Love Hurts (11 page)

“
I just woke up,” he said, staying totally motionless trying to call her bluff.

“
Is that a rule? Do you have a rule that you can’t kiss people in the morning?” She bit her lip, drawing it inward. She helped herself, wrapping her arms around his neck. “Will you please just let us kiss and get this over with?”

Frankie scanned her eyes. “I don’t ask for things. I take them.”

Dylan smiled, understanding the game he was playing. She pulled him close. Showing him she wasn’t afraid to take what she wanted. She planted her lips against his, running her fingers through the back of his hair. An unhurried supple kiss, little by little turned into a quicker more erotic one between them, one that set her skin on fire with ecstasy. Her fingers trembled as they met up with Frankie’s face, she pulled away, studying Frankie as if she wanted to ask him something but didn’t know how to form the words.

Frankie stared into her intoxicated eyes. Intoxicated with something she was completely ignorant of. He guided her by the chin back to his lips enjoying the feel of her lips too much to heed his internal warning. They crashed into the counter. Frankie lifted her helping her take her shirt off. He groped her breast, repeatedly kissing her, shoving the coffee pot out of the way, ready for the next step.

Dylan broke their lip lock, letting out a panicked gasp. “What is going on?” She lifted her head, allowing Frankie access to her neck. “You’re intoxicating.”

“
So are you. It’s uncanny.” He grabbed hold of her panties ready to tear them into shreds to get to her faster, her skin stimulating every inch of him. Dylan wrapped her legs around his waist pulling him closer.

Frankie smiled at her unique talent of using her feet to take down his pants.

“
Do you want to go in my bedroom?” Frankie asked—out of breath—in between kisses.

Dylan shook her head, taking hold of his back, begging for him to just put her out of her misery and give her what she wanted—more than life at the moment. Her whole body was dying for Frankie. Like he was some insatiable drug that she just realized she couldn’t live without. “What are you doing?”

Frankie pulled away. “I don’t know that we should do this.” He cursed himself. What was he doing? He knew he should be doing this. He wanted to do this. Parts of him would hate him if he didn’t do this. He touched her stomach, caressing his fingers against the skin, his body hurting.

Dylan’s worried expression made him mad. He wasn’t Sam. He could do this. It didn’t matter to him this girl was special. He told himself it didn’t matter as he took hold of her legs and entered her, pulling her to him. She dropped her head back, enjoying the moment. Frankie watched her, warily trying to control himself as he lifted her from the counter, her body going to work all on its own, she held tight to his neck as her back met the kitchen floor. Frankie kept up with Dylan until he knew she was satisfied. And then he quickly stopped, pulling away and standing up, afraid to look at her again.

“
That was amazing,” She gushed from below. Frankie winced, not expecting to hear her say anything at all.

“
Your okay?” he asked. Dylan sat up, a look of misunderstanding on her face.

“
Of course I’m okay. I feel better than ever. You don’t look happy. Do you want me to help you out?” She reached for him, but he pulled away. “Are you alright?”

Frankie studied her very closely, pushing her long hair away from her eyes, really looking into her eyes. To Dylan she probably thought he was being gentle and worried. But he was merely trying to figure out why she hadn’t dropped dead. He kissed her lips, pulling away and watching yet again for some sort of effect. Dylan smiled, kissing him back, unaware of Frankie’s distress.

“
Let’s go into your bedroom,” she coaxed, taking his hand.

Frankie followed behind her still uncertain.

A promise

Sam anxiously sat in the car while Delaney went to get Rose from her hotel room. He tapped his fingers quickly against the steering wheel. This was hard for him. Being so near Rose knowing what he did was hard. He feared she would come clean and tell Delaney everything. And when he started thinking about all of this he was slowly sliding back into the feeling of doom. The one he had forgot about until the mention of Rose.

His eyes wandered the length of the parking lot for Delaney and Rose. But when he only saw Rose his stomach knotted as he watched her hurriedly approaching. Sam let out a sigh that only he was aware of as he watched her rush to his car. He hit the locks, allowing her admission. She climbed in the front seat.

“
Delaney needed to fax something. The lobby has a fax machine, so I told her to go ahead and do it while she was here.” Rose explained, keeping her gaze forward. She didn’t want to lay eyes on Sam.

Sam was uncertain what to say to her. He released the steering wheel, resting his hands in his lap.

“
Why did you do it?” Rose blurted.

Sam stared at Rose in puzzlement. “I don’t know what you mean.” He did, but he wasn’t sure if any normal girl would question the attacker’s motives. Or even be courageous enough to be sitting next to him alone again.

Rose took a deep breath and forced herself to look at Sam. She could see it in his eyes. He didn’t want to talk to her about any of this. But she had to know. She told herself that maybe she would be able to sleep better at night knowing why Sam tried to kill her.

Maybe a reason from Sam would be enough to feel better about holding in such a fatal secret from her best friend as well.

“
Say something,” Rose pushed, looking to the hotel doors for any sign of Delaney.

Sam swallowed. “I don’t know. I have no idea what was going on in my mind that day.”

