Lasting Summer - [Loving Summer 05] (9 page)

Ch.
14

Summer

D
rew left in such
a hurry, I couldn’t catch up to him. He was clearly upset, and I was too.

“Wait Drew!” I called out, getting out
from behind the desk, and almost tripping on some of the cords underneath.

“Darn this!” I tried to untangle the
cords from my shoes, but one of them had gotten entangled in the mess of cords.
By the time I got out from behind the desk, leaving one of my shoes and raced
to the front of the theater to the lobby and to the door, Drew was gone.

“Drew!” I cried, feeling a hollowness at
the pit of my stomach. I felt like a part of me was torn out. “I have to let
him know it’s not true. I love him, and not just because he was trying to be
someone else for me. I love him because he’s Drew.”

The silence that greeted me when I
talked to myself out loud made it clear I needed him no matter what. Even if
whatever we have between us turned into friendship again or as lovers, I can’t
imagine a life without him.

Plus, dear Drew…I was worried about him.
It had never been confirmed, but since Drew was Nadine’s son, he may have
inherited her mental illness. That was what Nat had been worried about before.
Although Drew acted irrational or highly emotional at times, we still didn’t
believe he was like his mother…

I called Drew.

He wasn’t picking up.

I texted him.

ME:
Drew, I need to talk to you. Please don’t feel this way. I do care for you.

He
didn’t answer me back.

I
had to go find him then. I hobbled my way back to the office where I left one
of my shoes underneath the desk, untangled it and got ready to go after him.

As
soon as I walked out of the office and into the hallway heading to the
theater’s main room, all the lights went out, and I was in pitch darkness.

My
first instinct was to scream but I didn’t. The second worse fear I’ve ever had
was being in pitch darkness. My imagination always ran wild when I encounter
it, and always to the worst scenarios I could imagine.

“Oh
great,” I said talking to myself. “Must’ve pulled one of the cords that connected
to the light switch. Brilliant, Summer,” I scolded myself.

Wished
I brought a flashlight, I thought again.

I
attempted to make my way up to the lobby through memory, thinking I could fix
the light problem tomorrow when it’s daytime, but now I needed to get out of
the Academy and go find Drew.

I
made my way almost through the main theater area when I bumped into something
hard and clearly didn’t belong along the path. Not Drew again, I thought.

“Hello?”
I said, up against the hard body in front of me. I felt so blind in the dark,
not able to even make out an outline in front of me.

Silence.

“Okay,”
I said, “this isn’t funny. Whoever you are, can you please move out of my way.
I couldn’t very well see you to move around you so you have to.”

I
heard an intake of breath and then a soft chuckle.

My
hair stood on ends as I realized that didn’t sound like Drew.

I
was about to turn around to run the other way when hands came down on my arms.
“Summer,” the velvety soft voice said almost a hair-breath away from me.

Oh
I knew that voice. So very well.

Nat.

My
arms went around him, and I pull him to me to rest my cheeks on his chest. “I
missed you so much,” I cried.

His
arms went around me to hold me tight. “I’m not supposed to be here,” he said.
“I’m not supposed to see you but I couldn’t resist. Drew told me there was a
break in here, and I wanted to check it out for myself, make sure things were
safe, before you or Drew would get here. Looks like my timing had been off.”

“I
don’t care,” I said. “It’s fine. You’re here, and I’m safe with you. I’m here
with you,” I said, unable to believe I was holding, touching, and talking to
Nat. “I never thought I’d see you again!” I couldn’t hold back the tears now.
“I thought you died.”

“I
know. I know,” Nat said, kissing the top of my head. “I wanted to tell you so
badly. I wanted to let you know the truth, but even now, it’s too dangerous. You
can’t even see me.”

“But
you’re here!” I said.

“By
accident, and even then, I’m someone else.”

“What
do you mean?”

“I
can’t be Nat with you anymore, Summer.”

“Why
not?”

“We
could be blood-related!” he said. “I could be Aunt Sookie’s son…your cousin.
What would people think?”

“I
don’t care what people think,” I said. “I love you, and you love me. Couldn’t
we be together based on that?”

“Not
as Nat, Summer.”

“I
used to think it matters, but didn’t aristocrats and royalty marry their own
cousins?”

