“Why?”
“He was looking for her. I thought he wanted to make fun of her for getting so trashed. He likes to do that, take pictures of drunken girls and stick them on Snapchat and Instagram. I knew she’d be embarrassed if that happened, so I just ignored him. Now that I realize what happened to Gabriela, I’m awfully glad I did.”
“Thank you, Max.”
“I’d do anything for you, Sam. I thought you knew that.”
He was talking about more than helping out my friends. Max still had feelings for me, and that thought made me happier than it should have, but I was seeing Dylan now and we both knew it.
“You’re a good friend, Max.”
I hung up the phone and made myself face some ugly truths. When Bethany told me Max had taken care of her last night, my first thought was not gratitude that he’d protected my friend. It was something else altogether, something unexpected and very nasty.
Jealousy. The thought of Bethany being with Max made me jealous. The thought of anyone being with Max made me jealous. Even though I slept with Dylan, I still felt an odd tug of possessiveness about Max. He was a toy I’d tossed to the side, just like a bored child. And as soon as someone else showed interest, I liked my toy again and wanted it back.
I knew it was wrong, but I couldn’t help it. And Max felt it, too. It may have been even worse for him since I’d moved on first, with his fraternity brother. We played a dangerous game, but the more involved I got with Dylan, the more I enjoyed Max’s flirty banter, and the less inclined I was to give it up.
I had one more call to make. I skimmed through my contacts until I found the number, knowing it was a mistake, but I couldn’t stop myself.
Zach answered almost immediately. “Talk to me.”
“I’d rather not.”
He paused. “This sounds a lot like Samantha Barnes. What a pleasant surprise. How’d you get my number, Samantha?”
“Greek Week. Last year. We were on the same committee. You’re in big trouble, Zach.”
He laughed. “Not likely. You missed quite the party last night.”
My hands shook. “I’ll make you pay for what you did. I promise you that. You aren’t going to get away with this.”
He had the audacity to laugh. “Stupid, Sam. I already did.”
I hung up on him, unable to listen to the sound of his voice another second. I thought about calling Dylan, but decided against it. I couldn’t tell him about Gabriela, and I didn’t want to talk about anything else at the moment.
Suddenly, I was full of secrets. Gabriela. Dylan. The medicine cabinet. Max. The thought made me shiver. I’d never had secrets before. I never needed them.
As I opened the door to the pizza shop, and felt the blast of warm air from the ovens on my face, I didn’t draw back. I let it pull me in; breathing in the humid air and feeling my tense body begin to relax.
I could only focus on one secret at a time. Gabriela needed me most. I had to face this the way I faced cleaning my room. Just begin at one point and work my way through it in a clockwise motion. The trouble was, I had no direction to follow, but at least I knew where to begin. I grabbed her pizza, and carried it home.
CHAPTER EIGHT
“Would you like to come home with me this weekend?”
Dylan and I sat under a tree on a bench watching students mill about in the autumn sunshine as I leaned against him. The trees had just started to change to brilliant fall hues, and a crisp coolness to the air made me snuggle deeper into my long wool sweater. I sat up and stared at him.
“Home?”
A lock of hair came loose from my bun and trailed across my face. He tucked it behind my ear.
“My parents want to meet you.”
“Really?”
I talked to my mom every single day, and I told her about Dylan, but didn’t feel any incredible urgency for my parents to meet him. I knew exactly what would happen if I did. Mom would love him instantly and talk about his good points over and over again until I couldn’t stand it anymore, and Dad would dislike him on sight and refuse to talk about him. He only started liking Max once I’d broken up with him. He never liked Will at all.
Mom and Dad were nice, ordinary middle-class people. We lived in a house in the suburbs just down the street from where my parents had both grown up. There was nothing terribly interesting about any of us, but I had a feeling Dylan’s family would be a little different. He must have seen the worry in my eyes.
“It’ll be fine. It’s my brother’s birthday, and he wants me to come home. It’s just for one night.”
