One Week of Summer

by Amber Rides

  “No.”

  “What else do you know about me?”

  I couldn’t tell if he really wanted an answer or not.

  Just like with the bullies at school. Just like with Kirby and her friends at the beach.

  Because yes, he’d likely have been friends with the kids who tormented me. He probably could’ve easily been friends with the boy who manipulated me into having sex and then shared it with the world. He’d slept with a girl who enjoyed picking on the weak. Who knew how many more there’d been just like her?

  And now he was taking her word before even asking me for an explanation.

  Maybe he asked her to swear a vow of honesty too, I thought.

  And maybe everything he’d done and said to me was just a repeat of something he’d done and said with every girl before me.

  I stared at Teekay, making myself see his handsome face for what it really was – one of theirs.

  And just like them, the hateful look in his perfect, beautiful eyes was directed at me.

  I’m back to square one.

  “I think I should go,” I stated woodenly.

  “I don’t think so. Not yet,” Teekay replied. “Do you want to see what I have in my bathroom cabinet?”

  “It’s not important.”

  “Actually, I think it is.”

  He yanked me to my feet and dragged me to the bathroom, where he flung open the medicine cabinet.

  A barrage of pills lined the shelf inside. Anti-depressants and anti-anxieties. Names I recognized from my father’s battles. My eyes sought Teekay’s face, reading new things into his reticence to share his past and seeing his angry outbursts and trust issues in a new light.

  “Did you know the whole time?” he asked in a raw voice.

  Teekay’s hand slid up my thigh from behind, under the borrowed boxers I was wearing, and between us.

  “Did I know what?” I gasped.

  “About the craziness in my life…in my head. About how my parents died? About Jolene? Was that story about your dad and the accident even true?”

  His parents were dead too? Then whose house was this? Who was paying Donnie? And who was Jolene?

  My head was spinning.

  “Answer me, Maggie!” Teekay hollered.

  “Of course it’s true!”

  He spun me around and pressed me into the sink.

  “Really, Maggie? Or was it all just a game to you?” he demanded.

  I wiggled away, slipped underneath his arm and ran back into the bedroom.

  Teekay was quick to follow. His arms snaked around my waist and he crushed me to him. My chest rose and fell in a combination of fear and desire, and his eyes strayed to my breasts. After a moment, he seemed to realize where he was looking, and a slow, deliberate smile formed on his face. It didn’t even come close to touching his eyes.

  “What made you decide to lie to me?” he asked.

  “I never lied to you!”

  Teekay backed me up to the bed and forced me down and held himself above me. “Lies of omission are still lies, darlin’. And somehow, you forgot to mention that you weren’t a virgin.”

  I drew in a breath. Was that why he’d pursued me so ardently? Was that why he was so angry now? Because his former friend, Jimmy the Skunk Monroe, had his hands on me first?

  “You slept with Kirby,” I pointed out. “And failed to mention that.”

  “Kirby was a mistake,” he told me. “She – and twenty other girls like her – are what I did to bury the hurt I had everywhere before I got on the meds. I’m not going to apologize for my past. I have things to be sorry for. Sex isn’t one of them. But you…I was holding back because I thought you deserved hearts and flowers and because I wanted your first time to be special. I even felt guilty about the car. You really had me fooled.”

  His jeans rubbed the soft, sensitive skin on my thighs. And in spite of his cruel words, in spite of the way my heart felt like it was going to collapse, I still wanted him. I struggled against the feeling.

  “I never told you I was a virgin,” I whispered.

  “Maybe not,” he conceded. “But you sure as hell didn’t shout out that you were experienced. In fact, you’ve spent every moment being shy and sweet. Blushing at the mere hint of sex. A perfect act.”

