Only One Forever, page 7
Chapter 10
Alex
The alarm starts to ring, and I slip my hand out of the bed. I feel the bed move and look over to see Mac lying on her side, wagging her tail. “Morning,” I mumble to her, closing my eyes again and sinking into the bed.
“Good morning,” Dylan says, and I open my eyes and look at the bedroom door. He stands there with two cups of coffee in his hand. Last night when I got home, he looked like he had the weight of the world on his shoulders. He looked so defeated that I pushed everything to the back of my mind and acted just like old times. I mean, just like old times, except I got to bed and wondered what it would be like to go to bed with him. Naked. “I made you coffee.”
“I see that.” He walks over to my side of the bed, handing me one of the coffee cups. He walks around the side of the bed and sits on the empty side, on top of the covers.
“So what are we doing today?” He sits with his back to the headboard and takes a sip of his coffee. Mac doesn’t move as she lies between us, as our barrier.
“What do you mean?” I ask him, laughing. “I have work.” I turn to look at the clock, seeing it’s just after seven thirty.
“Play hooky with me.” He looks over at me, and I take a sip of the coffee, sitting up. Making sure the duvet doesn’t slip down and he sees my boobs.
“I’m not playing hooky with you.” I shake my head.
“Come on, you’ve been acting weird since I got here,” he says, and I look over at him. He sits there in his gym shorts and no shirt. His abs are on point and his arms flex when he lifts the cup to his mouth. His hair looks like he’s been running his hands through it. It also looks like someone was pulling his hair while he slammed into her. I swallow and look away from him, afraid that he’ll see in my head.
“I have not been weird. I’ve been busy.” I don’t dare look back over at him. “I have all this work to do before the camp starts. We get back home the day before camp.”
“I know that you have everything already done and scheduled.” He laughs, and I can’t help look over at him because everything is done at this point, and I’m checking and rechecking and calling everyone to recheck.
“There is still stuff that I need to do,” I say, huffing out and taking a sip of my coffee.
“Is there?” he asks. I side-eye him with a glare, and he laughs. “Good, so it’s settled. We are going to go out today and do something fun.” He gets up, and my eyes go straight to the elastic of his shorts that hang low. My eyes lift right away like I’ve been caught with my hand in the cookie jar, except the cookie jar is his shorts, and my hand is going to grip his dick and not a cookie. “Be ready in an hour.”
“An hour?” I repeat, looking at the clock. “You want to go somewhere at eight thirty?”
“Yeah, we can have breakfast before,” he confirms. “I’m going to go make plans.” He smiles so big there is no way I can say no to him. When have I ever said fucking no to him? Never, that is when.
“You think you could do me a solid.” I look at Mac as she wags her tail stretching. “And bite my foot off?” She barks at me. “Fine, whatever.” I throw the covers off me and get out of bed. I put the coffee cup on the side table when he comes back into the room, and I shriek, turning, and he yells.
“Oh my God!” he yelps, and then I turn to see him standing, hiding his eyes but then looking. “Jesus, what the fuck? I thought you were naked.”
I put my hand on my tits to cover them. “I am naked,” I retort, and his eyes roam up and down. Okay, fine, I’m not naked, but I suddenly feel naked when I’m around him.
“No, you aren’t. You’re wearing your pjs.” He points at me, and I’m pretty sure that I’ve worn this in front of him a dozen times, but ever since I looked at him differently, things have changed. “You scared the shit out of me.” He laughs. “Let’s go, Mac, and get you something to eat.” He turns and walks out of the room, and Mac follows him.
I grab my phone and rush into the bathroom, locking the door behind me. I lean against the closed door and pull up Julia’s name and call her. She answers after three rings. “Hello,” she mumbles.
“Are you sleeping?” I ask her, shocked. “It’s like seven thirty.” Pushing away, I go to start the shower.
“Why the hell are you calling someone, or better yet, anyone before eight?” she asks me grumpily, and I hear her covers rustle in the background.
“I need a huge favor,” I say, my voice going low as I look at the door, wondering if he is in the room eavesdropping.
