Falling - On the Banks of Lake Saint Clare (Falling - Book One) (32 page)

“Well, right there
.
You asked ‘Am I’ when you know you are.”

“I don’t think I mean to be defensive. Maybe you have pounded in my head to fight back and I’m going to.”

“I didn’t mean to fight me.” He kissed my hand.

“And anyway, I have more than one enemy. My dad, Rachel, and Brad. They all hate me.”

“They don’t count.”

I sighed. “They still aren’t back,” I said, looking around for
Kaitlyn
and Derek.
             
“You worried?”

“A tad,” I said, looking around again. “She’s my little grasshopper a
nd I sent her out alone without
coaching her.”

“You are such a good friend. I gave Derek a condom so they will be fine.”

I punched his arm, “You are simply hilarious,” I said sarcastically.
             
“Owe,” he laughed. “It was a joke!”

He pulled me to him and had me lay on top of him. He took my face in his hands, “I love you, Alex. You never make me stop smiling.”

It was two hours before
Kaitlyn
and Derek made it back to the blanket, holding hands.

“Quarter,” I held out my hand.

“Damn!” He reached in his pocket and handed it to me. “You suck.”
             
“Don’t bet a grifter,
Mr
. You will always lose.”

“So how was the walk,” I whispered to
Kaitlyn
when she sat down. “Do we need a sidebar?”

“I would like one, if you don’t mind,” she said, sounding like a teacher.

“I’ve got to go up to the car and get
a pill
. I am so sore. Michael, did you lock the car?”

“No, it’s open. Everything okay
?”

“Yeah,” I said
,
getting up slowly. My body was aching and I thought it was going to take me forever to get up. I knew I sat too long on the ground. “I just need a Tylenol. I’ll be okay.”

He jumped up, “I’ll go for you.”

“Michael, really I am fine. I need to stretch. I need to move. I need to get all the info about the walk,” I winked, “And so do you.”

Kaitlyn
grabbed my hand and led me up the hill, “Watch out, there’s a rock.”

I sighed and looked back at Michael
,
seeing that he was totally humored by my caregiver.

“Alex,” she stopped and grabbed my arm, “
H
e kissed me. Oh my freaky
,
freaky
g
od, he kissed me. Do I look different? I feel like I am floating. Are my feet off the ground?”

“Maybe an inch or two,’ I laughed.

“Oh Alex,” she hugged me so hard it made my body wrench in pain.

I gasped, “Oh gosh,” I doubled over.

“Alex, I am so sorry. Please tell me I didn’t break you.”

“I’m okay,” I said, catching my breath. “I know you didn’t mean it.”

I reached in the car and got two pills out of my purse and took a long drink of water. “Oh
,
my gosh, I’ve got to sit.”

I sat down
,
seeing her look like she was about in tears.

“I was already hurting. It wasn’t your fault.”

“Whew,” she said.

“Tell me about the kiss,” I said, taking another drink, trying to think the pain away.

“Alex, he was so sweet. He held my hand and said that he thought I was pretty. We sat down by the water and I watched him throw rocks. He was talking about moving here and how Michael’s parents were so great. He said he wished he could find someone as great as Michael found
, talking about you,” she smiled, like I wouldn’t have figured that one out. “
Then he leaned over and kissed me. Like on the lips. Just leaned over and kissed me.”

“And that was it? Just one?”

“We kissed a few more times and then decided to walk back. I really like him, Alex. Please find out if he likes me too, but if he doesn’t, I don’t want to know.”

“Then what do I say to you if he doesn’t? I’m confused.”

“I don’t know. I just want him to like me. Just find out.”

We walked down the hill and saw Michael and Derek were by the water, pitching rocks.

“You ok?
”
He asked, looking concerned.

“Yeah, much better.”

H
e pulled me in front of him,
put his arm around me
,
and tossed a hand full of rocks into the water.

Derek walked over to
Kaitlyn
and held her hand, and started walking down the lake.

“I take it he likes her?”
             
“
Ummm
Hmmm
,” he said, rocking me. “She like him?”

“Of course. Who wouldn’t? Let’s lie down.”

“You need to go home?”
             
“No. I’m really okay. I just want to lie down.”

“I worry,” he said.

“Good,” I sighed.

I laid down on the blanket so I could face the water, fe
e
ling Michael move in behind me. His hand was resting on my hip.

“What did I look like in the alley?”

“What do you mean?”

“I am trying to remember everything. I don’t think I am remembering it all. When we go to trial, I have to remember every tiny detail. What if I don’t remember every detail and the one detail I leave out is the one that sets him free. What I think about the most is him hitting my head against the ground. I was choking on my blood. I was ready to die. I really thought that was the only way to just make it all go away. That even though I thought I could die, I wanted to live for you. I remember talking to you, hoping you would understand that I did fight him, that I didn’t want him to do that to me. I
didn’t want him touching me.”

“Alex, how in the world would I think that you wanted him to do that to you.”

I could feel tears running down my face. “I didn’t enjoy it,” I said, not knowing how to explain. “I promise I didn’t want him to touch me. It made me sick him touching me like he did.”

“You don’t have to explain,” he said, kissing the back of my neck.

