by Blair Young
There was a time when you loved to sing, too. Back before your parents passed you would sing all the time. Mom used to call you her little chickadee, remember? How could I forget. Dad, ha! He would used to try to join in, but it was clear I didn’t get my voice from him.
I’ve not sang at all since they passed. I wonder if I’m ever going to be able to do that again, or if that part of my life is just as dead as they are?
I sighed, suddenly realizing I let myself slip further into the doorway than I meant. Susan turned with a smile when she caught me out of the corner of her eye.
“Sutton! Hi! Would you like to join us? We could have a bit of a concert,” she said with a warm smile.
I quickly shook my head. I wasn’t going to go into the fact I didn’t sing with her. So, I quickly made up another excuse for being in the room.
“I just wanted to let you know I was going to head down to the bay for a while. I’ll be back later this afternoon,” I said as I pointed my thumb behind me.
“Are you sure?” she asked. “It is a lovely day to be outside, but you are more than welcome to join us if you want.”
“I’m sure,” I said as I made a quick escape. I wondered if Damon had said anything to his mother about the night I had gone into the music room and sat while he played. I wanted to believe that it wouldn’t matter at all to me if he did, but then, what would she think?
With everything being so weird between the two of us now, I didn’t want there to be any more drama thrown into the mix, and I worried that there may be. It wouldn’t take much with Susan, that was for sure. But, she seemed nice enough about inviting me to hang out with the two of them, and there was no ignoring the guilt that ran through me as I slipped into my flip flops and all but ran out the door.
With the way Damon was looking at me, there was no way I could sit in there and sing with them. Not only would it be too hard for me with the memory of my parents, but I would wonder what he thought of my singing voice. I didn’t want to think that he would like it.
I didn’t want to think about him at all.
I shoved my hands into the pockets of my shorts and headed down to the bay, listening to the mourning cry of the seagulls as they hunted for food left by the tourists.
It was easy for me to get lost in thought these days. My therapist seemed to think that it was a way I was protecting myself against the world, but I wasn’t so sure. I was just more interested in my own views than what I was with the rest of the world, and I didn’t like to keep thinking about the drama that was in my life.
So, it was easy for Dean to surprise me as he came riding up on his motorcycle. He slowed to a stop when he saw me, then leaned forward on the handlebars as he smiled.
“Sutton! I don’t see you much down in these parts, how are you?” he asked.
I only knew who Dean was from Damon and some from Susan. She was a lot more reserved when she talked about him, but Damon seemed to think that the guy was the greatest thing in the world.
“I’m all right. I thought it would be a nice day to get out and get some fresh air before I trap myself in my room to get through that mountain of homework,” I said.
He nodded. “Damon told me you’ve been working hard lately, not with just yours but with his, too. That’s really nice of you. I know he’s not always the easiest to get along with, and not everyone would be willing to help him get through the rest of this school year.”
“The way I see it is that he’s only got one year left, may as well push through to the end. Pretty much what I’m doing, to be honest,” I said with a shrug.
“How are you doing with everything? I think it’s remarkably how well put together you are considering all you’ve been through,” Dean replied.
I shifted from one foot to the other, not wanting to get into the deep, dark secrets of my life, but still trying to be as polite as I could. “I guess I just get through it one day at a time.”
“Atta girl,” he said with a smile. “Well, I’m sure you might not get to hear this from anyone, but Damon has certainly turned around since you got to town. I was getting worried about where he was headed in life, and it seems you brought something out in him that’s going to put him back on the right track.”
“That’s a good thing, I suppose,” I said. I still wasn’t sure how to relate to Dean, and I wasn’t sure why he kept talking about Damon. Then again, Damon really was the only thing the two of us had in common. Neither of us wanted to talk about Susan, that was clear from the beginning.
“It is a good thing, and I hope that you continue to be such a positive influence on him,” Dean said with another smile.
“I’ll do my best,” I said with a shrug. “I mostly just keep to myself and get through the day, like I said.”
“Aren’t we all,” Dean said with a laugh. “Anyway, I’m on my way down to the shop, and I’ve taken up enough of your time. Enjoy your walk and the rest of your day.”
“You too,” I said. I waited as he sped off, wondering what the heck had just happened. The man spoke to me as though we were friends, but I’d only met him once, maybe twice. If it wasn’t for Damon and the connection Susan had with him, I wouldn’t have any clue who he was.
Maybe he’s just one of those nice guys. He works at one of the biggest tourist shops in the entire town, he has to be used to talking to the people who come through. Still, I would think that it would be weird talking to the foster daughter of the woman who broke up with you and basically tossed you out of the house.
That is, if Damon is really telling me the truth. It’s so hard to say with all the lies and half truths that take place in that house, I’m not sure who to believe most of the time.
Just forget about it. He was nice enough, move on with your day and who cares what he thinks or what Damon talks about with him.
I continued toward the bay, doing my best to push the conversation out of my head. I didn’t want to think about more drama in my life, but it was still so strange of a conversation, I wasn’t sure how I felt about it.
