by J. A. Owenby
The heat of his body seared me, and I fought the desire he’d just ignited inside me. No way could something physical happen between us, not like this.
“You’re so beautiful,” he said, utterly oblivious to the pouring rain and thunder.
A little whimper escaped me when his hot mouth brushed the corner of mine.
“Please don’t leave. I need you,” he whispered, his breath tickling the sensitive place on my neck.
“Layne.” I tried to break the spell he had me under, but it wasn’t working.
“Shhh,” he groaned at the base of his throat before his lips crashed down on mine.
All logic rushed out of my brain as his mouth took mine. My knees wobbled as he cupped my cheeks, and his kiss intensified, lighting my soul on fire. Layne had just rocked my world, but he had no idea.
His lips parted, and every fiber of my body melted as his tongue caressed mine. Layne pulled away and leaned his forehead against mine. My breaths came in short gasps while we stood clinging to each other in the pouring rain.
“I’m so sorry.” He kissed me again, and every wall inside me crumbled. This man had undone me with one kiss.
Layne stepped away and dropped his hands to his sides. Then he ripped my heart out and stomped on it with his next words. “Chloe, please forgive me.”
10
I’d never experienced anger so fierce that I bordered on the edge of blacking out. But at the moment, I was clinging to any shred of sanity I could. Chloe? He was so drunk, he thought I was Chloe? He’d kissed me like that, thinking I was that hateful bitch?
“Fuck you!” I screamed. Fuck him for making me feel. Fuck him for making me want him. Fuck him for making me think he was a good guy.
Headlights appeared in the parking lot, and a horn honked. My Uber was there. Shit, I’d almost forgotten. I grabbed my backpack off the soggy lawn and glared at Layne. “Stay away from me, Layne Garrison!”
“No, wait. I never meant to lose Nicole. She was so small, so tiny.”
My anger screeched to a halt. Who the hell is Nicole? I stared at him, wondering if his secrets were about to spill out of him like a geyser.
“What happened to Nicole, Layne?” I took a step toward him, ignoring the blare of the car horn in the parking lot behind me.
He shook his head, then grabbed clumps of his hair with both hands and tugged as if it would relieve some of the pressure that was building inside him.
I uncurled his fingers, took his hand, and held it between mine. “What did you not mean to do? It’s okay. You can tell me.”
“Chloe, I’m so sorry.” He squeezed his eyes closed as though he could snap out of the pain.
My teeth ground together with the mention of Chloe’s name, but I forced myself to stay focused. He was flipping back and forth between the past and the present. The alcohol had done a major number on his head, and he was shit-faced, but something was torturing him. I wanted to know what it was so I could throw it in his face when he was sober. I wanted to hurt him as much as he’d just hurt me.
A cry muffled his next words. “When the tornado siren went off, I thought you were next to me. Since I had Nicole, I ran across the yard toward the house. She was so tiny, and I was terrified I’d smother her if I held her too close to my chest.” Layne sank to his knees, and his eyes pleaded with me for relief from the inner torment.
I knelt with him. “Why was she so little?” I asked, a lump growing in my throat.
“She had just turned three months old, and Chloe brought her over in a new pink dress. She was so beautiful, so small. I never knew I could love someone so much until I held her for the first time. When her tiny fingers grasped mine. …”
Please don’t say it. Jesus, please don’t say the words I think you’re going to.
“I hesitated before going into the house, and when I glanced behind me, you were gone. At the time, I wasn’t sure if you’d found a closer hiding place or if … The tornado was picking up shit left and right. Cars, lawn chairs, people. My only thought was keeping Nicole safe. She had her entire life ahead of her, and she was my daughter. I would protect her with everything I had.”
Tears mixed with the rain that streamed down my face.
“I made it into the house, but when the roof was torn off”—Layne doubled over, clutching his stomach and sobbing—“she was ripped away from me. I lost my baby girl.”
His words stabbed me in the heart. I jerked him forward, flung my arms around his neck, and pulled him to me. Our sobs were muffled against the thunder as we cried together. No way would I ever throw that in his face. His baby. Chloe was dead too. I didn’t understand how horrible shit like that could happen. An intense ache filled my chest while I tried to imagine what Layne was going through. My life had been nearly destroyed because my parents hadn’t wanted me, and Layne’s had been shattered because all he wanted was his daughter.