“Why are you whispering?” she asks me.
“Because I don’t want Dylan to hear me,” I reply, and she laughs. “Anyway, I need you to do me a favor and call me in about twenty minutes and tell me that you are in the hospital.”
“What?” she shrieks. “Are you insane?” I roll my eyes. “Don’t answer that. I know the answer to that one.”
“Dylan wants to go out today,” I share, looking toward the door. “And I’m trying to get out of it.”
She laughs. “And you want me to tell you I’m in the hospital?” Her laughter gets louder. “You know that he talks to Jillian and Michael, right?” I groan.
“Well, then call and tell me that you need me.” I look up at the ceiling. “Like a support phone call or something like that.” I clench my teeth.
“Like a support dog?” she asks me, still laughing.
“Julia,” I hiss, closing my eyes. “You’re smart. Think of something.” My voice goes low. “You have to think of something. I can’t go out with him.”
“Why not?” she asks, and I can hear a cupboard slamming on her side, so I know she’s out of bed and making coffee. “It would be the perfect time to tell him how you feel.”
“Oh, yeah, perfect time. Hey, can you pass the salt, and by the way, I’m in love with you. Are you going to finish your fries?” I put my hand to my stomach, feeling the burning as soon as I say the words out loud again. “I think I’m going to throw up.”
“Alex,” she says softly. “This is Dylan. It’s you and Dylan.”
“What the hell does that mean?” I shriek.
“It means that he knows you, and you know him.” I roll my eyes.
“I doubt he knows I checked out his dick this morning.”
She laughs. “That’s my girl,” she says. “You can either bite the bullet and tell him how you feel or wake him up sucking his dick.”
“Okay, well, thank you for your advice,” I say sarcastically. “You’ve been really helpful.”
“There is no right or wrong answer, Alex.” Her voice stays soft. “When it’s going to be the right time to tell him, you’ll know. But running away from it isn’t going to make it go away.”
“Yes, it will,” I tell her. “I can ignore it until it’s gone.”
She laughs. “Let me know how that works out for you. Text me later.”
I hang up the phone and step into the shower, trying to come up with excuses as to why I can’t go with him. When I get out of the shower, I call Wilson, who answers right away. “Hi, it’s me.”
“Good morning,” he huffs out. “What’s up?”
“Dylan wants me to play hooky,” I say. “Unless you think I should go into work and make sure that …”
I don’t even finish the sentence. “You deserve a day off. Have fun,” he says, and I want to stomp my foot.
“Call me if you need me.” I hang up the phone, looking at myself in the mirror. “It’ll be fine,” I tell my reflection. “It’s just another day.” I fix my hair, turning to slip on my panties and a bra, then stepping into the walk-in closet to grab my favorite pair of jean shorts. They are frayed at the front but hug my hips perfectly and are loose around my legs. I grab a white tank top that comes just above my waistline, showing some skin. Turning to look at myself in the mirror, I grab my white sneakers and sit on the floor, putting them on.
When I have my shoes on, I walk downstairs and see Mac lying on her bed. “You sure you don’t want to bite my leg?” She just looks at me.
“Okay,” Dylan says, coming down the stairs, and I look over at him. He’s wearing shorts and a black T-shirt. A baseball hat is on his head, and you can see his blue eyes. “Ready?” he asks, and I have to swallow down the nerves that have risen from my stomach to my throat.
I nod my head and look back over at Mac. “Last chance,” I whisper to her, and she just lays her head down. “How long are we going to be out?” I ask him.
“No idea,” he answers, grabbing the keys on the counter. “She’ll be fine.” He looks over at Mac.
After breakfast, we get back in the car. “So where are we off to?” I ask, and he looks over at me, smiling.
“It’s a surprise,” he says excitedly, and I can’t help but smile at him.
When we get to the place, he looks over at me. “The aquarium.” I clap my hands. “I love these things.”
“I know,” he replies, getting out of the car and meeting me on my side.
He puts his hand around my shoulder. “And the best is I got us a private tour.” I look at him, shocked.
