Blind Love (Sulfur Heights Series) (40 page)

He leans down
, planting a kiss on my forehead. As the wooden doors open, he says, “Nothing at all, pumpkin. I’ve said nothing at all.” Then we start to step toward my future.

The traditional wedding march begins to play and I am greeted by a church filled with people. Everyone is staring at me with huge smiles on their faces and at the end of the aisle is
Emerson. He looks handsome in his black suit and white silk tie. He stands confident with his hands to his sides and not a single hair out of place.

As my dad guides me up the aisle
, my brain begins to run wild with thoughts. Is this what I really want? Will I be happy with Emerson or will I spend my life regretting that I haven’t taken the risk into the blind unknown with Jake? Do I really want to live like my mother in this pre-manufactured world where everything is planned, perfect and boring? Do I really want to lose the greatest friend I’ve ever had because he’s not like everyone else; he’s not the perfect man by society’s standards? Can I really live my life without him in it? Of course I love him. From the moment we met, Jake and I have always been in each other’s lives one way or another.

Before I can finish my thought, my dad is kissing me on the cheek
before he whispers in my ear, “Happy, pumpkin, that’s all I want you to be.” He kisses me again and then he hands me over to Emerson.

We are standing in front of the minister, but I hear nothing. All I can do is see. And what I see is disturbing. Everyone sitting in the audience, including my family, is fake. The smiles plastered on their faces show how plastic everyone really is and how I will be exactly like them if I choose to follow through with this marriage.

Then I close my eyes and the only thing I want to see, want to feel, is Jake. That’s when I know he’s holding the best parts of me. He is my happiness. There would be no regrets because I can feel from every part of my soul he’s the man I’m supposed to be with—the only person I want to be with. I want to be the girl who’s adventurous and spontaneous and worshipped. The only person who’s ever made me feel that way is Jake.

Jake.

Dammit! I’m such a fool!

What the hell am I doing?

Before my mind can register another thought, my feet are moving toward the exit. I don’t bother to look at anyone as the appalled gasps fill the church. I keep myself running toward my destiny, toward my happiness. I push open the heavy door when the rain connects with my skin, chilling it instantly. It’s raining so hard that the water is drowning the sidewalk, but I step onto the concrete, taking that first step into the blind future with the man I am destined to be with. The man I love and the man who will always be my now and forever.

Chapter 29

Jake

I’m standing in the garage
, staring at a grease stained couch with a fresh twenty-four pack by my side. With the garage door open, I can hear thunder rolling in the distance and I anticipate the rain. Ever since my childhood, I’ve loved rainstorms and would look at the sky for hours as the lightning and thunder would pass over our house. It’s always fascinated me.

I find an old lawn chair and set it behind the Challenger, but keep myself under the overhang of the garage roof. The Challenger isn’t the same now that Jeremy is not here standing behind it.
This car is as much a part of him as his own heart, and to sit here and stare at it, pisses me off.

Earlier today, Reggie and I went to the courthouse to attend Jeremy’s sentencing. Since Jeremy
had plead guilty to the felony drug charges, there was no trial and the system skipped right to the punishment. Tom Willington warned us that the state was pushing for the maximum punishment because Jeremy had refused to snitch on his business partners. We were bracing ourselves for the worst—ready to hear twenty years imprisonment
—
but the judge came back to give Jeremy a ten year maximum sentence with the chance for parole after three years. Reggie and I were pleased with the result even though it’s still a long fucking time to be without your brother, but the judge took Jeremy’s clean record into account and took it easy on him.

Drake’s
Chevelle comes barreling up the driveway and then he pulls it over to the other side of the garage, parking it alongside the Challenger inside. I look over at my brother and recognize the transformation that has taken over. Before, Drake was a content, optimistic guy who would have been always smiling and happy. The evil of this place has finally gotten to him, making him hard and cold. He rarely smiles, and when he does, it’s because Mia has asked for it. His muscles are always tense and the weight of the world is burdening his shoulders. Not even Presley’s drug situation transformed him this much, he still held onto hope and forgiveness. Now all of that is gone.

Drake pulls over a chair and sits next to me as we wait for the storm to come. “Park and
rise?”

I smile for the first time in weeks and toss him a beer. “Hell
, yeah.” The air is quiet between us and I try to muster up an appropriate conversation starter. I chug the first beer down before I open my mouth to speak. “So, how’s work going?”

Drake rolls his eyes and takes a big swig from his beer. “Really? Of all the shit we can talk about you want to know how work
’s going?”

“Jesus, I was trying to be considerate
,” I snap back.

“Well
, don’t be. So much has changed for the worse, the last thing I want is for you to go soft on me because of my situation.” Drake empties his beer and I reach into the carton, pulling out another for the both of us.

“Thank fucking
God. I’m not used to this sugarcoating shit.” I pop the tab and take a large gulp of ale. It’s ice cold and burns with every sip, but damn does it taste good.

“Jeremy got sentenced today.” Drake’s jaw tightens and he squeezes his half empty beer can until it starts to wrinkle. “He
got ten years, possibility of parole after three.”

“Well
, that’s good, I guess, for him, but he could rot in hell for all I care.” The disdain laces his voice and the hurt flashes in his eyes.

“Look
, man, I know you hate Jeremy and you have every right to. What’s happened with him is fucked up, but you have to know it was never his intention for Presley to get killed. He loved her like we all did.”

“Yeah, well
, it doesn’t make me hate him less.” Drake’s murderous eyes connect with mine and I take my cue to drop the subject. He’s been a ticking time bomb and the day he’s rubbed the wrong way is the day someone will feel all the pain he has inside.

