AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“You taste like orange juice,” I whisper against his ear before nibbling his lobe.
“You’re making my pants shrink.”
Sliding off his lap, I return to my seat. “I’ll probably feel sad at some point in the future about Shania bailing on me. Sure, I get why she’d leave Gary. Maybe New Jersey sang to her like Tumbling Rock did for me. I understand wanting to start over fresh. But she didn’t need to go along with Gary’s faked death thing. We could have texted each other over the years. I’d no doubt resent her. But we didn’t need to live a lie like a lame soap opera. That crap’s on her.”
“You deserve the best parents,” West mutters, pouting in that unbelievably sexy way he does. “I hate how you’ve been deprived of good shit for most of your life.”
“I prefer to keep my eye on the future. The past is full of regrets and disappointments. But the future offers hope and possibilities.”
“I hope the present does, too.”
“Since I arrived in Tumbling Rock, I’ve been showered with good luck,” I say and admire how golden West appears in the morning sun. “Even finding out about Shania feels like a good thing. Not that I want to contact her, but that info is now in the open. Gary was bound to blurt it out eventually. I preferred hearing it from you.”
West smiles warmly and reaches for my hand. “If we had a place of our own, we could go home after breakfast and strip down naked. I’d take the day off and hang out with you. No dropping you off or going to bed alone.”
“It’s okay to just date, West. You don’t have to rush.”
“Five years.”
“Yes, but what we’re doing now is real. I’m not a figment of your imagination. I won’t run away. You don’t have to wait anymore. We can take our time and enjoy each other.”
“Don’t you want to live with me?” he asks, always paranoid I’m not as committed to us as he is.
“Of course, I don’t, West. Living on my cousins’ couch is far better than sharing a bed with the sexiest man I’ve ever seen,” I reply, and he grins. “But rather than enjoy yourself, you seem to be rushing to nail things down out of a baseless fear.”
“Maybe I was doing that in the beginning. But I also love how I feel when you’re with me,” he explains, making my heart race. “I want to feel you next to me when I go to sleep. I want us to have our own space.”
Tearing up, I admit, “I want to dream big, too, but I’m scared.”
“That’s also why I’m in a hurry. I’ve had so much good stuff in my life. I loved my childhood. Even as a shitty teenager, bitching like a hormonal twat, I still had a ball. My brother and sister are cool. My parents are awesome. I get to be in the club. Everything’s fricking perfect for me. But life screwed you hard, and I want you to have all the good stuff as soon as possible.”
Flashing him a grin, I shrug. “Well, then, get that house delivered, so we can spend every day together.”
West smiles triumphantly, winning another battle.
I better understand now why he’s in such a rush. When I see myself from West’s viewpoint, I do seem like a charity case. My non-dead mom is just another weird, sad thing about my life.
If the worst thing he ever does is offer me everything he had growing up, the rest of my life will be as warm and bright as West.
