Here For You (2 page)

“I know,” I whispered, even though I really knew he was going to be behind a bush with someone tonight since I wouldn’t be around him the whole time. Some of these girls still drooled over him, the ones that had never left this town. Whenever he was around it was like it was their number one priority to get in his pants, rather than the other way around. And let’s face it, he
is
a man, he’ll just lie back and enjoy the blow. Trying to erase the image I’d just placed in my head, I decided to finish the rest of my makeup.

After James finally left my house I was more than eager to go to this Fourth of July party in town. I mean, I wouldn’t be by myself, I’d be with Grey, but I couldn’t help wonder who James would be with? I guess that thought wasn’t going to leave my mind anytime soon.

Grey rang me earlier to let me know he was going to pick me up at 8:30pm. It was now 7:45pm. Thank goodness I’d done my makeup when James was here, so all I had to do was my hair and get dressed. I went into my closet, pulling out a pair of black skinny jeans, a white crop top, and my black, leather, biker jacket that James had bought me for my 18
th
birthday. He rode a motorcycle and when I first saw him in his leather jacket I told him he had to buy one for me. Of course I was just joking, but James being James still got it. It was all black, almost similar to his only his had a red interior with two stripes going down the back whereas mine was solid purple inside.

I’m sure he’d love that I was wearing it. I made sure to pair my outfit with my classic black Toms. Since we were going to be on dirt I didn’t want to wear heels that would sink into the ground. That would not be a pretty sight. But I knew some of the girls would still be wearing heels anyway.
Idiots
.

Feeling comfortable with my outfit, I left the jacket on my bed before I sat in front of my vanity, deciding what to do with my hair. It was long, dark brown and wavy, so after shampooing and conditioning I passed the blower through it and put it into a nice, messy bun, allowing some of my hair to escape from the sides. As I was putting on my silver studs my phone rang. I already knew who it was.

“Hey, Grey,” I said checking myself in the mirror one last time, happy with the end result.

“Hey, Becca. I’m downstairs,” he informed me.

“Okay, I’ll be right down.” I made a kiss sound to the phone and hung up. Going across the hall, I entered my dad’s room, finding him under the blankets watching TV. It seemed to be all he did lately. After being looked up and down and asked a million questions about where I was going, I was finally able to get out of the house.

Grey drove a red pickup truck, which he has had for like,
ever
, but he kept it in good condition. I could appreciate a well-kept car when I saw one. Unless the driver was drunk, which I was praying he wouldn’t be tonight, because
I
was planning to get wasted.

The door squeaked when I opened it before sitting down. Looking toward Grey, I saw that he was leaning forward to plant a kiss. He had perfect lips, nice and full. Kissing him was always a plus. He was what I believed to be an amazing kisser and definitely one of the top reasons I was with him. As he deepened the kiss his tongue slipped in further, making me moan slightly.

Pulling away, he looked into my eyes with a thought clearly running through his mind. “I missed you,” he said, smiling to me before putting the car in drive.

I reached for his hand and held it, letting him know that the feeling was mutual. “I missed you too, Grey.”

His hands were smooth and soft; the opposite of James. Grey worked at a law firm as an attorney so the only thing he did with his hands was type and write. Actually, everything about him was the opposite to James. He had short, black hair, almost buzz cut, dark green eyes, and he was pretty tall, around six feet or over. He had a very nice body, it wasn’t a six-pack abs festival, but it was average and sexy in its own way. He was wearing dark blue jeans with a grey t-shirt. I had to admit he looked really good, but not only was he good-looking, he was very smart as well. Sometimes too smart for his own good, one of those people that if the pen is black and writes black he would say it’s blue. Truly fucking annoying sometimes.

He let go of my hand for a second to scratch his cheeks before placing them back. “So how was your day, pumpkin?” Grey knew I hated when he called me childish names. It was always pumpkin, buttercup, or sweetie pie. It’s just that I’d never heard someone else call their girlfriend ‘
buttercup’
. I felt like yelling, “Just call me Becca, baby, or sexy!” but then I would have felt bad. So I just let him call me whatever, as long as it wasn’t bitch, because then we’d have a problem.

I moved a piece of hair that was dancing in the wind behind my ear. “My day was normal. I cleaned the house, went to work…and James came over.” I said the last part rather quickly.

I looked at Grey to see if he was going to react. His jaw tensed a little before he spoke. “Oh really? That’s cool.”

