One Week of Summer

by Amber Rides

  “Who?”

  “My dad.”

  “What do you mean, Maggie?”

  I choked back tears. “The accident that killed him, the one that drowned him…It wasn’t an accident. It was suicide. They said he never got over my mother’s death. He was on meds. He had been for years. But they said he’d been violent and angry at work for the last few weeks, picking fights and coming in drunk and getting suspended. The last thing he said to me was that he loved me and that he loved my mom, too.”

  Teekay cupped my cheek, but he still didn’t understand.

  “Suicide…It’s not about hurting the people you love, Maggie,” he said. “Most often, people who do it are trying to end their own pain, and they think the people they love will be better off without them. Your dad didn’t want to hurt you.”

  I shook my head. “No, Teekay. You don’t understand. He drove his car off a bridge and into a lake with me in the backseat. He said those things to me, and then went straight off the bridge. The water was all around us. My window cracked, just a little bit, and a piece of glass flew into me. That’s how I got the scar and also how water started seeping in through the windows and filling up the car. My dad banged his head on the steering wheel and he was out cold. But me…I was awake. Covered in blood. And stuck. My seatbelt wouldn’t budge and all I could do was watch as the lake made its way into the vehicle. I couldn’t smash a window because it would speed up the process. All I could do was watch. It didn’t take long before the water was everywhere. The last few minutes were a blur. I was cold and wet and I couldn’t breathe. Then I woke up in the hospital two days later.”

  And I wasn’t quite done.

  “The police and the grief counsellors said he never got over my mom’s death,” I repeated. “But she died giving birth to me, and I think really…He never forgave me for killing her.”

  “There’s no way that’s true. Maggie, I’ve known you for two days and I’m sure of it.” He paused and swallowed thickly. “If your dad tried to take you with him, it was because he couldn’t stand the thought of going anywhere without you.”

  Tears squeezed from my eyes. “My grandmother always said the same thing.”

  “Because anyone who knows you for more than five minutes wants another five minutes,” he told me, his voice heavy with emotion. “And that next five minutes leads to wanting even more.”

  Teekay bent down to kiss me fiercely. And as he ran his hands down my face to my shoulders in a tender, caring gesture, I wanted to believe him. But as he pulled away, I met his perfect eyes, set in his perfect face, and I was reminded of all the other perfect people who made sure I knew the truth.

  “At school, they found out what happened. Even though I was a thousand miles away from it, they still heard about it. Someone knew someone who knew someone and…” I trailed off before forcing myself to go on. “They called me Ghost. Every day, they did it, until I believed it. And after a while, it became so true – I was so totally ethereal – that when they talked to me, when they saw me…it surprised me. It scared me. And it was never for something good. A ghost who doubled as a punching bag.”

  I waited for an angry outburst, for Teekay to demand why I hadn’t stood up for myself or done anything about it.

  Instead, he said, “I can’t change the past. I can’t go back and undo the things that were done to you, or unwind the hurt you’ve been through. But I’m going to make it up to you. I’m going to show you how valuable you are and how wrong those kids were to treat you like that.”

  I stared back at him helplessly. How could I explain to this man I barely knew that the damage was too far done to be repaired by his words? I could acknowledge what he did to me physically, I could accept it, even if it embarrassed me. But anything more, anything emotional…It would leave me vulnerable.

  “I want to build you up, Maggie,” he added softly. “Not tear you down. Will you let me do that?”

  I’d thought I was powerless against his commanding nature and bold looks. But they didn’t hold a candle to how weak I felt at his sweetness.

  I took a shaky breath. “Teekay, if you build me up…I’ll have that much farther down to fall.”

  His eyes filled with some unnameable emotion. “Goddamn.”

  And then his hands were on my shoulders and he was drawing me into a crushing embrace. He pulled me close and peppered my face with tiny, tender kisses. He ran his fingers over my hair, down my neck, and across my shoulders. His touch was light, but that didn’t stop it from making me burn.

