Stolen Wishes (7 page)

“Any word from lover boy?”

“He texted me to let me know his grandma had
roped him into a card game and he’d try to stop by later.”

“He’s with his grandma!” she howls,
outraged.

“No way!” I hear in the background. Hanna,
no doubt.

Normally, I wouldn’t be bothered by Will
playing cards with his grandma instead of spending the evening with
me. Because William is just that kind of guy. He plays poker with
his grandmother and her friends every week or so. I’ve never gone
(though he’s tried to convince me on several occasions), but from
what I gather, the women get rowdy drunk and play a cutthroat
game.

But it’s our one-year anniversary, and I had
hoped for more. I’d planned for more. I guess this is what I get
for not reminding him of the date. Honestly, I didn’t think I
needed to, and it hurts, realizing how wrong I’d been.

“You need to call him and let him know how
disappointed you are,” Lizzy says. “If you don’t, I will.”

“Please don’t.” I walk over to the window
and look outside, half expecting to see him waiting with roses and
a smile. “It’s not that big of a deal.”

“Liar,” she says.

“You know how his grandmother can be. I’m
sure she laid on quite the guilt trip, and he didn’t feel like he
could leave her.”

“But it’s your
anniversary,
” Lizzy
whines.

The sound of dishes crashing echoes down the
hallway from the kitchen. Shit. Mom must be cooking drunk again. “I
have to go,” I say quickly. “I’ll call you later.”

“You better,” she says.

I hang up and slide the phone into my pocket
before heading to the sound. I’m met in the kitchen with the sight
of my mother putting dishes into boxes. My heart skitters to a
stop. “What are you doing?”

“I’m packing.” She looks up at me and
smiles. It’s a real smile. Not one of those Vicodin-laced plastic
ones. Her eyes are clear, like maybe she’s sober for the first time
in months. “You girls and I are about to begin an adventure. A new
life in Las Vegas.”

“What are you talking about?” Maybe she is
high. She’s not even making sense.

“In a few weeks, we’re moving to Las Vegas.
Aren’t you the luckiest teen in the world?” She grins at me like
she really believes what she’s saying.

“I’m not moving anywhere. My life is
here.
You can’t seriously expect me to just throw away
everything because you want to follow some whim.”

Glass clatters as she slams the platter
she’s holding onto the counter. “This isn’t a whim. This is me
taking control of my life, making something of it. That’s what you
told me you wanted, right?”

“I didn’t mean—”

“You know, your sisters are excited. Don’t
ruin this for them.”

My sisters are too young to understand what
moving away means. “What about Dad?” I manage.

She winces then hides her face behind tissue
paper as she resumes packing. “He’s the reason this is happening.
He wanted to quit his job and go on some spiritual quest in Bali. I
decided it was as good a time as any for us to divorce. We haven’t
been happy together in a long time. This divorce is giving us what
we both want.”

“Well, I’m staying here.” My voice sounds
pathetic, desperate.

“You’ll love it in Vegas. The lights, the
excitement. It will be a fresh start for all of us. Everybody
wins.” Her smile doesn’t look so sure anymore, though.

“Except me,” I whisper. “I don’t win. I
don’t
want
a fresh start.”

“Well, it’s time you grow up enough to
understand things aren’t always going to go your way.”

Fear sits like a stone in the bottom of my
stomach. It leaks its toxins into my limbs, making my arms and legs
heavy. I can’t move. I’m frozen in this spot until she fixes what
she’s broken. Until she unsays what she just told me.

“Don’t look at me like that. I deserve
happiness too.”

“You’re hijacking my life. You get that,
right? You’re taking something good and destroying it for your own
purposes. That’s the opposite of what a mother is supposed to
do.”

Her eyes fill as she stares at me, and I
feel like I’ve just slapped her. “I know I haven’t been a good
mother, but I’ve done what had to be done. The girls at the bowling
alley told me what the boys at school said about you, the rumors
they spread.”

“One boy spread one rumor. It’s over
now.”

“I know that’s my fault. I’m doing something
right for once. I’m cleaning up and fixing my life. I’ve met
someone and I’m ready to move on. So either help me pack or go to
your room.”

