the time, no matter what,” I say bracing myself for what he wanted to tell me. If I was being honest with myself, I don’t want to know, but I can’t be lied to. Especially with the life he leads. He needs to be honest with me about everything, no matter how much it will hurt. I would rather honesty and have my feelings hurt for a little while than to be lied to and be crushed and heartbroken.

“Last year when we made love, I started to tell you that if I knew how amazing you felt, but I stopped myself. What I was going to say was, had I known how amazing you feel, I would have never let Danny talk to you first. I saw you first and think I fell in love with you in that moment. Then Danny stepped in and took over the scene. I have loved you ever since. There has never been another woman that has captured me like you have. You told me that you haven’t been with anyone else since you were with me last year, and the same goes for me Mira; you are the last person I have had sex with. If I could go back to the day we all met, I would have claimed you for my own then and not taken the backseat to Danny.”

All I can do is look at Skylar with wide eyes and say, “Oh.” I always thought he might have a little crush on me, but love? I never thought he loved me. Thinking back to all of the little things he would always do for Danny to make me happy, I wonder if it he had Danny do them to see me happy because he couldn’t do them himself.

“Sky, I don’t know what to say. I don’t know that I would change anything from our past. I love you now, but I loved Danny so much. When he died, it felt like a piece of me died along with him, but I didn’t die. You helped bring me back to life. You loved me enough for the both of us when I thought my world ended. That’s what made me fall in love with you, even when I didn’t want to admit it; I did love you. I might have loved you all this time we were apart, which is why I couldn’t be with anyone else. I tried to make myself get over the feelings I had for you with someone else, but it didn’t work. I came running as soon as you needed me, because I love you.”

As soon as I finish saying what I needed to get off my chest and taking in what Skylar told me, I gently place my lips on his and kiss him with all the love I have for him. It wasn’t hard or sexual, it was a kiss that said “I love you to the moon and back and I will always love you.”

“So why not move in with me Mira? My apartment is big enough for us; you can even have your own room, if you really want it. Let me take care of you while you find another job and get back on your feet. If you would feel more comfortable, it doesn’t have to be permanent. I just want to get to know you again. I feel like we missed so much time and I don’t want to miss another second with you.”

“What about Kylee? She’s planning on staying with me at my mom’s house while we figure out a new living arrangement.”

“She can come too. I would never make you leave her behind or screw her over. I like Kylee and she’s a part of you, so I guess I love her too, like a sister though,” he says teasing me.

“I guess I could ask her later,” I say. Kylee and I have spent enough time together growing up that sharing a room with her for a few months, at the most, wouldn’t hurt. But let’s be honest, I’ll probably be in Skylar’s room more than my own, so it shouldn’t matter.

“So is that a yes? You’ll move in with me?”

“Yes, I will move in with you. I will take the second bedroom and share with Kylee for a few months, no more. Then Ky and I are moving out into our own place.”

“We’ll see about that. I have it on good authority that you love me. When you love someone, your will can be bent pretty easily,” Skylar says winking and smirking at me.

Grabbing a pillow from behind where I was laying, I smack Skylar softly across the chest. Before I know it, I’m laying on my back with Skylar hovering over me, prepared for war. He snatches the pillow from my hand and starts hitting me gently. Once he realizes that this will get him nowhere, the tickling begins. I’m extremely ticklish and he takes advantage of this knowledge. He’s relentless and I’m laughing so hard that I can’t breathe and my sides hurt.

“Stop, please stop. I’ll do anything,” I say still laughing.

“Anything, you say,” Skylar says as he stops the tickling, “Hmmm, this can get interesting.”

Now that I have him off guard, I roll quickly, throwing him off me and I jump off the bed and run to the corner of the room, grinning like the Cheshire cat.

“Oh you better get back here, you said you would do anything, Ms. Adams.”

“What do you have in mind?” I tease.

Skylar lays back on the bed, facing me and putting his arms above his head. The smirk on his face tells me that he’s looking for something dirty. God that look has the ability to get me wet in two point three seconds. Clenching my thighs together, I cross my arms over my chest and start tapping my foot, like I’m waiting for him to give me an answer.

“Well, Mr. McBride, what you up going to demand?”

“There are a few things that I’m thinking. I just want to make sure that I choose the right thing, since my deck is stacked in my favor right now. I wouldn’t want to blow it, you know,” he says emphasizing on ‘blow it’.

“You want me to blow something?” I say licking my lips seductively.

“As amazing as that sounds, I have a much better idea. But we have to leave. Car or bike?” Skylar asks me.

“Um, I guess car. I’m not really dressed for a ride, you know,” I say pointing to my dress crumpled on the floor.

“Car works better anyway. Okay, get dressed and meet me downstairs in five.”

Skylar jumps out of bed and throws on the same jeans from last night. Walking over to me, he raises my arms above my head and kisses me, hard. Feeling him lift the hem of the shirt I’m wearing, I triy to deepen the kiss ever further, but he stops the kiss, steps back and pulls the shirt from my body, leaving me standing in the room naked. Completely naked.

“What was that about?” I ask him confused.