“Does
it matter to you?” Nat asked.

“No,
it doesn’t. I just want to be with you,” I said, nestling my face closer to his
chest. It hit me minutes ago, I was in the same position with Drew. Oh Drew!

“What
about Drew?” Nat asked, as if he could read my mind. “How do you feel about
him?”

I
wanted to answer him truthfully but I couldn’t. I didn’t even know how I felt.

“Seems
you’re not sure yet,” Nat said. “That’s what I thought. No, actually, I thought
by me being away, you and Drew could sort out your feelings, but I see it’s
still the same as when I had left.”

“My
feelings for you haven’t changed, though,” I said, reaching up my arms to
circle behind his neck. “I’ve always loved you, Nat. I still do.” I pulled his
face down to mine, and kissed him.

At
first he didn’t kiss me back, which scared me. Didn’t he love me anymore?

I
kissed him harder, using my tongue to open his mouth to touch his. I deepened
my kiss, using my tongue to trace his teeth before tangling with his. Then I
pressed my body harder against his, rubbing up against his crotch with mine.

I
was about to pull away when he hadn’t responded but Nat stopped me with his
hand. “Don’t,” he said. “I’m just relishing your kisses and your touch. It’s
been a while since I’ve felt you. I still can’t believe it’s you.”

“Oh
Nat!” I cried crushing my lips on his, pressing harder, and tearing open his
shirt so that I could feel his warm smooth chest. “You smell good, and…” I
licked his nipple, which caused him to groan. “Taste so good.”

I
licked him down until I was bending down, unbuttoning his jeans as fast as I
could, and pulling it down, releasing his thick throbbing hard-on. “You can’t
hide your excitement to see me, can you?” I said before taking him in my mouth.

“Oh
Summer!” Nat groaned. “God, I’ve almost forgotten how good this feels with you.
I’ve tried putting away all these memories of you, but…God this is so hard to
resist.”

I
continued licking and sucking on him while he started involuntarily thrusting.
Finally, he pulled me up before he almost climaxed, kissed me hard on my lips,
while he pulled my jeans down, bent me over, and entered me. We both groaned
throatily as he thrust and I met him with each thrust.

“Summer,”
he said breathily. “I’m coming.”

“I’m
there, too!” I cried as we both climaxed at the same time. Our bodies kept the
pace as we exploded, and I still wanted more of Nat afterwards.

He
held me tight and kissed me afterwards on my lips and my forehead. “I didn’t
want to do this the first time I see you again, but…”

“I
want to feel you, see that you’re alive, Nat.” I said. “Making love with you is
the only way I could feel you deep inside of me. That you are a part of me.
That you are alive, and throbbing with life inside of me.”

“Summer,”
Nat kissed me. “I will always love you no matter how I express it. That,” he
chuckled, “was incredible.”

He
helped me stand up, and fix my jeans before he cleaned himself off and pulled
on his. “Are you afraid of the dark now?” he asked.

I
laughed. “Not if it was used like that.”

“I
agree,” Nat said. “You would probably be confused if you saw me in the light.”

“Why?”

“I
don’t look like the Nat you remembered. It’s all part of my new identity.”

“Okay,
then,” I said. “I can live in the dark if I can be with you. If it’s the only
way for me to be with you, I will overcome my fear of the dark.”

“I
hope it isn’t the only way you can see me,” Nat said. “I hope I can bring those
guys who are out to get me and anyone I care about, to justice so I would never
have to hide away from you again.”

“I’ll
help you, Nat,” I said. “I’ll help you put them behind bars.”

“Too
dangerous.”

“Don’t
worry about me. I’m already involved. I get the feeling so is my mother and
even Aunt Sookie. I need to help you out or we will never be free.”

“Then
come with me,” he said, leading me in the dark back into the office area as
easily as if there was light. He went to a switch and pulled down and up.
Before long, the light began fading in, and…Nat…Nat stood before me in the
light and as someone else…

Cooper.

“Cooper?”
I asked. “You’re Nat?” I almost fainted. Then it hit me. All the clues. Cooper
saying he took Aunt Sookie’s acting classes when he was little. Cooper happily
filming the beach and telling me how he loved the place. Cooper walking up to
the Pad and looking at the Pad with love in his eyes. The way he made me feel
when I was hugging him. The way he spoke to me, as though he was wise beyond
his years. The way I would see him looking at me when he thought I wasn’t
looking.