  He dragged his hands down to my knees and spread them apart roughly, then drew my legs around his waist and held them in place tightly. He eased his body down and brought his mouth to my breasts. He sucked and teased and bit through the fabric of the t-shirt, drawing them into hard points. Then he moved down, and his finger went straight for my clit. And even though somewhere in my mind I knew I should be fighting against his dark, sexual onslaught, I couldn’t do anything but rise up to meet his ministrations.

  “Tell me...” he said.

  I had to work hard at forming a reply. “Tell you what?”

  “Tell me why your heart is beating so hard that I can feel it right through your perfect, sweet pussy,” he said into my neck. “Is that because you like this? Or because you’re scared?”

  “I don’t know!” I gasped.

  “You don’t know which part?”

  He leaned down, and his teeth sought the tender flesh on my earlobe and he bit it hard enough to make my eyes water. At the same time, he drove his finger inside me and circled my wetness with his palm.

  I tried to answer, but all that came out was a want-filled whimper.

  This wasn’t the same as the other times we’d been together. Not even close. This hurt. But it felt good too.

  “Answer me, Maggie, or I’ll stop.”

  Please, no.

  And then he went still. He held his hand in place, unmoving, and my legs dropped open further and my hips rose in an involuntarily attempt to get him to start again.

  “Would you like a little more, Maggie?” he asked.

  I managed a nod.

  “Fear? Or fucking? Which is it?”

  “Both,” I whispered.

  “Louder,” he ordered, and his thumb pressed into my clit, not gently.

  “Both!” I cried out.

  “Good,” he growled, and his hand drove into me once more.

  My head went back and I bit down on my lip to keep from crying out as he pushed harder. His fingers and his hips moved together in a punishing thrust.

  And then, without warning, he flipped us over so that I was straddling him instead. I was surprised into stillness. But Teekay’s fingers were still inside me, and he wiggled them, hitting a spot that made me gasp.

  “Show me,” he said. “Show me how bad you’d like to fuck me.”

  With his free hand, Teekay shoved my hips forward, driving his fingers into me further. He let go and I eased backward again, but he wasn’t willing to let me go. He grabbed and held my rear end, forcing me forward again. He released me again and I slipped back, only to have him push me once more. On the third release, my body moved toward him all on its own.

  I rocked back and forth, reluctant at first, and then with increased wantonness. He felt so good, with his palm poised just outside my wet sex, putting pressure on just the right spot while his fingers toyed with my deepest, most sensitive parts inside.

  “Did Jimmy do this to you?” Teekay demanded suddenly.

  “No!”

  “Did he make you come?”

  “No!”

  “Did you make him come?”

  “I don’t know!”

  “Again with the uncertainty, Maggie. I thought we were past all that. Is any of what happened between us even real?”

  His questions should have turned off my desire. But I didn’t seem to be able to stop. I continued moving against his fingers, even as the tears started pouring from my eyes.

  I waited for him to notice, but all he did was move his hand faster and faster. And in a blistering heave that somehow left me unsatisfied, I came against him.

  I reached for his zipper, but he slapped my hand away.

  “No, Maggie,” he said. “I’m not
interested. I just wanted to remind you of what you’ll be missing.”

  I flinched back as though I’d been slapped.

  “Please, Teekay, let me—”

  He answered me just as coldly. “Now you can go.”

  I stood, but once I was on my feet, I couldn’t move. I was unable to reconcile the deep, good, physical ache he’d left behind on my body with the horrifyingly empty one that was growing in my mind. They were too incompatible to be coming from the same place.

  “What are you waiting for?” Teekay asked. “Permission? An order? You can have both. You are more than welcome to get the fuck out.”

  And I obeyed him. Because it was better than having to face the crushing reality that I’d let my years of carefully constructed walls crumble because I thought Teekay was different. When he was really just the same.

  21)

  I slipped from the room without looking back, and made my way to the guest house above the garage. Maybe Donnie wouldn’t be willing to drive me home, but maybe he might call me a cab.

  Or maybe he’ll be smug enough about his warning being right that he will take me as fast and faraway from Teekay as he could.

