Crossing the Barrier (21 page)

“You didn’t love him,” she said, too stunned to remain quiet.

Both her uncle and mother turned to her.

“You didn’t love my dad. You loved the idea of being popular. You loved the idea of being the queen of the crowd.”

“Now you see, Beatrice, even Lily has figured that one out,” Charlie said.

“Of course I loved Marcus,” Beatrice said, crossing her arms over her chest.

“You’re lying.”

“Can you blame me?” Beatrice asked, changing tactics. “The moment you came along, I was nothing to your father. It was always all about you. He even left you the house, and he left me nothing. And here you go, doing something stupid like dating a…a n…”

“Don’t you dare say it,” Charlie bellowed. “Don’t you dare!”

“I’m forbidding you from going to homecoming with him,” Beatrice said, pointing a finger at Lily. “I’m forbidding you from seeing him again.”

“And I’m allowing it,” Charlie said. “Don’t you dare try to prevent it, Beatrice. You would
not
like the consequence.”

Lily was intrigued by what her uncle had just said and by the way Beatrice felt when he said it. He had something on her, something she didn’t want him to reveal, something that would definitely hurt her reputation badly.

“She’s going to ruin everything I’ve accomplished in this community by her stupidity.”

“By dating a boy who is not only popular but loves her? Really? If that’s the case, why would one of your friends come and ask if you were proud of her?”

“It was only one, and she’s not that important in my circle anyway.”

“You self-centered bitch. You sound like you’re in high school. Grow up, Beatrice. You’re not seventeen anymore, you’re forty-five.”

“Don’t you dare remind me!”

“Oh, but you need reminding. A lot. What do you expect to accomplish? You think people will fall over themselves to help you? Well, one very well-dropped word on my part and you become nothing. Don’t ever forget that.”

Lily had heard enough. She took her bag and made her way to the stairway.

“I’m not done with you,” Beatrice screeched as Lily took the first step.

“I’m done with you, Mother,” she said quietly.

She resumed her climb, ignoring her mother’s screams of protest and her uncle’s response.

Once in her room, she locked the door behind her. Hostility was still flying through the house, and Lily hoped she would be able to sleep. She took her phone and flipped it open.

Are you asleep?
she texted Malakai.

No. Thinking of you. Can’t wait to see you tomorrow
.

Me too
, she answered.

Lily looked up, tears coming to her eyes. She wanted to be with him, but his father was in town, and Lily knew how important that was. Had she known her father would die at the end of her sophomore year, she would never have taken him for granted, and she would have spent all the time she could with him.

I really enjoyed watching you play. You’re so, so good. I wish I could be with you right now and tell you how wonderful you are.

And kiss me?
she texted.

Oh, YES! A thousand times!

:)

:)

Good night, Malakai.

Night.

Lily put her phone on her night table and went to take a shower. When she walked out of the bathroom, her uncle was gone, and Lily felt Beatrice roaming the house, still furious. On her bedside table, her phone was flashing, and she picked it up.

Please, consider moving in with me again
, Charlie had sent.

I will. Good night, Charlie. Thank you for coming.

She put the phone away. Maybe she should take her uncle up on his offer after all.

Chapter Forty-Three

MALAKAI

The homecoming dance
had been everything Malakai hoped for. Lily had been the prettiest girl in the place with her dark blue dress, which didn’t reveal too much. Malakai would never have admitted it, but he was secretly glad Lily’s dress had left something to the imagination. He wouldn’t have liked other guys seeing too much of her. As for himself, he could fill in the blanks with the time he’d seen her in a bikini at David’s.

Lily had felt just right, her soft body fitting perfectly against his, as they danced all the slow songs together. One or two guys had made their way toward them, undoubtedly to ask Lily to dance, but the glare Malakai threw them made them change their minds. Lily was his, and he wasn’t about to share her with anyone.

And she had smelled so good. The green tea had made his mouth water all night, and more than once, he imagined kissing her neck. He wondered if her skin would taste of green tea. But he couldn’t kiss her at a school dance where every adult in the place was on the lookout for “improper public display of affection.” Malakai was lucky he could hold her as close as he had, his cheek against her hair, her ear against his heart, his hands on her back, her arms holding him around the waist tightly.

It felt good to have her in his arms. It felt right. He could have stayed like that all night.

But the dance was over way too soon.

Malakai didn’t want the night to be over just yet. He wanted to spend more time with Lily.

“Do you have to go home?” she asked, holding on to his arm with both hands as they made their way toward the exit.

“No. You?”

“No. Do you want to come to Sandra’s with me? She’s having a bunch of us over for s’mores.”

“Will I get to spend more time with you?”

“Yes, you will,” she said with a wide smile.

“Then let’s do it.”

“Okay. But we need to go change first.”

Half an hour later, they were at Sandra’s, changed and ready to spend the evening with friends. Sandra’s party was a small affair with a few friends from the band. Malakai was surprised to see David had invited Tristan and Luis and their dates also. He waved to the three players who were sitting at a table, drinking from red plastic cups.

Beer?

“I kept you guys a chair next to the fire,” Sandra said with a grin, appearing in front of them. “You guys want something to drink?”

Lily answered something, but Malakai wasn’t listening anymore. He was looking at his petite girlfriend, making her way to the lounge chair a few yards away and spreading the blanket she had brought from her house. She was so pretty with her long brown hair in a ponytail and her too-big clothes in the school’s yellow and black.

