Ruin

Laughing, I waited.

“Fine. When I was ten I jumped off our roof and tried to fly. I landed in the pool, so it wasn’t that big of a deal and my dad saw the whole thing. My brother dared me to do it. He also dared me to eat a fly.”

“Did you?”

“What?”

“Eat a fly?”

“I ate two. He said the first one wasn’t big enough, so he picked out another.”

“Wow.” I gripped his hand in mine, still feeling a little nervous. “Sounds like you were picked on a bit for being the older brother.”

“A lot. I was picked on a lot, but I’d do it all again if—” His voice cracked. “If I could have one more chance to tell him I love him.”

I released his hand and pressed my fingers against his back, rubbing back and forth, trying to offer him comfort even though I didn’t have the right words to say.

“It’s why I wanted you to come… I mean, initially. You make me feel strong… Crazy, right? He killed himself on Black Friday — the day has double meaning for me. Sometimes I wonder if he did it on purpose. If he chose that day because it had the word black in it, or if he chose that day because it was my mom’s birthday, and she had already been dead in the ground for a few years. I’ll never know, I guess.”

“Wow,” I breathed. “Black Friday sucks for you.”

He laughed. “You could say that again. Granted, it’s not always on Black Friday, but the day he killed himself just happened to be that day, so regardless of if the actual date is off by a week or so — I still hate it.”

“Thank you, for trusting me with all of this.” I pulled him in for a hug without even thinking. Our bodies may as well have erupted with heat the minute they touched. We fit. Every single part fit. I looked into his eyes and knew, this was the guy — he was the one I wanted to spend my every waking moment with. He was my forever.

“Thank you for agreeing to come — and for being my girlfriend. I don’t feel like I deserve you — or that I deserve this.” Our fingers interlocked as he pulled me tighter against him. “Hell, I know I don’t deserve this.”

“Life isn’t about deserving.” I closed my eyes and sighed. “Aren’t you the one always spouting all that wisdom?”

He gri

“If we wait until we’re deserving, we’re going to be waiting for a really long time.” I shrugged. “I’d rather appreciate the fact that I’ll never deserve anything — doesn’t make me a bad person, just makes me all the more thankful.”

“Then that’s what I am,” Wes whispered. “I’m thankful for you. I thank God for you. Maybe He can see me after all.” He tilted his face toward the sky. “In this moment I can believe He cares.”

“Why?”

Wes looked down into my eyes. “Because He gave me you.”

Breath hitched in my chest as Wes’s lips grazed my cheek and then my chin, nose, eyes, and finally my lips. “Favorite Thanksgiving ever.”

I sighed against his mouth. “We’ll have to top it next year.”

His grip tightened on my arms as he pushed me against the side of the pool, “Promise me.”

“Promise you we’ll do better?”

“Promise me that no matter what, you’ll make Thanksgiving next year better than this year.” His eyes were fierce, glowing in the moonlight. I wasn’t sure what caused the sudden attitude change.

I nodded slowly. “Promise.”

His grip loosened. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to go all crazy on you.”

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to dunk you.”

“Huh? You didn’t—”

I pushed his head underwater and tried my best to get back to the shallow end by grabbing the side of the pool. I still wasn’t a strong enough swimmer to make it on my own. So close, and then his hands came around my waist. His fingertips accidently grazed my breasts.

I froze.

He seemed to stop breathing as he slowly turned me in his arms to face him. His hungry eyes devoured every inch of my body. I was halfway out of the water. Holy crap, what was I supposed to do?

“If I didn’t want to go to heaven so damn bad…” He smiled sadly and released me. “Let’s go watch a movie.”

“No more ski

“If we ski

“Oh yeah?” I put my hands on my hips, kind of digging the fact that he was having trouble with control.

“Yeah, like if you don’t get out of this damn pool in five seconds I’m going to take advantage of you against the wall and I’d hate for your first time to be over so quick.”

I blushed. And then I hightailed it out of the pool feeling all kinds of embarrassed and excited.

“Good choice!” He called after me as I grabbed my towel and went to change.

****

I told myself it was ridiculous to have to spend the night in Wes’s arms in order to not have bad dreams, so I got ready for bed and promised myself I’d try to sleep by myself and not be such a baby.

I was just piling the throw pillows into the corner when someone knocked on my door. With one last throw, the pillows were off and I made my way over to the door. I opened it just a crack and saw Wes, again shirtless and just in a pair of low pajama bottoms.

“Lamb?” His head tilted almost like a predator.

“Wolf,” I said dryly.

“I thought you might be scared.” He cleared his throat and rocked on his feet. “So I’m here to offer my cuddling services.”

“Are you?” I crossed my arms and laughed. “How noble.”

“I thought so.” He looked down at the ground and leaned against the door frame. “Actually, I just wanted to spend the night with you… it’s close to midnight and I really… don’t want to wake up alone, not on Black Friday.”

I opened the door wider and let him walk in.

“Rules…” I cleared my throat. “You have to spoon.”

“Let me out! Let me out!” He laughed and tried to make his way back to the door, but I stopped him and pushed against his chest.

“Promise me.” I let my hands trail down his muscles and dip into his pajama pants.

He swayed towards me. “I’ll promise you anything if you keep doing what you’re doing.”

“So weak.” I shook my head.

“So attracted.” He tilted my chin. “So hard — to say no to.”

“So say yes.” I winked over my shoulder and jumped into bed.

“Tell me, when did you become such a temptress?”

“It’s the red hair.” I sighed and turned on my side.

“It really is.” Wes reached for my hair and twirled it around his fingers, “I’m going to miss your hair.”

“‘Cause I’m cutting it?” I asked.

“Nah, I’m just going to miss not having it suffocating me in the morning. You have no idea how arousing it is to wake up with your scent all over me.”

I wasn’t sure what to say.

“I made you uncomfortable,” Wes said in a sheepish voice “Sorry, you know how I am with censoring myself.”

I tucked my hands under my head. “It’s okay.”

The room fell silent. Wes lay on his back staring up at the ceiling. His breathing was even and somewhat loud. I noticed the black under his eyes again and then I looked closer. His skin wasn’t its normal golden hue; it had a pale look to it, almost like he’d been vampiring it all over town and was in need of a fix.

“Wes.” I licked my lips. “Would you lie to me?”

“Huh?” He turned so quick we almost bumped heads.

“Just answer.”

“No.” He quickly broke eye contact.

“Are you feeling okay?”

His nostrils flared, he looked down and then his shoulders slumped as if he was carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders. “Ask me after Homecoming.”

“Huh? Why after Homecoming?”

He shrugged. “I can’t lie to you, so ask me after Homecoming. Then I’ll tell you.”

“You’ll tell me why sometimes you look healthy as a horse and other days you look like you can barely stand?”

“All of it.” His voice was thick and hoarse. “I promise.”

“Okay.” I wasn’t satisfied, not by a long shot. Maybe he had diabetes or something else like that? Heck, I knew how guys were with being sick especially if they were anything like my Uncle. Pride was huge, and it was entirely possible he was just embarrassed about all of it.