Whenever I was around Grey I hated to mention James’ name. Everyone who didn’t know of mine and James friendship automatically thought we were having sex all the time. Grey had never been shy about asking whether James and I had slept together since he knew James visited often. I didn’t think it was going to bother him but he seemed to be very possessive at times. I kept assuring him that nothing ever happened with James, and it never would, but I didn’t want to lie to him, because James would be at the party tonight.

“Will he be at the party tonight?” Grey asked me as if reading my mind, gripping the wheel so tight that his knuckles turned white.

Did I really want to answer that question?
“Yeah, he’ll be at the party,” I informed him, reluctantly.

He just nodded his head while looking forward, not even passing a glance my way. It was Grey’s idea to come to the party and, like James, Grey would know almost everybody there, including his friends who were coming down to visit after they’d moved away since graduation.
 He knew I wasn’t much of a party girl but every once in awhile I didn’t mind.

The field where the party was wasn’t too far from my house, maybe a good twenty minutes or so. As we sat in the silence I stuck my head out of the open window a little to see the sky. The thing about being in a quiet town like this one is that you can see the stars. I loved the stars, sky, and clouds. I loved to lie down on the ground and just look up, not thinking, just drifting away from reality. My dad once told me that I’d always been obsessed with them, ever since I was a little girl. The one thing my dad always said was that whenever he was upset or feeling down he would just look up to the skies and smile. Whether rain or sunshine, day or night, the sky is always there for you, letting you know you’ve lived another day.

“Hey, we should just lie outside and watch the stars,” I said out loud to Grey, allowing my thoughts to filter out.

The car came to a stop. I looked down and realized that we were already here. Turning toward him, I watched as he pulled the key from the ignition. “Sounds nice, but I don’t like to lie on the floor, pumpkin.”

I pulled my eyebrows together. “We’d be lying on a blanket, of course.”

“Yeah, but we’d still be on the ground, right?” he muttered, putting a hand over the seat to look at me. Wow, he can be such an ass sometimes. I wanted to wipe that stupid smirk from his face.

I shook my head. I really couldn’t believe him. “Yeah, but still, we wou…”

But before I could finish my sentence he was already out of the car. “Come on, sweetie pie, I want to show you off.”

Chapter - 2

Becca

Walking toward Grey, he reached out for my hand, and I gave it him. He pulled me close so our joined hands were behind me, forcing me to look up at his tall frame. “You look so hot,” he told me, licking his lips.

But before he could plant a kiss on me I heard a familiar voice, loud and clear.

“Hey, guys! You finally made it.”

That’s when my heartbeat quickened.

I turned and saw James with a red cup in his hand. Someone didn’t waste any time drinking. Behind him were a few girls and a couple of guys that I recognized. I swore there was always someone around him; he truly was the life of the party.

Grey let go of my hand and made his way toward James who was leaning against his motorcycle, or ‘his baby’ as he called it. It was a beautiful 2012 Fz6r sports bike in all black with a sexy streak of red. When he left he saved up enough money to upgrade his old motorcycle to the beast behind him. After I finished eyeballing the bike I made eye contact with him. The look on his face was of utter shock.

He
 thought I threw this jacket out when he came down to visit. James had moved away but I didn’t think it was permanent, not until that night anyway. I was really upset when he told me he was staying away from this ‘
shithole,’
as he so blatantly called it. His life wasn’t terrible but he needed a change, to spread his wings, and just do something with his life. And apparently life was going good in Florida. I was really pissed at him, cursing and crying, so I threw the jacket in a trash bag and took it outside. When he saw me do that he stormed out of my house. But what he didn’t see was that when he rode off on his motorcycle I went to the trash to fetch my jacket. It was my favorite piece of clothing.
Ever
. Something from someone who deeply cared for me. My dad had always tried to give me everything he possibly could growing up, but it was tough with all the bills and shit. So this jacket was my baby. And I got the reaction I was looking for from him tonight; surprise mixed with a little happiness.

James looked away from me and finally acknowledged that Grey was walking towards him. When he got close enough they shook hands and patted each other’s backs. Men and their stupid greetings.

“What’s up, James? Becca told me you were in town.” Grey tried to do the small talk crap.
Ugh.
It was always that with him. He just loved the sound of his own voice. Besides, I didn’t know why he wanted to small talk with James anyway, maybe that ego pride shit.

James took a gulp of beer before talking. “Yeah, for the weekend holiday. You know how it is. What you been up to?”

