A Boy I Used to Love(60)

"He came to St. Skin hurt?" I asked.

"Not my place to say anything else."

"Then I'll make it my business with him," I said. "I'll get in touch with him."

"Go see him."

"I don't know where he lives or if he's home."

Axel shook his head. He took out his phone and punched the screen a few times. Then he turned his phone around.

"I just texted him," Axel said. "Asked him if he's home. He said yes."



       
         
       
        

My heart leapt from my chest to my throat. Butterflies kicked up in my belly.

"I look like hell," I said.

"Excuses don't matter," Axel said. "Make a decision."

"Thanks for the advice, Andrew," I said.

"Don't," he said with a grin. "Do you love him?"

"Yes."

"Then don't let anything get in your way of that. Trust me."

I stepped off the porch and got into my car.

Axel walked to the window and I rolled it down.

"You got GPS on your phone?" he asked.

"Of course. Everyone does."

"Give me your phone."

There I was, handing my phone over to this monster of a man who was trying to take care of his dying mother.

He gave me my phone back as it began to spit out directions.

Axel nodded and backed away.

I didn't need to ask where I was going. I already knew.

I was going to see River.





River





PRESENT DAY





I hovered over the kitchen counter with some notebooks open, sketching some designs. I had an idea I wanted to run by Tate that involved my own little line of stuff. As much as I hated the notion of the limelight, I saw what it did for the other guys. Cass was killing it because of his previous rockstar life but also because he had his own gallery online. He got out there with stuff. He worked the artist angle like a genius. Same for Prick. He loved attention. And Max, well, Max's work with portraits was so unique he didn't need to do a damn thing.

I wanted my own line. It was a concept I came up with before, but all those dreams on the beach were fucking squandered. By a woman. Shocking news there, sure. That was a story nobody ever knew about and one that I hoped I could take to my grave peacefully. The closest I came to really slipping up and forgetting about Lacey. That would never happen again. That's why my relationships were based on time, around one fucking date.

Halfway through a line I just stopped. I dropped the pencil and put my hands to the counter. I looked around the apartment and let out a sigh. This was why I got tangled up in relationships while waiting for Lacey. Being alone left my mind to wander and wonder. Right now, I desperately needed a beautiful woman to come strolling through the apartment in my shirt and nothing else. Curl up on the couch with some girly-ass show. A glass of wine. That look of wildness in her eyes.

Gritting my teeth, I went to the fridge and got a beer.

The fridge was damn near empty. Another downfall of not having a woman around my place.

I threw the bottle back with a mental plan forming that involved drinking about ten of those, sketching until my hand hurt, and then passing out on the couch. All I had ahead of me was time. Time that I needed to figure out, organize, and maybe make the best of. 

But somehow, I knew that come next year I'd go back to the cabin, to the big-ass rock, and I'd wait for Lacey as though she'd come back yet again.

Halfway through the first beer there was a knock at the door. I looked at the clock and then at the door.

I put the beer bottle down and walked to the door.

When I opened it and saw Lacey standing there, I looked back over my shoulder wondering if I had somehow pounded a bottle of whiskey and was so drunk that I was hallucinating.

I looked at her and blinked, waiting for her to disappear.

"River," she whispered. "I … "

"Is this real?" I asked. "You're here?"

"I'm here. We need to talk about everything. Once and for all."

I slowly nodded. "Right. Come on in."

I stepped back and watched Lacey enter my apartment. I shut the door and engaged the two locks. She made it a couple feet away and I grabbed for her arm. Tugging at her, she spun around and looked at me.

Silence flooded the room but there was so much screaming in my head. The fire Lacey started inside me had been burning for years and there was no stopping it. No matter how hard I tried, it always came back to her. The one. The only one. The real one. The beautiful one. The perfect one. The everything one.

I pulled at her, bringing her close. I grabbed the strap of her bag and stripped it down her arm, letting it fall to the floor. My hands eased around her body and I put her body against mine. Her hands were at my chest. She could push me away with ease and I'd let her go. She stared up at me.