Burn (Brothers of Ink and Steel #2) (19 page)

“Sounds good,” Quinn says, and that solidifies it.

We all walk out to the lake’s edge. There’s so much going on here, even in the middle of February, and it reminds me why I love this city. Vendors are serving hot cocoa and warm, freshly baked pretzels; kids are running around in full snow gear, and of course, there are the snow kites. A snow kite looks a lot like a windsurfer, only it’s built to stand and sail on ice. The colors remind me of a hot air balloon festival, when hundreds take to the skies.

“There must be close to fifty of them,” I say.

“Have you ever tried it?” Quinn asks, and I realize she’s talking directly to me.

“No. I’d fall flat on my ass.” I smile.

“Yeah, and break it, then I’d be the one carrying you home.” Josh laughs.

“Asshole.” I shove him lightly. “You know, Connor’s into it. Has his own kite and everything. He’s good at it.”

Josh asks Quinn, “So, where are you living these days?”

“Georgia. I’ve been there the past few years.”

“Do you like it?” he prods.

“It’s hot and humid in the summertime, but the winters aren’t so bad.” She shrugs. “I sort of like the storms that blow through.”

She didn’t really answer his question.

“It’s really cool you two became such close friends.” She stares off dreamily at the kites.

“Yeah, I put up with him,” Josh quips and shoves my shoulder. “You two entertain each other for a second, I need to use the loo.”

I’m going to kill the fucker.
I have no idea what to say! And obviously neither does she, as we both just stand there, painfully uncomfortable.

“Adrienne seems sweet,” Quinn finally says.

“Yeah, she’s cool.”

“How long have the two of you known each other?”

“Since I opened shop six years ago.” I watch a novice kiter fall on his ass.
I know how you feel, buddy,
I think.

“Six years is a long time,” she says.

“I guess.” I just shrug my shoulders.
I’m now plotting the ways I’m going to kill Josh.
“You never did finish telling Josh if you liked living in Georgia.”

“The people are really nice. I love the southern hospitality and big smiles. The people make you feel really welcome.” She continues, “I’ve made some great friends.”

“But?” I say, while I crane my neck towards the bathrooms.

“But …?”

“It’s an easy question,
do you like
living in Georgia?” It comes out more rough-edged than I intend it to. 

“Yes, I do,” she snaps back at me.

Perfect, I’ve made her angry.

Trying to save this conversation, which is already a train wreck, I try, “I’d miss the winter too much, I think, to live down south.”

“I miss the winter, the smell in the air and the prickly feel of the cold on your face,” she says, then slowly states, “I’ve been thinking for a while now about … maybe … moving back up into this area.”

It’s a big city, but not big enough. “Would your boyfriend go for that?”
FUCK!
Way to be subtle.
And I don’t even want her to answer that!
“You know, Josh is taking a long fucking time. I’m going to walk by the bathroom and see what’s taking him so long.”

I walk away fast, hoping she’ll forget that I asked her anything. Now I’m getting pissed off because I’m acting like a fucking teenager!

“Wait, I’ll go with you,” she says, catching up.

Without paying her much mind, I throw open the door of the men’s bathroom and walk inside, calling Josh’s name. When I get no answer, I come back out.

“Did you see him?” I ask.

“No.” She looks at me like I’m nuts. “Maybe he had to go to the car to get something.”

We walk together out into the parking lot, until we’re standing in the empty space Josh’s SUV
had been
parked in.

“Okay … that’s weird. You know, I’ll just call him.” She fumbles through her coat pockets. “He may have gotten a call from … Sophie … my phone isn’t here. Oh, shit! I just remembered, Josh asked if he could borrow my cell phone when his battery died. He must not have given it back to me.”

“I’ve got mine.” I feel my jacket’s inner lining and find only a piece of paper.

Sorry,Liam. Josh made me do i
t.
Adrienne

I close my eyes as the reality of what Josh just pulled off becomes completely clear.

“That asshole!” I look around the lot, hoping it isn’t what I think.

“What is it?”

“He drove us out here, left us on purpose, and stranded us further by confiscating our fucking phones!” I’m fuming.

How the fuck could he do that to me? What the fuck would make him think this was a good idea?

I hear a soft giggle beside me. I peer over to see Quinn trying to stifle her laughter behind her mitten-covered hand.

“It isn’t funny!” I state. “It’s a five mile hike back to my place.”

That doesn’t stop her. Her response grows from a giggle to an all-out laughing fit.

“He didn’t even fucking feed us!” I growl.

But her eyes still sparkle when she laughs, and it sounds so good and beautiful I can’t help but get sucked into it.

“You think it’s funny?” I reluctantly smile at her.

She nods with tears in her eyes.

I have to hand it to him, this is definitely one way to force us together.

“Well, I’m starving, so I guess its pretzels and hot cocoa.” I feel at my back pocket. “At least I still have my wallet. Come on.” We stop at a vendor, and I order for us. “Do you still eat your pretzels with mustard?”

She lands a solid look at me, takes a deep breath and lets it out in a heartfelt sigh. “Yeah, I still eat them with mustard.”

“Triple the mustard,” I tell the guy.

We sit on a bench overlooking the frozen lake and eat the pretzels silently. I don’t know what to say. I was lucky to finish Josh’s conversation, and that didn’t even go well. I can’t help but look over at her every few …
seconds
. It’s like my mind is trying to come to terms with the reality that she’s even here.

I need to stop being a pussy.

“I don’t think he’s going to come back,” she says finally.

“I think you’re right,” I agree, scanning the area one more time. “Let’s get a couple of hot cocoas and start our long trek back.”