“I guess I can come.”
I still hadn’t talked with him about Gabriela, and three days had already passed. The longer I waited, the harder it became. I felt guilty leaving her, but couldn’t tell Dylan that without telling him about what had happened. He misread my feelings and frowned.
“You sound thrilled.”
I reached up and cupped his cheek with my hand. “It isn’t that. I’m just a little tired. I got my ‘you know what’ last night.”
The angry frown disappeared. He’d been asking me about my period every single day since we’d slept together.
“You did? That’s great news.”
I curled up against him, my arms wrapped around my sore belly. “Yippee.”
~
Gabriela walked into my room as I packed on Friday. “Where are you going?” she asked.
She’d gotten a little stronger each day, and even promised to start meeting with a counselor next week. She still had shadows in her eyes, and I wondered if that would ever go away completely.
“Um…Dylan asked me if I’d go home with him this weekend.”
Embarrassed to even talk about my happy, somewhat normal relationship after what she’d been through, I cringed. She didn’t seem to notice.
“I’m going home, too.
“You are?”
She wrung her hands. “I don’t want to be here. I’m scared I might see Zach again, and I’m not sure how I’d react. I can’t run the risk of embarrassing myself, not on top of everything else.”
I pushed my suitcase aside so we could sit on my bed and talk. “He’s the one who should be embarrassed.”
She nodded; her face expressionless. That was another thing that had changed about Gabriela. She used to broadcast every single emotion right on her face. Now she seemed more shuttered, her thoughts and feelings hidden.
“Have you told Dylan about what happened?”
I shook my head. “I planned to ask you if I should. The only person I spoke with was Max.”
“I figured Max already knew, since he was there with Bethany that night. It’s okay if you want to tell Dylan. He’s your boyfriend. I trust him.”
The fact Gabriela trusted Dylan even after what she’d just been through, and I couldn’t trust him even after sleeping with him, said a lot about our personalities. She’d stopped blaming herself, to a certain degree, about what happened, and she hadn’t lost her faith in humanity. I wondered if I had any to begin with.
She got up and kissed my cheek. “Have a good weekend.”
I wanted to tell her to do the same, but it didn’t seem appropriate. This weekend was going to be rough for her and her family.
“Call me if you need anything, okay?”
She gave me the ghost of a smile. “I will.”
~
Dylan picked me up after my last class of the day, Japanese Anthropology. My professor, Dr. Brown, was the toughest in the whole department. The midterm, only a few weeks away, already terrified me, but the class was fascinating. I told Dylan about it as we sped off to his parents’ house.
“Japan shut itself off from almost all outside influences for more than two hundred years. Can you imagine what that does to a culture? To a language? Japanese is so vague concerning pronouns, sentence subjects, and even verbs. It makes me wonder if that period of seclusion made it that way or not. I asked Dr. Brown if I could use that topic for my final exam p
aper. He said it sounded intriguing.”
I grinned at Dylan. Meeting with Dr. Brown had cheered me up and put me in a very good mood. I’d needed it after my chat with Gabriela. My heart broke for her, but I couldn’t figure out how to help, other than that one phone call I’d made to Zach when I issued a vague threat. I wanted to do more, but some things just couldn’t be fixed.
Dylan took my hand and kissed it. “I think you’re intriguing, too.”
I leaned back in my seat, my hand still in Dylan’s. As we sped down the highway, I felt happy. Content. I didn’t feel nervous until a few hours later when we pulled up in front a giant stone house. Actually, more like a mansion with a curved drive, huge trees, and a perfectly manicured lawn. My jaw dropped. I realized Dylan came from money, but this was more than I’d expected.
“Please don’t tell me you have a butler named Jeeves.”
He laughed. “No butler. We do have a housekeeper named Nancy, but she only comes twice a week.”
“Only twice a week? However do you manage?”
To my great surprise, Dylan’s parents were nice, friendly, and very down to earth. His brother, the same age as my sister, Sophie, was a younger and slightly shorter version of Dylan. I connected with him right away. Mrs. Hunter served homemade macaroni and cheese and pulled pork sandwiches.