After another minute, Layne’s body relaxed.
I pulled away and placed my hands on the sides of his face. “Let’s get you home.” I kissed his forehead and stood.
Once he was on his feet, I draped his arm around my shoulders, picked up my backpack again, and headed toward the impatient Uber driver.
After some careful persuasion, I coerced Layne into the back seat with me. At least he’d stopped calling me Chloe.
“What’s your address?” the driver asked as his dark eyes met mine in the rearview mirror.
“Vilonia. Vilonia, Arkansas.” Layne’s words were slurred, and I suspected he would pass out soon.
Then his words hit me. Shit. It was that tornado? It had leveled the town, taking fifteen people with it. I had no idea he’d been involved or that Chloe had lost her life.
“Where to?” the driver asked, tapping the dashboard forcefully. He was irritated, and I didn’t blame him. We were soaking wet in his back seat and had made him wait.
I gave him my address while Layne laid his head on my shoulder. It looked like I would have company that night after all, just not in the way I’d expected.
Chewing my bottom lip, I could almost feel Layne’s mouth on mine. My body tingled, but then I remembered it wasn’t me he was kissing. It was her.
I took a deep breath. I was relieved that Chloe could no longer hurt me. Does that make me a horrible person? What she did to me was evil. People didn’t come back from evil. But maybe she’d changed after she had a baby. Layne’s baby.
The Uber driver made it to my house in record time. I tossed a five-dollar bill onto the front passenger’s seat for an extra tip and thanked him for waiting.
Somehow, I managed to haul Layne into the house and then to my bedroom.
He moaned as I flopped him onto my bed. My dark-green comforter bunched underneath him, and I was grateful he hadn’t landed on my Minion pillow. It would have gotten soaked. His jeans were stuck to his thighs, but it felt wrong to remove them. After pulling off his shoes and socks, I stood at the footboard and stared at him. Even in his drunken state, he was beautiful. His shirt was plastered to his washboard abs and muscular biceps. His full lips gaped open slightly, and a soft snore filled the room. I slapped my hands over my face and chastised myself. The guy was much worse off than I’d thought, which meant he was off-limits.
The memory of his dick pressed against me sent blissful shivers through me. I’d had sex plenty of times but never because I loved someone, never because I wanted to connect on a deep level and give a guy everything I had to offer. A lump formed in my throat. The last few weeks with Layne had been good. Different. He had continuously put me first, and I didn’t know how to manage that. In the back of my mind, I kept wondering what he wanted from me. At the same time, I wanted to backpedal from our new friendship like a crazed motherfucker. But I was pulled to him like he was a strong magnet, and I was unable to fight it.
“Fuck,” I muttered. “Layne, I at least need to get your shirt off you.” I walked to the edge of my bed and attempted to pull him up to a seated position, but he was passed out cold. His
upper body refused to cooperate with me. He was too heavy for me to lift on my own. I rolled my eyes. Dammit. I needed help.
I stepped into the hallway and knocked on Avery’s bedroom door. It cracked open slightly, and one eye peeked out at me. “What?” she asked, her tone leaning toward the unfriendly side.
“I need your help. Layne is in my bedroom.”
That did it. She opened the door and stood there, gawking at me as if I’d grown fish scales all over my body.
“What? Did you—”
I held up my hands, halting the rapid questions. “He’s passed out drunk.” I shook my head, attempting to collect the right words, but they were escaping my overloaded brain. “I’ll fill you in later, but I need to get him out of his wet clothes.”
Avery darted around me and to my bedroom door. “Ugh, I sorta hate you because your room is so impeccably spotless. But good God, he’s delicious.”
“Avery!” I chided. “He … Just help me.” I brushed past her and to the foot of my bed. “I don’t know what to do about his jeans. I mean, what if we’re able to tug them off, and he doesn’t wear underwear? Then he’s just flashed us, and it’s something else to be humiliated about tomorrow.”
