by Elicia Hyder
Marcus shook his head. “She’s not here, man.”
“What do you mean? I thought she was with you?”
Marcus shrugged. “She was. Then we got here, and she ran into Steven.”
His words knocked the wind out of David. “What?”
“He stood up here, in front of God and everybody, and apologized to her. He begged her back, man.” Marcus laughed. “It shocked the hell outta me.”
David grabbed the lapel of Marcus’s jacket. “Where did they go?”
Marcus shook his head. “Beats me.” David started to turn toward the door, but Marcus stopped him. “What do you think you’re going to do?”
“I’m going to find her.”
Marcus laughed. “That ship has sailed, brother. You missed your chance.”
“No. I refuse to believe that.”
Marcus rolled his eyes. “Believe it or not, she’s with him now. I’ve never seen her that happy.”
For a second, David considered punching Marcus in the face even if it wasn’t his fault. He put his hands on his hips and hung his head. “I really fucked it up this time, didn’t I?”
Marcus put his hand on David’s shoulder. “I hate to say it, Dave, but you’ve screwed this one up from day one.” He shook his head. “Maybe it’s just not meant to happen. Let it go.”
David knew Marcus was right. Every single thing that had happened between them—or not happened between them—over the two years they had been friends, was all his fault. Even Steven had the balls to apologize to her and win her back. Why didn’t he?
· · ·
After her longest make-out session to date, Steven had one hand on the steering wheel and the other wrapped firmly around Journey’s fingers as he drove through town. She rested her head back against the headrest and smiled as the spring breeze washed over her face.
“I would die to know what’s going through your head right now,” he said.
When she opened her eyes again, he was staring at her over his shoulder. His black hair was pushed behind his ears, and he was wearing her favorite shirt—a vintage style mechanic’s work shirt that was rolled at the sleeves. He had gotten a new tattoo on his arm since the last time she had seen him. She smiled and squeezed his hand. “Can you still go to jail for being with me?”
He nodded. “It’s worth it though.”
“I’ll be eighteen next month.”
He smiled, and mischief danced in his dark eyes. “I know.”
She shifted toward him in her seat. “What changed your mind?”
“You.” He pulled her hand up to his lips and held it there for a second. “I tried to forget about you for a year. I couldn’t do it.”
His words made her body tingle. She closed her eyes and enjoyed the feel of his breath against her skin.
“I promise you,” he said, and she looked at him, “I won’t mess this up again.”
He brought their hands back to rest on the leather middle console and turned his attention back to the road.
She looked around at their surroundings as they rolled down the highway. Her eyes narrowed. She had assumed he still lived downtown where he had been before. “Where are we going?”
“Home.”
She sat up. “My home?”
He twisted his hand around the steering wheel. “Yeah.”
Her eyes widened. “Please tell me you’re joking! You can’t take me home. I thought we were going to—”
He shook his head and cut his eyes across the car. “I’m going to do this right.” He flashed her a devilish smile. “At least for tonight.”
She sighed and sat back hard in her seat. Five minutes later, true to his word, Steven Drake put the car in park in her parents’ driveway. She looked up at the dark house. “You’re completely blowing your reputation for being a bad boy.”
He laughed and tugged on her hand till she turned toward him. “We’ve got time. Plenty of it.” He smiled and nodded toward the glove compartment. “There’s something in there I want you to have.”
She raised an eyebrow.
“Open it,” he said.
She pulled open the small door and a little light flickered on inside. On top of a small stack of folded papers was a key ring with a single key and rolled piece of notebook paper stuck through the ring. “What’s this?” she asked as she pulled it out.
He was drawing small circles with his finger on her bare shoulder. “It’s a key to my apartment.”
She smiled up at him. “You move fast.”
He shrugged. “I know what I want.”
She pulled the piece of paper out of the ring. “And this?” He didn’t answer as she unrolled it. She recognized her own handwriting. It was the note she had left on his car after his fight with Kurt a year and a half before. Her breath caught in her chest as she read it aloud. “Sorry I couldn’t stay longer. Thanks for saving me tonight.” She couldn’t hold back her tears as she looked up at him. “You saved this, all this time?”
He turned his hand up on the steering wheel. “Maybe it was you who saved me that night.”
She stretched across the car and put her arms around his neck. After a moment, he pulled back just enough to kiss her. It was deep and passionate, and she prayed he would change his mind and drive back to his place. He didn’t. When he released her, a light was on in the house.
He pointed out the windshield. “You’d better get in there before this gets ugly.”
