Page 26 of Love Defies Us

He’s so lucky to come from a loving family. He’s so lucky to experience unconditional love. And I’m a bit jealous of him.

We’re quiet for another twenty minutes and arrive at Stone Mountain Park. I stare at him as if he grew three heads.

“Hiking? You’re taking me hiking?”

“Yep, get to walking, Thumbelina.” He cuts the engine and we get out of the truck.

“I’m not an outdoor person and there are bugs out here. What if there are wolves roaming the woods?” I’m dead-ass serious. “I’m not trying to be anything’s snacks.”

“You’re my snack.” He winks. “My belly is fully.”

I punch him in the arm. “I’m serious, Felix. If I get eaten by a wild animal and I die, I’m going to come back as a ghost and haunt you to death.”

He chuckles as he takes bug repellent and drenches my arms and legs in it. My skin feels sticky and stinks of a weird chemical and rubbing alcohol.

Crickets sing and the stars swim in the inky sky. Trees’ leaves sway back and forth. It feels as if we’re in a globe that decorates the mantelpiece on the fireplace.

“I’ve been coming here since I was a kid. There are no wolves out here. Maybe coyotes, but they won’t bother you.”

I grab his hand, squeeze tightly, and he squeezes back. That touch makes me melt. I’ll never get used to him touching me, no matter how many times he fucks my brains out. There is a closed sign with a chain blocking the entrance of the hiking trail.

“Breaking and entering?” I cock my eyebrow.

“Is my precious Thumbelina too goody-two-shoes to break the law?” he mocks. He called me his without involving sex. And my heart is having a blown-out party in my chest and my pulse jumps like a madman.

“I’ve broken the law before.” I clear my throat. “I used to drive without a license up until I was twenty. I started breaking the law when I was fifteen,” I say, and his smile brightens up the dark sky and he laughs. The kind of laugh that says, “I like the way you think.”

“When I need a Bonnie to go with my Clyde, I know who to call.” Then he slaps my ass and I yelp.

We hike and hike and hike, and my heart squeezes in anticipation as we make it to the top of a cliff.

The view is breathtaking, the city lights brightening up the sky like lightning bugs. The air is clean, clear, crisp, and sweet as honey. Something about being away from the city makes the air smell fresh.

“Wow,” I say, and Felix grabs my hand and rubs his thumb on my knuckles and goosebumps arise all over my body.

“My mom used to take me here a lot. I remember when the band got booed off the stage for the first time, she brought me here and told me that the world is mine and to never give up on my dreams.” He exhales and we both sit down on the hard ground. “I haven’t been up here since her passing. A few days before she died, she asked me to do this with her again. To bring her up here, so I did. My mom knew that she was going to die sooner than we thought. Because she kept saying her soul was weary.” His words are packed with so much emotion.

Grief. Sadness. Pain.

And his whole body tenses and his sharp jaw tics. I relax my shoulders a bit and chew on the inside of my cheek.

I don’t know how to response to this type of situation. So, I listen to the crickets and the horns honk, and the traffic and cars zipping through the streets.

“You and your mom were close,” I state.

“She was my best friend.”

“And what about your dad?”

“We’re close, but not like me and my mom. I guess because he was always working, and my mom stayed at home.”

“Oh. You came from a lovely family. You’re lucky, Felix.”

He stretches his legs in front of him. He looks like a bad boy as the wind blows his hair.

“How did you get involved with music?”

“My mom wanted me to play an instrument in high school and I chose drums. When I met Easton, he wanted to form a band and decided it was a way to get him and his sister out of their hell hole, and Azrael was already playing the guitar. I’ve been in love with music since I was fifteen. She was my first love.”

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