Dirty: The Complete Series (Secret Baby Romance Love Story) (201 page)

Lance rolled his eyes. “Man, you have got
to stop smoking that shit. What the hell do you mean by New York?”

“Oh! Summer’s in New York. She went to
meet with that lawyer. Phoebe said she’s going through their old house this
week and packing and selling things. I guess they just sealed it up and left
it. She won’t be back in Oregon until Sunday.”

Lance looked at me. “Today is Wednesday.”

“Thanks.”

“I’m serious, man. A long weekend in New
York might be just what the doctor ordered for both you and the love of your
life.”

Four hours later, I was on a plane. I had
no idea what I would say or do when I got there, but I knew Lance was right.
Summer was the one thing missing in my life and I wouldn’t ever be happy if I
didn’t at least try to get her back.

CHAPTER
TWENTY-FIVE

SUMMER

I stood outside the house with the beach
and the ocean at my back and looked up at it from the end of the walkway. It
looked so much smaller to me now than it used to. It had definitely seen better
days. Grandpa wasn’t ever really one for worrying about what things looked
like. It was the same original blue it had been painted back in the seventies
when he’d first bought it. It was peeling in places in big chunks and the
smooth white primer paint underneath it was showing through. At least a fourth
of the brown shingles on the roof were missing and the white window frames were
cracked and peeling. The grass was nearly as tall as me in places and was mixed
with weeds that twisted and choked it in places and left big empty patches of
sand. The big shade tree where I used to swing still stood. I walked through
the little broken gate and pushed through the deep grass until I got to it. The
swing was still attached where Grandpa had hung it. He’d made it out of old
rope and a piece of one of his old surfboard that he’d sawed in half. I reached
up and touched the rope with tears in my eyes. I had been just about six years
old when he hung it there. I remember thinking he was the coolest guy ever. He
could surf, he could make swings, and sometimes, he would tell me wild stories
that were probably wildly inappropriate for a little girl, but I loved them. I
thought of him as bigger than life, and I’d been so alone and scared when he
died, I never really grieved that loss. I wiped the tears away and headed for
the house.

The porch that I used to sit on early in
the morning wrapped up in a blanket while I watched Grandpa surf was tilting to
one side. The first step up to it was cracked and rotted. I stepped over it and
onto the next one. Once I was standing up on the porch, I turned to look out at
the ocean. I could feel the cool breeze and taste the salty air, and I could
almost see him out there “conquering the ocean,” as he used to put it. I
wondered for not the first time how different my life would have been if he had
lived.

I used the key the lawyer gave me to let
myself inside. He told me that no one had been here in years. Grandpa left everything
to me and because of that, there had been a lot of confusion about what to do
with his assets. I slid the key into the lock that was rusted from years of
exposure to the wet, salty air. It took some doing, but I finally got the door
open. As soon as I stepped over the threshold, my nose and eyes were assaulted
by the thick, dusty air. It was hard to breathe. A sliver of light was coming
through the dirty curtain on the west side of the house and I could see
particles of dust dancing in the air. I advanced further in and looked around.
Someone had covered the furniture with dust covers, but long enough ago that
they themselves were coated with dust. It lay over every surface in a pristine
layer unsullied by foot or fingerprints anywhere.

I felt overwhelmed. I had no idea where to
begin. I trudged through the dust and made my way to Grandpa’s room. I stood
there on the threshold and as the tears rolled down my cheeks, a smile crossed
my face. One entire wall of the bedroom was covered by the surfboards he’d
stacked there years ago. Each time he retired one, he’d leave it there. The
only one he ever used for anything else had been the one that made my swing out
front. They used to fascinate me. We didn’t have pictures or decorations on the
walls like other families. So when I tired of looking at the plain white of the
rest of the house, I’d go into Grandpa’s room and stare at the colorful boards.
I walked over now and ran my hand across a yellow and orange one. I remember
this one used to remind me of the sun and when it was too cold or raining or
snowing outside, I’d pretend it was the sun and I’d sit next to it and have a
little picnic on the floor of his bedroom. When Grandpa was home, he’d
sometimes join me and as usual, regale me with stories of his youth.

