Death of a Waterfall (The Hayden Falls Saga) (7 page)

Donnie put his arm around her and kissed the top of her head. "For what it's worth, Alex still loves you."

"Yeah, I can tell," she said dryly.

"I asked him what he was going to do when you started seeing someone. He refused to talk about it."

Alex and Donnie had been talking about her? All the blood in her body seemed to rush to her head, making her dizzy. "Why are you telling me this?"

"Alex and I have become pretty close in a very short period of time, and I know if he weren't drunk, he'd be the one sitting here, not me."

"No." Teghan shook her head. "He wouldn't. Alex and I are over. That's not going to change."

"I'm sure that's true." Donnie closed his eyes and Teghan felt him inhale the scent of her hair. He pulled her a little closer. "Just go easy on him tomorrow."

Teghan sat up and moved away from him. "Why?" she snapped. "I don't get you. One minute you're coming on to me, kissing me and now you're trying to push me back to Alex." What was his deal? Did he change his mind? That thought startled her. She wanted Donnie to want her. It was exciting being chased by a guy like him.

Donnie reached for her, pulling her back into his arms. She didn't resist. "I like Alex. He's a good guy and deserves to be happy. It's obvious you, your family, your friends...that's what makes him happy."

"I get that," Teghan said defensively, sitting up. "You just don't understand."

"So help me understand."

"What's the point?" she muttered. Teghan sniffled as tears began to trickle down her face. She wiped them away with the back of her hand. Why did things have to be so damn hard all the time? Donnie put his arm around Teghan again. She buried her face in his chest and cried. The way he held her, stroked her hair, and kissed the top of her head was comforting. It had been a long time since anyone had held her, and man, how she'd missed it. She liked the attention of a man. She wanted a man to spoil her, love her. Teghan inhaled sharply. "Everyone thinks I'm a cold heartless bitch for breaking up with Alex. They think I don't know. But I do. I know more than any of them do. And it hurt me, too. I cried..." She sighed and wiped away more tears. "I cried for him every night."

"Know what?" Donnie asked softly.

"Alex is a genius. Literally. He has an IQ of 160."

"I had no idea."

She smiled. "Not many people do. He doesn't like that about himself. He says it makes him an outcast."

"Why? If he's that smart, there are so many options for him."

"Yeah, if his father hadn't gambled away his college fund."

"What?" Donnie asked, his eyes widening with shock.

Oh, crap, I shouldn't have said that. Alex had told me that in confidence. Too late now.
"Yup. I'll never forget the day he found out. It was a Friday afternoon. Annabelle, Trevor, and I were here getting ready to spend the weekend hiking and camping in the mountains when he showed up. At first he was so angry, but eventually he broke down and told me. He'd received early acceptance into Harvard. All he had to do was pay the deposit. That's when his father told him."

"Damn, that's harsh."

"It was the first time I'd ever seen him cry. He kept apologizing to me for being a failure, for not being able to get the education he needed to eventually support me," Teghan said. "Alex is a planner," she explained. "Always has been."

"Well, CIT is no Harvard, but it's a good school," Donnie said.

"CIT wasn't Alex's choice. It was my father's."

Donnie adjusted himself so he could look at Teghan. "What?"

It sounded crazy to her. She could only imagine how it sounded to him. "Alex made a deal with my father. In exchange for my dad paying Alex's tuition, Alex will work at my dad's law firm once he graduates."

"Oh," was all Donnie could say.

"You see? When I broke up with Alex, all our friends and even part of my family blamed me for ruining his future. They all believed that because Alex and I were no longer together, my father would back out on his end of the deal."

"But he didn't, did he?"

Teghan shook her head no.

"Wait. If Alex is so smart, why didn't he get a free ride?"

"He did. He refused it."

"Why in the hell would he do that?"

Teghan shrugged. "He doesn't want people to know how smart he is. He felt that taking a scholarship would be like announcing it to the world. He said he'd rather flip burgers for a living than accept an academic scholarship."

"Smart people have no common sense."

Teghan smacked him. "That's horrible." Even if it was partially true, at least in Alex's case anyway. "Besides, I think he didn't want anyone to know his family was on the verge of bankruptcy. He was embarrassed. Can't blame him. I would be too."

"I may not know a lot about Alex, but I do know that he'd rather have you as a friend than not have you in his life at all. Despite what he says, he forgives you, Teghan."

"You really think so?" It was hard not to feel hopeful about that. She really did want things with Alex to go back to normal, to the way they were before she'd started dating him.

"Yes," he said. "That's why you need to go easy on him. He's only trying to make you happy."

"By getting involved with my friend?" she asked, her voice turning angry.

"No. By doing what you asked him to do."

"It's not supposed to be this hard," Teghan said.

"It always is when family is involved."