James looked my way again, smiling. He was such a cocky bastard. As Grey was explaining about the law firm I noticed some chick that I’d never seen before come up and put her hands on James’ shoulder. I tried to avert my eyes somewhere else but I couldn’t help it. Her tongue was going up and down his earlobe. It didn’t seem to faze him as he continued talking to Grey. Some women are fucking disgusting. They don’t care who’s around or where they are. Shit, I bet if she could she’d have jumped his fucking bone right then, with everyone around.

Ugh.

You know, I needed to stop with this James thing. I was there with my boyfriend and it was time I started acting like it. Grey is the one I should be worried about, not James. I walked up to Grey, putting my arms through his and tugging him so he looked at me. James could care less about the nonsense Grey was talking about. What did James know about law and shit anyway? Grey finally stopped talking and looked at me like, ‘can’t you see I was in the middle of something?’

I looked at him, batting my eyelashes. “I want a drink, we should go get some,” I told him with my bottom lip sticking out. I could play the cute, seductive role. He ran his thumb across my lip before bending down to nip it. I knew he did that only because James was right there. But from the small growl that escaped his mouth I also knew he was horny, which in turn, turned me on.

Pulling back from my lips, he turned to James. When I looked at him, his strong jaw was tense, like he was grinding his teeth. Damn, he had the sexiest jaw I’d ever seen. What is it about men’s jaws? James knew I was looking at him, but he avoided making eye contact with me.

“We’re going to join the real party. Are you staying out here away from everyone?” Grey asked James. He didn’t have to come with us. He could join whenever he wanted to after he was done with slut number one. He shook his head, turning his attention back to the small crowd around him, so we turned around and made our way to the crowd of people.

In the middle of the party was a huge fire. Well, it wasn’t huge, but it was big enough to see. Nice and cozy if you asked me. I spotted where the kegs were and pointed them out to Grey, letting him know that I wanted one. He kissed the top of my head before making his way to the red cups. Looking around, I saw some people that I knew, some that I’d seen around and some new faces too. There weren’t too many people, maybe fifty or so.

Staying in the spot where Grey left me, I felt someone breathe on my neck. “He’s lucky I didn’t punch him,” he said a little too loud. I already knew who it was… James.

“What are you talking about?” I asked him. I had an idea as to why he’d said that, but I wanted him to elaborate on why he wanted to do it. He probably didn’t want to hear about his job or his small talk at that. Or maybe he didn’t want to see us kiss? No, that couldn’t be it.

He downed his beer before looking at me. It was that ‘you know why’ look.

I shrugged. I didn’t know why.

What the hell was taking Grey so long? When I looked to the area where he was the last time I checked he was no longer there. Scanning the crowd, I saw that he was talking to a few guys I’d never seen before. Fuck. Looks like he’d forgotten about my drink, and me.

“Here,” I heard and saw James’ hand, giving me a red cup. I grabbed it without protest and took a sip.

“Thanks,” I managed to mutter, then I spoke without thinking. “What happened to Earlobe Slut?”

He choked, lowering his cup and looking at me like I had two heads. “What does it matter? You have Mr. Awesome with his tongue down your throat.” He was being a smartass now.
What did it matter?
Grey was my boyfriend and all that any of these sluts wanted was a piece of James. But you know what? I was not here to argue with James. He was simply here on vacation and I was here with my boyfriend.

I finished the rest of my drink while Grey was still in the same spot, talking to those same guys. Great. He’d totally forgotten about me. Jackass. And he was still holding two cups in his hand, happily drinking his.

“What do you care anyway? He’s my boyfriend, James, you don’t need to go acting like the big brother.”

I saw someone walk by me with two cups and without thinking I snatched one out of her hands.

“What the fu…” she started to say but James spoke his smooth words, which made her smile. Fucking slut. I was halfway through the drink before Bimbo walked away to go get what I assumed was another drink.

“What the hell was that for, Becca?” James asked me. He knew me too well and I could tell he knew something was up, but I’d be damned if I was going to tell him.

I lowered my face from looking at him, finishing my second cup in record time. “I wanted another beer,” I told him, rather harshly before taking a large gulp. “Doesn’t matter anyway, she seemed to fancy you,” I said in my best British accent.

He laughed, put the cup to his lips and swallowed. I saw as the liquid went down his throat, the lump that made his Adam’s apple bobbing before going down. I couldn’t help but bite my lip as I thought about how nice it would be to lick from his collarbone, over his Adam’s apple and up to his chin.

What the hell? I couldn’t think about that, or him. I was here with my boyfriend.
My boyfriend damn it!
My boyfriend who was still talking with his friends. Throwing the cup on the floor, I turned away from James and made my way to Grey. When he saw me getting close he had a huge grin on his face.