“I needed my shirt, sweets. But I might have to change our plans, seeing as you’re standing there all naked and sexy like,” he says darting his tongue out of his mouth then bites his lower lip.

My body temperature rises while he looks at me, responding to his lust for me. No, not lust, love, his love for me. Skylar walks over to me and presses a gentle kiss to my forehead then picks my dress up and pulls it over my head, and turns to walk out of the room. Just before he walks out the door he just opened, he turns back to me, with a familiar Skylar smirk on his face and winks.

“I told you once, I’ll tell you again, we will revisit this, you being wet issue again. Soon sweets, very soon. Meet you downstairs in five,” he says walking out the door and pulling it closed behind him.

I was downstairs within five minutes and we walked to my car together. He requested to drive, since he apparently hates my driving, so I allowed it. Plus, I didn’t know where we were going. I was his captive for the afternoon.

While he drove, I sent a quick email to Jacoby, from my phone, letting him know my plans for the future. As unprofessional as I have been, I can’t leave without any communication and Jacoby deserves to know that I can’t see him any more either.

Jacoby,

Thank you for the opportunity to work as your office manager for the last year. I am sorry to advise you that I will not be returning to my current position, effective immediately. I will be returning to gather my personal things from my office and I will be available to train a new office manager, once a candidate has been chosen.

I would rather not discuss my reason for this sudden departure via email. If you would like to call me to discuss it, I will be available for the remainder of the day. If not, I completely understand.

Thank you again for the opportunity and I hope you will be able to give me a positive reference for future employment, regardless of the unprofessional manner I am leaving, but based on my impeccable work during my time as your office manager.

Sincerely,

Mira Adams

Once I had typed out the entire email and read it over a few times, I sent it. Looking over at Skylar and smiling, I can’t be anything but happy. My job was wonderful and I love the people I work with, but I love Skylar more. His peace of mind is worth more to me that some job that any high school graduate can do. As long as Jacoby gives me a positive reference and with my college degree, I should have no problem finding a much better job.

Looking out the window, I realize that we’re on my street. What the hell, I think to myself. He gets anything he wants from me and we’re going to my mother’s house.

“Sky, what’s going on?”

“I decided that the one thing that I want, since you’ll do anything, is simple, sweets. I want you to pack your stuff and come home with me. Wait to tell Kylee until tomorrow, so we can have the place to ourselves for tonight.”

Grinning from ear to ear, I whisper, “Kylee won’t be back until tomorrow morning. She’s getting her stuff from her apartment in Grand Rapids. I haven’t even told her our new living situation yet.”

Skylar pulls into the driveway and follows me into the house. My mom wasn’t home so we took our time to gather my things. I didn’t have too much, since I left the majority of what I had at my old apartment when I moved out.

I start putting my clothes into suitcases. As soon as they were full and closed, Skylar took them down to my car. Looking around my room, I decide to pack a few pictures that I had scattered around on the walls. I sat on the floor in front of my bed and grabbed a box that I had placed memories of mine and Danny’s life together in. For such a long time, this box was too depressing to open.

I open the box and start to sift through the pictures, ticket stubs and other miscellaneous items when Skylar walks back in the room.

“Is that it? I can get you anything else you need tomorrow,” he says sitting on my bed looking down on me, “What’s all this?”

Picking up a picture frame of all four of us at one of the formals, I can see the tears in his eyes. As much as I loved Danny and missed him, he was Skylar’s friend since they were little. They had memories that stretched more than fifteen years. I don’t know what I would do without Kylee, so I can empathize with his pain.

I grab his hand and pull him to sit on the floor with me. Skylar moves behind me and opens his legs for me to sit in between. Together, we look at all the memories in this tiny box and laugh at all the good times we had. Even though Skylar and I weren’t together as a couple, we were always together. It is so nice to relive these memories with someone who was there.

“Want me to take this box down to the car?”

Looking back at his sad blue eyes, I kiss his cheek and close the lid on the box. Standing up, I reach my hand out to help him stand. Once we’re both standing, I hand him the box and point towards my closet, “Can you just put this up on the top shelf, babe?”

That was the first time I have ever used a pet name for anyone, including Danny. He was always just Danny. It never felt right to call him anything but his name. With Skylar, it felt right and it came out with ease.

“Are you sure? You can take this if you want, I won’t be upset,” he says, almost looking guilty.

“Nope. These are memories from my past. I loved Danny with my whole heart and he’s gone now. I’m looking forward to making new memories with you. The only memories I want in a box, under my bed, from now on are our memories.”

Taking the box from me and putting it where I requested, Skylar grabs my hand and leads me down the stairs. I lock up as I walk out of the house; send a quick text to my mom letting her know I would be staying with Skylar for the meanwhile and get in the passenger seat of the car. Skylar starts the drive to his apartment, which I had yet to see, let alone know where it is.

Once we get to the apartment, Skylar gives me the grand tour. It wasn’t anything special, but it was fairly large. He said he got it at a good rate when he moved from the apartment we shared for a weekend. Sky shows me to the room that would now be mine. It was pretty empty, except for some boxes standing in the corner, left over from when he moved in.