Chapter Sixteen

 

The real lover is the man who can thrill you by kissing your forehead or smiling into your eyes or just staring into space. – Marilyn Monroe

 

Fable

 

The room is small and dark, jam-packed with people. I can hardly move, it’s so crowded, but I don’t care. I’ve got my arms above my head and my hands in the air, the lights that hang over us flashing in time to the beat of the music. I’m dancing my ass off, my hair sweaty, my legs aching.

Such a great night, I’m overwhelmed with how much fun I’m having. I feel fucking fantastic.

Jen is dancing with me and she’s surprisingly good, full of an innate rhythm that encourages me to step up my game. A group of guys crowded around us earlier, trying to get us to dance with them, but we turned into each other, like we were on some sort of date. I wanted to discourage them and she did too, so thankfully we were on the same page.

We danced together, bumping and grinding against each other a little bit because she’s buzzed and so am I, though not on alcohol. For once in my life, everything feels right on track. Like nothing is standing in my way.

I’ve turned into a total cliché again. But this time I’m a positive one. I might start singing cheesy eighties anthems because I feel like nothing’s gonna stop me now and all that crap.

The guys step back and form a semicircle around Jen and me as we dance, hooting and hollering and generally acting like perverts. We encourage them, swaying our hips, thrusting out our chests. I’m not even dressed that sexily. I went for casual with my jeans and a cute plaid shirt I found on clearance at Target, leaving it open with a white tank underneath.

Casually cute, I guess, because who am I trying to impress? Originally, my guy isn’t supposed to be here.

He still isn’t.

Another song comes on, this one slow, and everyone on the floor seems to vacate all at once. Jen and I send each other a silent message and we exit the dance floor as well, heading toward the bar. Jen scoots her skinny ass in between a crowd of people and somehow garners the bartender’s immediate attention, ordering us both a glass of ice water.

When she finally hands me the drink I chug it, the cold water soothing my parched throat. The lights have gone completely dim as a few couples slow dance together, most of them hardly moving, their feet shuffling as they focus on groping each other instead.

I’m thankful for the break but I also miss Drew. Seeing the dancing couples lights a deep yearning within me. We’ve been dancing for over an hour. I thought he would be here by now, so where is he?

“I need to get going soon.” Jen pushes her damp hair away from her forehead. “Is your boyfriend coming to get you or what?”

“I thought so.” I glance around the room but I can’t see anything. It’s too damn dark.

“Huh.” She sips her drink. “No way am I leaving you here alone waiting for him. I can drive you home.”

“You don’t have to—”

Jen cuts me off. “I picked you up, I can definitely take you home. Don’t worry about it.”

“Cool. Thanks.” I nod once, my shoulders stiff. I refuse to be disappointed. I also refuse to text him. He knows exactly where I’m at so what the hell is taking him so long?

Maybe his dad called him again and needed to talk. Maybe he was going through a tough time over his dad’s anguish with the divorce and I’m being completely selfish wondering where he is. Maybe…

“Let me finish my drink and I’ll be ready to go,” Jen says, interrupting my thoughts.

“Okay.” I drain my ice water and set the glass on a nearby table, ignoring the girls sitting there who shoot me a dirty look. Though it was probably rude, what I just did, I couldn’t care less. I’m irritable.

They’re whispering loudly, probably griping about me and hoping to catch my attention, but I ignore them. I don’t need a bunch of catty bitches’ crap tonight.

The song ends and the lights brighten, flooding the dance floor. One of the most popular songs on the charts comes blasting on and everyone heads out to the floor, including Jen and me since we got caught up in the mass wave.

“One more dance,” she shouts at me and I nod in agreement.

The insult girls are dancing close by, shooting Jen and me rude glares, and I put my back to them, trying my best to enjoy this last song. My nerves are shot, though. The mean girls killed my buzz and I should’ve insisted on leaving before the song started.

But Jen’s into the music, a giant smile on her face as she waves her hands in the air like she just don’t care, yo.

I smile at my own mental joke and throw my hands up in the air, mimicking Jen. The music slowly starts to work its magic, taking me over until all I can feel is the pulse of the bass and the heartfelt lyrics running through my mind. I’m about to be completely swept away with the chorus when I hear one of the mean girls gasp behind me.

“No way! Is that Drew Callahan?”

Glancing over my shoulder, I catch sight of him standing on the opposite side of the room near the door, as if he just entered. He’s squinting as he scans the room, searching for me, no doubt, which sends a flutter of anticipating nerves through my body. He looks cute as hell in a white long-sleeve shirt with a button placket at the neck, the sleeves pushed up to reveal his sexy strong forearms. Jeans, of course, that mold to his thighs and remind me of just how muscular they are. His hair is hanging in his eyes and he pushes it away, flicking his head in irritation.