I just wanted to head out to the water and watch the waves for a while, forgetting about everything else in life. Throwing rocks into the ocean was always a nice way to get rid of stress, as though my problems sank right to the bottom along with the stone.
Maybe I would text Abby about the conversation later, maybe I would just forget about the entire thing. Either way, I wasn’t going to let it bother me along with everything else, and I really wasn’t sure if I would bring it up to Damon, either.
For all I knew, Dean would tell him all about it the next time the two of them saw each other. They sure seemed to be close, and though it didn’t seem things would ever go great with him and Susan, it wasn’t my place to judge what Damon did with the guy he basically considered to be his father.
I’d just continue to do what I did best, staying out of the drama and just moving on with my life. One day to the next, no big deal.
After all, it truly seemed to be the best way to deal with life.
Chapter 12
Sutton
I tossed and turned, staring at the ceiling and hoping I wasn’t making too much noise for Damon to get some sleep. With our beds right against the wall in either room, I had a feeling if I rolled around too much he would hear it through the wall into his room.
But, I also couldn’t help it. There was too much on my mind for me to get any real sleep, that was for sure. I thought about not only the conversation I’d had with Dean and how strange I thought it was for him to talk to me like that, but I couldn’t shake out of my head what he said about the fact Damon has been doing better since I came to Secret Bay.
I didn’t know what that meant. What path was he on that had Dean so concerned? Did it have anything to do with his fighting? Did he fight because he was on this path, or was the path a result of the fighting?
And I couldn’t ignore the note that I found in my locker. Was Damon’s fighting the secret Molly said she knew about? He knew about the no
te, and he knew that whoever wrote it claimed to know something about a secret, but he told me he had a lot of secrets. That did nothing to help me. Not in the slightest.
I had a lot of secrets, too. Way more than I cared to admit to anyone. More than my parents knew, more than Susan knew, and definitely more than my counselor or even Damon would know for that matter.
Life had taught me not to trust people, and I had no intention of breaking that trust with myself. I was going to keep my life close to the vest. I would make sure I never gave anything to anyone that they could then use against me.
I didn’t exactly like being that way, but I was hurt, and I knew it was going to take a lot of time before I even considered letting anyone else into my life. I even felt like I had to be careful with Abby at times. Though she was hands down my best friend, there were some things I really didn’t feel comfortable telling her.
And it was clear to me she felt the same way.
But, I wished I could get Damon off my mind. He was a constant present for me these days, and it only seemed to be getting worse the longer he and I spent time together. On the other hand, I wanted to spend time with him. I wanted to get to know this side of him that Dean seemed to think I brought out.
It was hard for me to know how to approach him with the subject. I ran so hot and cold with him, and I knew that wasn’t fair. He clearly wanted to be more than just friends with me. He didn’t want to just hook up with me, I knew that for sure, but at the same time, I had to think of Susan.
But then, Susan brought a whole new dynamic into what was going on with me and Damon. What did she mean when she walked to him about the fighting the other day? I had only heard so much of it, and it only bred more questions in my mind.
Questions I knew I was going to need answered if there was a chance of me staying sane in the house.
Finally, I knew I had to ask him directly. And I had to find out soon, too. I couldn’t ask him when Susan was around. She would be all over that in a heartbeat. I had a feeling she was already watching us like a hawk after learning that he and I were hooking up.
She didn’t strike me as the kind of woman who would take that sort of thing lightly. Especially not in her house. I didn’t blame her to an extent, but then there was another part of me that took Damon’s side.
He and I were nearly adults, after all, and though I had long saw him as nothing more than a hot bully, I knew there was something about him I just couldn’t shake, no matter how hard I tried.
I had to get the answers, and I had to get them soon. It wasn’t like we were on a time limit, but, in a way, we were. I didn’t know what I was going to do after I graduated, but I certainly didn’t see myself staying around in Secret bay.
I was irritated with my parents for sending me there in the first place. They would have known me well enough to know this wasn’t the sort of place I would want to live in, but yet, here I was. And with Susan. I had to get to the bottom of it, and while I didn’t know if Dean could be any help, I knew that he had told me what he did for a reason.
He clearly knew about the murder, so maybe there was more to the story that he wasn’t telling me. The only person I could really ask about that was Damon. He was close to Dean, and I knew if I were to bring it up to Susan she would shut down the idea in an instant, if she even told me the truth about him knowing at all.
I wasn’t sure how close they were even when they were dating, though I had a feeling she kept a lot from him if she kicked him out just as easily as she did. But still, Damon seemed to think of them as one big happy family before the breakup, and Damon was smart.
There had to be more to this than I was seeing. I was sure of it.
Finally, I knew there was only one way for me to find out, and I was going to do it whether Susan approved or not.
I crept out of bed and slid silently through the hall, heading for Damon’s bedroom. It helped that he was right next door to mine, though I wasn’t sure if he was awake or not. It was past midnight. But then, the fights he had often kept him out later than that.
I knocked quietly on the door then waited, hoping he would answer. There was silence inside, but I remembered Damon pointing out Susan was a deep sleeper. I didn’t want to wake her and have her find me outside Damon’s door, but I was willing to risk knocking a little harder.
