Wilson Mooney, Almost Eighteen (27 page)

“
So your grandparents live
in California?” Frank asked. He was determined to find out if I had
family or not. It felt kind of strange to have to answer his
questions with words that didn’t comfort his ideals about my
heritage. Max kissed my temple and answered his dad’s
questions.

“
Wilson lost her
grandparents recently.” He tensed his face, his eyes narrowed and
the corners of his lips pulled down.

Out of the corner of my eye I saw
Nancy stand up and walk over to me. She grabbed my hands and lifted
them in the air so my body would answer by standing. She pushed her
arms around my neck and hugged me with so much love I couldn’t help
but lock my arms around her.

Chapter
Twenty:

I know it was probably hard for most
people to relate to the screwed up type of emotional disconnect I
had when it came to my parents. It was just easier to pretend they
didn’t exist instead of always trying to justify why they didn’t
want me. I was used to calling a spade a spade. I had no problem
with that. My mother wanted to do drugs and drink fire water more
than she wanted to raise me. She plopped me at my grandparents’
house and that was all she wrote. Well actually, she wrote me one
letter. Told me that someday she hoped I’d forgive her for leaving
me. I never wrote back.

“
Wilson, I’m so sorry,”
Nancy whispered in my ear as she let go. Her words filled the empty
holes throughout my heart. She pulled my hair back from my face
holding it in a loose ponytail—something a mother might do when
comforting her daughter. My hands ached to stay touching her,
making her real in my existence.

“
Thank you. I’m really glad
I had a chance to meet you. I see where Max gets his compassion,” I
whispered, then smiled.

She let go of my hair and captured my
shoulders.

“
You are very sweet. Now, I
think we’ve taken you away from Maxi long enough.” Her hands
floated off my shoulders and I went cold. Thankfully, Max replaced
her warmth by protecting me in his arms. She passed him, scruffing
his hair. “Get your hair cut,” she teased. His smile reached his
eyes.

“
I wanted to give you a
tour of the cabin, if you don’t mind me taking you from my family.”
He pulled me from my space and wrapped his arms around my
back.

“
I would like that.” I
turned and gave a slight wave to the panel of questioners and left
the dining room. He held my hand as he led me to the great room. I
looked around as he pulled me close.

“
This is the great room.
Over there is where you made me lose focus but I still beat you at
pool.” He bent close to me and pointed to the pool table

“
Oh wait Max, we never
finished that game.” I pushed his head off my shoulder. “Besides, I
could have won if you weren’t so focused on scoring,” I
said.

He shrugged and pressed his hands to
his chest.

“
Personally, I was very
happy with the results of that game.” He took my hand and pulled me
through to the living room towards the stairs. “I want to show you
something.”

I happened to look at the opposite
wall and noticed a clock, it was nine forty-five. A wave of
disappointment crashed heavy across my chest. In a little over
twelve hours we will have to separate and go our own
ways.

He will go back to his
classroom and me, my dorm. What if he didn’t feel the same way once
we were back at Wesley? I shivered deep in my body. I didn’t want
to think about that.
Live in the moment
Wilson
. I had to convince myself that
everything was going to be perfect tonight and whatever may happen
later, I’ll have to deal with it then.

He led me to his room.

“
I’ve been here before. You
don’t have to fake it. Nobody can hear you,” I whispered to
him.

“
I know that, but I didn’t
get to show you
this
the last time you were here.” He pulled me through his room,
grabbed a huge fluffy jacket and wrapped it around me. “You’re
gonna need this.” He pulled open his sliding glass door.

The freezing air fought its way into
the room. It leapt and swirled around my head trying to find a way
down to my protected skin.

“
Max, it’s freezing out
there.” A chill spread throughout my body.

“
I know, but it’s worth it.
Trust me.” He went out onto the side balcony and held out his
hands.

My teeth chattered causing my jaw to
tense. I reached for him and allowed the chills to take over my
existence on the little deck off the side of his room.