  I didn’t even get a chance to raise my fist and knock before Donnie answered the door, and I thought he must’ve been watching the house.

  Did that mean he’d let Kirby in on purpose?

  After a second of staring at him as I tried to puzzle it out, I realized what Donnie was really doing was packing. He had a small stack of boxes behind him and a heavy suitcase too.

  I was surprised into asking, “Are you leaving?”

  He grabbed one of the boxes and carried it over to his car. “Yes.”

  “Why?”

  “To quote some other poor asshole…My work here is done.”

  “You quit?”

  “Not exactly.”

  “Did T—” I paused, swallowed against the lump in my throat and tried again. “Did he fire you?”

  Donnie paused in his lift of the next box and shot me a startled look. “Teekay?”

  I nodded.

  The older man sighed. “What did Junior tell you about his family?”

  “Not much. Not until today. Just that his parents died.”

  “Well, it’s sure as hell not my business. Especially now. Midnight on the day of the kid’s birthday and I wipe my hands of all things related to the Marcus family. The firefighting act was just a bonus. So if you want answers, ask Junior.”

  “I can’t,” I admitted.

  He narrowed his eyes. “Why? Are you leaving?”

  “Yes.”

  “Why?”

  “Does it matter?”

  “Not any more than it matters why I’m going,” he replied, and picked up another box. “Took you longer than I thought. Figured maybe you’d decided to stay.”

  His words doubled the pain in my chest, and a few unwanted tears dribbled from my eyes. “Can you take me home?”

  Donnie didn’t hesitate. “Where’s home?”

  “Shackside,” I replied, using the derogatory expression deliberately in an attempt to solidify the wall between my world and Teekay’s.

  “Let’s make it quick,” he agreed.

  We drove the ten miles between Teekay’s house and the beach in silence, and when we reached the turnoff that led to the row of homes by the ocean, Donnie pulled onto the shoulder.

  “Better that I don’t know which place is yours,” he said gruffly. “Don’t want Junior thinking now that I’m no longer an employee, he can beat it out of me.”

  My eyes flew to the older man as I realized I’d very likely put him directly in the line of fire.

  “I’m sorry,” I said immediately.

  He shook his head. “I’ll be fine. My job is – was – to protect him. Primarily from himself. This isn’t any different.”

  “What if he doesn’t believe you?”

  Donnie offered me a tight-lipped smile. “He knows I’m not a liar.”

  “Well. That makes one of us.”

  I pushed the passenger side door open, but as I swung a leg out, one of Donnie’s hands closed on my shoulders.

  “You’re probably doing the right thing, Maggie.”

  I shook him off and nodded, wondering why, if it was the right thing, it felt so wrong.

  Day Six

  22)

  Teekay didn’t turn up at my door. I woke up alone. And I went to bed alone too.

  Day Seven

  23)

  I woke up to the sound of rain beating down on the metal soffits of the beach house, and I rolled over in the bed so I could watch it hitting the window. The solid sound of the drops pelting from the sky to the glass was a perfect match to the quick, achy beats of my heart.

  My broken heart.

  I wasn’t sure if I’d really slept at all. Each time I closed my eyes, I was plagued with visions of amber eyes and Teekay’s muscular frame.

  How had he become so ingrained in my life in such a short time? And how had he slipped away so quickly?

  I let the pain wash over me.

  It was ridiculous to feel this way and I knew it. I’d been through more, been through worse.

  I’d experienced loss. I didn’t remember my mother’s death, of course, but I’d felt an emptiness in my life sometimes because of her absence. And my father’s drowning haunted me often. The recent loss of my grandmother was fresh enough that I was still grieving for her.

  Which is probably the reason I’d let Teekay in so easily, I realized.

  And it wasn’t like I hadn’t been alone before. I’d been solitary for all of my high school days, in fact. But I’d been okay with it. I hadn’t needed to fill the void in my life because there hadn’t been a void. Yes, I’d been alone. But never really lonely.