“Jake’s favorite,” she said. “We always have it on his birthday.”
“Everything is delicious, and thank you so much for having me.”
Mrs. Hunter smiled, her gaze resting on her oldest son. Dylan had her coloring, but he’d gotten his height and bone structure from his dad.
“It’s our pleasure,” she said, and to my surprise her eyes filled with tears. She excused herself and went into the kitchen to grab more napkins. When she returned, she was back to normal.
I enjoyed spending time with Dylan’s family. They asked me lots of questions, seemed genuinely interested in my answers, and by the end of the meal, I’d started to suspect little Jake had a bit of a crush on me. Dylan noticed it, too.
“Be careful,” he murmured in my ear. “I think my little brother is half in love with you already.”
I giggled. Jake had been staring at me with big puppy dog eyes throughout the meal.
“He’s adorable. Like his brother.”
I gave Dylan a peck on the cheek. We were curled up on the sofa, full of good food and cake. Jake asked if we could watch a movie together, and seemed thrilled when I told him I loved the movie he’d chosen, The Wrath of Khan.
“He just likes me because I’m a Trekkie. It takes one to know one.”
Dylan gave me a little squeeze. “I think it’s more than that.”
I put my head on his shoulder and noticed his parents watched us closely, both with odd expressions on their faces. It took me a second to pinpoint exactly what emotion I saw there.
His parents looked hopeful. I thought I’d seek their approval all weekend, but it seemed more like they sought mine.
We watched the movie, ate popcorn, and had a wonderful evening. Their house was huge, their furnishings sumptuous, but it somehow felt like home. Dylan’s parents weren’t snobs, and the more time I spent around them, the more I could imagine myself as part of their lives. Part of their family. Kind of a heady fantasy.
Dylan showed me to my room, made sure I had everything I needed, then pulled me into his arms to kiss me goodnight. I clung to him, and the kiss progressed a little further than I expected. His hands slid under my sweater to cup my breasts and I moaned softly as I leaned against him. I wanted him. Badly.
“Can you stay a little?” My voice, a soft whisper in his ear, made him tremble. When I nibbled on his earlobe, he groaned.
“We shouldn’t…not yet…everyone is still awake.”
In spite of what he said, his hands reached around to grab my bottom and pull me closer. I rubbed against him. He felt so good, and knowing how much he wanted me was a turn on itself.
“I know. I just want to be with you a little longer.”
He leaned down to nuzzle my neck. “I’ll say goodnight to my parents. I’ll be back soon, right after they go to bed.”
“Don’t take too long.”
Hours passed before he finally made it to my room. I had on nothing but a pair of red undies and a cami, and just thinking about him as I lay on the giant, soft bed got me incredibly aroused. I stirred in the bed, tossing back and forth, restless. When Dylan finally opened the door, locking it firmly behind him with a loud click, I held out my arms to him.
“Finally.”
He climbed on top of me, his body a welcome weight. A thick comforter separated us. I pulled his dark head down so I could kiss him over and over again.
“My dad wanted to chat,” he said between kisses. “I told him I was exhausted, but it took him forever to get to bed.”
He yanked down the comforter and pulled up my cami to expose my breasts. “I’ve been thinking about this all week.”
He took my nipple in his mouth and I arched against him, holding him close. “Dylan. I want you so much. I’m dying.”
“Me, too.” He reached under the sheet for my panties, but I stopped him when I heard the antique bed squeak. “What’s wrong?”
I ducked my head into the curve of his neck, embarrassed. “What if your parents hear us?”
He stood up and gave me his hand. “For every problem, there is a solution.”
Dylan’s solution proved extremely satisfactory. After working me to a nearly frenzied state of arousal on the floor of his parents’ guest room, he turned me over so I was in front of him on my hands and knees. I was completely naked and felt a little exposed. I’d never done it this way before. But my shyness disappeared as soon as Dylan put on a condom and entered me. I gasped. The feeling was so intense.
