AllFreeNovel
Share Us
He didn’t have an answer. He wanted both and neither. He wanted to kiss her like he did that night, but all over her body. He wanted to hear his name on her lips. He wanted to wake up to her in hazy morning light and fall asleep to the sounds of the dishwasher humming, the crickets chirping.
“Great. Well, when you have the balls to actually talk to me or to own up to what you want, let me know. Maybe I’ll still be around. Maybe I won’t.”
Dragan watched the piece of his heart walk away. It stung even more, knowing it was all his own doing.
29
June slammed the apartment door shut behind her, feeling more and more like a caged animal.
“Juney?”
She stormed down the hallway, avoiding her grandfather’s call, and slammed her bedroom door. The frame rattled, and for a split second she felt bad. She sat on the bed, clenching and unclenching the bedspread beneath her hands. She was acting like a petulant teenager, everything from the boy she loved breaking her heart to her overbearing parents.
Grandparents.
Because to round out the shitty teenage picture, her parents were dead.
She just wanted to scream, to yell it all away. To start over, with a new roll of the die. Maybe she would still have her parents. Maybe the store would be okay. Maybe the boy would love her.
But no. That wasn’t the world she lived.
The world she lived in was her telling off her best friend even though she knew she could never let him go. The world she lived in was now to get ready for her second date with Rhys Dougherty, an absolute catch whose company she enjoyed but didn’t have the electric pull to, and wait to see if the pull ever came. The world she lived in was sneaking around her grandparents and not being able to open up to her girlfriends for fear of…
God, what was wrong with her?
She didn’t even know why she was closed off to her friends. After her parents’ deaths, she had shrunk inside herself. Molly and Anna had tried to be there for her, but she couldn’t let them carry the pain she had. They came from perfect families that were still whole. Only Dragan had ever seemed strong enough to do that. It was a pain he could understand, even if it wasn’t his own.
June took a deep breath, forcing the tears down. She had a lot of shit to figure out. Not being with Dragan — in any capacity — was for the best. She couldn’t think straight when he was around. He clouded her judgement, clouded her perception, clouded her heart.
No, she would go on this date with Rhys, and work to put Dragan behind her.
She stood, changing into jeans. He had said casual and somewhat warm, so she kept her big sweater and threw on her Keds. Her hair was a mess and her cheeks were ruddy, but she stopped caring. This was her, for better or worse. If he didn’t like that, he could shove it.
But something told June Rhys Dougherty wasn’t the kind of man who would feel that way, and she allowed the small tingle to work its way through her body. As she left her room, she called out to her grandpa that she was going out and to not stay up. She texted her grandma as she went down the stairs, telling her who she was with and his license plate and to not ask questions. And then she found solace in the freedom of silencing her phone.
The thrumming 1969 Dodge Charger was waiting outside the building, loud as ever. She didn’t cringe as much this time, and she smiled as Rhys jumped out and opened the door for her. She slid inside, welcoming the fresh musk. Basil, maybe?
He got in and gave her a smile, leaning in close like he wanted to kiss her but thought better of it.
“You ready for your surprise?”
She laughed. “Please, I need something good.”
“I got you, June.”
And with that, they took off.
The roads passed in a dark blur as they reached the highway. June watched the flashing lights of nearby towns as they sped past, making little to no conversation and listening to some 80s New Wave on low. He took an exit and several turns in a town slightly larger than Oak Valley before pulling into a parking lot. The warehouse building in front of them had a large sign that said Take a Break!
“Where are we?” She turned to him, but he just had a wicked smile on his face.
“C’mon, I’ll show you. It’s one of my favorite places.”
He opened the door for her and grabbed her hand, leading the way inside. His hand was large and calloused, the rough skin comforting.
They approached the front desk, and Rhys paid for two wristbands. The large warehouse was oddly quiet, the lighting low as he led her left and down a long hallway. To their right, they passed numbered doors spaced out every so often, some with In Use signs and others with Open ones. He led her to a door that said 24 and had an Open sign.
The room was like a cubby, with a bench and four lockers. But across the way, there was a table along a wall with a reinforced window and another door. On the table was a bin of safety goggles, ear protection, and work gloves. June looked around, still confused as to what they were doing and where they even were. Rhys flipped the sign outside the first door and set his wallet and keys in one of the lockers. He grabbed two sets of goggles, gloves, and headphones, handing one set to her. He put his on. June did the same, and followed him through the second door.