If we were in the heart of downtown or uptown, we’d be able to hail a cab or hop the bus, but that ain’t gonna happen way the hell out here.

She wraps her mittened hands around the warm cup as we take the greenway around the lake; it’s a shortcut anyway.

“Every time I smell or drink hot chocolate, I always remember the night we snuck out on the rooftop of North House on my sixteenth birthday,” she says.

My body jolts.
Every time?
I always imagine that she’s not remembering me at all.

“I remember.” A hint of a smile captures my face. “I lifted a bottle of Bailey’s Irish Cream—your favorite—from Johnson’s liquor store.”

“Yes! And we waited until Cade and Debra and everybody else was sound asleep—”

“And I somehow smuggled out a bunch of stuff and balanced two mugs, a thermos of hot chocolate and the Baileys—”

“While climbing the lattice up the roof.” She nods, and the sunlight catches in the hair that’s peeking out of her winter hat. “And don’t forget the fistful of lily of the valleys—my birth flower—you brought up too.”

“You remember all of that?” The words spill out before I have a chance to pull them back.

“Of course.” She sips at her drink. “I remember everything.”

That’s a revelation I wasn’t expecting. The way she says it makes me wonder if, when she does think about it, she longs for those moments again, like I do.

“It was a miracle we didn’t get caught that night or die!” She laughs.

“Yeah, especially with all the noise we made—”

“When we almost fell off the roof,” she says, finishing my sentence.

I can still recall the feel of her soft body under mine and the sensations ripping through my body as the two of us were making out, hot and heavy. I remember my fingers traveled up through her jacket to get a handful of her breast. Oh, I remember, it was getting harder and harder
not
to go all the way.

*****

May, 2005

Liam

“Touch me,” she whispers with a warm breath against my ear. She smells like Bailey’s Irish Cream, strawberry shampoo and fresh May air.

“I am touching you.” To prove it, I caress my thumb over her nipple. She moans, and it makes me press my hard-on between her legs, which are spread apart beneath me. The denim barrier of our Levi’s is becoming more and more frustrating.

“I mean, touch me more.”

I smile, move my hand from her chest and sink it down into the heat of her panties.

“Oh, Liam,” she breathes while I massage her.

This is going to require a serious solo session when we’re finished.

I’ve had plenty of sex with other girls. I started when I was twelve, but I haven’t had sex since that night I followed Quinn through the cemetery. Quinn and I have done a lot of heavy petting, but she’s so perfect and innocent and lovely … she’s a little scared, and so am I. I don’t want to fuck up what we have. I don’t want to break her. And I feel like the secret I’m keeping from her will shatter her and what she thinks of me. It makes me feel … I don’t fucking know … all wrong.

But lately, she’s been asking me to do it, to go all the way with her.

“I want to have sex with you,” she pleads.

“We will, soon,” I promise.

“You always say that, and we never do,” she whines.

“Let me watch you come like this.” I work two fingertips into her opening, but I won’t go deeper.

She grates her hips up to meet my fingers, and I rub the heel of my hand over her swelled little button.

“I know it’s going to hurt, but it’ll be worth it.”

She gets her hands beneath my waistband and pulls on my shaft. Her soft fingers will get me there fast.

“I’m sixteen now,” Quinn says as she strokes.

“Yeah, you are,” I purr.

“Then have sex with me.” She bites at my neck.

She’s killing me.

“Quinn Kelley, it’ll happen soon enough. Don’t rush it. Just enjoy this. You do like this, right?”

She’s past fighting with me about it. She doesn’t understand what stops me with her, and she’s been mad and jealous about the other girls I’ve had and has been very vocal about it.

“Will you at least finish in my hand?” she asks a bit sheepishly.

The idea nearly throws me over the edge. “Do you want me to?”

She nods.

“Alright then, birthday girl.” I balance on one elbow, open her coat and pinch her nipple between wanting fingers, while my other hand works her below.

Soon she’s panting and close to her release. So am I, as I buck my hips against her sweet hand.

“Come with me,” I breathe as I lick my tongue over her lips.

She opens her mouth to accept me in, and we both climb over the edge together, each of us overwhelmed with the sensations we give each other.

We lay together like this, satisfied, neither of us wanting to move. That’s when my boot, which has been anchoring both of us to the sloped roof, slips.

“Fuck!” My fingers search for purchase against the roof.

Quinn screams as we slide. The thermos, mugs and Bailey’s bottle go tumbling ahead of us. As I hear them hit the ground and shatter, I get my arm around Quinn’s waist. If we go over, at least I can position us so that I can break her fall with my body.

At the last moment, I feel the toe of my boot catch the gutter. It halts our fall.

When I realize we’re not going to die by going off the roof, I ask her, “Are you okay?”

Quinn’s eyes are wild and huge with fear. I figure she’s going to start yelling at me; instead she throws her head back and laughs. 

She laughs so hard, it makes me laugh along with her.

“Shit! I hope Cade didn’t hear me scream!”

“If he didn’t, he must have heard the bottle break.” We always chance serious punishment by climbing up here, especially since the lattice is outside of Cade and Debra’s bedroom window.

“Should we wait up here?” Quinn asks, laughing. “Or should we get our half-drunken asses back into our beds?”

I take her perfect face between my hands. “I don’t know … and I don’t care.” I kiss her. “I love you, Quinn Kelley. Would you marry me? If I asked you to?”

Her blue eyes gaze into mine thoughtfully. “Yeah, I’d marry you.”

“I know we’re young, I’m not saying I want to run off and get married this second. But I can start saving money now, and in a year and a half, when I’m eighteen, I can get an apartment ready for us,” I say.