by Anna B. Doe
Amelia moans softly in my mouth, the sweet sound at the back of her throat asking me to take more. Her hands come around me, delicate fingers curling around the hem of my shirt, crumpling it in her fists.
Changing the angle of our kiss, I get in deeper. Her mouth is hot and wet, and she’s as desperate as I am.
I tug at her hair, careful not to hurt her. “We have to get out of here.” The words come out in a heavy pant.
Glassy eyes look at me. Her breathing is as hard as mine, and I can see desire burn in her eyes and heat radiating off of her body. She wants this. She wants me just as much as I want her.
“Let me explain.” With the back of my hand, I caress her flushed cheek. “Please.”
Amelia and I, we are locked in our own world. I know we are not alone, and I can feel people staring at us, but I couldn’t care less what they think or what they are saying. This moment belongs to us.
It’s real and it’s ours.
She knows I’m not the kind of guy to ask for anything. I take what I want or what is offered, so for me to ask her to listen, to give me a chance, means something.
She means something.
Taking one deep breath in, she nods her head slowly once. “Okay.”
Amelia
I’m not sure, but I think he took me back to the room where he kissed me for the first time. Only this time, the soft glow of the night lamp is casting light in the room.
With his back at me, I let my finger trace my swollen lips.
I can still feel his soft mouth pressed against mine. I can still feel his hands in my hair and strong body standing so close to mine, that for a minute, it seemed like we were one person and not two.
Why does it have to be like that?
Why do I have to feel so close, so perfect with the only person who doesn’t feel the same for me?
Every time he kisses me, it seems like we are born to be together.
Two parts that make a whole.
Then something would come up and remind me that perfection doesn’t exist. Nothing is perfect. Nobody is perfect.
People just want to believe in perfection because it gives them a sense of security. Something they can strive and hope for.
Little do they know that perfection is just an illusion.
“That day …” Derek’s hand goes through his hair, restless, making it even messier than before. He’s standing close to the window, watching at the dark below. “If you only came five minutes later. Just five fucking minutes later, nothing like this would have happened.”
“You mean, I wouldn’t see you making out with another girl so you could keep on playing with me while you had her on the side?” My voice is hard and accusing. “If that’s what you wanted to tell me, then you are wasting your time.”
“No, god damn it.” Derek turns around and looks at me. My back is pressed against the wall closest to the door. My escape.
Lowering his voice, he continues more calmly. “What I want to say is, I didn’t call her. She showed up at my door, uninvited. I just got home, and I wanted to take a shower before you showed up. I knew I didn’t have a lot of time so when I got out of the shower and heard the bell ring, I didn’t think twice.
“Imagine my surprise when I opened the door, only in the towel because I knew how flustered you’d be if you saw me like that, and I like to tease you, make you feel uncomfortable. Your cheeks become this cute shade of pink, your lips part, and your eyes grow wide in surprise. So damn cute.”
He shakes his head like he’s trying to get out of his mind the picture that he painted of me and get back to what we were talking about.
“Anyway, I open the door and there she is, jumping in my arms. I was so shocked I almost dropped her. Maybe I should have done it, and then I wouldn’t be in this mess. My brain soon caught up to what was happening, and I pulled her hands from my body as fast as I could, pushing her toward the open door.
“You have to believe when I tell you, I never, ever, brought a girl home.” Derek moves from the window and takes those few, short steps that are separating us until he stands in front of me.
“I didn’t want to bring some random girl to my house to meet my parents. And if you tell this to anybody, I’ll deny it, but I wanted it to be special. You were supposed to be first, Amelia. You were supposed to be first because you are special.”
I swallow the lump that formed in my throat. “Then why did you kiss her?” My voice cracks and I sound so broken. The image of that day is burned in my brain, and I can’t stop playing it over and over again.
“I didn’t.” Derek shakes his head. His hand lifts to caress my cheek. Only then do I notice one shiny tear on his finger. “Once I got her outside, I explained that there was a misunderstanding and that I didn’t text her to come over. I said I wasn’t interested and that she should go, but Sophie thought I was messing around, like before and that I would change my mind.
“‘Don’t worry. We can hang out next time’, that’s what she said before she kissed me and turned around to leave.” He laughs, but there is nothing funny. The sound is bitter and filled with anger and frustration. “And there you were, just in time to see everything.”
“You didn’t kiss her?” I ask with trembling voice.
I return to that day. I remember getting out of the car. I was lost in my thoughts—thinking about the differences between Derek’s life and mine, about his parents and the strange, yet familiar car standing in the driveway.
Just as I came close enough, the door opened and they got out. In a split second, the girl turned around and was kissing him. I was shocked and I was hurt. I remember how my heart squeezed painfully and how for a moment I couldn’t breathe or think.
It hurt so much.
But now, when my mind isn’t foggy with all the hurt feelings I remember that her hands were on him, but his were stuck in the air. Was he trying to push her away? And his blue eyes were wide open. They weren’t closed or looking down at her with heat in them like they did sometimes when he kissed me.
