WILD (Naked, Book 3) (8 page)

“The only one lying around here seems to be you. And I’m no longer going to be a party to your disgusting lies, nor will I enable your immoral behavior.”

“Immoral? Are you serious?”

“Do not call me again, Caelyn. Do not show up at our house, you’re not welcome here. We have to protect Deena, she’s a minor and she needs to know that she’s safe from you and your new friend.”

“Fine. I understand,” Caelyn said softly. She was stunned and shocked. The world was seeming gray and far away, as if seen through a pane of foggy glass.

“We love you, but we cannot condone the horrible choices you’ve made. Our door will only be open to you when you’re ready to be truly honest, and when you stop hurting the people who care most about you.”

“I won’t call again,” Caelyn said, and then she hung up the phone.

***

She was lying in bed when Elijah came home from work.

The apartment door opened and she didn’t even lift her head from the pillow.

“Caelyn?” he called out from the other room.

“In here,” she said, trying to yell, but her voice was weak.

He entered the room, his eyebrows rising in surprise and concern when he saw her lying there. “What’s wrong?” he said.

“I’m an idiot. I called my mother.”

“Shit,” he said, and walked over, sat down next to her. He brushed her hair back from her face and gave her one of his lopsided grins. “Moms exist to make their kids feel bad,” he said. “Don’t you know that?”

“This is different,” Caelyn said. Her nose was stuffy from crying, and her eyes felt dry, having been completely drained of tears. “She literally hates me. You have no idea the horrible things she said to me.”

He continued stroking her hair, which was soothing in the way that only he seemed to be able to be. “Come on, now,” he said. His eyes were soft as he looked at her. “Whatever she said, I guarantee she didn’t mean it. She’s just upset and hurt.

That’s all it is.”

“Deena told my parents that we came in the house and threatened her with bodily harm, forcing her to give me back my purse.”

Elijah laughed for a moment, until he saw the look on Caelyn’s face. “Your parents believed that crap?”

“Apparently.”

“Well, the truth will come out in the end, it always does.”

“You really believe that?”

He paused. “No.” Then his mouth twitched into a smile once more. “But I want to make you feel better, kid.”

“Tell me something nice about your day. Please. That’ll help me.”

He licked his lips and sighed, suddenly unable to meet her gaze. “Well, I’m not sure you’re going to like what I have to say.”

She sat up in bed, her back against the headboard. “Elijah, what happened?” Her hands twisted together as her stomach began churning in anticipation.

“I quit my job,” he said.

She felt her stomach drop into what seemed to be an endless black hole. “Please tell me you’re joking.”

“It was only a dumb line cook job, Caelyn. It paid like fourteen bucks an hour.”

“But we don’t have any money, Elijah. Why did you quit?”

He stood up, wiping his hands on his jeans and pacing. “Listen, I went in there with a really good attitude. I seriously did try.”

“Okay. But what happened?”

“These guys were total assholes, Caelyn.” He looked at her as if trying to convey it that simply. “They treated me like a complete chump. Everything I did, they made fun of it. The head chef kept saying that I was a monkey, that he didn’t have time to train someone as slow as me. He didn’t stop.”

“Maybe it was like…hazing or something. Trying to make sure you had what it takes.”

“Well I don’t take shit from people, if that’s what you mean. I nearly knocked him out, but I didn’t want to get my friend in trouble. My buddy who worked there did me a solid by vouching for me in the first place, so I kept my mouth shut and my hands to myself, and quit at the end of the day. It wasn’t for me, Caelyn.”

Somehow, impossibly, tears were coming again. Caelyn bit them back. “I understand.”

He looked at her suspiciously. “Don’t tell me you think I should have kept working there and let them treat me like a loser. I’m not a fucking loser, Caelyn.”

She shook her head. “I didn’t say anything.”

“No, but I can read it on your face.”

“I applied for a job at Starbucks today.”

He seemed puzzled at her switching of subjects. “Congratulations.”

“I didn’t tell you the other part, though. I didn’t tell you how it was humiliating, because the girl who hired me was someone I used to tutor back in high school. She was so happy to see me there, knowing that I needed the job and that I wasn’t in college anymore. This girl absolutely rubbed my nose in it, Elijah, but I took the job anyhow.”