  Gently, he kissed my lips, then my chin, then my collarbone. I arched into the warmth of his mouth, my chest rising and falling rapidly.

  Then he sat up and grabbed the neoprene bag, unzipped it and pulled out a thin, silver blanket, then wrapped it around my shoulders.

  And something inside me shifted. I could no longer pretend that whatever was happening between us was purely physical.

  He met my eyes once more. “I said I wouldn’t let you drown, Maggie, and I meant it.”

  I started to reply, but before I could speak, a half a dozen raindrops cascaded down on us, momentarily breaking the spell.

  14)

  Twenty minutes later, Teekay had converted the emergency blanket into a lopsided shelter attached to a few low tree branches just up from the shore. He had also managed to get a small fire going, and was cracking open a can of condensed soup.

  He handed me a spoon and smiled his crooked smile. “This isn’t how I pictured this,” he said.

  “How did you picture it?”

  He scooped out a cubed potato, popped it in his mouth and made a face.

  “Warmer. Not quite so salty. Less water-soaking and more sun-soaking. Plus, I was going to take you around to the other side of this island and show you the little dock there. Then I was going to sweet talk you into sitting on the edge of it and convince you to put your feet in.”

  “That wouldn’t have gone over very well,” I admitted.

  “Which is why I brought wine. Speaking of which…”

  Teekay reached for the emergency bag and pulled out a small bottle. He shot me a grin – half-cocky, half-sheepish.

  “In retrospect,” he said. “My cell phone might’ve been a better thing to grab at the last second. But I wasn’t exactly thinking straight when you crashed my boat.”

  “Hey!” I protested. “I didn’t crash it!”

  Teekay opened the wine, took a swig, and raised an eyebrow. “Was that some other perfectly hot, perfectly sexy girl on my favorite bed with her legs spread and her hand—”

  I cut him off by yanking the wine from his hands and taking a deep sip.

  Teekay chuckled. “I was also going to impress you with my ability to order pizza on the water.”

  “For real?”

  “Mm hmm. I know a guy who knows a guy. And I figured you might be forgiving of my gross display of wealth because I was being so damned romantic.”

  I gulped back a little more wine. “I might’ve forgiven you, but I guess you’ll never know. Since we’re shipwrecked.”

  He snagged the wine and took a long pull. “We’re not shipwrecked. We’re just temporarily waylaid. I bumped the hull on an outcrop of rock, but I don’t think there’s any damage. And as soon as the rain stops, I’ll swim out to the boat and rescue us. It’ll give you another excuse to jump into my arms.”

  “Do I need an excuse?”

  I inched closer to him, leaned in like I was going to kiss him, then grabbed the bottle and chugged some down. Teekay laughed and snaked out his arms so he could pull me into his lap.

  “I think I said it before, but I like drunk you.”

  “And I think I said before, I’m not drunk.”

  “Uh huh.”

  “I’ve had two sips of wine!”

  He repeated, more slowly and more disbelievingly, “Uh. Huh.”

  Exasperated, I took another deep, deliberately slow drink.

  “It is not the wine. It’s you.”

&n
bsp; “It’s me what?”

  I refused to acknowledge the blush creeping up my throat. “It’s you that makes me act this way. You make me say things I wouldn’t normally say.”

  Teekay touched my lips. “So I make you drunk?”

  “Drunk. Ish.”

  “Hmm.” His finger pushed my mouth open.

  “Maggie?”

  “Yes?”

  “Can I ask you something?”

  “I guess so.”

  “When we threw the quarter in the fountain the other night…What did you wish for?”

  “What makes you think I even made a wish?”

  He shrugged. “Something in your face when it landed on the edge, then rolled in.”

  Judging from what I said next, the few sips of wine had loosened my tongue, at least a little bit. “I’ve spent the last four years cultivating the perfect poker face. There’s no way you read me that easily.”

  “I’ve spent the last two years learning about the nuances of emotion,” he countered seriously. “There’s no way you could hide it from me.”

  We stared at each other for a long moment before I broke the silence.

