Our Kind of Love (25 page)

“I kept trying to calm him down. It was useless.
Everything was in pieces. I knew we were in serious trouble so the only thing
left to do was get out of there. That’s when Lewis Harrison showed up.”

“Who’s that?”

“School security guard,” I reply. “He lived
close by too, so I guess he heard the noise and decided to check it out
himself. Lewis saw my face first, and then he said my name. The look he gave
me…He was so disappointed because he knew Grams…I guess he never expected me to
be involved in vandalism. Jason on the other hand, he already had a rap sheet
for bad behavior.”

I stop talking and clench my fist, because it’s
always hard to talk about, much less remember what happened next.

“Keep going,” she prods. “Tell me everything.”

“I…I was angry because of the way he stared at
me, it was the same look my dad gave me, like I was nothing. Lewis pointed at
me, said he was gonna call the cops and both of us were going to jail. I was
still pissed from his belittling glare so I ran after him. I shoved him hard
into the lockers.”

Reign exhales hard then covers her mouth with
one hand. I look away from her eyes so I can keep talking, even though my voice
is cracking up.

“Lewis lost his balance and fell to the floor,
he’d hurt his back. I was still pissed at him. I wasn’t thinking straight. I
kicked him in the stomach.”

“Oh no…” she breathes.

“Three times,” I mutter, looking at my clenched
fists. “Jason rushed over to us. He saw Lewis on the floor and he…laughed. ‘Hit
him again’ he said. I told him no, let’s just get out of here. I was snapping
back to my senses then.”

“I turned to leave, that’s when Jason raised the
bat. By the time I could reach for it, he’d already brought it down on Lewis’
head.”

I stop talking as my throat starts to burn. I’m
having a hard time holding back my tears. Clearing the tightness in my throat,
I continue, “Jason panicked…when he realized what he’d done. He yanked on my
shirt to take off with him back to his truck. I pulled away, deciding to stay
with Lewis instead.”

“Blood was coming from his head. Even though he
was still breathing, he couldn’t keep his eyes open and he didn’t move. I
called the cops. Jason was already gone by the time they showed up. They saw
the damage and Lewis’ injuries. They arrested me. I deserved it because I hit
him first. I probably deserve the same sentence as Jason.”

“You don’t deserve the same punishment, you
tried to stop him.”

I flinch when Reign touches my arm. I didn’t
expect her to even want to breathe the same air much less still want to comfort
me. “Micah, you were drinking, you were upset about your dad—”

“That’s no excuse for hitting Lewis,” I tell
her, choking back on tears.
“Because of what?
So I
could show him how tough I was? How I didn’t need anybody looking down on me?
That I’m good enough—”

“You are good enough, Micah. And you didn’t hit
him with a baseball bat. Jason did. He ran and you stayed.”

I shake my head and move her hand away. “It
doesn’t matter; everyone said I should have gotten the same sentence as Jason.
He went to jail for putting Lewis in a coma and I went to juvie for eight
months.
God!”

I aggressively wipe my face with the palm of my
hand. “Grams…she was so ashamed of me. You know, people in town, they made me
feel like…like I was the biggest loser in Haxtun. When I went away, a bunch of
them kept calling her house. They tormented her because of what happened, said
I was a screw-up just like my alcoholic dad. She got worse while I was in juvie
for doing something stupid and then she died…alone, disappointed in me.”

I can’t fight it anymore. Tears start to stream
down my face as I tell her the one thing that hurts me more than anything else.
“I feel like I broke her heart so much, it killed her.”

“No, Micah.” Reign pulls me into her arms and
hugs me tighter than she’s ever held me before. “It’s not your fault. We all
make mistakes and I know your grandmother loved you. It’s like what you told
me, that we have to learn to cope and move on. I’m sure she’d want you to.”

I ease out of her embrace. “That’s just it,
Lewis Harrison is out of his coma and he wants to see me. But I feel like such
a coward, I don’t think I can face him. I don’t think I can go back there,
Reign.”

She lingers a moment, as if she’s seriously
considering her next words. Then she wipes my cheek and tells me, “You have to.
You can apologize face to face for what happened.”

Inhaling deeply, I stifle back the sobs and
toughen up, only to ask her, “Can you come with me?”

“What?” She brushes her loose strand behind her
ear. “You want me to go to Haxtun with you?”

I bob my head. “I don’t think I can do this
without you. You have no idea how much strength you give me, baby.”

“Micah—Mitchel—”

“Micah,” I tell her, reaching for her hand. “Just
call me Micah. We can go there for a weekend, that’s all. I just…I really need
you with me.”

Reign slips her hand out from under mine. Her
hazel eyes penetrate my face; a mixture of sympathy and anger dwelling in them.

Then I consider the fact that not only did I lie
about my name, I kept a good chunk of myself from her when she’s shared
something deep with me. How selfish of me to ask her to come back to my
hometown and share my burden.

I start to tell her, “You don’t—”

She cuts me off, “Let me think about it. I need
to soak this all in.”