“I swear.” Derek looks me straight in the eyes, sincerity shining in his azure depths. “She kissed me. Everything happened so fast. I didn’t expect it, and in those few seconds my brain needed to process everything and push her away, you were already running away.”
With his thumbs, rough from all the time spent on the cold ice, he wipes the tears under my eyes. “From the beginning of the school year, there hasn’t been anyone but you.”
“Did you mean what you said before?” I put my hands over his. “About the line between love and hate being thin?”
His lips slowly curl into one of his famous sexy, boyish smiles. “You can hate me all you want, little one. I’ll stand on the other side of the line and love you with the same strength and fierceness.”
My hand touches his face, the tip of my finger slowly sliding over his lower lip. “Kiss me?”
Derek moves in closer, so close that our breaths are mingling together. “When you tell me you are mine.”
“I’m yours.”
There is no hesitation, no doubt.
“Do you hate me, little one?”
“With all I’ve got.”
“I love you too.”
Then his lips are on mine, and we don’t talk. The only sound in the room is our hard breathing, my low moans, and his rough groans as we devour each other.
Derek’s hands are all over me like he wants to reassure himself that I’m still here, that I didn’t go away.
I know that’s what I’m trying to do. I want to know every part of this boy. I want him to be mine because I’m his.
Even when I didn’t want to.
Even when I hated him.
Even when my heart was broken.
Maybe even all this time, from the time he broke my heart for the first time and I promised myself I’ll never forgive him, I was just waiting for him on the other side of the line.
One week later
Amelia
“I p
romised I would take you skating.”
“This is not skating,” I whine, trying my hardest to control my wobbly legs. “This is you trying to kill me.”
“Don’t be a baby, Lia. You’ve been on the ice for all of five minutes, not even that much.” Derek’s laugh fills the empty rink. “You’ll get better at it.”
“There is no way you are getting me on the ice ever again if I survive this.”
“You are going to survive.” He rolls his baby blues at me. “Don’t exaggerate. After all, you have the best teacher there is in this region.”
“So modest. I don’t know how you do it.”
“Well.” His face gets this serious expression. With the tip of his pointer finger, he’s tapping his chin, deep in thoughts. “It’s quite hard, to be honest. But I’m doing my best.”
He grins, and I can’t help myself but do the same. When he’s like this, he’s too cute for his own good. Not that I think he would appreciate my compliment, or maybe he would but I don’t want to risk him growing an even bigger ego than he already has.
“Now, less talking and more skating.”
Cool fingers wrap around mine in a tight grip.
Derek’s already standing on the ice, in front of the entrance waiting for me to put my foot, or better said skate, on the ice surface.
My eyes look down at the slippery, white ice, uncertainty surrounding me. “I’m going to fall,” I whisper looking at him.
“Do you seriously think I’ll let you fall?”
I shake my head no. Because I don’t.
No matter what, Derek has always been there to catch me.
My fingers wrap harder around his and slowly, I put one foot on the ice. I feel my balance wobble instantly. “Don’t let me fall,” I beg him silently, but the only thing he does is smile.
“I’m here.”
The other foot follows soon, and I hold my breath in anticipation of a fall.
“You are so damn cute.” Derek laughs. “Now, hold on tight. I’ll give you a round or two so that you get a feel for ice, and then you can try it by yourself.”
“I don’t think...” I start, but he starts skating backwards, surprising me completely so the only thing left from my voice is a high pitched shriek.
Derek moves so effortlessly, even with me in tow. We glide over the clean, white surface in silence.
It’s early morning, and Derek just finished with his workout in the gym. And since coach didn’t want us to stay after practice at night, he let Derek and me use the ice before the school.
Derek went as far as putting his gear on, minus the helmet and stick. When I asked him why, he laughed and said it’s better if he stayed this way because if I decide to fall down, at least I’ll have a soft landing. I had to agree with him so I didn’t say anything else on the subject.
Dressed like this he appears even bigger than before. Almost bigger than life. Here, he’s at home, that much is clear to me.
“You see? You are not doing half bad.”
His words bring me out of my mind. It’s so easy for me to get lost in his blue eyes. I could watch him forever and never get bored.
I look at the floor and find my legs moving from side to side. It’s a small movement, but I’m moving!
“Soon I’ll be able to teach you how to play hockey,” he teases.
“Ohh no.” Even the idea of it makes me nauseous. “I don’t think so.”
I jerk in surprise, and the sudden movement makes me trip over my own feet. My body starts to fall forward, but I don’t fall far because Derek’s hands are there to hold me.
“I’ve got you,” he reassures me yet again, his fingers softly moving the loose strand of hair that got in my face behind my ear.
His icy fingers brush against my cheek, and I lean into his touch.
“I like to see you on the ice in my jersey, little one.” He leans into me and whispers. His hot breath touches my skin and makes me shiver.
Derek always does that, he says he likes to see me unnerved. My opinion is, he just likes to torment me. But I’ll take this kind of torment any day of the week if it means I get to feel his lips on mine.