“
I hope so, because I can’t
feel my nose.” He wasn’t wearing a jacket, as a matter of fact; he
was only wearing a hoodie sweatshirt that he pulled over his head
after he stepped out into the cold. He reached up to light a tall
standing heater, then turned to show me what he brought me out
there to see.

“
It’s one of my secret
passions.” He went to the telescope he had pointing out into the
clear night sky. His boyish eyes rounded, his hair tucked tight
under his hood, his lips stretched across his little
smile.

I would look at pictures of black and
white shapes if it meant I got to be close to him. I watched him
aim and focus the scope to perfection. I wasn’t cold anymore. He
spun his hands in a circle trying to persuade me to come closer.
His voice mixed with the cold, creating clouds of words that
lingered and drew me in.

“
Come here. Look at this,”
he told me as I slid between him and the telescope. His hand
wrapped around me trailing across my back as I lowered myself to
the scope.

“
That’s Jupiter, it‘s the
brightest object in the Taurus constellation.” He took a deep
thoughtful breath. “The Greeks believed that Jupiter fell in love
with Europa, daughter of King Agenor. When she wouldn’t have
anything to do with him, he disguised himself as a white bull and
sauntered up to her as she picked flowers. Impressed with his
gentle manner, he was able to lie in front of her and she climbed
up onto his back.” His breath caressed and wrapped hot around my
neck.
The fact that I saw a fuzzy bright
circle in the telescope was interesting, but it’s the idea that he
knew the mythology regarding Jupiter, quite frankly, that turned me
on.

“
What happened to her?” I
stood up from the scope. His eyes lowered from the heavens to
me.

“
He charged straight to
Crete with her on his back, confessed who he really was and how
much he loved her. She stayed and married him.” His arms pushed
into my jacket, his hands froze through my shirt. I lost my breath
and jumped.

“
Oh I’m sorry, you just
looked so warm.” He tried to pull his hands out; I held him right
where he was.

“
I didn’t expect them to be
like icebergs,” I whispered. His eyes traced down to my
neck.

“
They aren’t now,” he
answered. The tip of his tongue tasted the edge of my lips before
he kissed me. He pulled away, teasing me just enough to make me
talk.

“
You taste so good,” I
mumbled across his lips. I felt him smile.

My stomach betrayed me and started to
rumble.

“
You’re hungry. Let me get
you something to eat.” He leaned back trying to read my
expression.

“
I’m fine,” I tried to
convince him. It wasn’t like I was one of those girls that won’t
eat in front of a guy.

He grabbed my hand and pulled me into
his room. He went to his little fridge next to his desk.

“
Wow, how convenient is
that?” I said as I sat on his bed and took off the gigantic jacket
he wrapped me in earlier. He danced around a bit before naming off
the limited items he had available.

“
I have a half a jar of
maraschino cherries, a half of a sandwich from yesterday.” He held
it in the air towards me. I shook my head no. “Oh wait, I have
sliced pepper jack cheese? Some apples? Oh here we go, how about
whip cream?” He shook the can and tilted it to his mouth.
Oh Jesus, if he knew how bad I wanted to be that
whipped cream.
He shifted his eyes toward
me, reading my thoughts. He brought the can to me on the bed. His
legs straddled between mine.

“
Open,” he said holding the
can above me. I reached for it, he pulled it away.

“
Don’t you trust me? I
won’t give you too much.”

He held the can above me again. I
swallowed, parted my lips, and held opened my mouth. He focused on
my face, his eyes hypnotized me and mine shut. I heard the can
spray and the airy cream filled my mouth to overflowing. He tossed
the can on the bed and brought his mouth to mine, making sure it
didn’t overflow down my chin. His tongue tasting around me, I
swallowed the sweet cream. He pushed me down onto the bed. I felt
his knee press up between my legs, his hand reaching for the can
while he put his mouth to mine. I pulled the hood off his head and
knotted my hands in his hair. He pulled back from me. My body ran
cold.

“
I’ll be right back,” he
groaned as he jumped off me, I could hardly breathe. He didn’t give
me a chance to ask where he was going before he was
gone.