“What?” I ask, looking around and seeing it empty.
“We have the place for two hours with a private tour.” I don’t have time to say anything because the door opens, and the man comes out.
“Welcome, Mr. Stone,” he says, holding the door open for us. Dylan puts his hand at the base of my back, the heat from his hand seeping into me. I can’t help the smile that fills my face as we walk through the aquarium. When we stop at the shark tank, the guide goes on and on about all the different sharks as I look up, seeing them swim over us.
“We should go swimming with sharks,” I announce. Looking around, I go to the side of the tank and put my hand there.
“I swim with sharks every time I lace up my skates,” he jokes, and I just shake my head.
“I’m going to look into swimming with sharks when we get to Hawaii.” I look over at him as he looks at the sharks swimming on top of us.
“I’m going to pass,” he says, and I laugh at him. “Did you not see that movie?”
“It’s a movie,” I joke with him, pushing his shoulder.
“Movie or not, the sharks actually eat you,” he says.
“They don’t eat you,” I say. “They bite the limb, but then let it go. They don’t like the taste of humans.”
“Good to know.” He shakes his head. “Also, how the fuck do you know that?”
“I watch Shark Week,” I joke with him as we walk out of the shark room to the upper ground.
“Right over here,” the guide says, “is stingray bay.” He smiles as he leads us over to them. “If you want, you can lean in and touch them.”
“Um, I’m good,” I state, standing at the edge of the glass window looking down into the water. It reaches my thigh, and it’s only a couple of feet deep.
“You will swim with sharks,” Dylan says from beside me, “but you won’t touch a stingray?”
“Those can kill you. Did you not read about the Crocodile Hunter?” He just shakes his head and laughs. He walks up beside me and sticks his hand in the water as a stingray swims by him, and he rubs the top of it. He laughs, looking at me.
“Come on, you can do it,” he encourages, and I look down and try to put my hand in but I snatch it back as soon as I see a stingray come close to me.
“I can’t do it,” I say, holding my wrist with my hand.
“Sure you can,” he says and steps behind me, placing his hands on my hips. My whole body shivers under his touch. His thumb is on my bare skin, and my whole body breaks out with goose bumps. I’m suddenly petrified that he’ll see and know. He’ll know what I feel for him.
“It’s cold.” I turn my eyes from him, afraid my secret will be out.
“You can do it,” he urges, grabbing my hand with his, leaving his other hand on my hip. His fingers go through mine. “Let’s do it together,” he says, and I can’t even focus on anything because my heart is beating so fucking fast in my chest, I’m afraid he is going to hear it. My mouth is so dry, and it’s a good thing he is holding my hand because it’s trembling like a leaf. “Don’t be scared, Alex,” he says softly in my ear. “I won’t let anything happen to you.”
With his hand on mine, he guides us to the water. The coldness of the water makes me pull back a bit, but his chest to my back fills me with heat. The flutter in my stomach starts as I look at our hands in the water. The stingray swims by us, just missing the tips of our fingers, but another one comes over now. My hand is entwined with his as the stingray swims right under my palm. I laugh as another comes. This time, he lets go of my hand a bit. “See,” he says, his face right near my face. I turn so close to him, and all I can do is smile and look into his eyes. “Told you I would protect you,” he says softly, not moving from beside me, and if I move just a touch into him, my lips could be on his. If I thought my heart was beating hard before, it’s nothing like it is now. My whole body is on fire, and my head is screaming at me to lean in and kiss him. Everything in me is screaming, but it’s the guilt that comes crashing into me like a bucket of ice water thrown on you.
I quickly blink away the tears and turn back, shaking his hand off mine by taking mine out of the water. “You okay?” he asks me as I step out of his touch and toward the side, where I grab a bunch of paper towels.
“Yeah.” I push away everything that I’m feeling, looking up at him. His eyes look into mine as the guilt of loving him hits me, knowing I’m never going to be able to tell him. “That was cool,” I say, turning to hand him the towels I wiped my hand on. “Thank you for helping me face my fear.” The smile on my face is so forced it hurts my cheeks. “What’s next, the lion’s den?”