Pressing my lips together, I want to sigh like a little schoolgirl with my first crush. My man is so damn fine I can hardly stand it. He still hasn’t found me, though. In fact, he looks mighty irritated as he pushes through the crowd, his gaze constantly scanning, and a warm sensation washes over me as I keep moving, my attention half on the girls gushing about Drew and watching him.

“He never goes anywhere,” one of the girls says. “God, he’s so fucking gorgeous it hurts just looking at him.”

I’m tempted to turn and scratch her eyes out but I restrain myself. After all, I’m the one who had him naked and between my legs earlier today. Drew Callahan belongs to me.

“Oh my God, he’s looking this way!” another one screeches.

He’s staring right at me and I can feel the sizzle of his smoldering gaze from clear across the room. Tossing my hair over my shoulder, I send him a sultry smile, hoping like crazy I don’t look like a fool.

Drew sends me a delicious smile right back. But he doesn’t come toward me. I can still hear those girls going on and on about him. They need to know he’s mine. I’m desperate for them to know he’s mine.

So I watch him. And I want him. But no way am I going to approach him. He has to come and get me first.

“Your boyfriend is here,” Jen shouts in my ear.

Nodding, I never take my eyes off of him as I continue to dance to the throbbing beat. “I know,” I shout back.

“He’s looking at you like he wants to gobble you up.” Jen laughs as she moves away from me.

Heat flares between my legs. He is totally looking at me like he wants to eat me up. Unable to stand it, I crook my finger and give him the age-old sign I want him to come to me.

“Look, he’s coming this way!” One of the mean girls screams as he makes his way across the crowded dance floor straight toward me.

I wait in breathless anticipation as he walks toward me. He’s taller than most of the people here and he stands out. Or maybe that’s because I notice no one else but him. The way that white shirt he’s wearing stretches across his shoulders and chest. How much I love his longer hair. The way he’s looking at me when he stops directly in front of me, his gaze dropping to my mouth for one hot, lingering moment before he lifts his lids to meet my gaze.

“Hi,” he says but I can hardly hear him. More like I have to read his lips. His sexy, gorgeous, I can’t resist them lips.

So I loop my arms around his neck and give him a sweet kiss on that irresistible mouth. “Hi,” I whisper, my lips brushing his.

He settles those big hands on my butt and tugs me closer. I can literally hear the horrified gasps coming from the group of mean girls standing behind us and I hang my head back and laugh triumphantly.

It feels really good to be the girl who gets the guy for once.

 

Drew

 

It took me forever to escape my apartment. Dad called twice to gripe about Adele and whatever else she was doing. I didn’t want to hear it. But he needed to unload. I sensed that and so I let him. Until finally I checked the time and realized Fable was probably waiting for me at that stupid club she’s at.

She’s probably good and pissed at me for keeping her waiting, too.

I finally drive myself over there and get inside, which was no small feat. I had to promise I was only going in to snag my girlfriend out of there and then we were leaving. The line to get in was huge. The guy manning the door figured out who I was real quick and was a major football fan so I lucked out when he let me in.

Now I have a warm, sexy woman in my arms, smiling up at me like I’m God’s gift. She’s snug against me, her fingers playing in my hair at my nape, her body still moving to the music. Driving me out of my mind.

“I thought you weren’t going to show,” she yells at me. The music is so loud I can barely hear her.

Leaning in close, I murmur in her ear, “Sorry, my dad kept calling.”

She nods, her fragrant hair brushing against my cheek, making me inhale sharply. “I wondered if that was the case.”

Her friend she’s with touches Fable on the arm and tells her she needs to go. We both wave at her and she leaves, threading through the crowd until it swallows her up. The song changes, still fast though not as hyped up as the previous one, and Fable swivels her hips, the smile on her face alluring.

Sexy as hell.

“I missed you.” She brushes her chest against mine and I feel like I’m going to shatter. Both from being turned on and the earlier tension I dealt with over the stupid divorce. I wish he hadn’t called. He ruined my mood. My girl senses it too. Her smile turns into a frown. “What’s wrong?”

I shrug, not wanting to dwell on a bunch of bullshit tonight. I want to focus only on her. “I’m absorbing other people’s problems and stress, which I know is ridiculous but I can’t help it.”