“
Something had to of been for you to want to kill me, Sam. You thought you killed me. The second you saw me at the party I knew you thought you killed me. Why would you want to kill me, Sam?” Rose felt an eerie amount of dread scorching her conscious. She felt a bit dizzy like the world was about to cave in.

“
I don’t know. I just told you I don’t know. I wasn’t in my right mind. I was angry. Not at you, I was just angry.” Sam’s breathing quickened. “I am sorry, Rose. I can imagine what I’ve done to you. But what could I possibly do or say that is going to fix anything?” He really wanted to know. If he knew, maybe things could be different for both of them.

Rose let out a laugh, but not one of amusement. “Say you won’t marry her.”

“
No,” Sam said without delay. He shifted in his seat, taking hold of the steering wheel again, angry that Rose would suggest such a thing.

“
You could hurt her like you hurt me.”

“
I would never hurt her. And I am not going to call things off because of this. I am not the same person,” Sam told her, shooting her a look of resentment which he regretted right away. It wasn’t helping him prove his point.

“
Then what is wrong with me? Why would you want to hurt me but not her?” Rose asked shooting another rushed looked at the doors. “Tell me what I did wrong. Tell me so I can help Rose, Sam.”

Sam pounded his fist on the dashboard, taking hold of Rose’s arm. He squeezed her flesh, anger pumping his heart quicker and quicker as he stared into her frightened and traumatized eyes. “This is not about you or me. I don’t know why I did what I did. It wasn’t you. I just wish you would get it through your head that I would never hurt Delaney. And leave it alone.” He released Rose’s arm at the sight of Delaney exiting the lobby.

Rose touched her arm, the memory of Sam flashing through her mind. She dropped her head back against the seat. “If she so much as calls me and tells me you and her were fighting about what takeout to order I will tell her. So, I don’t know if you can keep up your end of the deal, but I will keep up mine. Think long and hard about marrying Delaney because I will always be here to out you when it’s needed. And I will this time. I will not let Delaney go through what I went through because of you.”

Sam stayed quiet, watching Delaney get closer. He furiously flexed his jaw, his foot tapping the gas. Luckily the car was in park or they would have crashed into the side of the hotel he thought.

“
Hey you two,” Delaney said cheerful. Rose got out of the front seat, “Everything alright?”

Delaney settled in next to Sam. She gave him a look, wondering why she felt an enormous amount of tension in the car suddenly. Rose leaned forward, throwing her hand on Delaney’s shoulder. She squeezed. “Everything is wonderful, Laney. Did you get that fax done?”

Different versions of Love

Dylan let out a giggle taking a bite of the pizza in her hand. She dropped the pizza back into the box, dropping back against Frankie’s headboard. “This is really amazing.”

Frankie nodded, chewing. He stopped the movie they were watching. “I told you greasy dives like Panini’s are incredible.” He tossed his crust, wiping his hands on a napkin, leaning back against his headboard. Dylan and him had been spending time together. The first visit wasn’t her last—in fact, there were probably around a half a dozen now. But Frankie was oblivious of the pattern picking up between the two of them. He enjoyed hanging out with her. He never took the time to get to know anybody before. And it was a bit amusing to him to hear about other people’s lives.

“
So tell me again why your boyfriend cheated on you,” Frankie said, shooting her a scheming smile. Dylan smirked herself, stuffing the dangling cheese into her mouth. She gestured with one finger for him to wait, patting her mouth with a napkin.

“
He said I wasn’t serious enough for him.” She frowned, and then shook her head. “I’m serious enough when I have to be. I also had a boyfriend who dumped me because I was sick. This was back in high school.”

Frankie trailed his fingers down her leg, working his fingers to her knee and back up again. Even watching her eat enthralled him in a weird way. She was alluring and he wasn’t afraid to admit that. He didn’t think that made him weak or pathetic. “What kind of sick? Why were you sick?”

Dylan dropped down, resting her head on Frankie’s abdomen, her hazel eyes staring up at him. “I had to have a kidney transplant. I got really sick my sophomore year. My brother gave me his kidney. How cool is that?”

Frankie stroked her hair. He enjoyed the way it draped all around him, the feel of it, and her scent. He shook his head, trying to shake his mind out of the gutter. “I suppose that is a pretty cool thing for someone to do. I guess your brother thought you were worth it. I don’t know if my brother would ever do something like that for me.” Frankie stared off.

Dylan poked at his mouth with her fingers. He kissed them in response, making her smirk. “You don’t give yourself enough credit. I’m sure he would.”

“
I don’t need to give myself credit. I know who I am. I don’t sugarcoat things.” Frankie flipped the movie back on tired of talking about nonsense.

Dylan poked his mouth again. “Who are you?”

Frankie raised an eyebrow. “You don’t want to know.”

“
What if I do?” Dylan asked.

Frankie shook his head. Wondering why girls were always so inexperienced and ready to fall head over heels for any guy. “Then that would mean you probably have a lot of issues of your own. Knowing a guy like me will get you nowhere.”