I didn’t want that. I liked Alec too much to allow it to happen.
He was a good guy. He made me feel peaceful and content. Normal in some unexplainable way I always seemed to crave. He made me feel more than what I was.
And, he was the exact opposite of Eli Vargas.
Where Eli was dark and mysterious, Alec was sweet and charming. Where Eli was cocky and primal, Alec was southern and respectful.
They were like night and day.
“There, got him in for you, but I didn’t buckle him up. Figure that’s something you can do yourself,” Eli said as he eased away from my car and closed the door.
“Thanks.” As much as I hated to admit it, I was glad he’d helped. It was clear I’d needed someone. My dad was hammered. Again.
Gran would be pissed. Her anger wouldn’t last though; it never did. She felt as bad for him as the rest of us. Probably more. After all, he was her son.
“You do look nice tonight, Mina,” Eli said as I started around the front of my car. His words gave me pause. What was with all his compliments lately? While he had always tossed them at me from time to time, there’d never been so many strung together, and they’d never made me feel the way they did tonight—all hot and bothered. “I’m sorry if I held you up long enough to ruin your plans with that boy. I honestly didn’t mean to. I thought to ask Betty Sue to take your dad home two seconds too late.” He rubbed the back of his neck as his eyes lifted from the gravel to lock on mine. The light of the waxing crescent moon above illuminated his face more than the lamppost, making it easy to see how genuine his words were in case I couldn’t hear it in his voice.
“You didn’t ruin my night. That boy will wait for me,” I said, tossing the words he’d used when speaking of Alec back in his face. He knew his name. Why was it so hard for him to say it?
“If he knows what’s good for him, he better.” Eli grinned.
I didn’t know if he meant he’d beat him up if he didn’t or something else altogether. I didn’t wait around to find out either. Instead, I rounded my car and slipped behind the wheel. My fingers fumbled with the keys, but only because my eyes had drifted back to Eli. He was watching me, working his jaw like there might be more he wanted to say. I didn’t give him the chance. I cranked the engine of my car. It whined before sputtering to life. My dad stirred in the passenger seat and laughed as he mimicked the noise my clunker made. I wished he’d sober up long enough to fix the damn thing for me.
I wasn’t about to hold my breath for it, though.
Gears ground together as I shifted into reverse. I backed out of my parking spot without another glance at Eli and shifted into drive, ready to head home.
The second I passed the sign for Mirror Lake Trailer Park, I checked the dashboard clock. Alec hadn’t sent me a text yet, but I was sure he would soon. I was creeping up on being well beyond fashionably late and bordering on rude.
Another date had been ruined, and it was my fault.
I cut the engine on my hatchback and hurried to the passenger side so I could get my dad out. Somewhere along the stretch between Eddie’s and home, he’d fallen asleep. His head fell back, letting his mouth hang open, and he sawed logs as drool dribbled from his mouth. This was nothing new. He’d always snored, but when he drank, it was worse.
“Dad, wake up. We’re home,” I muttered as I nudged him. He didn’t budge. “Dad! Wake up!” I said louder. He folded his arms over his chest and proceeded to roll over onto his side.
My patience was wearing thin. I needed him to wake up so he could help me get him inside. There was no way I’d be able to carry him the way Eli had.
“Dad! Get up!” I shouted as I gave him a shove. I didn’t care if I woke up the neighbors three feet away in the next trailer. It was just Eli’s family, and they were probably used to it by now.
“Hmmm?” Dad stirred, but he didn’t fully commit to staying awake.
It took one more hard shove before he finally came to enough to help maneuver himself out of my car. His balance was off. I blamed it equally on his bum leg and how much he’d drank, but knew it had more to do with the latter.
When I finally got him inside the quiet recesses of our trailer, I flopped him down on the couch. There was no point in trying to take him back to his room. It would only wake up Gran. Thank goodness the room my little sister and I shared was on the other side of the trailer. The last thing I wanted was for her to see Dad this wasted. It would only upset her. It was hard enough being thirteen and not having your mom around—I remembered from personal experience—but it was another thing altogether to be constantly reminded of how screwed up your dad was because your mom was gone. Plus, I didn’t think seeing her older sister drag her drunk dad into the house was a memory I wanted her to have.
I tried to spare her as much as I could.
Maybe it was wrong to shelter Gracie as much as I did, but I didn’t want her to hurt. I couldn’t stand seeing those I loved hurt. Most of all, I didn’t want Gracie to worry. I knew she wasn’t stupid. She saw what went on around here, but keeping as much from her as possible made me feel like I was doing something good. Like I was making things better for her. It had to count for something, right?
I placed my hands on my hips and blew a few strands of brown hair that had slipped from my ponytail out of my eyes. Carrying Dad in had been tough. I was definitely going to be sore tomorrow. My fingertips reached around to knead the already tender muscles of the shoulder I thought Dad had broken. My cell vibrated in my back pocket, and I knew it had to be Alec. He was probably texting to say we’d have to reschedule. Either that or he was wondering where the hell I was. I wanted to explain everything to him, but I didn’t know how. Telling the guy you liked you came from a screwed-up family, one where you had to rescue your dad from himself nearly every night, was not a topic I cared to discuss.
It wasn’t normal.