“Okay,” I say lowly. “Thank you…for not freaking
out as much as I thought you would. I should have told you from the beginning,
when we started to get closer.”

“You should have,” she says, “Instead of
allowing this to continue eating away at your heart, dumbass.”

I can’t help but smile, appreciative of the fact
that I’ve met such a wonderful girl. Maybe I can find the strength to face what
I’m running from after all.

Thirty

Reign

“WOW…” Claudia releases a surge of air as she
sits down with her back turned to her antique-looking dresser, resting her chin
on the back of the chair. “That’s quite a story he told you. So his name isn’t
even Micah?” she confirms, her pitch increasing on his name.

I lean against the wall with my legs
outstretched on her bed, picking at the pillowcase. After Micah’s confession,
we didn’t even have breakfast before work, and I didn’t talk to him at all
while at the restaurant. Throughout the day, I kept replaying what he told me
and him asking me to return to Haxtun with him to face Lewis Harrison.

When I reached home, I treaded over to Claudia’s
house, telling her everything the second I stepped into her room. It’s
approaching midnight now and I still have no idea what to do.

“So, why is it so hard to just go to Haxtun with
him?” she asks.

“I don’t know. I feel like it’s something he has
to do alone,” I explain to her when she lifts a brow. “Like how I have to get
over my guilt. I mean, even if you or Micah hold my hand and walk with me into
the ocean, I’m still gonna be afraid. I have to take that leap alone. It’s
something like that.”

Straightening, Claudia puts her red hair up into
a loose bun,
then
comes over to the bed to lie down. I
flatten on my back, resting my head on the pillow next to her.

“Okay,” she murmurs. “So he hid the fact that he
was in juvie—”

“And he lied about his name,” I remind her, my
voice sharp.

“Yes, yes, but, have you considered that if
Micah goes back to Haxtun alone, then he might not return to Newport?”

I raise my head and look over at her. “Are you
saying he’ll be more inclined to make his peace and come back only if I go with
him?”

Seeing I’m taking her words serious, Claudia
touches my arm and says softly, “Ignore me, I’m only spewing
fuckery
again. What do I know?”

She titters to calm me down. I rest my head back
on the pillow.

“By the way, does he know you’re going to
Florida with me right after your birthday?”

“Oh... I still need to tell him that.”

“Well, if he’s back in Newport by then, he could
come with us, you know? I don’t mind.”

Again, it sounds like she thinks he’ll be gone a
long time. “Guess that depends on when he goes to Haxtun too,” she adds.

“Guess so,” I mutter, not saying more on the
topic.

Pulling the covers over us, Claudia rolls on her
side and turns off the lamp. “Let’s get some sleep.”

“Okay,” I say in a near whisper. “Goodnight.”

An hour passes and I’m still awake, considering
what Claudia said. As much as I’m mad at Micah for lying and keeping juvie a
secret, I don’t want to choose not to accompany him to Haxtun only for him to
decide he’s not coming back to Newport…to me.

I sneak out of Claudia’s room before daybreak
and hurry back to my house to change for a morning run. When I drive down to
the beach, Micah isn’t there waiting for me. He’s always first. Maybe he
thought I wasn’t going to show up today so he decided not to come.

Even though I’ve lost interest in running by
myself since I started doing it with him, I use the opportunity to consider
more about Haxtun.

A part of me wants to go with him, and a part of
me is saying no, let him do it alone.

I jog for fifteen minutes then head back to the
beach, stopping in the sand to watch the sunrise in the horizon. I don’t feel
captivated when Micah’s not here, observing it with me. Gosh, I like having him
around so much. I like his broad grin and the small, sexy dimple on his right
cheek; his addictive scent, the way he kisses me, the way he touches me.

I really want him to touch me right now. To be
inside me, telling me over and over how much he wants me.

Swiveling, I jog back to my car and jump in,
taking off immediately. I feel as if my insides are on fire, tempting me to
drive like a maniac and run the stoplights. When I finally arrive at his house,
I park on the side, fling the door open, and spring from the car, leaving the
engine running as I tread up to the third floor and pound on his door.

I don’t care. My senses are all over the place
right now and only one thing is clear: I need Micah.

It’s like I’m enflamed; there’s a warm, moist
sensation between my thighs pushing me to take care of it. I’m so overpowered
by lust that I’m on the verge of ripping out of my clothes at his doorstep.
When I think I’m about to erupt, Micah finally opens the door. This is perfect.
He’s shirtless, only wearing shorts.

He flicks his eyes over my face once and quickly
tugs me inside. He slams the door shut and backs me up against it.

“Micah…” I breathe. He lifts my hands up and
hauls my top over my head.

Like an animal that hasn’t been fed in days, he
kisses me aggressively, pulls at the waist of my tights and squeezes my butt as
he presses into me.

“Micah,” I groan. There are three words at my
lips, but something’s holding me back. I can’t tell him, not yet.