How
he would say things that reminded me of Nat.

“Oh
Nat!” I cried, running up to him and into his arms. “I thought I was crazy
feeling something for Cooper, but…now I know.”

“Now
you know, my Perfect Summer. “You are and will always be my Perfect Summer.”

“And
you will always be my Nat in Shining Armor.” He bent down and kissed me so hard
I knew my lips would be swollen.

Ch.
15

Summer

I
thought
that would be the ending to my Summer chronicles. That I would end up with Nat,
but fate had another surprise in store for us…and like so many things in life,
it doesn’t always go as we hope.

We
both heard a click near the doorway to the hallway we just came in from and
turned.

“This is just beautiful,” the figure holding
the gun pointed at us said. Because of the lighting, I couldn’t see who he was.
“I get out of prison to seek my revenge on that Drew fellow who would’ve killed
me if Summer didn’t stop him, and find the missing Nat Donovan. Do you know
there’s a bounty on you, pretty boy? Not nice to cross the head of the cybercrime
syndicate. Now it looks like I’m getting the bounty now.”

He approached us, then stopped.

“I could have sworn I heard Nat Donovan’s
voice. Now where is he?”

He took a step closer to us and another step
until he was a few yards from me. Oh. My. God. My heart dropped. Sloane. Why
and how did he get here?

“Still such a temptress,” he said. “Summer
Jones…how I fantasize about putting my cock into you.” He leaned in closer and
said, “I go through all my collection of photos of you…especially the ones
where you’re sleeping in bed, naked, waiting for one of your loverboys to come
fuck you. I get so hard just looking at those photos.”

“You disgust me!” I said.

“So it’s okay for Drew or Nat to enjoy your
luscious body but it isn’t for the rest of us non-billionaires. Not-so-pretty
types? You think you’re too good for guys like me, don’t you. Just like your
Aunt Sookie.”

“Quit tarnishing her name!” I shouted.

“Tarnish? She’s tarnished herself. She’s a
whore, just like you.”

“Not true at all,” I said.

“Then what were you doing just now having sex
with yet another loverboy?”

He looked at Nat.

“It’s not like it looks,” I said. “Plus a
woman can be just as sexual as a man, it doesn’t make them whores.”

“But it does with you. Women should be pure,
chaste, and clean until their marriage night. Otherwise, they are whores,”
Sloane said. “And if they get pregnant out of wedlock like your Aunt Sookie,
they are a bigger whore.”

Nat threw a punch at him then and knocked
Sloane to the ground. “The one being the filthy dirty scum is you,” he said in
a deeper voice, the one he used as Cooper, punching Sloane again in the face. “You
have no right to judge Summer, Aunt Sookie, and any women for anything. What
makes you perfect?” Punch. “What makes you God? Only someone who is perfect can
judge anyone else. And from the looks of it, you are far from perfect.”

Nat
threw another punch but Sloane caught his wrist and head-butted Nat who fell
back.

“I
don’t know who you are, but you better mind your own business,” Sloane said. “I
have unfinished business with Summer and her two loverboys. One of them tried
to kill me – Drew wasn’t it? And the other one, Nat…got me time in prison.
Luckily, thanks to some corrupt politicians, my guys got me out for helping law
enforcement hack into child molester sites and sending them to prison.”

“Trading
one sick bastard for another I see,” Nat said.

“So I’m free to go as I please and now I’m
free to seek revenge out on Drew and Nat. Do you know there’s a bounty on Nat
Donovan? Pretty huge too. Not nice to cross the head of the cybercrime
syndicate. Now it looks like I’m getting the bounty.”

He approached Nat, producing a knife from his
pocket. Nat kicks at him, but Sloane twists and grabs hold of Nat’s leg,
pulling him forward and down, causing Nat to fall.