Elijah looked at her, his jaw getting that twitch that told her he was angry—really angry. “I knew it. You think I’m a quitter because I didn’t let them kick me around.

Well fuck that, Caelyn. I’m not
that
guy.”

“But what about money? You need to make money, just like me. Are you going to find another job? Or are you going to go back to the same old stuff that got you in trouble and made you want to leave town?”

Elijah stared at her. “I’ll figure it out,” he replied, his voice soft.

“I hope you do.”

“I will.” He turned to leave the bedroom. Before leaving, though, he looked at her. “I’m sorry about what happened with your parents. But don’t lay your shit on me, Caelyn.”

And then he left the room and shut the door as he went.

***

She heard him on the phone with his brother not long after.

He sounded like he was pacing out in the living room and his voice was soft, but Caelyn pressed her ear to the door and listened the best she could, catching fragments of the conversation as he walked around the apartment.

“Jake…Jake, can you talk?”

“I…need a little cash…”

“…yeah…”

“…just to keep my head above water for a month…”

“…thanks bro…”

She hated that he was asking Jake for money, because Caelyn knew that Jake wanted Elijah to continue doing whatever illegal stuff they’d been doing together before he’d left town.

Elijah had tried to escape, but now that he was back, she sensed that he was quickly losing his will to fight for a normal life.

After some time had gone by, she came out of the bedroom. Elijah wasn’t on the phone anymore—he was sitting on the couch in the living room, watching a basketball game on TV and eating some potato chips.

“Hey,” she said, standing beside the hallway, not sure she was welcome in the living room.

He gave her a slight smile. “Hey.”

“I’m sorry about putting my shit on you,” she told him. She hadn’t really been planning an apology, but it felt right as she said the words.

“It’s okay,” he said. “I know I’m not the easiest guy to get along with sometimes.” His crooked grin reappeared. “Come sit down, kid.” Elijah patted the couch beside him.

So she did. She went and sat down next to him and he put his arm over her shoulder. Together, they sat and watched the basketball game.

Caelyn knew next to nothing about college basketball, but Elijah was enthusiastic enough for the both of them. He cheered on his team, rooting for them, explaining to her that they were underdogs and nobody thought they could win. He insulted the opposing team’s players, shouted at the refs, but everything he said made her laugh.

Elijah was exciting to be around doing just about anything, even watching some sporting event that she basically couldn’t have cared less about.

She’d almost forgotten about all of the bad stuff that had happened the past couple of days—and then there was a knock at the door of the apartment. Caelyn sat up straight, heart practically beating out of her chest.

She looked to Elijah and he put a hand on her leg. “It’s okay,” he told her. “It’s just Jake. I asked him to come.”

“Oh.” She tried not to show her disappointment, but the look must have flashed across her face just the same.

“Don’t worry, he’s not staying long.” Elijah got up and answered the door.

Jake walked in carrying a small satchel. He was wearing dark jeans and a tight black track jacket. “What’s up?” he said to Caelyn, as he came in. He hardly even looked at her.

“Thanks for coming through,” Elijah said, appearing slightly shifty and uncomfortable.

“You’re my brother. This is blood, right?”

“No doubt,” Elijah said. “And you know I’m good for it.”

“That’s not even in question.” Jake opened the satchel and took out five thick stacks of bills and placed them on the table. “Five thou.”

“Cool.” Elijah patted Jake’s shoulder.

Caelyn was just staring, her mouth open. Five thousand dollars in cash—and Jake had handed it over like it was a twenty-dollar bill.

Jake noticed her staring at the money. “It’s a lot when you look at it up close, huh?”

She nodded. “How do you have so much money?”

Jake laughed and glanced at Elijah. “Can I tell her?”

Elijah just shrugged and shook his head. “Up to you.”

Jake held Caelyn’s gaze with still eyes. “It depends what day you ask me.

Today, I have that money because I unloaded a stolen car.”

Caelyn didn’t let her eyes waver. He was either trying to scare her or impress her, and she didn’t want him to think that he’d accomplished either. “Oh. Interesting.”