I rolled over and looked at him, feeling the tears run down my cheeks faster. “I just wanted you to be the only guy that ever touched me. And he ruined that. He saw me. I had a promise to you that I would only be with you. I didn’t know if you thought that I broke that promise.”

“I have no idea why you are upset. I will be the only one to touch you and make it feel great. I will be the only one that you will stay up at night yearning to have my hands in the forbidden areas,” he smiled, raising his eyebrows. “I will be the only one that makes your body tremble with excitement and not fear. That is the only promise I will ever want from you.”

Chapter 19

“Text your mom and tell her your spending the night,
Kaitlyn
.” I said, seeing she and Derek were sitting side by side in the back.

We got to the cabin and walked inside. There sat Rachel.

“Oh!” I gasped, feeling my heart instantly start pounding
. “
So
,
do I need to leave?” I asked, remembering reading the restraining order.

“She’s leaving.” Mom jumped up. “Give us a few minutes. Just go to the dock and I’ll call you up here.”

“I can not believe that I can’t even walk into my own house for fear that I can be arrested.” I said, walking down to the river.

“I don’t think it’s that extreme,” Michael said.

“What are you talking about?”
Kaitlyn
asked, running after us.

“My wonderful sister and Dad got a restraining order against me. If I go within 1000 feet of her or speak to her, I can be arrested.”

“I don’t think that will happen,” Michael said.

“You have no idea what will happen!” I yelled at him. “You have no fucking idea what she will do.
You have no idea just how mean she is. There is no way you know.
So don’t try to make everything all happy and joyful when I can’t even walk into my fucking bedroom!”

I sat down on the ground and started crying. “I am so sorry, Michael. Oh my
g
od, I am so sorry.”

He sat down beside me and put his arm around me. “I know. It’s going to be ok.”

“I want it to be ok
,
now. I want to not be scared anymore. I want to be able to walk into my house and not see my attacker’s girlfriend sitting on the couch like it’s a freaking tea party.”

“Rachel’s still dating Brad?”
Kaitlyn
gasped.

“Of course she is
Kaitlyn
, who else would she be dating? It’s all a freaking conspiracy. It was probably cooked up 17 years ago when I was born. They all got together and decided to make my life a living hell all in one sweet month. It just took them 17 years to perfect it. Make it so crazy that I lose my mind and go insane. They are just brilliant.”

“For real?”
Kaitlyn
gasped.

I looked at Michael and laughed. “Oh
g
od, I really think I am losing my mind.”

He hugged me “That was a pretty good rant. Conspiracy? Not too shabby theory.”

I sighed. “I am so tired of this. My life is an emotional roller coaster and I think they forgot to strap me in. One second I am yelling at you and then laughing with you. You are part of the conspiracy, aren’t you?”

“Absolutely,” he winked. “I thought it up 17 years ago. Pretty impressive for an infant, isn’t it?
”

“You two can go on down to the dock if you want,” Michael suggested to Derek and
Kaitlyn
.

I waited for them to get to the dock, knowing that I was probably looking like a basket case and would be embarrassed later.

“What is she doing here?” I asked, looking at the house. “I just don’t understand why I can’t have a safe haven. I bet she is in there saying, ‘I don’t think it is fair that Little Bitch gets to live by the river. I think you should remodel the entire town so the river flows right by my studio’.”

“That was pretty funny,” Michael smiled.

“I wasn’t joking,” I smiled. I knew in the back of my mind it was probably true.

“There is Rachel getting in her car that cost her Daddy twenty eight thousand dollars. I get to share my mom’s
Toyota
that I bet cost 5000 25 years ago. Hmm
m
. Why am I just noticing that now?”

“Coz you are pissed and want to be mad about something else.”

“I don’t even want to know what she was doing here. Why do you think she was here? Find out from my mom and tell me. Cause I don’t want to hear it from her. She let her in the house. I just don’t even want to know. Don’t even ask.”

“Ok, now you are just rambling. We need to find out what she was doing here and tell her that it is not acceptable. That you have your rights and she can’t violate them.”

“How come you are so smart and calm about everything?”

“Because I am just a perfect boyfriend.”

“I can’t argue with that.”

“Do you think they will even know we are going back up to the house?” I asked, looking at
Kaitlyn
and Derek on the dock. “They don’t seem to care what we are doing.”

“They are definitely cozy.”

I walked into the cabin and Mom instantly hung up the phone.

“Well,” I said, “it can’t be anymore obvious that the conversation going on was about me.”

“You knew it would be,” Mom said, walking into the kitchen. “Drinks?”

I didn’t answer.

I sat down on the couch and Michael sat beside me. I looked around for my pain pills, feeling that my side was really starting to hurt. I didn’t see them and tried to think the pain away.

“Ok, I am sorry about what happened,” Mom finally said. “I was for sure you would not be home till
midnight
. I had no idea you would be home an hour early. She wasn’t here long and she won’t be back. I told her she is the one that got the restraining order on you so she is to stay away from here. She is my daughter and there are going to be times when we need to see each other especially with college coming up. I am going to have to help her with her admission papers and other things. But, we will always meet somewhere else.”

“Why doesn’t she just drop the restraining order?” Michael asked. “Wouldn’t that be the easiest thing to do?”
             
“Rachel doesn’t do easy,” I said before my mom could defend her. “Rachel does whatever she can do to get attention and to make my life hell. So she was here to talk about college?”