Her frown softens but it’s still there. She probably feels sorry for me and I don’t want her to. I want her free and beautiful and flirtatious. Fable behaving like this makes me feel free. “I can help you with that,” she says, her voice full of promise.

I dip my head to hear her better. “You can?”

“Oh, yeah. You need to learn how to let go of all your troubles.” She whispers the words in my ear, the sound of her sexy voice sending a jolt of lust straight through me. “You chasing me here is the first step.”

I settle my hands on her hips and pull her in closer. The music is loud, the room is stifling and the crowd is thick. But with Fable’s arms slung around my neck, her body close to mine, it’s like we’re the only two people in this room. “First step to what?” I ask, confused. My brain literally fries when I’m with her.

She trails her fingers lightly down my nape and I shiver. “First step to acting like two normal people who are madly in love and can’t keep their hands off each other,” she murmurs right before she kisses me.

I drown in the taste of her, in the feel of her sinful body snug against me. I slide my hands back and forth over her ass and she whimpers, the sexy little sound sending a zing straight threw me, making me hard.

Damn. I want out of here. It’s too public, too crazy to indulge like this with her. We’re completely surrounded by people and the song changes yet again, a popular song that’s been overplayed on the radio, though no one here seems to care.

Including my girl. She’s withdrawn completely from my arms, a little smile teasing her kiss-swollen lips, and she starts moving to the beat. “Dance with me,” she shouts over the music.

I slowly shake my head, my gaze dropping to her hips. The way she moves, as if she were born to dance. She knows I’m watching too, and she puts on a show, just for me. The sway of her hips in those too-tight jeans she’s wearing, how she thrusts her chest out as she lifts her arms above her head. The white lace of her bra peeks above the neckline of the tank she’s wearing beneath the plaid button-up shirt and without thought I grab her. Let my hands rest on her waist as she moves against me.

“You don’t dance?” She arches a brow and I do the same in return as my answer, standing completely still while she keeps moving. Her hips shift beneath my palms and she turns around, brushing her ass against my front, making me harder.

Glancing over her shoulder, she offers me a sultry smile but doesn’t say a word. Just keeps dancing while I keep my hands on her. I pull her closer. Closer still until her back is nestled to my front and I slip my arms completely around her, my hands pressed flat against her stomach. I smooth them down, to the tops of her thighs, and I swear I feel her tremble beneath my touch.

She looks up at me, her eyes gone wide, her lips glistening as if she just licked them. We’ve been playing a game since I got here and I’m ready to claim my prize.

Her. She’s all I want. All I’ll ever want.

I never believed in the fairy tale, even when I was a little kid. My life has been full of tragedy since my mom died. My illusions were shattered completely when I was fifteen years old. I became such a shell of myself, I never believed anyone could truly accept and love me. It sounded pitiful when I admitted to Dr. Harris I firmly believed I would go through my entire life alone, but it was the truth. I felt completely unlovable.

Disgusting. Shameful.

Being with Fable, all of those old, harsh feelings are slowly evaporating. She loves me for me. She knows every single dark and horrible thing that’s happened to me in my life and she doesn’t care. She wants to help me, stand by me, be there for me no matter what.

She flat-out wants…me.

I’m probably thinking too fast, wanting to move way, way too fast for her comfort, but having Fable in my arms at this very moment, smiling up at me from over her shoulder, I know without a doubt that this is the girl I want by my side forever. She’s embedded herself so completely into my life and my heart, I can’t imagine being without her.

It’s just that simple and that complicated, all at once.

“Let’s get out of here,” I whisper in her ear and she nods once, her hair brushing against my face. She smells amazing, her cheeks are flushed and all I can think is how fast can I get her home so I can have her naked beneath me.

Taking her hand, I start to guide her off the dance floor, noticing a group of obvious sorority girls watching us as we go. Fable turns and flips them the bird, sticking her tongue out at them, and I yank on her hand hard to get her the hell out of there before she starts a fight.

“What the hell was that for?” I ask her as he walk down the back stairs and push open the door that leads out into the parking lot.

“They were giving me shit. Saying catty stuff about me. Next thing I know, you walk into the room, and they all flipped out.” She smiles and squeezes my hand. “They thought you were smiling at them but really you were smiling at me.”

I shake my head. “Who gives a shit what they think?”

“Me. I do. I’m always looked down upon. They’re practically creaming their panties over the fact that you show up and I loved knowing you didn’t give a shit about them. You came there for me.” She pulls me to her and lifts up on tiptoe so she can kiss my cheek. “Letting everyone know you’re mine makes me feel good.”

