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Moving closer, Gyth dropped my hand and instead turned his back to me. I was puzzled for a second until he spoke again. “Get on my back, I am your chariot tonight.”
Giggling at his playfulness, another thing he seemed to know would help, I wrapped my arms and legs around his enormous frame, squeezing hard, as he held on to my thighs, and then I yelled, “Giddy-Up!” His deep laugh echoed through the dark, night air and I pushed the door shut as we moved away from it.
When we reached the front door, Gyth slowly let my legs fall to the wooden porch floor and turned around so we were face to face. “I better kiss you now because I have a feeling when we get inside, Alley is going to have a million questions.” He swept a strand of hair that had fallen into my face, pushing it softly behind my ear, as he leaned in, and gently took my mouth.
The kiss was slow and passionate. It was as mind-blowing as the kisses where he devoured me like a starving man. As he slowly released my reluctant lips, because let's face it, I wanted more, he grabbed my hand and we walked together into the house.
Summer
“What the hell? You guys scared the shit out of me!” Alley screeched from the sofa, as we walked in.
Her face was full of shock and confusion, taking the two of us in, as Ash jumped down off the couch from beside her and made a beeline straight for us, circling my legs. Dropping to my knees I hugged her, holding on around her neck and letting my face rest against her soft, silky, silver coat, while I looked at my friend still staring at me.
Then Alley was up and heading my way. “What the fuck happened. Have you been crying? I swear to God I am going to beat someone's ass. I knew this wouldn’t turn out well.” She was in full mama bear mode now and fury replaced the confusion from seconds before.
Feeling Gyth’s hand on my shoulder, I stood as she came face to face with me. I am sure he could have jumped in at any time and had a whole shit storm of crap to say about the evening, but once again he was letting me take the reins. The thing was I also had a lot to tell her, but there was one thing that seemed to be at the top of my list and that came out first.
“Oh my God, Alley,” I started, very animated now as I got going. My octave level raised, hands flying around doing half the talking and I continued, “You should have seen Landon. He punched Dr. Lawson in the face. He was amazing!” I yelled, practically rattling the windows.
Now my friend’s expression looked confused again, mixed with a whole lot of ticked-the-fuck-off. “Maybe we should sit down and I will explain everything to you from the beginning, okay?”
Before we moved toward the living room, Gyth chimed in and told me he was going to head in to take a shower and change and let us talk. I raised up on my toes and kissed him quickly, whispering a thank you in his ear. Once he headed toward the hall, Alley and I sat down facing one another on the couch, Ash curled on the floor at my feet.
It had been at least an hour we had been talking, with me explaining from start to finish everything that had transpired. So many emotions ran through me as I replayed the events of the evening for Alley and I could tell she was feeling them as well.
“I can not believe your mother had the nerve to try and set you up when she knew you had a date and that she is that stupid not to have paid attention to Dr. Lawson’s name when Landon told her about what he did. It is insane to me. I thought my parents were the only assholes around, but yours are right there coming in second.”
She was right, it was hard to fully contemplate that parents could do the things both of ours had in the past or treat their children that way. What I did know was that if Alley or I ever had children that we knew exactly how not to be and would love our kids beyond reason.
Looking down into her lap, I heard Alley take in a deep breath, and then she spoke again. “I am glad Gyth was there for you and that he spoke up, but I am so proud of you and how you handled it too, girlfriend.” She raised her head, looked me in the eye, and inhaled before exhaling. “I’m also impressed with your brother, I just wished he would have stood his ground long ago. He should always be there for you and he was tonight, but what about in the past when he should have been there for others?”
Frowning, trying to get a read on exactly what we were talking about and what she was feeling, I paused, taking her in for a minute. Then I said, “Do you mean he should have been there for you, Alley?” She flinched, her face blank for a second, so I continued. “Did he hurt you a long time ago and break what was between you, whatever that was?”
Tears slid down Alley’s face as she nodded her head in affirmation, and when she spoke, I could feel her heart breaking all over again.
“Yes, but something a lot more precious was lost too.”
Sadness swirled heavily through the air in the room and I was at a loss as to how I could help her fix this. “Honey, can you tell me more about it?”
Shaking her head no, she said, “Not right now, okay? I am still not ready to talk about it. When you don’t feel that anything will ever fix the sorrow that is buried inside you, it is better just to leave it alone, otherwise it just consumes you and the power it has over me could break me so badly I wouldn’t be able to carry on.”
Grabbing her, I pulled her into me and hugged her close. “I am always here for you when you are ready, but I think maybe this is something you need to talk to Landon about too. You are one of the best people I know and I love you to the moon and back, I love my brother, and you are both hurting, that much is clear.” Squeezing her tight, her silence making it obvious that she was done talking about it right then, I just held her.
“I am going to head to bed,” she said, pulling back. “I am so proud of how you handled stuff,” she told me again. “Breakfast in the morning together, okay?”
“You bet, breakfast sounds good, and then what do you say we hit the bookstore?” A day together after the talk we just had would do us both some good and my girl couldn’t pass up the bookstore.
Now that got a smile out of her. “You know I won’t say no to that. Besides, I need to find something to read while I am waiting on J.E. Parker to release her last installment of Pop’s book, which will end her amazing series. She has me on pins and needles with that shit. When we go to that signing together, I may just bonk her on the head for having made me wait, but I know it will be worth it.”
I knew exactly who Pop was since I was halfway through the series myself. I may be slower at reading than Alley and didn’t know about the book world as much, but I did know that this Pop guy was damn fine for an older man. He had all the ladies drooling on their pages as they read about him I’m sure, just like all her other guys in her books. There was no shortage of hotties for sure. I had spaced off, thinking about this and not sure if I missed anything else Alley had said, but then she was still talking.
“We are on for tomorrow,” she said and headed out of the room.
Sighing, I looked down at Ash. “Looks like it’s you and me girl.”
“Did you forget about me, Sunshine?” Gyth’s deep voice asked from behind me where he stood by the entrance to the hall. He had a silly smirk on his face and seemed amused, not mad.
“Well, you have been so quiet and you usually have a lot to say,” I joked.