Dylan leaned over, his front pressing against my back. He was inside me, stretching me, filling me, and the angle proved incredible. He brushed my hair away and kissed the side of my neck.
“Sam. I love you so much.”
I couldn’t talk, and I didn’t want to tell him any lies. Instead, I wiggled against him, pushing my bottom against his hardness. He made a sound deep in the back of his throat, and the soft kiss on my neck turned into more of nibble as he reached around with one hand to grab my breast. His hand slid lower, to the place right between my thighs, and I shuddered.
“Dylan. Please.”
He leaned back and grabbed my hips with his hands, thrusting into me over and over again. This position had never intrigued me. It felt too primal, too impersonal, but now I found I liked it. A lot.
It took everything inside me not to scream when I came. To be honest, the idea of his parents being in the same house didn’t bother me anymore. My need to have Dylan far superseded my need to be a polite guest and not bang the hell out of their son on the floor of the elegant, white washed Hunter guest room. And bang the hell out of him I did. As soon as I came, he came. He fell forward, his breath hot against my back.
“Dear God, Miss Barnes. I think you’ll be the death of me.”
I grinned, my body still humming from the orgasm he’d just given me. “Well, Mr. Hunter, at least you’ll die happy.”
He chuckled and pulled me off the floor, dressing me and tucking me into bed. “Stay,” I begged.
He pulled on his t-shirt and boxers and snuggled up next to me. “Your wish is my command,” he said, spooning me against his broad chest. “But not all night. I have to leave before everyone else wakes up.”
I curled up next to him, very pleased with myself, and fell asleep almost immediately. In the morning, I opened my eyes and stretched, a smile on my face. Alone in the bed, but I still felt the warmth of Dylan’s body, still smelled the scent of his skin. I pulled the pillow he’d slept on to my nose, hugging it. I might not be in love with Dylan Hunter yet, but I got closer and closer every single moment.
We spent the day with his family. The town he lived in was quaint and filled with interesting littl
e shops. His mother and I ducked into just about each and every one, as Dylan, his brother, and father groaned impatiently, but it was fun. I found a Star Wars book for Jake at a bookstore, and he really liked it. He sat outside on a bench reading it while I browsed with his mother.
“It’s nice having a girl to shop with,” she said as we looked around an antique shop.
“I have a sister,” I said. “My dad is always surrounded by a sea of estrogen, poor guy.”
She gave me a little smile, but something very serious reflected in her eyes. “I’m so glad you’re here, Sam. Dylan hasn’t looked this happy in so long…”
Dylan came up behind her, interrupting whatever she’d been about to say. “C’mon you two. We’re starving.”
He put an arm around both of us and pulled us out of the store. His father gave a sigh of relief. “Thank goodness. I thought we were going to have to eat Jakey here.”
Jake looked outraged. “Why me? Why am I always the first one you threaten to eat?”
Mrs. Hunter laughed. “You’re obviously the most delicious.”
We had a nice lunch, and when it came time to leave, Mrs. Hunter pulled me into a hug.
“It’s been so nice to meet you, Sam,” she said, and I heard a hint of tears in her voice. Dylan must have heard it, too. He kissed her cheek.
“Don’t cry, Mom. We’ll be home at Thanksgiving.”
The entire Hunter family looked at me and my cheeks burned. “That would be really fun. I have a lot of family stuff going on, though.”
Mr. Hunter patted my shoulder. “Of course. Just know you’re always welcome here, Sam.”
As we drove away, I looked back and waved. Mr. Hunter had his arm around his wife’s shoulder. Jake stood next to his parents, his eyes locked on our car. He didn’t wave. He stood as still as a statue, his hands shoved deeply into the pocket of his hoodie, and his eyes followed us until the car turned a bend and we were gone.
CHAPTER NINE
Saying Goodbye, Part One (Passports and Promises Book 1) Page 7