“You don’t have to do this,” she begged.
He traced her lip with his thumb. “Yeah, I do. I’ll see you tomorrow, Journey.”
“Promise?”
He smiled. “I’ll come pick you up and take you out for breakfast before I have to go into work.”
She sighed and kissed him once more before she got out of the car. She walked around till she was in front of his headlights and could see his shadowed face inside the car. She saw him smile. Then he put the car in reverse and drove away.
19
Hooah!
David went home from the bar, but he didn’t sleep at all that night. Thoughts of Journey and Steven together assaulted his brain until daybreak. He didn’t know it was possible to feel so absolutely miserable. When the smell of coffee from the kitchen flooded his room, he kicked off his covers and got dressed for the day. He trudged upstairs and found his mother cooking at the stove.
She looked at him and then at the clock. “I didn’t realize you were home. How was the prom?”
He pulled a cup out of the cabinet and filled it with black coffee. “We didn’t go.”
His tiny, white-haired mother put her hand on her hip. “What do you mean, you didn’t go?”
He sighed and slumped down at the table. “I mean, you have the most idiotic son who has ever walked the planet.”
She leaned against the oven. “What did you do?”
“Remember how Journey sort of stood me up last year?” he asked.
She nodded.
“Well, her prom fell on April Fools’ Day.”
She gasped and dropped her face into her hand. “You didn’t.”
He sipped his coffee. “I called and told her I was with my ex-girlfriend and forgot to pick up my tux in time before the store closed.”
His mother winced. “Oh, David.”
He held up his coffee cup. “I thought she would show up at the restaurant, see me, and we would all have a good laugh before we went to the dance and had the most memorable night of our lives. Instead, she went to a party with Marcus where she ran into her ex.”
“Oh, no.”
He nodded and closed his eyes. “Oh, yes. They had a wonderful little reunion before leaving the bar together to go back to his place. I showed up about twenty minutes too late.”
She walked over and put her arms around him. “I’m so sorry, son.”
He shook his head. “This one is all my fault.”
She looked down at him and grimaced. “Well…” She nodded, sadly, in agreement.
He
let out a deep sigh. “It’s over, Mom.”
“What’s over?” his dad asked, walking into the kitchen.
His mom leaned against the chair. “His relationship with Journey.”
His dad looked up as he filled a coffee mug. “Oh really?”
David didn’t answer.
Dennis Britton carried his coffee to the table and pulled out a chair. “Well, maybe now you’ll have some time to give your future some serious consideration.”
David groaned. “Not today, Dad.”
“Dennis,” his mother scolded.
His dad opened his newspaper. “I told you, you had a year to decide, David. That year—and my patience—is almost up.”
“I know.” David pushed his chair back with more force than he intended when he stood up. “I appreciate the pep talk.”
His mom slapped his dad on the back of the head as David walked out of the kitchen.
Unable to stand his house any longer, David got dressed and decided to go into work early. He drove through Emerson toward the hardware store and took Main Street through the middle of downtown. On the last block of the main strip, Steven’s Chevelle was parked in front of Lottie’s Diner. He was sitting on the hood of the car with Journey standing between his legs. She was smiling from ear to ear as she draped her arms around his shoulders and leaned in to kiss him. All of the fears that had kept him up all night were confirmed as they stood in front of the breakfast joint plastered to each other.
He crumpled over his steering wheel.
A second later, a car blasted its horn behind him. The light was green. He put the truck in gear and drove through the intersection. As he blinked back tears, he drove right past his work.
He turned left on Washington and then right on Church. He flipped on his blinker and pulled into a parking lot that was just at the edge of the city limits. Before he could change his mind, he put the truck in park and climbed out of the cab.
This was the new start he needed.
This was his ticket out of Emerson.
This would get Journey Durant out of his head.
David sucked in a deep breath and walked into the Army Recruiting Office.
The Next Book
Like I said in the beginning, this is a PREQUEL. This journey continues in the 5-star, award winning novel, The Bed She Made.
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The Bed She Made
2015 Watty Award Winner for Best New Adult Romance
During her wild and crazy teenage years, Journey Durant's father warned her that someday she’d have to lie in the bed she made. But she didn’t believe him until her ex-boyfriend is released from prison and he threatens to bring her troubled past home with him.
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Also by Elicia Hyder
The Soul Summoner
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Book 1 - The Soul Summoner
Book 2 - The Siren
Book 3 - The Angel of Death
Book 4 - The Taken