“It seemed fitting to wear it today,” I admit, my hands moving up his hands and on his shoulders.
“For all I care, you can wear it every single day of your life.”
His hands cup my cheeks. With the tip of his thumb, Derek brushes my nose.
“Every?”
My fingers play with the hair at the nape of his neck. It’s damp from his exercise, but I don’t mind it.
“Every.”
His lips brush against mine, and it’s a good thing he’s holding me and that my hands are wrapped around his neck because I feel my legs give out on me.
Our cool lips and cool breaths mingle as our lips touch softly.
“So much for teaching her how to skate.” Max’s voice interrupts our moment.
We break our kiss, but Derek doesn’t move away from me one bit.
“I am teaching her how to skate.”
“I can see that.”
“Hey, rewarding progress helps in motivating students to learn faster.” He grins widely. “It’s a statistical fact.”
I don’t see him, but I can feel Max roll his eyes at us.
“It’s also a statistical fact that the coach will have your ass if you don’t get off that ice in ten seconds. Class is about to start.”
“We’re coming!” I yell, eager to put my legs on a strong surface.
Derek gives me a pointed look, totally seeing where I’m heading with my thoughts. “This is not the end of our lessons, Lia.”
“We’ll see about that, King.”
His hand moves closer in a blink of an eye, his lips crushing mine for a heartbeat. Hard and fast.
“I love you, little one.”
“I hate you, too.”
With my hand in his, he pulls me off the ice. We sit down on the bench where Derek helps me take off my skates before he gives me a soft kiss on top of my head and goes quickly to the locker room to change.
“You guys are making me want to puke.” Max slides on the seat that Derek just vacated.
“I’m sorry.” My cheeks warm in embarrassment. I can only imagine the intense shade of red coloring my cheeks, partly from cold of the ice rink and partly from Derek’s kisses.
“Nah.” Max pulls playfully at the end of my ponytail. “Don’t be sorry for being happy, Freckles.”
A small smile curls my lips. “It doesn’t sound as bad as it used to.”
“That’s because you’re in love.”
He wraps his hand around me, helping me get on my feet.
“You kissing up to my girl already, Sanders?”
Derek comes back in, pulling me to his side and throwing my backpack over his shoulder at the same time.
Max lifts his hands in the air in surrender. “I wouldn’t dream of it.”
Laughing, we walk out of the ice rink, across the schoolyard, and into the main building. The guys are joking and talking hockey, because is there anything else to talk about? And I’m just happy to have Derek’s hand around me, holding me close and keeping me warm.
When we come through the door, people part ways, looking over their shoulders to take a glimpse longer at their ice kings.
Derek’s eyes meet mine, and I can see the glimmer of the bright blue of his irises as the corner of his mouth lifts in a knowing smile.
I smile back, just before his lips land on mine, giving me a quick kiss. The bell rings but the hall is in utter silence.
People are staring, although Derek has been doing this every day for a week. I can feel their eyes on me, their probing, judging stares, but you know what? I don’t care. Because while they stand still looking at our back, we’re moving forward hand in hand.
PLAYLIST
Ángel López – Entre El Amor y El Odio
Anahí – Absurda
Demi Lovato – Stone Cold
Camila – Mientes
Lady Antebellum – Wanted You More
Ruelle – War Of Hearts
Paul Van Dyk feat. Plumb – I Don’t Deserve You
Frances ft. Ritual – When It Comes To Us
Sia feat. Sean Paul – Cheap Thrills
Emeli Sandé – Hurts
Kelly Clarkson – I Don’t Think About You
Lady Antebellum – Just A Kiss
Chris Lane – Take Back Home Girl ft. Tori Kelly
COMING SOON...
Habits (Greyford High Series, #2)
Other books by Anna B. Doe
New York Knights series
Contemporary Sports Romance novels
#1 Lost & Found
#2 Until
#3 Forever
Standalone: YA Fantasy Romance
(currently free on Wattpad)
Underwater
Greyford High series
YA Sports Romance novels:
#1 Lines
#2 Habits (coming 2019)
#3 Rules (coming 2019)
Acknowledgments & Author’s Notes
This story came to me when I was in a really bad place. Can you believe I actually wrote it at the end of last year? Yup, in 2017. And now, a year later, this book is going to see the light of the day.
Until, book two in the New York Knights series, was giving me a really hard time, so I decided to call it quits and concentrate on something else until Sienna and J.D. start speaking to me again. And then this story appeared. Derek and Lia’s voices were so strong in my head I wrote this whole book in six or so weeks. I still think Lines is the fastest story I’ve even written. Of course, there have been a lot of changes since I wrote “The End” on the first draft, but the core of the story is the same. And it did what it was supposed to; it gave me time to refocus until Sienna and J.D. started talking to me again so I could finish their story.
For almost a year I’ve been sitting on this story making it what it is while at the same time debating on if I should publish it, to begin with. My betas finally convinced me I should do it, so I went for it. I’m glad I did and I hope you like it as much as I do because this book has a special place in my heart. A special message I want to share with you.