Avery nearly fell over giggling. I placed my hands on my hips and faced her. “What the hell is so funny? If someone took my pants off … Well, flashing my twat to the world isn’t my idea of fun. I’m trying to be helpful but respectful.”
“He could catch pneumonia and also ruin your bed mattress. Off with those wet clothes. Like, seriously, Ten. I know you two are deep diving into each other, but we’re talking about his health right now.”
I covered my eyes and took a slow, steady breath. “Let’s do it.”
There was absolutely nothing funny about getting a drunk guy out of his clothes, but Avery and I broke into a fit of giggles every time his shirt got stuck. Layne ended up in some awkward positions, but I kept reminding myself that he could get sick. I didn’t want that for him. He’d gone through enough shit.
Avery stood at the foot of the bed, eyeing a shirtless Layne. “Are you ready?”
“Yeah. I guess so.”
“What if he has, like, the tiniest peen we’ve ever seen? On the plus side, at least you know to look elsewhere to get laid.” Avery lifted an eyebrow at me like her advice was the best thing ever.
“Averrrreeee.” The girl just didn’t know when to quit. I stared at Layne, who was still passed out cold. I suspected he’d downed the fifth of vodka and would be out until sometime tomorrow. Fuck. Well, this was it. I was about to find out Layne’s intimate choices: free balling or not.
Avery grabbed one pant leg, and I grabbed the other.
“One. Two. Three.” I tugged with all my might while Avery grunted as we worked to free his leg of the wet fabric.
I released his jeans, which we’d only managed to pull down a couple of inches. “Shit. Like, his pubes are right there, and in no way has he given us permission to look. This is wrong.”
Avery held on to his clothes as she frowned at me. “How are you going to feel if he gets pneumonia and you could have stopped it? It’s all for the highest good.”
“What? Are you speaking hippie mojo now?” I shook my head, my eyes returning to the happy trail and dark hair that hovered above the waistband of Layne’s jeans. Keep it together, girl. And I tried, but all of his glory was about to be exposed. The funny thing was that I had never given a rat’s ass about some guy’s junk before. But not only had I begun to forgive Layne … Fuck, I couldn’t even begin to finish the thought.
Avery’s expression flashed with mischievousness. “I’ll give you a crisp one-hundred-dollar bill if you pull his pants off.”
“Umm, hello. Hell yeah!” I grabbed the hem of his pants and yanked with all my might. With my eyes closed.
“Good God Almighty,” Avery whispered. “If I hear you screaming his name, I’ll know why.”
I cracked one eye open. “Shit.” Although I’d felt him through his jeans, I wasn’t prepared for what I was seeing. He was huge. “No wonder Chloe stayed with him,” I mumbled under my breath.
“What? Who’s Chloe? Girl, you’ve got some explaining to do.” She gathered his wet clothes and winked at me. “I’d go for it.” Then she left the room.
I gawked for a few seconds longer, then hurried to cover him up. Guilt washed over me. I hoped he would understand I was trying to help him when he woke up naked in my bed. At the same time, there was no way in hell I would forget what I’d seen.
My phone buzzed in my pocket, pulling me back to reality. I smiled as I tapped the green answer button. “O.M.G., you’ll never believe whose cock I just saw right now,” I blurted.
Benji’s laugh sent me into a fit of giggles.
“I wish you were here,” I said. A slow ache spread through my chest. If Benji were home with me, none of this would have happened, and I wouldn’t feel like a total perv for stripping Layne.
“Please tell me all about the cock, girl.”
“Are you sure? There’s a lot of baggage with this big dick.”
Benji’s laugh traveled through the phone, and my heart overflowed with so much love, I thought it would burst. I missed him so badly, but hearing him happy, even for a moment, meant everything to me.
“Who is this peen attached to, babe?”
Although his tone was joking, I heard the undercurrent. If I listened carefully, I could hear the truth he was sharing with me. Benji was pretending to be all right, but he wasn’t. And neither was I.
“Come home,” I whispered into the phone, sinking onto the edge of my bed, no longer aware of Layne.
“I’ll be better soon, Ten. Don’t give up on me.”