And that was all Alec was—normal. It had drawn me to him. How completely normal everything about him and his life seemed. He had a good home life and loads of friends. Everything I craved to surround myself with because my life was lacking in the normal department greatly. Even if you stripped away my home life dynamics, there still wasn’t a shred of normalcy to be found. Not with my family’s secret. Heck, not with everyone in the trailer park’s secret.
I reached for my cell. Alec’s name lit my screen and so did his text.
Hey, I was wondering if you still wanted to do something tonight. It’s getting a little late.
I glanced at the time. Yeah, it was getting late. Damn it. It had taken me too long to get my dad. Anger bubbled inside me. Dad mumbled something about my mom in his sleep and shifted around to cuddle one of the throw pillows. All my anger dissipated.
He was hurting. Not just physically, but mentally.
The sad fact was he’d probably never get over either ailment. Not the pain from the accident that still lingered or the pain from my mom leaving.
I didn’t blame him. Instead, I blamed her.
If she were still here, things might not be as bad. How could a woman abandon her kids the way she did? How could she walk away from her family? Her husband?
I understood sometimes parents don’t stay together, that sometimes it didn’t work out the way they wanted, but it didn’t work that way with kids. You don’t get to divorce them. You don’t get to leave. Once you’re a parent, you’re always a parent.
Yeah, I still want to do something. – Mina
I hit send and waited for Alec to respond, hoping he didn’t ask what I wanted to do. Deciding on plans had never been my forte. My immediate response was always, “I don’t know.” It drove Gran mad.
Cool, want to meet at Rosemary’s?
Rosemary’s was a mom-and-pop diner in town. Everyone went there to hang out. Everyone except me. I didn’t have issues with the people who hung out there. The place just wasn’t my cup of tea. Being in a brightly lit, crowded place was never something I enjoyed. I preferred quiet places in
nature, dim lighting, and small crowds.
Alec was the exact opposite. Maybe that was another reason I liked him. He forced me out of my comfort zone. He was a people person. The perfect mixture of outgoing and sweet.
Sure, meet you there in twenty. – Mina
“Mina, honey? Is that you?” Gran’s voice floated to my ears from down the hall. She appeared in the kitchen dressed in her baby blue bathrobe and fuzzy white slippers. Her gray hair cascaded past her shoulders in soft curls and her face was wrinkled with age, but it was the concern tinting her blue eyes a shade lighter than usual that hurt my heart. She was going to be upset when she saw my dad laid out on the couch, but what could I do? There was no way to shield her from it. If she heard me come in, then she already knew the reason why. “You had to go get him again, didn’t you?” she asked, her tone sharp.
“Yeah.”
“He’s getting worse.”
“I know.” Sometimes I wondered if I’d wake up to find he’d died of a broken heart.
“Thank you for bringing him home again, dear, but you could have woken me up. I would’ve gone for him,” she said, giving me the stern look I considered her signature stare in situations like this.
“I don’t mind.”
“Still, I don’t feel it’s your place. I’ve told you that before.”
She had. A thousand times. Same as all the other times before, I ignored her. There was no way I’d send my seventy-year-old grandmother to a bar in the middle of the night to pick up her drunk son. It didn’t seem right.
“You look nice. Are you going out tonight?”
“Yeah. I was supposed to meet Alec hours ago for a movie, but that obviously didn’t happen. Now I guess we’re meeting at Rosemary’s.”
Gran’s wrinkled lips pinched into a frown. “I don’t know why you waste your time with that boy.”
And here we go. Just like Eli, Gran called Alec that boy. I was so sick of hearing those words. I didn’t know why everyone insisted on me blowing him off. Alec was a decent guy. He made me happy. Shouldn’t that be all that mattered?
“I like him. Isn’t that enough?” I asked, minding my tone. Gran would get onto me if I didn’t. Then there was no way I’d be permitted to leave the house, eighteen or not. Gran ruled the roost.
“You know it’s not, Mina. Nothing good can come from spending so much time with him. Especially not with the next full moon coming so soon.” She stepped to a cabinet in the kitchen and pulled down a mug. Every muscle in my body tensed at the reminder of the coming moon. “I love you, child, but you’re only setting yourself up for heartbreak.” She filled the mug with tap water before placing it in the microwave, and then moved to another cabinet to retrieve her favorite homemade tea blend. “You know there’s a strong chance you’re Moon Kissed. It runs in our family’s blood.”
“I know,” I whispered as icy panic set in at the thought of another full moon passing and nothing happening.
I wanted to be Moon Kissed, but I also wanted the normal life Alec represented. Shouldn’t I be able to have both?
* * *
Moon Kissed is available now!
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Alyssa Rose Ivy is the bestselling author of more than thirty novels with over 750,000 books sold worldwide. She loves to weave stories with romance and humor, and she is best known for writing about college boys with wings. After surviving law school and earning her masters in library science, she turned back to her creative side and decided to write. Although raised in the New York area, she fell in love with the South after moving to New Orleans for college. She lives in Alabama with her husband and two children, and she can usually be found with a cup of coffee in her hand.
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About the Author
Jennifer Snyder lives in North Carolina where she spends most of her time writing New Adult and Young Adult Fiction, reading, and struggling to stay on top of housework. She is a tea lover with an obsession for Post-it notes and smooth writing pens. Jennifer lives with her husband and two children, who endure listening to songs that spur inspiration on repeat and tolerate her love for all paranormal, teenage-targeted TV shows.
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