by Betsy Locke
Those were the words I dreaded to hear.
Chapter Nine
“Can't we just stay on this boat for the rest of our lives, fucking each other until can't remember our names anymore.”
Houston laughed and left the next pan of beans cooking. He joined me in bed. “We have to face reality. We have to return to our lives.”
“But you're my stepbrother. Society will never accept us. Our parents will never accept us. If we go back, we'll never be able to be together.”
I don't know why he didn't see it my way. This was it. Running away was the only option. Didn't he feel the same way that I felt about him? How could he not after the crazy fucking night we just had. How could we ever go back to the real world?
Houston held my hand. “I want to be with you desperately but we can't throw everything away. Not our futures, our parents.”
I thought about my mom. She would be devastated if we never came back. But wouldn't she understand if it was for love?
I felt insane for thinking it but I loved Houston. I'd only known him for a short while but I knew he was it. He was the man I'd been searching for my entire life.
“I would miss my mom but the sacrifice would be worth it.”
“And what about college?” Houston asked. “Are you just going to leave that behind. Don't you think you're making a hasty decision.”
There was no changing his mind. Houston didn't feel the same way I did. I pulled my hand from his and turned my head. “Just take us back then.”
He sat there for a moment, searching for the right words to repair the situation but there was nothing to be said. Houston left me to go steer us back home.
I didn't say another word to him while we sailed back. I just couldn't. I was torn up inside. My love for Houston was stronger than ever and I was devastated that he didn't feel the same way.
It took all the effort in the world to keep myself from breaking down on his bed. I didn't want him to see me sobbing and crying his name out. That would be better left for when I was alone in my own bedroom.
Houston ducked his head into the cabin. “We're pulling up to the dock,” he announced.
It had only been a day since we left but everything looked different. We sailed into docking bay ninety-four and Houston tied us off.
“I'll see you back at home,” Houston said.
I ignored him and jumped off the boat. My legs were still weak but I willed them to work. I wasn't going to fall and give Houston the satisfaction of saving me.
Thank god I drove here in my own car. Driving back with him in awkward silence would've killed me.
I sat in my car and couldn't bring myself to turn the ignition. Tears began to creep down my cheek and I couldn't stop myself. I broke down, letting everything out. I cursed, I cried, and punched the steering wheel until my hands hurt.
Houston drove me to brink of wanting to kill him if it meant a release of this pain. I sat in my car for hours, thinking about everything that went wrong.
I felt so silly crying over this man I barely knew. I stiffened up and wiped my watery eyes. I wouldn't let him have this control over me anymore.
Houston was just like any other man.
I gathered the courage to turn the ignition and drove myself home.
When I entered the house, I discovered Houston sitting with my mom and Irving. I couldn't bring myself to make eye contact with him.
“There you are, Faith,” my mom said.
I don't know what they were talking about but I guess it had something to do with Houston leaving early. It would be good for both of us if he wasn't around anymore. The temptation wouldn't be there.
“I didn't think it was a good idea at first but Houston convinced us that it would be good for you.”
I couldn't follow my mom's train of thought. I didn't have any inkling of what she was talking about. “What's going on?” I asked.
She raised her eyebrows. “Well Houston told us that he wanted to take you on a sailing trip. It might be a few months. At first, I only thought about your college career but Houston assured me that you could pick it up when you got back. You'll only skip a semester at most.”
The room began to spin. This didn't make any sense. Did I walk into the right house? Did Houston change his mind about us?
I found his face staring at me with tears in his eyes. He felt the same way that I did about him. It just took him a little longer.
“I want to take you on a shopping trip and get you everything you're going to need,” my mom said, grabbing my hands. She droned on and on and it all drifted away. I focused on Houston's eyes, telling him with my thoughts that I loved him.
When my parents finally left us alone, I sat next to Houston. “What changed your mind?” I asked.
He put his hand on my cheek. “I'm sorry. It just took me a little while longer to get to the same conclusion you did. I want to run away with you. I love you, Faith.”