“You’re going to change your mind,” I say,
maybe more for myself than her. “Packing is a waste of time.”

I wander back to my room in a daze and shut
the door behind me. The soft knocking on my bedroom window pulls my
attention from my thoughts. In the darkness, I can barely make out
William’s face on the other side of the glass.

My chest hurts at the thought of leaving
him, but I push the ache aside—there’s no way Mom’s going through
with that—and hurry to open the window. “You have something against
the front door?” I ask.

He grins. “I didn’t want to wake up your
sisters.”

Just the sight of him makes me feel better.
His smile warms me all the ways down to my toes, and I return his
grin as his fingers lace through mine.

“How was poker night?” I ask, determined not
to let my disappointment from earlier ruin our time together
tonight.

“They’re still going, but I excused myself
after a couple hands.”

“By which you mean you’d already lost all
your money to the sharks?”

He chuckles. “Maybe I lost on purpose so I
could see my girlfriend.”

Oh, God. It’s silly and childish, but I
don’t think I’ll ever get tired of him calling me that.

“Do you want to come in?” I ask. I want him
to.

“Nope. I want you to come with me.”

I squelch my disappointment and climb out
the window to join him. I’d been thinking of locking the door and
lying with him in my bed, touching, kissing, letting things go too
far. I’m ready to go too far.

He helps me hop down from the window and
onto the grass. Unlike when we started dating at this time last
year, the weather has been warm. And tonight the sky is so clear,
the thick crescent of moon is enough to light the night.

“I missed you.” He steps closer and places
his hands on my hips before lowering his mouth to mine. His kiss
starts patient and slow. When I fist my hand in his hair and press
my body against his, it changes, growing hungry and impatient. When
we break the kiss, we’re both breathing heavily.

“You sure you don’t want to come into my
room?” I say, grasping on to my courage before it fizzles away.
“You could lie down with me.”
On me.
The idea of the weight
of his body on mine sends a shiver through me. The good kind that
has my imagination on fire.

He groans, fingers curling hard into my
hips. “You’re killing me, Cally. If I didn’t know better, I’d think
you wanted me to break your rules.”

“Rules were meant to be broken.”

He blinks at me. “Are you sure?”

Am I? My heart slams in my chest. Nerves.
Anticipation. Desire, low and heavy in my stomach and sinking to
between my thighs. What if this is my last chance? What if Mom is
serious about Vegas?

He kisses me hard, his hands tightening
their hold. “I don’t need everything. I just need you.”

I turn to lead him back to my window, and he
stops me.

“Not here.” He pulls a silky black necktie
from his pocket and offers it to me. “Put this on?”

Laughter slips so unexpectedly from my lips
that I throw my hand over my mouth, afraid I might have woken the
girls. “Aren’t we missing some steps between kissing and
bondage?”

He steps toward me and takes the tie from my
hands, settling it around my eyes. “Trust me.” He presses a kiss to
my nose, and then he’s taking my hand and leading me—somewhere.

“Okay, but I’m just going to tell you now
that I don’t think we’re ready for handcuffs yet.”

His soft laughter mingles on the night air
with the song of the frogs.

“Where are we going?”

“Patience, grasshopper. You’ll see soon
enough.”

I’m quiet for what feels like forever as we
walk. Nerves knot in my belly and every so often he squeezes my
fingers. I try to guess where we are from the turns and the sounds
of traffic, but New Hope after dark isn’t exactly a hopping
place.

Finally, we stop. “We’re here,” he says.

“Hmm. And where’s here?”

He releases my hand, and I feel him press a
kiss to the top of my head. “Stay right there.”

I listen carefully as I wait. I can hear him
rustling around with something. Maybe the tinkling of glass.
Something clicking. And then, behind all that, I make out the water
splashing softly against something. I grin. “We’re at the
river.”

“Don’t go ruining my surprise,” he murmurs
as he releases the tie on my blindfold. When he slides away the
fabric, I open my eyes.

“Oh.”

We’re on an old boat dock behind one of the
closed factories on Main Street, and he’s laid out a picnic on the
concrete. Atop a red-and-white checked blanket sit two fat pillar
candles. Their flames wink against two empty wine glasses. A glass
serving platter is piled with crackers, cheese, grapes. Next to it
sits a bottle of light pink liquid. “Is that wine?”