Chapter 11
Dylan
“Dylan!” I hear her yelling my name from downstairs when the doorbell rings. “She’s here.”
I grab my suitcase and head out of the room, stopping when I see three suitcases in front of Alex’s door. I grab one and walk down the steps as she stands there holding Mac’s leash. “Here is the leash.” She hands it to the woman, and Mac just sits by Alex’s side. “She likes lots of love and kisses,” Alex says, getting down in front of Mac. “We will be back in two weeks, and I’m going to bring you so many surprises.”
“What are you going to bring her back from Hawaii?” I look down at Alex, and my chest contracts. Yesterday, when we were at the aquarium, I was so close to kissing her, and then she jumped away from me, probably with disgust.
“I already bought her stuff, but I’m going to give it to her when I come back.” She stands up, and I see her wearing a white short-sleeved one-piece cotton dress. “Stop being bitchy.” She turns back and hands the girl the leash. “You can send me the login and password, and we will check in as soon as we land.”
Mac looks back at us, walking to the van and getting in. Alex stands there waving her hand at her. “She’s going to be fine. She has a better time there than she has with us.”
“Speak for yourself,” she huffs out. “I’m a fucking fireball to be around.” She crosses her arms, pushing her tits up, and I have to turn around before I moan. “The car is going to be here in ten minutes.”
She walks up the stairs, and I see her trying to bring her suitcase down. I run up the stairs two at a time. “Would you move out of the way before you break your head, and then I get my ass kicked by your father and my father for not doing it for you?”
She looks at me, and I look back at her as she glares. “You’re so fucking crabby,” she huffs out and walks back down the steps, her flip-flops making a racket as she gets down. “You need to eat a piece of bread or something.” She walks to the kitchen.
“Bread is not going to help me with this,” I mumble to myself and bring the bags down. I don’t even know what is going to help me with all these feelings. The only thing I do know is that I need to get over these crazy feelings I have for her. Feelings that came out of the blue, or did they? “Why the hell do you have three bags for two weeks?” I shout toward the kitchen, and she comes back with a hat on her head and her carry-on bag in one hand.
“Dylan.” She says my name, and I have this sudden urge to ask her to moan my name. I close my eyes, trying to get the sound out of my head. “This is not the first vacation we are going on. You ask me this every single year.”
“And every single year, you wear only half the shit you bring,” I point out, and she rolls her eyes, walking to the door when her phone beeps. “I bet you one hundred dollars you won’t wear half the stuff.”
“Now I’m going to wear everything twice just to spite you.” She puts on her sunglasses. “I’m going to change three times a day.”
I shake my head, knowing that even if I argue with her, she’s going to win because I always let her win. Why? Because the last time I won a fight with her, she tormented me for six months. She would leave doll heads all around the house for me to find, and she knows how I hate them. Grabbing my glasses, I put them on as I walk out, rolling out the suitcases for the driver to load in the car.
It takes us five minutes to get into the car. She sits on her side, and all I can smell is her perfume. I put my head back, closing my eyes, and when the car stops, I open my eyes and can see the commotion already. The big charter plane is parked, and there are fifteen porters running with luggage carts and trying to load up the bags. “Here we go,” I say, opening the door, and I look around. The black truck pulls up next to us, and when the back door opens, I can’t help the smile that fills my face. “Dad.” I walk to him, and he takes me in his arms. Almost like when I was younger, except I’m taller than him, and I wrap my arms around his neck.
“Hey,” he says, slapping my arm and then letting me go so he can squeeze my neck. “You look like shit,” he says.
“Oh, look, it smiles,” Alex chides, coming next to me and pushing me to the side. “He’s been a grouch since he got up this morning.” She smiles at my father and reaches up to kiss his cheek. “Thankfully, I don’t have to sit with him on the plane.” She turns and walks over to my mother, who she hugs and laughs with, kissing her on her cheek. My brother, Christopher, comes out of the back seat with his earbuds on.