Those were the words I always wanted to hear. “I love you too, Houston.”
The End
Story Forty Two
Copyright 2018
All Rights Reserved.
Disclaimer: This ebook is a work of fiction. Any resemblance characters in this story may have to real people is coincidental.
No section of this book may be copied or reproduced without the author's permission.
Description
Danielle is home from college for the summer and loves the idea of spending the entire time doing absolutely nothing.
Shane has other plans for her. A playful game of tennis shows him how much talent Danielle really has. Not just on the court but off.
They'll enter a forbidden romance that they many never come back from.
Warning: Shane and Danielle's romance might be too hot for some. Don't worry, you can thank me later.
Chapter One
“Danielle! Are you up yet?”
My eyes were glued shut and took some work to get them open. I immediately needed to shield them from the blinding sun with my hand. I reached over on the nightstand next to my bed and checked my phone. I'd slept in until 11:00 AM.
Not my finest hour.
But it was much needed.
College had been rough. I had early morning classes every day of the week. The only time I felt like I was able to catch up on sleep was during the summer.
“If you're not up and out of bed in two minutes, I'm going to come up there and pour a bucket of cold water over you,” my mom yelled from downstairs.
I knew she wasn't kidding because she'd done it before. Being shocked awake by cold water was not my idea of a pleasant morning.
I jumped out of bed and lazily threw on a pink cotton robe. I groaned as I descended the stairs and entered the kitchen. My mom sat at the dinner table in front of her laptop. “Good afternoon, Danielle.”
I opened the fridge and drank straight from the orange juice carton. “Still before noon, Mom.”
“You could accomplish a lot if you would just wake up a little earlier.”
I rolled my eyes and put the half-empty carton back in the fridge. My mom was the definition of a workaholic. She worked at home because she said it saved more time not having to commute back and forth.
I took out a box of cereal and ate it dry by the handful.
My mom cocked her head at me. “You could also learn to cook.”
“Don't worry about me, Mom. I'm doing all right. Really.”
“Well I have a surprise for you.”
This couldn't be good. Whenever my mom surprised me it was always something bad like introducing me to her new boyfriend. Or like when she told me that she was getting married to Shane.
My mom closed her laptop and focused on me. “I want you to play tennis with Shane.”
I gagged and vomited a little in my mouth. The thought of spending time with my stepdad alone was disgusting. “I've never even played tennis before.”
“Listen Danielle. You don't have a summer job and you'r
e just going to spend all your time sleeping. Plus I thought it was a good way for you two to bond together.”
“First of all, I wasn't going to sleep the entire summer away. I was just catching up after all the sleep I lost during the semester. And secondly, I don't have any interest in tennis.”
My mom stood up and grabbed both my hands. “Will you do this one thing for me? It's not going to kill you to spend an hour a day with Shane. If after five days, you aren't into it then you can stop.”
There was no arguing with my mom when she acted so civil. She always knew how to get her way and it was never with her voice raised. She had the uncanny ability to convince you with emotion and bargains.
I gripped her hands back. “Okay, I'll play with Shane. But I'll tell you now that I sucked whenever we played tennis in P.E.”
“I wouldn't worry about that. Shane will play easy with you. Just give him a chance.”
“I already said yes. You don't need to convince me anymore.”
My mom let go of my hands. “Then you better get ready because he'll be waiting for you in a couple hours.”
She knew I was going to agree to her demands all along. She and Shane probably planned to do this months ago.
“That's not very fair, Mom. What if I had plans today? You didn't give me any time to prepare.”
“Oh come on, Danielle. We both know you had nothing planned today.”
That wasn't entirely true. I had wanted to curl up in bed and dig into a mystery novel that I was still in the middle of. Spending the whole day doing only that was my idea of relaxing.
I put my hands up in surrender. “Fine, I'm going up to take a shower and get changed.”
“You know where he plays right?”
I shook my head.
My mom nudged me in the shoulder. “At the courts at your old high school.”
“Sounds like a fun trip down memory lane,” I replied sarcastically.