He grins. “Don’t tell Grandma, but I snagged
one of her bottles from the basement. It’s strawberry.” He takes my
hand. “Join me?”

We settle onto the blanket, and he takes a
slice of pear and tops it with soft cheese. Bringing it to my
mouth, he whispers, “Try it.”

My lips close around his fingers as I take
the bite into my mouth. His blue eyes grow darker, smoky, and he
goes for more. I let him feed me. Grapes, olives, cheese, crackers
so thin and buttery they melt on my tongue. Every bite is a
decadent discovery, and somehow his feeding me seems more erotic
than kissing.

When he stops to pour the wine, I look
around. I can see why he brought me here. It’s the perfect view of
the river and, above it, the stars.

“What did I do to deserve this?” I ask.

He hands me a glass. I drink, smiling when
the sweetness explodes on my tongue. I’ve never had wine before,
and I like how it sends warmth sinking into my belly.

“This is your reward for putting up with me
for twelve months.”

He remembered.

My chest tightens, like there isn’t enough
room to contain this feeling growing there. I don’t know what to
say, so I kiss him. I press my mouth against his and slide my
fingers into his hair. He tastes like fruit and strawberry wine,
and I move closer as our tongues touch.

When he moans against my mouth, I break the
kiss.

I wait until his eyes open and then lift the
shirt from my head. I set it to the side and watch him in the light
of the candles and the moon as he takes me in.

“I’m sorry it took me so long to get to you
tonight,” he says. “I wanted to get everything set up. I wanted it
to be perfect.”

“It is.”

He pulls at my hips, and I lie back on the
blanket, bare to the moon and stars and to William’s hungry eyes.
He sips his wine and gives me a mischievous grin before tipping his
glass and spilling a little puddle of it on the flat of my stomach.
The liquid runs in cool rivulets over my belly and down my sides,
but he dips his head and opens his mouth to the puddle. His tongue
is hot, and shivers race through me as he licks away the sticky
liquid, leaving my skin damp and hot in the night air.

I need to tell him about mom, about her
packing, but I don’t want to believe what she told me, and telling
him makes it too real. Tonight, being here with him is all I need.
Giving voice to my mother’s crazy ideas would ruin everything, so
instead I say, “Touch me.”

***

William

“
Rules were meant to be broken.”

I don’t think I’ve recovered from her
speaking those words. Because the only thing I’ve wanted more than
to break her rules was for her to ask me to.

Sliding my hands slowly up her thighs, I
part her legs and kneel between them on the blanket.

“Come here,” she says, reaching for me.

“I’ll get there. Be patient.” I circle her
navel with my thumb, watching her face as the sensation whips
through her. Her eyes float closed and she arches toward my touch.
Then I replace my thumb with my mouth and trace an invisible path
across her belly. She gasps, lifts her hips, and draws up her
knees. I love that I can do this to her, love how she responds so
completely to every touch.

I slide my hands up her torso and cup her
breasts. They’re so beautiful and I want her out of that bra so I
can suck her nipples into my mouth.

“Cute,” I murmur, running my fingers over
the soft cotton of her bra. Cally likes underwear, so the Thompson
twins bought her a whole load of it for Christmas. Some cute, some
silky, some lacy. Watching her pull each piece from the gift bag
after Christmas had made me lose my mind as I imagined what it
would look like on her. This bra is covered with little penguins
wearing top hats. “I’m guessing the underwear matches?”

Her eyes flash as they connect with mine.
“Hmm…maybe you should find out.”

My heart trips in my chest. I want to take
off those jeans and see what she looks like in her panties. I want
to cup her between her legs. To feel her there. I want more. “Are
you sure?”

She lifts her hips. A tease. An invitation.
A request.

Leaning forward, I press my mouth against
her collarbone and kiss my way down her body. Placing an
open-mouthed kiss over each nipple, I suck at her through the
cotton until she cries out. I kiss along her ribs and over her
navel. And when I reach the button on her jeans, I watch her as my
shaky hands unbutton. I keep my eyes on her deep brown ones and
draw the snug denim off her hips and down her legs.