Several minutes go by and the rain we’ve been waiting for finally starts to fall. I take a deep breath in, smelling the rain and
soon I’m reminded of easier times. Times where Jeremy and I would run through the puddles on the street while flashes of lightning light up the night sky.

Times where the pain from all the bruises my mother
had put on my body had been suppressed and I momentarily was taken away from everything.

Drake and I drink two more beers when he finally breaks the silence. “Talk to Delilah lately?”

It’s a question I’m not prepared for. Like the fucking idiot I am, I’ve called her when I succumbed to the weakness of my family’s situation and the need to hear her voice. “Yeah, I talked to her last night. Told her about Carter’s arrest.”

“You’re a goddamn moron. You know that, right?” Drake tosses his empty beer can at me and I toss him another. Our
case is dwindling down to nothing. “Just because I’ve been going through some heavy shit doesn’t mean I’m completely out of it. What the fuck happened between you guys?”

“What happens when I’m always with women, I fuck them and leave. I fucked her
, then she left.”

When I called her last night, I knew she was getting married today. A small ounce of hope I was hanging onto told me she was going to come back to me. That she would drop everything in her life to find her way back to mine.

I look down at my watch and realize it’s eleven o’clock at night. She’s been married for seven hours and is probably on her way to fuck her new husband on their honeymoon. In a bout of rage I take the full can of beer in my hand and chuck it as hard as possible against the side of the house, denting the siding. It connects with a loud thump and explodes with white foam.

Drake stares at me for a moment
then grabs another beer out of the carton. “Like I said, a goddamn moron. You’ve had her hooked the first night you met, and now look at you, torn up over a woman you can’t have.”

“Fuck off
, man. You don’t think I know that? She got married today and any shred of hope we could have of being together is gone.” I crack open my sixth beer and chug it down. I’m feeling slightly buzzed, but nothing like my whiskey buzz. “Now I’m a sorry, pathetic fuck like you. No offense.”

Drake claps me on the back and laughs slightly
, something we haven’t done in weeks. The sound is nice and gives me hope of happiness for him. “None taken, brother.”

We continue to shoot the shit for another few minutes
, steering clear of the heavy topics, and choose to talk about the boring, mundane shit. When a car pulls into the street, parking right in front of our driveway, blocking anyone from coming or going, Drake and I stand immediately. The feeling in our gut must be the same as we set down our beers and get ready for a battle.

When the driver’s door opens
, white fabric catches in the wind and I’m nearly brought to my knees when a goddess in white comes floating up the driveway.

Delilah

All I have to say is thank freaking
God for technology.

After I left Emerson at the altar, I pulled out my phone and activated the Priceline app on my iPhone. When Presley was pregnant with Mia
, I added the app, checking constantly on the flights. In the fifteen minute cab ride, I was able to secure the last flight from Memphis to Detroit, which included a rental car. My plane departed in less than an hour. I had the cab driver make a quick detour at the hotel so I could get my purse and overnight bag. I didn’t bother changing my clothes, it took two people to get me in this dress, I’m sure it will take just as many to get me out and I don’t have time for that. I stopped by the ATM in the hotel lobby, pulling out some cash, then I whisked away to the airport.

I barely
made it through security when I heard the final boarding call for my flight. I ran as fast as I could, my veil and dress flowing behind me. When the plane took off, I took the opportunity to rehearse what I would say to Jake. For the first time in my life, I ignored the looks I was getting from strangers and smiled, knowing this was the start of my life and I had no idea if it would even turn out.

The rain is horrible when I pull into Sulfur Heights
at the Evans’ home, my heart starts to beat wildly in my chest. Before I can second guess myself, I step from the car and into the rain. My skin instantly puckers with goose bumps and I kick my shoes into the gutter as I walk up the driveway then yank my veil from my head. The wind catches the tulle and lace and begins to dance in the air.

Drake and Jake stand in the garage as I finish the long walk up the driveway. The chill of my skin evaporates the moment his intense eyes connect with mine. Electricity
, present from day one, heats my insides, awakening a thousand butterflies in my stomach. I stand in the rain, not moving another inch, and he doesn’t move or smile, either. He just remains stock still with his feet frozen to the garage floor. His eyes are intense, almost pleading to hear what I have to say.

Drake clears his throat and utters a small hi
as he walks quickly through the rain and up the back steps.

I remain where I stand and pull a fifty dollar bill from the cup in my bra. “You won
,” I whisper, finding it hard to make my voice come out.

Jake meets me out in the rain, face still cold and expressionless. “What do you mean?”

“The bet in Vegas; you bet me fifty bucks you would be the best kiss I’d ever had and you won.” I put the wet money in his hand. Jake looks down at our hands touching and for a moment he holds it there. I enjoy the heat that always comes when we touch.

Jake’s face transforms back into his typically cold expression
as he pulls his hand away from mine. “Sorry you had to come all this way to give me fifty bucks. You should have mentioned it in the hotel room and saved yourself the trouble.” He starts to walk away from me and I instantly become desperate. I cannot let him walk away from me without knowing my true feelings. He needs to know I left Emerson at the altar so I can be with him.

“Jake!” I scream over the sound of the pounding rain. He stops
, but doesn’t turn around, only stands with his rigid back to me. “I didn’t marry him!”

Jake turns to face me, but his face still remains expressionless. “Again
, I’m sorry you had to come all this way to tell me, cupcake. Don’t forget to buckle up when you leave.”

Jake starts to walk away from me and begins to stomp up the back stairs. Running toward him
, I grab a hold of his arm, yanking him back to me. Jake jerks his arm from my hold, eyes murderous when he meets them with mine. “No! I won’t let you leave. Did you hear what I said? I left him.”