I left my mom and began the daunting task of choosing an outfit to wear. I didn't have much in the way of sports attire. That wasn't really my thing.
A baggy white shirt and sweatpants seemed like the most comfy choice. I didn't want a bunch of tight clothes restricting my movements.
After my shower I didn't even bother combing my hair. A ponytail of wet hair would suffice. I only lightly touched up my makeup before saying goodbye to my mom and driving off to my old school.
Chapter Two
John Adams High was a lot different from what I remembered. New buildings had been constructed and a parking garage took up one of the old lots. The memory of driving around looking for an empty parking spot was seared in my brain. It was one of the many reasons I'd show up to class late.
I parked my Ford Focus in one of the stalls marked: Teacher. School wasn't in session so it shouldn't matter much.
I walked through the empty halls of my old school and reminisced about the good old days. The more I thought about it the more I realized that they weren't very good.
I didn't have many friends, never went a dance, and never had a boyfriend. One-night stands were about all I was used to.
Now don't get me wrong, there were plenty of guys that were interested in me. I knew that my looks were above average but I never felt that need to have a boyfriend. It made me seem crazy to other girls but there wasn't a way to change that.
I assumed it was from all the stress from school and once I graduated from college and got a job then maybe I could focus on that aspect of my life.
Until then, love would be put on the back burner.
I found my old blue locker next to the science classrooms. My first name was still etched into it along with all the rest of the owners. I tried my locker combo on the lock and it wouldn't budge.
It was stupid of me to think that it was still mine after graduating three years ago. This was someone else's locker now.
To get to the tennis courts you would have to go through the gym. I walked onto the basketball courts and remembered all the physical education classes we would have to take in here. I never went to a rally or one of the basketball games so the gym only represented pain and humiliation to me.
One embarrassing moment that I could never forget happened right here on this court. It still made me cringe whenever I thought about it. And the stupid part was that it wasn't even that bad but girls laughed at it me for so long afterwards.
It happened after we had all changed into our gym clothes. The outfit was a gray shirt with the logo of our mascot: the Stallion and black tiny shorts. So I was on my period and changed my tampon right before going into the gym.
What I had failed to realize was that the tampon wrapper was stuck to my ass on my shorts. Girls snickered and laughed as we worked out and I had no idea what was going on. Nobody pointed out what was stuck to my butt. They just continued to laugh.
The guys didn't really understand what it was so they didn't join in until word spread that it was a tampon wrapper.
My face was so many shades of red because I didn't even know why they were all laughing at me. I checked myself out and found the wrapper attached to my backside. I was so furious and didn't know what to do so I stormed off and into the locker room even though the teacher was yelling at me to stay.
Students called me the most stupid names for the rest of the year. Some of the names didn't even have to do with tampons or periods.
Girls can be really cruel to each other sometimes.
I didn't want to remember anything more and left the gym. The blacktop outside was already warm from the beaming sun up above. I had to shield my eyes to see where the tennis courts were.
All the courts were empty save for one.
Through the green fences I could see Shane practicing his serve. I'd never seen him in action before and it was actually a little impressive. I'd always known he played tennis but it never clicked in my head that he was actually any good.
I watched him for a few moments and entered the courts. “Hey Shane.”
Shane was in the middle of throwing the tennis ball up in the air when he saw me. The ball fell the ground without him touching it and he smiled. “Are you ready to play?”
Chapter Three
Shane was wearing a white polo shirt and red shorts. They were a little too short and showed off a lot of his legs which I thought was a little silly.
The other funny part was the white headband that covered his short black hair. It grossed me out a little to imagine it full of sweat.
Even though the outfit was funny in pieces, all of it together made him look like a professional tennis player.
“Have any trouble finding the courts?” he asked, bending over and grabbing a water bottle off the ground.
“Did you forget that I went to high school here?” I replied.
“Of course. I remember your mom telling me that.” He took a sip of water and set the bottle back down. “Before we start, tell me how much experience you have at tennis.”