“I’m so sorry. I should have stopped you from parking in the alley.” My hand flew over my mouth in order to muffle my cry. That wouldn’t help him any.
Benji blew out a big breath. “No, goddammit. You’re my best friend. I don’t need apologies. I need you to help me live again.”
My lips pursed. Benji should be there with me, helping me manage the Layne situation.
“I have someone in my bed,” I admitted, smiling. “But it’s not what you think.”
“Are you shitting me?” Benji gave a playful huff. “I leave the house for a few weeks, and then you bring a guy home?”
“I found him near the library.” I chewed my lip as I replayed the scene in my mind.
“What? Are you picking up homeless guys?”
I stifled my laugh. “It’s Layne.”
Silence filled the line. “Ten, what’s going on? Talk to me.”
I could almost visualize Benji’s expression growing serious. If he were there, he would be in his bed, patting the space next to him. I would curl up under the blankets, prop my head up on my elbow, and spill my guts.
“I was leaving the library, and the storm was bad. It was dark, and I started freaking out a little about the walk home alone.”
“Stop. Tensley, promise me you’ll never walk at night alone. Promise.” His tone was demanding, almost harsh.
“I called an Uber,” I replied softly. I peeked at Layne, then stood. I should get a trash can and some towels in case he got sick. Slipping out of my room, I made my way to the bathroom and grabbed what I needed.
“Thank you. I didn’t mean to jump your shit like that.”
“I know. It’s fine. Anyway, I heard someone. It wasn’t a yell or a scream—it was almost like … It was the most gut-wrenching, brokenhearted cry I’d ever heard. When I realized someone was standing in the middle of the lawn with no cover, I thought something was wrong, so I ran over to help.”
“Alone?” Benji’s tone bordered on bewilderment.
“It was Layne.” I slipped inside my bedroom again and closed the door behind me. After tossing the towels on the floor, I placed the trash can next to Layne. He hadn’t changed positions yet, but his chest moved, so I knew he was breathing. I sank into the chair next to my window as a flash of lightning fi
lled the sky. It was going to be a long night, but I didn’t want to leave Layne alone in case he puked while he was passed out.
“He was so shit-faced, he thought I was Chloe, his ex-girlfriend. Then other times, he knew it was me.” No way would I tell Benji about the kiss. It might have been for Chloe, but it didn’t mean I couldn’t secretly savor every breathtaking moment of Layne’s mouth on mine. “There was a bad tornado a few years ago back home in Arkansas. From what he said tonight, Chloe died … and so did his daughter.” I squeezed my eyes shut, hearing Layne’s gut-wrenching cries echo in my mind.
“Holy shit,” Benji responded quietly.
“I know. I need to Google it to see if he was getting his facts straight, but it’s what he said.” Eyeing Layne while he was sleeping, I put Benji on speaker, and turned the volume down.
“Beat you to it. And yeah, Nicole was his three-month-old daughter, the news article says. Layne was the only one to survive out of the three of them. That fucking sucks. I thought a wheelchair sucked, but I can’t imagine someone you love in your arms one second then gone the next.”
We sat in silence for a minute, processing the confirmation. Although Layne was drunker than hell, the facts were so deeply embedded in his mind, he couldn’t screw them up even if he tried.
“What am I going to tell him when he wakes up naked in my bed?” I chewed my thumbnail, mentally debating what to say. The moment Avery and I had agreed we needed to dry his clothes, I understood I was risking Layne being super pissed about it.
“The truth. You tell him the truth.”
I nodded as though Benji could see me through the phone. “Do you think I should tell him what he shared with me?”
“Yeah, but maybe don’t give him every detail. Just tell him you know. Maybe he’ll be relieved. I mean, from what you’ve told me, you two have been spending a lot of time together lately.”
“It’s been good,” I blurted.
Benji’s soft chuckle filled the phone line. “Is there a possibility it could get better?”
I released a slow sigh. “I don’t know. When he admitted he’d had a crush on me, I wondered what it would have been like, but it couldn’t have ever happened. The dynamics of high school, Chloe … Layne was popular and came from money, and I lived in an old janitor’s closet.”