Page 53 of Losing a Piece of Me

“This thing between you and Striker, is it serious?”

I turn to look at him. “As serious as it can get with us. Why do you ask?”

“What does that mean?” He sits down on the bed, but a calmness surrounds him.

I take a long breath, cross my arms over my chest, and lean my back against the door. “Striker is different. We’ve known each other for so long, there is a lot of history there. I’ve been in love with him since before I knew what love was. Even those six years that I couldn’t see him, he was on my mind constantly. But are we serious?” I shrug. “I don’t know how serious we can get with everything stacked against us. My parents hate him, his dad hates me, plus there is still something I’m holding back from him. I don’t know if I can tell him.”

Jeff nods. “The secret that caused you to run?”

Jeff doesn’t know the secret, but he knows something happened to make me run, something I won’t talk about.

I nod my head while staring at the floor.

“Well, I have a secret too, and based on my experiences, it’s better just to get it out there. It’s between you two, it will eat at you both. You can only move forward once you let go of the past and leave it behind you, but you can’t do that until you face it head on.” His voice is calm and reassuring.

I offer up a half smile. “I know, I just need time.”

* * *

Dinner is long and awkward. My father hasn’t made it home from work yet and my sister isn’t here. It’s only Jeff, my mother, and me.

She works hard to keep me out of the conversation. Any time I say something, she acts like I haven’t spoken at all. Jeff tries for a while, but eventually gives up when he realizes that I would rather sit quietly than have to fight to be treated with an ounce of respect.

The maid takes the plates and brings out dessert and coffee. I excuse myself, flashing Jeff an apologetic look as I pass.

Halfway up the stairs, I reach into my pocket and pull out my phone, pressing it to my ear while it rings.

“Right on time,” Striker says on the other end.

“Right on time for what?”

“Dinner is at seven. I’m surprised you lasted this long.”

I let out a laugh. I always went running to him after dinner, after whatever treatment I had to endure.

“I need out,” I say, flipping the light on in my room.

“Look out your window.”

A smile covers my face as I move to my window and pull open the curtains.

There he is, standing where he always had before. Waiting on me.

I hang up the phone and start my climb down to him.

He takes my hand and we walk across the yard. As soon as we step foot into the trees, I’m in his arms with his lips on mine.

My body is taken over with need for him. I grasp tightly at his shirt and pull him closer as he moves to lay us down on a blanket that he’s already laid out.

When his body presses against mine, every nerve ending lights with desire.

Our hands roam each other’s bodies, pulling and pushing our clothes out of the way as our erratic breathing fills the quiet forest around us.

Just when I think I’m going to bust, he slides into me, filling me completely.

His fingers squeeze my thighs and hips as he pounds into me. His lips never leave me, moving from my lips, to my neck, and back again.

I can feel my release building deep inside of me. I tremble against him and he doubles his efforts. When I open my eyes, his eyes are fixated on me. “There you are,” he whispers just as my body is wracked with waves of pleasure.

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