Page 26 of Salace

It’s at this moment that I decide I have to give up any hope of pursing Mrs. H. Aimee has to be my sole focus. She needs to feel loved and cared for, doted on even.

And I know I can do that like a fucking champ since it’s basically all I was good for with Eden, catering to her every whim, spending all of my money on her, and doing my damnedest to try to get her to care about me the same way I did about her.

Did,I think with a smile.

I feel better the more it sinks in that the catastrophe of a relationship, if it can even be considered that, is in the past, and I have the future to look forward to.

Even if it’s for the summer break that’s a few weeks away.

A couple of months with Aimee would be a thousand times better than another day with Eden.

Rolling my shoulders, I lean forward and pick up a little bit of speed. I’m halfway across town already and it’s starting to get late.

The incessant buzzing that’s been tickling my thigh has been beckoning me back to Aimee’s house.

Like a bee to a flower, I know where I have to go. I know that if she sees me for what I can be for her, instead of who she’s seen me be at school, she’ll let me get drunk off her sweet honey scent.

Reaching into my pocket as best as I can, I pry the phone out and toss it into the empty seat next to me, the one Eden is no longer entitled to sit in. Then I smile again as I make my way toward a well-deserved future.

One that has the hope of love and appreciation.

* * *

I’m a bit grumpy and disgruntled by the time I turn onto Aimee’s street. I got stuck in a fuck-ton of traffic that ate up the better part of an hour, but I messaged her to let her know what the deal was.

Hell, I even sent her a picture to prove it.

She hasn’t replied yet, but the nerves I feel from just being able to get time with her post-Eden makes up for it. I figure that if Aimee changed her mind while I was honking my horn and yelling expletives out my window at the traffic, she would have more than likely messaged me to tell me so.

I can’t believe this is actually happening,I think, as I see her house on the street. My heart begins to thump a little harder in my chest, my cheeks flush red, and my hands begin to shake.

It's almost as if the crush I’ve had on her for a while now has evolved into something else and is finally coming through.

I take a steadying breath and remind myself that she’s the same girl I saw earlier in the arms of another man.

I remind myself that if I show up looking like I’m about to crawl out of my own skin from the excitement, she’ll more than likely throw the door shut in my face and I’ll have to start all over again.

I pull the car into the first empty spot I see, cut the engine, and reach for the phone.

I’m heading up toward the door.

I don’t even bother waiting for a reply, instead turning the ringtone off completely because if it buzzes again, I’m afraid I’ll lose my nerve.

I feel like a nerd ready to lose his virginity on prom night, when all I really want to do is spend some time with her.

Alone.

Away from her mother so that her mood doesn’t sour.

I want to get to know Aimee better, and have her know me—the real me, not the one I’ve pretended to be to keep up appearances for Eden.

The one that she’s seen in the small fragments of time that we’ve got to spend together.

Here goes nothing,I think, as I jog up the walkway. Rubbing my hands together, I take a deep breath, then raise my finger and press the doorbell.

JULIA

I’m frenzied, worried he won’t come. Why is he late? He said he’d be here. It’s almost eleven p.m. I was finished with the basement room at nine forty-five. I freshened up, painted my face just so—not too dramatic, but not bare. Then put on the sexiest, laciest lingerie I own before pulling my silk robe over it and tying it tight. I check myself in the hall mirror one last time.

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