“Dude, I wanted to invite you myself, but Lily wanted to do it,” David said, appearing next to him and shoving a red plastic cup in his hand.

Malakai tore his eyes from Lily and glanced at his drink. It was too dark to be beer.

“Gatorade,” David said with a chuckle. “It’s not spiked. My parents would have a fit if we were to bring booze home.”

Malakai grinned and took a sip. It was his favorite, the blue kind, the one that tasted of what passed as raspberry flavor. Then he looked up, and Lily smiled at him. He had the impression his heart had expanded to twice its size and would have jumped right out of his chest to run to her.

He…

He…

He loved that girl!

He loved her so much he couldn’t breathe.

She was everything he had ever wanted in a girl.

She was everything and so much more.

He never once felt lonely when he was with her. Not even for a second.

The spark he had been looking for was so strong it could provide power to an entire city for a week.

“Go,” David said with another chuckle. “She’s waiting.”

Malakai didn’t even answer. He just made his way to Lily, mesmerized, his eyes fixed on this face that rivaled an angel’s.

Wow! How did he get so lucky?

Malakai put the red cup on the table next to the chair and sat down. Lily sat between his legs, her back pressed against his chest, and he pulled the blanket over her. Her lower back was putting an exquisite pressure on him, and he fought the moan that was threatening to escape his lips. He tried to shift a little to get more comfortable and hide some of the effects she had on him but stopped moving when she chuckled.

“I don’t mind,” she said quietly.

Malakai’s blood rushed to his face.

“I think it’s flattering really,” she said, shifting a little to look up at him.

As she did, she removed the pressure, and Malakai wanted to cry at the loss of it and sigh in relief at the same time.

“You do?” he murmured.

“Can I try something?”

“Okay.”

Lily put her hands on each side of his face and closed her eyes. Suddenly, Malakai got an image of a bedroom he had never seen before, all pale green and cream. He saw himself, bare chest, lying over her, his eyes clouded with desire as he stared at her. Then, slowly, he kissed her.

Malakai felt how out of breath she was. He felt how much she wanted this. He felt the delicious discomfort between her legs. He felt how much she loved him. She didn’t say it, but he felt it.

And he was blown away by the strength of her feelings for him.

As suddenly as they had appeared, the images and feelings stopped.

Lily pulled her hands away and sagged against him.

“Are you okay?” he asked, wrapping her in his arms.

“It just took a lot of energy,” she said, laying her head on his chest, over his heart.

“Wow. Do you really feel that way about me?”

She nodded.

Malakai was overwhelmed by the strength of his own feelings for her. “Did you know you could do that? I mean, project images and feelings into someone else?”

“Yeah, I’ve done it once with Sandra. She wanted to know how it felt to be me. It was so hard. I actually passed out.”

“So why do it with me?”

“Because you’re worth it. Because I wanted you to know I feel the same way you do. Because I didn’t want you to feel bad for thinking the way you do about me.”

She remained there, quiet, in his arms, her warm little body snuggled against his muscular one, and Malakai loved every second of it. He thought she had fallen asleep, but she moved and looked up at him. He kissed her gently, then she laid her head on his chest again.

“I never talked to you about my family,” she said quietly.

“I know,” he said, a pinch to his heart. “And I never talked to you about mine.”

“Want to hear?”

“Yes, I do,” he said, kissing the top of her head. “But only if you want to tell me.”

“My mother…Beatrice and I, we don’t really see eye to eye. She’s rather hurtful and hateful.”

Lily told him about her mother, her father, her uncle. She told him about being a surrogate child and how much her father had wanted her while her mother hadn’t. She told him about learning clarinet on her father’s knees and hoping to go to Rice like her father before her.

Malakai listened, caressing her arms, feeling his love for this little woman grow as she spoke, feeling his desire to make her happy increase with each passing moment. He wanted to be there for her if she ever needed him, he wanted to protect and cherish her, he wanted her to never know what it was to really be alone like he had been.

She deserved to be happy. She deserved the world, and he wanted to give it to her if she would let him.

When she had finished talking, they stayed quiet for a little while, Malakai gently caressing her back.

“You want to hear about my family?” he asked.

“If you want to tell me.”

“I live with my dad. He’s military. He’s a good dad, but he’s never home. It’s lonely sometimes.”

He told her about the accident that killed his friend, how his mother disappeared a day later, and finding out recently that she was still alive. He told her about living at his Gran’s and how great a woman she was. He told her about moving to Texas, about his father’s promotion, about his father’s long absences.

It felt good to tell someone—it felt good to tell someone who filled the emptiness in his heart just with her presence.

When he was done, she remained quiet in his arms, caressing his chest with her hand, the only sign she wasn’t asleep.

“I want to be here for you, always,” he said to her, then kissed the top of her head again. “Lily, if you ever need me, I’ll be there for you.”

“But what if…”

“No buts,” Malakai said firmly but gently. “I will.”

Lily sighed against him. “I…I would like that,” she said. “Charlie wants me to move in with him.”

“Okay. And what do you want?”

“I don’t know, Malakai. The house I live in, it’s mine, my dad left it to me, even if Beatrice is contesting it,” she said with a humorless chuckle. “All I have left of him is still there. Sometimes, when I least expect it, I can still smell him. If I move out, I feel like I’m letting him down somehow.”