“It is interesting. I like my job, I like my life—what can I say?” He turned to Elijah and gave him a quick hug. “Listen man,” Jake said, backing towards the door.

“We’re keeping our ears to the ground about the shit that happened to you yesterday.

We’re going to find out who jacked your shit. Promise.”

“You’ve done enough,” Elijah told him.

“It aint over. We’re not going to let it slide. Know that.” Jake pointed to Elijah and then left, shutting the door as he went.

Caelyn could hear his footsteps echoing down the stairwell.

Elijah grabbed the money from the table and brought it into the kitchen, where he began parceling it out into a few different brown paper bags. “I’m going to hide these in different places—places that someone can’t find so easy.”

“Aren’t you even going to finish watching the game?” she called after him.

But he never came back to watch it, even as his team won by two points in the final seconds.

***

Elijah turned to her later that night, as she was falling asleep.

Things had been slightly awkward while getting ready for bed, with not much said between the two of them.

She’d wanted to try and break the ice, but somehow hadn’t known what to say.

But now Elijah was looking at her in the darkness, his presence snapping her back to reality after she’d begun to drift off.

“What’s wrong?” she asked.

“I don’t want to lose you,” he said.

He wasn’t wearing a shirt, and as she reached out to touch him reassuringly, her hand came in contact with his thick bicep, and the quivering muscle flinched a little beneath her palm. “You won’t ever lose me,” she told him.

“I don’t believe you,” he replied.

“How can I prove it?” she asked. Something inside of her was loose and ready to show him whatever he needed. Maybe it was being in that strange state between waking and sleep, which was rather dreamlike, or maybe it was the way he seemed to need her right then.

Whatever it was, Caelyn didn’t feel any fear or anxiety. All she knew was that Elijah was beautiful and wild and untamed—but he still needed someone. He needed her.

He caressed her cheek and moved closer. “I want to be the man you deserve,” he whispered.

“You already are,” she told him.

And then he was kissing her, and his hands were touching her freely. She let him take her, let him go wherever he wanted to go. She couldn’t stop herself from wanting him anymore, couldn’t hold back from doing what was so natural.

The darkness swirled around them as Elijah made love to her, and Caelyn had never felt anything so sweet, so perfect, so intense and passionate.

Their bodies were slick with sweat, moving in rhythmic harmony, as if each of them knew exactly what the other liked and desired, and the ecstasy of it was almost unbearable.

In the end, she cried out and he moaned, thrusting so hard that she felt she might break in two—but somehow, in a good way.

Afterwards, he held her and they lay breathing in the beautiful silence, neither of them saying much, but just holding one another and appreciating the easiness of it.

This changes everything, Caelyn thought. But she liked the way it changed things. They were closer than ever now.

***

Somehow she’d drifted off. Caelyn wasn’t sure whether she was dreaming or not, but she heard Elijah whisper “I love you” in her ear.

When she opened her eyes, he was holding her tightly, but his eyes were closed.

She smiled to herself and drifted again.

The warm cocoon of sleep and safety evaporated very quickly.

She startled awake to find Elijah on the phone. It was still dark.

He was sitting up in bed, his muscular back to her as he spoke in a low but intent voice. “Are you sure?” he was saying to whoever was on the other line.

Caelyn slid up onto an elbow, her heartbeat accelerating in that painfully familiar way as she realized that something terrible had begun. She knew it just from the sound of his voice.

“You have to tell me this is one hundred percent, Jake,” Elijah said. “Because if we do this and I find out you’re wrong…”

Caelyn swallowed back a scream. Everything in her wanted to rip the phone away from him and throw it out the window. But there was nothing she could except listen. She was helpless.

“Okay,” Elijah said. “Let’s do it. I’ll be ready in five.” He hung up and got quickly to his feet.

“Elijah, what’s happening?” Caelyn asked, her voice quivering.

He turned, his expression a mixture of determination and regret. “I have to go somewhere,” he said. “I should be back in a few hours at the most.”

“What time is it?” she said.

“It’s about four o’clock.”

“Where are you going?”