“No!” I shout, rushing towards Sloane. He
turned around and stabbed me in the side, and I fell to the ground. “Na…” I
almost shout, but realized Sloane didn’t know Cooper was Nat, and saw Sloane
handcuff Nat to a chair, then turned to me to cup my face. “Since you’ve been
doing the wild thing with him, you would know where Nat is, wouldn’t you,
Babe? But first, looking at your hot body, I’m not through fantasizing about
you. That stunt you pulled with your three loverboys that got me into prison,
only made me angrier and more determined to have you. Now, the first place I’m
going to fuck you in is your office. Then…” he place his knife against my neck.
“You will strip for me starting right about…”

Booooooooom!

It sounded like a firecracker had gone off in
the room, and I reached up to cup my ears.

Sloane had been kneeling over me, but now he
was down on the ground next to me. A bullet hole in his head.

I looked over to the doorway heading to the
hallway and saw Drew standing there, a gun in his hand, looking shock.

“He had a knife to Summer’s neck,” he said.
“He was going to kill her.”

I got up, clutching the side where Sloane had
stabbed me. “Drew!” I said, trying to get to him. “It was self-defense. He had
a knife to my throat, and he was going to rape me. He stabbed me, and…”

“About time someone got that Motherfucker,”
came a deep booming voice behind Drew.

A tall and muscular man in his late 30s stood
behind Drew.

“Who are you?” I asked, wanting to protect
Drew. If this was the police…

“I’m Lamar,” the man said. “And no, I’m not
with law enforcement. I’m with the FBI.” He looked over at Nat handcuffed to
the chair.

“Lamar,” Nat said. “I had to see Summer…and
if I haven’t been here to check out the Academy, Sloane would have gotten to
her earlier.”

Lamar gave Nat a pointed look but said, “I’ll
talk to you later, but now, what do we do with these two?”

My eyes grew wide, realizing that Lamar may
not want me and Drew to have witnessed what happened to Sloane.

“It was self-defense,” I said. “Drew was just
helping me and Nat…”

“Nat?” Drew’s eyes traveled to Cooper. “You
mean…he’s Nat?”

I closed my eyes. Now we were in trouble. I
blew Nat’s cover, right in front of the FBI.

“So you really didn’t know?” I asked Drew.

“No, I was even suspicious of Cooper, how
fast he moved in on you and how quickly you two were already friends…”

“Drew,” Nat said, “I couldn’t reveal myself
to you, too. As much as I wanted to, I could only see you two as Cooper.”

“The cover, it was so good,” I said. “Nat
acted like a Cooper, and he looked different.”

“I used what I knew about stage makeup from
what Aunt Sookie taught me at the Academy,” Nat said, “And Lamar changed my
identity through forms, paperwork,
etc.
I was acting, Summer. Playing a role,
bleached my hair for it, got more buff to fill out, wore contacts, and wore
clothes I’d normally wouldn’t wear. Something Aunt Sookie taught me again.
Lamar helped me through it all.”

“Nat’s a rare guy,” Lamar said. “Smart,
talented, and very mature beyond his years. His situation is rare. We don’t
have cases like his where a civilian is brought in to take down a crime
syndicate, and lived to live a normal life.”

“Is that what Nat did?” I asked. “I thought
he went to Afghanistan to help bring his father back. I didn’t know he was
there to do FBI type of work.”

“Donovan Dynamics do government jobs,
Summer,” Nat said. “This one happens to involve my dad and also your mother.”

“My mother?”

“She was handling investigation of an
international cybercrime ring and was taken hostage, so my dad went over to try
to get her out, but he was taken too. That’s when I went…”

“So it was a matter of extreme danger and
secrecy,” I said. “I wished I knew. I was so worried. I would have understood
and kept your secret.”

“It’s not my secret to keep,” Nat said. “It
was strict orders from the FBI. Still is…this thing here, was all a mistake, an
accident.”

“Sloane was connected to that cybercrime unit
your mother was investigating,” Lamar said. “The fact he got out because he
helped some corrupt officials is horrendous. Look what might have happened. He
went out to seek revenge immediately after he got out, and tried to rape and
kill you.”

“What can we do about this?” I asked. “If the
officials who let him out were corrupt, then they would want to get his
killer.”

“I’ll handle this,” Lamar said. “That’s what
I do. I make people disappear. Alive or dead. But now you two know Nat’s cover
as Cooper. That puts you two in greater danger than before.”