  Now…

  I missed him.

  Somehow, Teekay had created a need where there had been none.

  I reminded myself harshly that I’d come to my grandmother’s beach house to battle my old demons, not to create new ones. And Teekay…He might not be a demon himself, but already he’d possessed me far more wholly than I wanted him to.

  I knew I had things to do. The thick dust that covered all of my grandmother’s things needed to be swept away. The bag of groceries I’d bought days earlier still sat in the front entryway.

  But what I wanted to do most – second most – was to draw.

  Yes.

  And thanks to Kirby, I needed supplies. I doubted that the little store at the end of my street had much more than pens and pencils and lined paper, but I would take what I could get.

  I dragged myself from the bed and slipped my hair into a ponytail and pulled a sweater over my head.

  I opened the door, then dropped back in shock.

  Jimmy.

  He smiled. And he looked genuinely pleased, which made it that much worse.

  “It is you,” he said, his voice cutting straight into me. “I thought I was fucking seeing things in the club. I even thought that crazy redhead was fucking with me. But…Holy shit.”

  “You can’t be here,” I whispered. I pushed the door a little harder.

  “Sure I can, Ghost. I’m here already, aren’t I?” he replied.

  Fear slowed my brain.

  Maybe I can talk him out of…whatever he’s planning on doing.

  “What can I do for you, Jimmy?” I asked in a strained but polite voice.

  “For starters, you can invite me in so we can have a little talk about how this is going to go.”

  “No.”

  “I’m sorry, but did you say no? Hard to hear you above all this spooky thunder and lightning. Ghost.”

  I ignored the jibe because my mind had finally caught up to the situation.

  I moved to slam the door, but I wasn’t anywhere near quick enough. His foot put a wedge in the frame while his hand slammed into the wood. I pushed harder, but he was too strong.

  He gave the door a solid hip check and I flew backwards and landed on
my rear end. Which Jimmy thought was very funny. He stood over me with a wide, wide grin. And that’s when I realized his eyes were bloodshot and his gait was unsteady.

  He was drunk.

  Oh no. Not good.

  I scrambled across the floor as far as I could go, but my back hit the couch and I was trapped.

  I wracked my brain for an escape plan. Or for a way to get help.

  Teekay.

  I shoved down the automatic wish for his protective presence and moved on to something more accessible. More real.

  Did my grandmother’s beach house have a back door? I couldn’t recall. But the master bedroom did have a big, low window that would lead right to gravel road behind the row houses. Which could mean help.

  Of course, it also meant I’d have to lead Jimmy straight through a bedroom. And that made my throat constrict.

  But he didn’t seem to notice the wheels turning in my head.

  “Are you and Teekay in this together?”

  I crept sideways along the sofa and tried not to eye the bedroom as I moved. “In what?”

  He put a foot up, blocking my path, and exhaled an angry, boozy breath in my direction. “You expect me to believe you don’t know?”

  “I have no idea what you’re talking about! If you don’t believe me, ask him.”

  “I did,” Jimmy replied. “Or I tried to. But he’s gone.”

  In spite of my eagerness to get away, I paused. “Gone?”

  “Let me guess. You didn’t know that either?”

  “How would I? I’ve been here for two days.”

  I drew my arm back and drove it straight into Jimmy’s knee. He hollered and stumbled, and I used the distraction to jump to my feet and race across the room. I got one triumphant step away from the master bedroom before Jimmy’s hand closed on my ankle. I fell straight forward, and my face collided with the floor. Pain shot through my lips and nose while stars floated across my vision.

  And Jimmy wasn’t letting go.

  I thrashed out wildly to no avail.

  Jimmy’s other hand came up to grip the back of my knee. He dragged himself up, using my body to do it. When he got to my shoulders, he grabbed them and flipped me over, then held me down, one knee in my chest.