I hesitated for another moment, waiting for him to open. But, with the silence still in the room, I decided the best thing to do would be to go back to bed. I didn’t want to feel like an idiot, and I quickly was standing outside the room like that in nothing but my panties and oversized t-shirt.
There was a part of me that was surprised at how comfortable I was not dressing in a lot when I was talking to Damon. But then, he and I had slept together, twice, so I felt comfortable enough.
Especially when Susan wasn’t around.
Giving up, I decided just to head back to bed. I could deal with my own questions and invasive thoughts for now, but I wasn’t going to let them keep me up for the rest of the night, or sit there and pound on Damon’s door when he was likely sound asleep himself.
Turning, I was surprised to hear the door open behind me. I whirled back around, coming face-to-face with Damon.
He was dressed in only his boxers, and I did my best to keep my eyes locked on his.
“Hey,” I said, trying to sound cool. “Couldn’t sleep.”
“Sounds about right,” he said with a shrug. “So what do you want?”
There wasn’t any hostility in his voice, and I gulped. “I’ve got so much on my mind, I thought you might be able to help me with some of it.”
“Oh?” he raised his eyebrows.
“Yeah, like I heard you and Susan talking about your fighting the other day, and I wasn’t trying to listen in, but it was hard for me not to hear what you were taking about,” I lied. I had been listening in as much as I could, but there wasn’t any need for him to know that.
“Yeah, the walls are pretty thin up here,” he said with a shrug. “Or I guess we were down in the kitchen for most of it.”
“Yeah, anyway. I was wondering if that was your secret? You know, the one that was on the note?” I asked. I hadn’t told him that I found out it was Molly who left the note in the locket, and I didn’t plan to. It didn’t matter if it was her or not, I just wanted to know.
“I have a lot of secrets, I told you that,” he said with a shrug. “Who knows who it was or what they were talking about. Why does it bother you so much?”
“I don’t know,” I said with a shake of my head. “I guess there’s just so much I don’t know about my life anymore, and I want to know some of the things I can.”
“Well, I’m not sure what they were talking about, and if there was some secret that had to do with you, then I would tell you,” he said. He gave me a look that made me question whether he was lying, but I sighed.
“Well, that’s all I wanted I guess,” I said. “Sorry to bother you.”
“Wait,” he pulled me into the bedroom. “You can’t show up on my doorstep looking like that and expect not to leave without a kiss.”
I smiled, though I let him press his lips to mine. “Your mom would freak out if she saw what was going on right now.”
He nodded before shaking his head as he rolled his eyes. “As if she’s one to talk when it comes to relationships.”
“Anyway, I better get going before she finds us in here,” I said. I was about to slip back into my room when he pulled me further into his, heading toward the bed.
“Hold on there, I don’t care if she finds out,” he said. “Really, I want you, Sutton, I really do.”
I knew I shouldn’t do it. I knew it was just about the worst idea I could have had, but with the way he was holding me, the way I was getting so wet, I knew it would be next to impossible to turn him down. And, in all honesty, I didn’t want to.
“Oh, Damon,” I whispered as he started kissing my neck. He lifted my shirt and let it fall to the floor before grabb
ing my tits. His touch left goosebumps all over my skin. I felt a shudder run through me, and I felt cold, though there was a part of me that knew it was all excitement.
“Come to bed with me, darling,” he whispered. I could feel how aroused he was through his boxers, my thin panties doing little to keep us apart. Without another word I crawled into bed with him as we pulled down our underwear, exposing our naked bodies to each other.
I never felt awkward when I was around him, I felt sexy, I felt desirable. Our hands were all over each other in an instant, his fingers on my pussy, feeling how wet I was, running his two fingers between the lips of me before pushing them inside.
I was so wet, he slid right in, sending a shiver through both of us. I took him in my hand and stroked, making him even harder than before. I could feel the light wet of pre-cum on the tips of my fingers as I spread my legs further apart, easing my hips up and begging him to put his cock inside me.
Damon pulled his fingers out and wiped them on the sheets of the bed, his smile fierce and hungry. He put his hands on my hips and turned me over, spreading my legs and putting the head of his cock to the tight slit of my pussy.
It was the first time he had taken me from behind, and my body was tight with the anticipation of the moment as he pushed himself inside. I let out a soft moan, keeping my voice down so we didn’t wake Susan, as he thrust into me. His balls slapped against my body, making the sound of love between us.
I gripped the sheets, letting him run his hands over my tits as he continued to fill me. He touched me in a whole new way I didn’t know was possible. I thought he was big before, but this position made him feel bigger, deeper. I knew I felt tighter as he let out soft moans as he drew himself out then thrust himself back in.
He put his hands on my hips, moving fast and hard now, I did my best to keep the noise down as he continued to fill me, giving me all that he had inside him.
He made me cum so hard, I was sure I saw stars flash before my eyes. I spread my legs and pressed my ass against him, sitting on him as far as I could as I felt his cock start to pulse inside me, giving me all that he had to give.