The realtor told me they’d left boxes for
me around back. I went out through the kitchen, almost tripping on a piece of
cracked linoleum. I found the boxes outside the back door and also found
another treasure
–
my
first beachcomber. It was one of the things I missed the most after Grandpa
died and they took me away. I’d even thought about coming back to get it when I
first took off, but I knew this would be the first place they’d look for me. My
emotions were overwhelming me once more and I decided that maybe some therapy
on the water was what I needed. Maybe after catching a cold wave or two, my
head would be clear enough that I could get something accomplished.

I found a pair of shorts and a bikini top
in my old room that still fit me and then I took the least weathered board from
Grandpa’s collection and headed for the water. The wind was blowing and
churning up the waves as I paddled out to the break.

The water was icy cold, but it felt good
to be numb. I lie on the board and let the motion of the water slowly calm me
as I waited for the approaching wave. I watched it curl up, and as the wind
took it, I watched it begin to gain speed. As the momentum built, so did its
size. I popped up onto the balls of my feet and felt that amazing surge of adrenaline
as it got closer. I felt it roll underneath me and I stood up. I put my arms
out for balance and turned my face up to the sun and for a few seconds as I
rode the wave, I felt like Grandpa was with me. As I rode it back down to the
surface of the water, I was smiling and for the first time in a while, my soul
felt happy. It was that deep, peaceful kind of happy that only comes from
knowing that you’re loved. Grandpa loved me and for the first time in six
years, I could feel his presence inside of me.

*******

After I came out of the water and took a
warm shower, I finally got to work. I put the boxes together and started
filling them with things from my old room. I’d taken one suitcase with me the
night that social services took me away. The rest of my clothes and shoes were
still in the dresser and closet. I wasn’t a snazzy dresser in those days, not
that I am now, either. Most of it was t-shirts and shorts and the occasional
sundress, but I was hoping I could find a youth home or some other charitable
organization to give them to.

When I finished my old room, I moved to
the bathroom and then to the kitchen, I was saving Grandpa’s room for last. I
knew that it was going to provoke a lot of emotions and take a lot of emotional
energy. After I finished the kitchen, I decided I needed food, a bath, and
maybe a good night’s sleep before I was ready for that. I taped up the last box
in the kitchen and picked up the keys to the house and the rental car off the
coffee table where I’d dropped them earlier.

When I stepped outside, I saw a taxi
coming up the small road that led to the beach. I didn’t think much of it. The
beach wasn’t private, after all. I turned to lock the door and when I turned
back, the taxi had stopped and the back door opened. The long, jean-clad leg
was what I saw first, but even before I saw his face, something in me
instinctively knew that it was Drake. He stood up and I stood there and stared
at him like I was seeing a ghost. He leaned in and paid the cabbie and then
turned back in my direction.

“Hi, Summer.”

“Drake. What are you doing here?”

He came towards me and I started to shake.
When he got close to the porch, I could smell the scent of his cologne on the
breeze, and I shook harder. “Are you cold?”

“No.” The tremor was even in my voice.
“What are you doing here, Drake?”

“I came to see you. Now that I do, I can
say it was well worth the three thousand miles.”

I was covered in dust. My hair was still
wet from surfing and hung in wild waves around my face and down my back. I was
wearing a pair of shorts and a
Scooby Doo
t-shirt that I bought when I was fourteen years old. “You’re insane.”

He laughed. “I seem to recall another time
you called me that. Do you remember?”

“The day you asked me to the gala.” I
shivered again.

“Are you sure you’re not cold?”

“I’m sure. I am hungry, though. I was
going to go back to the hotel in town and shower and get something to eat. Are
you hungry?”