  “I can’t tell you my wish or it won’t come true. That’s the rule.”

  “Just this once, can’t you break a rule?”

  “I think I’ve already broken several lately.”

  I expected him to chuckle that low, knowing laugh of his. Instead, he slung an arm over my shoulder and squeezed.

  “I just want to know what’s in your head,” he said, softly.

  It was impossible for me to defy his pleading expression.

  “That’s what I wished for,” I admitted.

  He frowned. “For me to know what you’re thinking?”

  A little smile touched my lips. “No. For me to know what’s in your head.”

  The wish had been as surprising as it had been fleeting. I usually dreaded knowing what people thought, but for just that tenth of second, I’d wished I could see into Teekay’s mind to know what he thought of me.

  “You want to know what I’m thinking now, Maggie?”

  “Yes.”

  His eyes sparkled lasciviously. “You sure?”

  “Yes.”

  “I’m wondering if this drunk-ish behavior could extend to doing as well as saying?”

  “I think it already has.”

  He tipped his head to one side and smiled a smile that made my pulse race.

  “I had something a little more specific in mind.”

  “What’s that?” I whispered.

  In a slow, sensual move, Teekay put his thumb into my mouth and traced my teeth and my tongue. My lips closed down automatically and I gave his thumb a little suck.

  “Maggie.” When he said my name, it was a deep moan.

  Which spurred me on.

  I drew his thumb further into my mouth and pulled harder, tasting it with my tongue. Teekay’s eyes closed in pleasure.

  I put my hand in the center of his chest and pushed him to the ground. He went willingly, which surprised me for some reason. So far, he’d been in charge and I didn’t think he’s relinquish control so easily.

  “Do you – Will you – Are you – Ugh,” he groaned.

  “Yes.”

  I trailed my mouth down his already bare chest, my lips playing over each dip in his perfectly defined abs. I followed each kiss with my hands, which were somehow magically connected to the rest of my body. By the time I got to his belly button, I was buzzing with need. And the need had nothing to do with what I wanted. It was all about pleasing Teekay.

  I slipped my fingers into the little strings that held together the top of his swim trunks. As I unlaced them, Teekay’s breathing quickened. When I dragged my lips across the opening, his fists opened and closed and a throaty noise escaped from his mouth.

  Me, I thought triumphantly. I’m making him feel this way.

  I tugged on the waistband of the shorts and he lifted his hips obligingly.

  And when I yanked the swimsuit down, it was my turn to gasp.

  I’d felt it pressed into me several times over the last forty-eight hours, both clothed and unclothed. I’d watched in the mirror as he stroked it. But this was different.

  Teekay’s enormous erection, hard and beautiful, was now so much more. Because I got to touch it. To feel the way it reacted to me. And I got to taste it.

  With an eagerness I couldn’t conceal, I closed my lips over the tip and teased it with my tongue. It quivered against my mouth.

  Oh, yes.

  I opened my jaw wider and pulled him in carefully. Halfway. Then out. Halfway again. Then out.

  I loved the way his skin felt like velvet in my mouth. I loved the rigidity of him beneath that silk.

  Suck. Release. Suck.

  Harder.

  “Maggie!”

  My name on his lips, cried in that ragged voice did nothing to slow me down.

  I drew him into my mouth further, as far as I could take him and I still couldn’t make all of him fit. I brought my hand up to fill in the gap, and Teekay let out a growl. I liked it. I gave the base of his penis a little squeeze in tandem with my oral attentions and his hands immediately gripped my hair.

  “Darlin’ if you keep – oh, god – Maggie! If you don’t stop, I’m not going to – holy shit – I can’t – ”

  And then his body stiffened and he exploded into my mouth. Teekay held me in place as he pulsed, and the sweetness of it surprised me, as did the intensity. At last he finished and released me, then pulled me up to rest on his chest.

  Teekay stroked my hair and my back and squeezed me tightly.

  “That was the most incredible thing I’ve ever felt,” he said, his voice hoarse. “If I died right this second, I would feel like my life was complete.”

