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“Jesus Christ. What did they do, hire you all from a modeling agency?” I can’t help it. The last guy looks like he could have been pulled straight from a GQ spread. He has defined cheekbones and a strong chin, with dark-green eyes that shine with his tanned skin and brown hair.
They all laugh at my comments, but Ray is the one to speak. “Yeah, we get shit all the time for how we look, but it helps to sell the yearly calendar so we take it in good fun. This is Kevin,” he says, motioning to the dark-skinned man in the front seat. “The one sitting right next to you is Josh with the eyes you thought were black, and the other one is Gino.”
“Um, it’s really nice to meet you all. I hope you’re all happily married with a bundle of gorgeous children, because otherwise I’m pretty sure my friends will eat you alive.” I mutter the last part, but it gets more laughs out of the guys.
“Unfortunately for you, we’re all single. Except Ray, of course, since he’s hoping that he’s gonna start seeing you.” Gino laughs, and I can’t help laughing a little too as Ray’s neck turns bright red at their teasing.
Ray starts the truck and pulls it out of the hospital parking lot, heading toward the center of town. “So where am I taking you, sweet?” He looks at me over his shoulder quickly, then turns back to the road.
“My house is the last one on the left on Willow, across from the elementary school.” I don’t need to give them any further directions, as Ray nods and then proceeds to take me home.
None of them say a word as I close my eyes and lean my head against the glass. My head is throbbing from the pain still coursing through my body. It’s only a few minutes before we are coming to a stop in front of my house. I slowly pull the handle on the door so that I can get down.
“Thanks for the ride, guys. Ray, I’ll see you later maybe?” I look at the man who has taken the time out of his day just to come and give me a ride home. He has to be a good one, to do something like that.
“Yeah, sweet. I’ll see you as soon as we get off shift.” When he moves to get out of the truck, I wave him off.
I’m sore as I make my way into my living room and pull my lifeless phone from my bag. Plugging it in, I sit on the couch and wrap a blanket around me, burying myself in a nest and hiding my head.
It is a few minutes before my phone has enough charge to turn on, and when it does, it doesn’t disappoint. It vibrates repeatedly for about five minutes before it stops. I can’t bring myself to check it. Instead, I stare out the window at the sheriff’s office and wonder why I left Birch in the first place.
8
JAKE
I leave the hospital,going straight home to clean up. I strip my bed and wash everything. While the laundry is going, I scrub my house of everything that Laura may have left there. It isn’t that I think I’ll be having sex with Margot anytime soon, but that I want to be respectful. I know what I want, and I’m willing to fight for it.
After the house is clean, I force myself to lie on the couch and try to sleep. Instead, all I can think about is our first kiss and everything that came after.
I pulled away from her house, afraid of looking in the mirror as I went. She literally just turned eighteen years old and I crossed a line with her. Her mother would kill me if she ever found out. I was almost eight years older than Margot, and she had her entire life ahead of her.
As I drove back to her date’s camp to help with breaking up the underage drinking party, I knew that I was in trouble. I always loved Margot in one form or another. From the innocence of a child needing an older brother, someone to watch out for her… to the complicated emotions they’ve evolved into.
Tonight she showed me that our feelings were a lot more complicated than I thought. I want her, badly, but she isn’t even done with school yet. I would have to wait.
Instead of turning around and going back to her house to make a fool of myself, I listened to drunken kids brag about their conquests for the night. I helped get them home safely. Since it was their prom night and no one had driven anywhere, the sheriff decided not to press charges, letting them all off with a warning.
While I was cleaning out my cruiser, I found the locket that I bought for her. I picked it up carefully and put it back in the black box that housed it. I would save it until she was ready for it.
Ready for me.
Before putting it into the bottom of my sock drawer, I opened the box one more time and stared at it.
I knew I loved her.
I’d known all my life. From the moment I had carried her through the woods as a child, she stole a part of my soul and never given it back.
My love for her changed through the years, from protector to friend, and now I had no idea what to do with it. With the craving that I’ve woken up inside myself. I was everything that she needed, anything that she wanted me to be.
Still, I couldn’t do this. I couldn’t take away her chance to live her life, just to be with me. Sighing, I put the necklace at the back of the drawer and closed it.
I wake up suddenly in a cold sweat, and I didn’t even realize I’d fallen asleep.
The necklace.
Had I moved it?
Jumping off the couch and almost falling on my face, I make my way into my bedroom, praying that the locket is still sitting in the bottom of the drawer I’ve never cleaned out. I’m panicking for a reason I can’t identify. She probably won’t remember the locket. There it is, as soon as I shove years of socks that I haven’t worn aside, the familiar black box tucked into the corner.