“I can always eat,” he said with another
one of his amazing smiles. It doesn’t matter how much time has passed since I’d
seen him or how angry I was with him, I still wanted to walk over and shove my
tongue down his throat. I’m not sure what that says about me.

We got into the rental car and as I drove
us to the hotel, I said, “How did you know where to find me?”

“Kobe,” he said.

“Never tell Phoebe any of your secrets.”

He laughed. “I won’t. But you want to know
one?”

“Maybe?”

“I’m glad you told her yours. I missed
you, Summer.”

“Did you?” I wasn’t being flirty or
facetious. I honestly didn’t believe that he had missed me. He’d been so angry
with me that day I went to see him and it was obvious that he wasn’t hurting in
the sex department. I wasn’t sure he ever wanted to see me again.

I pulled the car up in front of the hotel
and before the valet opened the doors, he said, “I did, Summer…like an
amputated limb.” He was looking at me with those ice blue eyes and telling me
that he missed me, and I wanted to kick that damned valet in the balls when he
opened the door and interrupted him. I got out, and we walked into the lobby
together. I saw Drake look around and when his eyes fell on the little piano
bar he said, “I’ll get a drink and wait for you-”

“No.”

“You don’t want me to wait for you?”

“No.” With a still shaky hand, I reached out
for his. He gave it to me, and I looked up into his gorgeous face and said, “I
don’t want you to wait for me. I want you to come with me. I want…you.”

He smiled and right there in that fancy
lobby surrounded by fancy people he took my disheveled self into his arms and
he kissed the breath out of me, and then he picked me up and carried me to the
elevator. It was an eighties movie,
Officer
and a Gentleman
moment. I reached over as the doors slid shut and pushed
the number for my floor and then I kissed him again. I never wanted to stop.

CHAPTER
TWENTY-SIX

DRAKE

I could feel Summer’s slim body shaking
all over as I held her and we kissed in the elevator. I knew how she felt, I
was shaking just the same, only inside. When the elevator opened on the tenth
floor, I carried her out and down the hall to her room. She handed me the
keycard, and I slid it in the door and pushed the door in with my foot. Once we
were inside, I kicked it closed and put her down on her feet. She smiled and
everything inside of me melted. It was like hot, thick lava was trying to force
itself through my veins and my heart was beating so hard that I felt like it
would explode.

“I’m a mess. I want you so bad, but not
like this.”

I was hoping for an invitation into the
bath, but I decided I wasn’t going to push my luck. “It’s okay. Go do what you
need to do. I’m not going anywhere.” She nodded and turned away before she
turned back and slipped her arms up around my neck. She pulled me down so our
mouths met and she gave me another long, hot kiss that I felt in every part of
my body, most especially the parts down south. She was panting when she let go
of me and smiled again, and I watched her go into the bathroom. Feeling weak in
my knees, I went over and sat down on the bed. I could hear the water running
through the door she’d left cracked. I lay back across the bed and wondered
what had taken me so long. I could kick myself for wasting all of these months.

I closed my eyes and relived the kiss in
the elevator. Nothing is better than that first kiss after time away. Well,
almost nothing. When I get her out here and into this bed, there will really be
nothing better than that. I let myself imagine for a second that I hadn’t
listened to Lance and Kobe and I’d gone home with the Summer imitation from the
bar. I shuddered, revolted by the very fact that I’d considered it.

While I lay there, I suddenly got a whiff
of something that smelled like lavender and I heard the bath shut off. My cock
throbbed at the sound. That meant that Summer was naked and submerged in
water…only steps away. The question was, what the fuck was I still doing in
here? I stood up and stripped off everything except my shorts. I went over to
the partially open door and peeked in. I could see her face above the water with
her eyes closed and that pretty blonde hair splayed out against the white
marble. Bubbles covered her body up to her neck and I imagined what was
underneath those bubbles. My cock ached as I pushed the door open slowly and
quietly.