Drew and I looked at each other nervously.
What was going to happen to us?

“As far as all my intelligence tells me,”
Lamar said. “No one knows Sloane was here. No one besides you two have seen Nat
as Cooper. His cover is still safe…as long as you two can act like he is
Cooper.”

“I can do that,” I said.

“Same here,” Drew said.

“Will someone get these cuffs off me?” Nat
asked. “I’m beginning to lose circulation.”

“In a sec,” Lamar said. “This is important
stuff, Nat. Your cover could have been compromised.”

“Not if no one knows Cooper is Nat,” I said.

“If you let that out, remember, you two
become targets of this crime ring who’s after Nat,” Lamar said. “And it’s
getting ugly. Sloane showing up here looking for Nat is a very bad thing. It
means they got whiff that Nat is alive. That was one cover we created for Nat.
Now the only thing keeping a bunch of assassins going after a bounty on Nat, is
this cover. Sloane is just the beginning, I’m afraid. And he was an idiot.
Other assassins wouldn’t hesitate to shoot all of you, and ask questions
later.”

I gulped. Nat really was in big trouble…just
because he was trying to save my mother. I owe Nat everything. I walked over to
Nat, attempting to take off the handcuff. “I’m so sorry, Nat,” I said. “I
didn’t know everything you were handling, including this. I didn’t know how
much you’ve sacrificed for me and for my mother.”

Nat was silent as he looked at me with the
most loving eyes. “It’s no sacrifice, Summer. You were there for me when my
world came crashing down. You’ve already lost Aunt Sookie and was so distraught,
I couldn’t let you lose your mother, too.”

I cupped his cheek with my hand and leaned in
to kiss him. “I love you, Nat,” I said. “No matter what happens, I’ll always
love you, please remember that. You don’t need to prove to me your love. You
don’t have to go risking your life for me.”

“Guess you fell in love with a guy who still
believes in chivalry, who still believes in being a knight to his lady. I will
follow you to the ends of Earth for you, Summer. You should know that about me
already.”

“Even pushing me towards Drew,” I said. “I
love him, too,” I said. “But it should be my choice who I want to be with, not
because you gave up on me. I understand why, but I couldn’t go through with it,
although I loved Drew already.”

Nat turned his head to the side to look up at
a spot above me.

Drew and Lamar had approached us.

“Guys,” Lamar said. “Time to get moving. You
know the guys Sloane got word Nat was still alive? They’re out in droves,
searching for Nat’s whereabouts. It’s not safe here, at the Academy. It’s not
safe at Summer’s house. Is there anyone staying there at the moment?”

I shook my head. “No, Rachel and my mother
left yesterday for San Francisco.”

“We’ll make it so they stay there right now.”

“Mom is there for a while anyways, but
Rachel…”

“Rachel is into Astor Fairway?” Lamar asked.

“How do you know?” I asked.

“Most girls are…” Lamar smiled wryly. “Even
my 7 year-old.”

I couldn’t help but smile.

“Astor is about to get called to San
Francisco for a sudden promo blitz for his upcoming film,” Lamar said.

“You could do that?” Drew asked.

“Like I said,” Lamar said, “I make things
happen.” Lamar grabbed hold of the handcuff holding Nat to the chair and with
one swift kick from his boots, broke it off. “Come on, guys,” he said. Clean up
whatever needs cleaning to show you weren’t just here. Leave no trace.”

He produced some rags from his bag, sprayed
it with some cleaning agent and handed it to Drew. “Wipe the ground clean from
where Sloane fell. And everywhere there is some blood, then put it in this trash
bag.”

“Summer, go clean up your computer. Better
yet,” Lamar went to the computer, unplugged it, and handed it to Nat. “Carry
this. We’ll take whatever that can have personal imprint on there with us. Who
knows what these guys will go through. How fast can Donovan Dynamics get here
to install your newest baddest high-tech security system?”

“They’re
coming tonight,” Drew said. “I’ll text them to come faster.”

“Right
away,” Lamar said. Lamar produced a plastic sheet from his bag, and wrapped
Sloane’s body in it. He hoisted him up and carried him to the lobby where there
were standees of popular actors. He carried two of the standees and went out.