  I pleased flush warmed my face. “Thank you. But Teekay?”

  “Yes, darlin’?”

  “Please don’t die anytime soon, okay?”

  “So long as you promise me we can do that again later,” he teased, and then sat up.

  “I’ll think about it,” I said back, my face pink.

  But by the time Teekay pulled the boat into the little dock he’d mentioned before, and we’d climbed back aboard, I was exhausted. And by the time we got from the boat to his car and back to his house, I was nearly asleep. When Teekay lifted me gently from the vehicle, I barely opened my eyes until we hit his bedroom. And though I reached for him sleepily, he pushed my lids closed, kissed each one of them, and I was grateful just to be tucked in beside him in his bed.

  Day Four

  15)

  I woke to an empty bed, and rolled over to find a note from Teekay, telling me he had a few errands to run in town and that he’d be back soon. I used the time to sneak the little notebook with my drawing of him from my wrapped up clothes to the plastic bag that held his sister’s clothes, and made a mental note to ask Teekay to locate my beach bag. Then I decided to grab a shower in his ensuite – only eyeing up the medicine cabinet once before I jumped in.

  What’s in there? I wondered.

  But I quickly forgot about it as I lathered up with Teekay’s soap and recalled the way he’d used the same soap on me. The way he’d had me touch myself wasn’t far from my mind, either, as I ran the cloth over my body. Immediately, I got warm all over and I had to push down an urge to experiment.

  It wasn’t that I considered myself to be anti-sexual. But just four days earlier, my only experience had been Jimmy. And when I factored in what I’d felt in the scant few days with Teekay Marcus, any brief boy-band, teacher/student, cute boy in math class crushes I’d had in the past paled in comparison. Anything I’d imagined, any of the wayward dreams that occurred in the darkness of midnight, it all paled. I was pretty sure my whole life did.

  Was it just Teekay?

  Hesitantly, curiously, my hand slipped to my thighs. But before I could get any further, a door slammed outside of the bathroom, and I quickly retracted any thoughts of auto-
erotic pleasure. I rinsed off what remained of the soap, dried off and slipped Teekay’s clothes back on before opening the door. When I did, Teekay was nowhere to be seen.

  And a black box, wrapped in a pretty silver bow, sat in the center of the unmade bed.

  “Teekay?” I called.

  There was no answer.

  I walked toward the bed. A little card hung from the ribbon on the box, and when I read it, I blushed.

  MY MAGGIE.

  His Maggie.

  I picked up the box and slowly, I tugged on the ribbon, then lifted the lid.

  A diaphanous piece of silver fabric shone against black tissue paper, and for a second, I didn’t know what it was. But when I reached my hand inside, I realized it was dress. A delicate, expensive-looking dress. I pulled it from the box and held it up. It shimmered in the light that filtered through the blinds, and when I turned it sideways, I couldn’t help but notice the tag. I glanced at it automatically, then blushed again.

  Uh-uh, it read in bold, black pen that completely obscured the actual price. You’re more than a price tag.

  I laid the dress on the bed.

  There was no denying how pretty it was. It had a snug bodice and skinny, metallic straps. The waist boasted a wide ribbon, while the bottom had a multi-layered, sheer material overtop of a satin sheath. It was the kind of dress that turned heads, and there was no way – not in a million years – that I would’ve chosen something like it for myself.

  But I wanted to try it on. Itched to.

  “I can’t wait to see you in it.”

  Teekay’s voice made me jump.

  “I don’t have anywhere to where that,” I replied.

  “Don’t you?” he asked a little too innocently as he slid his arms around my waist.

  “No.”

  He paused. “Maggie, do you like to dance?”

  “I don’t know. I’ve never tried it.”

  Teekay pulled away and raised an eyebrow. “Never?”

  “No.”

  “Not line dancing in school?”

  I shook my head. “No.”

  “Not drunkenly in front of the mirror with a brush as a microphone? In your underwear?”