Exactly what I didn’t want
to be—left alone in his house. I didn’t want the awkward gap of
time that I had nothing in common with. I wanted to be with him as
much as possible. By myself, in his room, my thoughts played tricks
on my psyche.
Where did he go? Why didn’t
he tell me? What if his mom comes in here and I am spread out lying
on his bed? Clothed or not, that would leave a bad impression with
her. I didn’t want to mess this up. I really liked her.
I sat up and looked around the room. I caught my
reflection in a mirror on the bathroom door. My hair was completely
jacked. I stood in front of the mirror trying to flatten the frizzy
mess. I pulled it back, twisted it into a small tight roll, and
stuck a pencil from his desk in my hair.

The bedroom door swung open. He had a
plate of food in his hand and two frosty glasses stacked. He froze
looking at me standing, he licked his lips and his throat bounced
as he swallowed. He slid the plate on his desk and set the glasses
next to it. He sped to me, pressing his lips to the back of my
exposed neck. His hand wrapped tight across my stomach.

“
Mmmm. I’ve never seen your
hair up like that before,” he breathed warm against my skin below
my ear. His hand cold from the frosty glasses slid up across the
back of my neck. Chills owned my skin.

“
Really? That’s all it
takes to bring you back to me?” I watched him in the mirror before
I spun to face him. “I think I’ll wear my hair up around you often.
How about Monday, twelve forty-five?” I asked low. He froze against
my neck.

He pulled away from me, looked me
straight in the eyes. His jaw tightened and his lips pressed
hard.

“
That’s not fair. I’ll have
no control. I keep trying to figure out how I’m going to make it
through Monday. I know already that I’m gonna have a hard time
keeping my hands off of you, to be honest—I’m beginning to worry
about returning to Wesley.” He grabbed my wrists and space opened
between us.

“
Me too. What are we going
to do? It’s not like I can drop out of your class.” My stomach
ached when I said it. Because I couldn’t guarantee I’d be able to
control myself either.

“
I wouldn’t let you drop
out, that’s not a solution. Besides, I need to see you.” He tugged
at my chin bringing my face up to his.

“
We’ll cross that bridge
when we come to it, right?” I told him pulling him to his desk. I
didn’t want to focus on a day that was already too close to
changing everything about our weekend. “What did you bring to eat?”
I asked.

“
Food,” he teased. He
picked up the plate held it high in the air so I couldn’t see it
twisting his body away from me.

I pressed my hands slowly up his
sides, tickling him as he tried to keep me from seeing. He was
ticklish. He let one hand go of the plate and wrapped it around me.
Pushing me, the back of my legs found the bed; our bodies tilted.
He landed perfectly on top of me. Not too heavy but just heavy
enough to feel his want. He saved the plate from falling, he was so
good. He looked deep into my eyes, then blinking slowly he looked
away to the plate.

He pulled a low smooth breath in,
“Close your eyes.” I did.

I opened my mouth slightly, pushing
the tip of my tongue against my bottom teeth.

“
No peeking. Here taste
this. Don’t bite me.” He pressed his finger into my mouth; I closed
my lips and sucked. Milk chocolate melted on my taste
buds.

“
Mmmm,” I moaned from the
back of my throat. I opened my eyes, he was watching me. He pulled
his finger out of my mouth and tapped the tip of my
nose.

“
No peeking.” I closed my
eyes and opened again. Cold air rushed my mouth. He pushed
something cool and wet against my lips dragging it across to my
bottom lip before resting it on my tongue. I closed my lips around
it and pressed it against the roof of my mouth. Strawberry’s sweet
nectar flooded my throat. He kissed me making my lips warm again.
He tasted like milk chocolate. His hands pressed into the bed
pushing his body to hover off my chest. I grabbed locks of his hair
trying to force him back down to me. He resisted. He bent to lie on
his side next to me. His long fingers caught my hair and pushed it
off my face. He brought his hands to the collar of my shirt; and he
slipped his fingers down under the front. My breathing quickened as
tingles raced down my body low. His eyes didn’t drop from mine. His
fingers pressed the charm against my skin before he picked it
up.