I feel exactly the same way. I entwine my fingers through hers, and we walk toward my truck quietly, my mind racing. How do I tell her I want her in my life for always? Should I even bring it up or would I scare the crap out of her? The last thing I want to do is put pressure on her.

But I don’t want to lose Fable either.

I hit the keyless remote and the doors unlock, both of us slipping inside the truck’s cab. Fable pulls her cell out of her pocket, a little gasp escaping her as she hits a button on the screen to make a call.

“Where are you?” she asks the moment whoever is on the other end answers. “What do you mean the place is empty?”

I watch her, see the worry and concern wash over her face, the way she white-knuckle grips the phone as she holds it to her ear. My skin prickles with uncertainty and I’m curious as hell over what’s happening and who she’s talking to.

Knowing whatever it is, it can’t be good.

“I’ll be right there. Yeah, I’m with Drew. I’ll have him drive me straight over, okay? So don’t leave.” She pauses. “Ten minutes, tops. Stop panicking, Owen. We’ll be there.” She ends the call and turns to look at me, her eyes wide with fear. “Owen’s at the apartment. He says it’s empty.”

I frown. “What do you mean, it’s empty?”

“Like almost everything is gone except some of our personal stuff. The furniture, all our things, the food in the kitchen, it’s all gone.” She nibbles on her lower lip, lost in thought.

“Were you guys robbed?” I could hardly wrap my head around what she said. It made no sense.

“No, no way.” She shakes her head and laughs, though she’s definitely not amused. More like she sounds distraught. “I think—I think my mom did it. I bet she packed up all her shit, had her loser boyfriend help her and moved everything out without telling us.”

I grimace as I pull out of the parking lot and turn toward Fable’s place. “Who the hell does that sort of thing?”

“My mother.” She leans her head back against the headrest and sighs. “I told you how I wanted to move out and take Owen with me, but I hadn’t gathered up the courage to tell her yet. Guess she took care of that, didn’t she?”

“But what you’re saying, it’s like she…abandoned you.”

“She abandoned us both a long time ago. I’ve come to terms with it. Owen hasn’t. He still believes our mom loves us and wants to take care of us. He’s young, he’ll figure it out someday.”

The bitterness in Fable’s voice makes me hurt for her. We both come from really screwed-up situations. With parents who don’t seem to give a shit about us, but in radically different ways. I wish I could help heal her heart. She may say the way her mother treats her and Owen doesn’t bother her, but I know she has to be lying. It probably hurts like hell.

My father’s indifference and neglect hurts me to do this day. My mom’s death—I sometimes feel like she abandoned me, and it wasn’t even her fault. That’s how irrational my thinking is.

And I can’t even go into what Adele’s done to me. I’m completely fucked from the mind games she played on me for far too long.

The moment we pull into a parking slot, Fable’s already out of the truck, running toward her apartment building. I follow behind her, taking a little more time, only because I want her to get in a few private moments with her brother first.

When I finally walk into the apartment, I’m shocked. The place is literally empty. No furniture remains in the living room. The table and chairs are gone from the small dining nook. Every cabinet door is hanging open in the kitchen.

Owen and Fable are leaning against the kitchen counter. She has her arms around him and his face his pressed against her shoulder. Tears are streaming down her face but she doesn’t look sad.

She looks majorly pissed.

“I hate her,” she says vehemently. “I can’t believe she would do this. She took my bed, Drew. She took Owen’s too. And all the furniture in our rooms. It’s like they dumped out all our stuff that was in the drawers and left everything in a pile on our floor.”

“How could she have done this, hauled everything out of here so fast?” I glance around the empty room, amazed that everything’s gone. I’ve only been inside her apartment once but I remember it crammed packed with a bunch of stuff.

“She has friends. Or I’m sure her loser boyfriend has a ton of friends. I bet they plied them with beer and they hauled everything out as fast as they could.” She shakes her head. “Owen and I both left before six.”

And it’s past eleven now. “So they had at least five hours.”

“It’s amazing how fast you can work when you need to.” Her mouth screws up into an angry twist.

My arms literally ache to comfort her. Pull her into a hug and tell her everything’s going to be okay. But she’s too busy taking care of her brother and right now he’s her number one priority.

Feeling helpless, I walk down the hall and glance into Fable’s room. There’s nothing but a pile of clothes and miscellaneous stuff lying in the floor as she mentioned. Same with Owen’s room, though his is an incredible mess. Her mom’s room is completely empty.

This is truly some of the craziest shit I’ve ever seen.

An idea comes over me so perfect I stride back into the living area, excited to tell her. It’s the perfect solution to their now very major problem.

“I want you to move in with me.”