“Hey, pumpkin,” he said, handing me my beer that was supposed to be in my hands about twenty minutes ago. “Here.” Eww, that shit was probably fucking warm. I just looked at his outstretched hand with the red cup then glared at him with a stern look. The grin that was painted on his face vanished.

He tilted his head to the side. “Sorry, Becca, I haven’t seen these guys in forever.” He pointed to the two guys in front of me.

I didn’t say anything to them or to Grey. I just took the beer and walked away, warm or not, hoping that he would come after me, which he failed to do. I found an empty rock that wasn’t housing anybody and sat down. The laughter and music were dancing around me.

My mind wandered and I started to muse about what other people were thinking. Do they feel what you feel at the same moment? Happy? Sad? Heartbroken? Do they wish their life were a little different? So many people with different expressions on their face and not one looked sad. They were all having a great time, trying to sing to music with slurs. Shit, I was right there with them. Might as well play along.

The beer was getting to me. I was a light drinker as it was, so when I had a couple in me I was pretty much done for. I stared down at the cup, my fourth or fifth, if I counted correctly. I had to admit, the feeling of being tipsy was quite soothing. Well, except for the slight scramble in my brain.

Out of nowhere, someone wrapped their arms around me. From the smell I could guess who it was, thankfully, or else I’d have freaked the fuck out. It was a very girly smell, like when you just get out of the shower and spray yourself with a fruity scent. I held my beer steady so it didn’t spill from the onslaught.

“Hey, Emma,” I said, slightly slurring her name. It didn’t register that it came out sounding weird until I sort of thought about it.

She was in front of me within seconds. “OMG! Is Becca drunk?” I never understood why she abbreviated things. What if someone didn’t know what OMG meant? Who was I kidding, who the hell didn’t understand that? She, like James, was always trying to get me out of the house. Since James was gone and couldn’t do it, it was Emma’s ‘job’ as she called it.

I shook my head, smiled and took a gulp of beer. “Maybe.” I laughed. I didn’t know why I was laughing, I just was. Fucking beer messing with my head. Not cool, man. Not cool.

Emma’s presence was a good one. Whenever she was around it was hard not to have a smile on my face. She was a tiny one with a big heart. Her blonde hair was cut perfectly into a bob. She was wearing bright red lipstick, which I could never pull off, and her clothes were always too small for her own good. She had a beautiful body and had no problem showing it off, although she always called herself fat. All the guys tried to get with her, but she had a boyfriend who she loved and had been dating for the last two years. She called it serious, and when it was serious with her she wouldn’t play games. They have a long distance relationship.

Blah.

I doubted I could ever be in a long distance relationship. I didn’t know how they did it, talking on the phone, texting, FaceTime, but never really being around or touching each other. She told me it was hard, but when you love someone you make it work. Yeah, I wouldn’t know that. I mean, I really, really liked Grey but I didn’t love him…at least not yet.

She decided upon herself that she would sit on my lap, which hurt like hell, by the way. I mean, I
was
sitting on a rock. “So I saw James somewhere around?” She waved her hand around her, trying to spot him, trying really hard.

She always thought that we should be a couple, stating that it was fate. I had hinted about my feelings for him early on in our friendship, but never fully revealed everything, knowing that she didn’t have the quietest of mouths.

Emma moved here in her junior year of high school and we clicked straight away. I was always around James, so having a girl as a friend was so different, and Emma was a self-declared girly girl. I mean, without her I’d have no clue how to fix my hair or makeup.

I went to take another sip of my beer, but it was empty. I crushed it and threw it into a nearby trash bin. When I made the shot I threw my hands in the air and cheered. “Score!” Emma narrowed her eyes, wanting an answer. “Yeah, he came by my house earlier,” I replied. As soon as those words left my mouth she moved so that she was sort of facing me, making the back of my thigh scrape against the rock. I was thankful to be wearing jeans.

“Ouch.”

She looked down. “Sorry, but you didn’t call me and tell me he stopped by?” she said, as though I had to call her for every little thing. Well it
was
something we did all the time whenever James was concerned, but that was back then.

I saw that she still had some beer in her cup so I took it. She didn’t protest, actually she tipped it so that by the time my lips left the cup there was no more liquid inside. Fuck, I was going to feel this in the morning. I guess that’s what happened when they were both around me. Or maybe just James? Or maybe just Grey?

Where are they both anyway?