"Well, at times like this, I wish my family wasn't so damned close."

Donnie cupped her face in his hands. "Don't say things like that, Teghan. Ever."

"Why?" The confusion she felt was evident by her tone.

He dropped his hands from her face and looked down for a brief moment. "I grew up with very little family. My sperm donor of a father walked out of my life when I was seven. And for the longest time it was just me and my mom, until her alcoholism became unbearable for me. That's when her brother came to live with us." Donnie paused and licked his lips. "He was like a father to me."

"Was?"

"Yeah. He died a year ago."

"I'm sorry." Teghan cleared her throat.

Donnie smiled. "I'd give anything to have the family you've got." He reached up and caressed her cheek with his thumb. "Nothing should come before your family, Teghan, and Alex is a part of this family."

"I know," she whispered with trembling lips.

"I think that's why I'm having such a hard time trying to figure out what to do about us."

Teghan moved away from him. "There is no
us
, Donnie. And there never can be."

"Why not?"

She looked at Alex then back at Donnie.
Yeah, why not? Alex was moving on. There's no reason you can't do the same. And if Alex could do it with a friend of yours, there's no reason you can't do it with his roommate.

"Take a look around, Teghan. There's no one listening, no one watching, no one waiting to interrupt us. It's just you and me. We've been honest with each other up to this point. Why stop now?" Donnie took his feet out of the water, framed her face with his hands again, and brought his mouth down over hers, parting her lips, and with slow, deliberate flicks of his tongue, he stole her breath. He kissed her bottom lip, taking it into his mouth, nipping at it with his teeth before letting it go and grazing his lips back and forth over hers. "Now tell me," he whispered, "why can't this happen?" His lips tickled hers as he spoke. "We both want it to."

Teghan's lips were still slightly parted, inviting him, begging him for another taste as she fought to open her eyes. Forget breathing--she didn't remember how. And forming a coherent thought--forget that too. "It's complicated," she finally managed to say before she took her feet out of the water and stood.

Donnie followed and stood. "What's so complicated about it?"

"I dated Alex for three and a half years. He's..." She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and looked at the concrete beneath her wet, cold feet. "He's the only guy I've ever been with," she muttered.

He lifted her chin so that they were face to face. "Is that what this is about? You're scared?"

"I'm not scared," she said, sticking her chin out defiantly.

A slow smile pulled at the corners of his mouth. "Teghan," he said. He pinched the fabric of her dress between his thumb and forefinger and gently tugged at it. She willingly stepped into his arms. "We can take this as slow as you want."

She put her hands on his chest and looked up under her lashes. Why did she have to want him so much? Why couldn't she just walk away? It was the smart thing to do. "You scare me."

"What?"

Teghan chewed her bottom lip. "I mean, you don't scare me. Not really. The way you make me feel scares me."

"And how do I make you feel?" he asked.

Teghan froze at the feel of Donnie placing his hand on her thigh. He dragged his fingertips up her leg and around to her ass. She quivered beneath his touch.

"I know you want this as much as I do," he whispered. Donnie pressed his lips to the soft, warm flesh of her neck. Teghan sucked in her breath and held it as he planted exquisite, lingering kisses on her. She let her head fall back to her shoulders. His touch was sheer magnetism, drawing her deeper to him, destroying her self-control. "Tell me, Teghan," he demanded. "Tell me you don't want this." He nibbled on her earlobe. His lips worked across her jaw toward her mouth. "Tell me you don't want me."

"Donnie," she whimpered before he could kiss her.

He nipped at her bottom lip. "All you have to do is say it. Tell me to stop and I give you my word I will." His lips were on her neck again, kissing, licking, caressing, driving her crazy with sensations she'd never felt before.

Teghan drew a ragged breath. She'd never experienced anything so erotic, so tempting. There wasn't a doubt in her mind what she wanted. "Stop," she breathed. "Please. Stop."

Chapter Six

It was Saturday evening. Teghan and Annabelle were getting ready to go to their first sorority rush party. Teghan was so excited. She'd been waiting for tonight since they'd heard about the party four days ago. But that wasn't the only reason she was in a good mood. Teghan hadn't stopped thinking about her kiss with Donnie and she'd rambled about it incessantly.

"Please just be careful, Teeg."

"Why?" Teghan put her hands on her hips and looked at Annabelle. She was tired of Annabelle's harping on her about Alex. "I'm not going to put my life on hold just so Alex doesn't get his feelings hurt." It was a decision she'd made last night after her pool-side talk with Donnie. It hadn't come easily, but it was one she was determined to follow through on.

"No one is asking you to put your life on hold. But do you have to mess around with his roommate?"

"So it's okay for him to mess around with my friend, but I'm not allowed to with his roommate?"

"That's not what I meant, Teghan," Annabelle said.

"Look, I know you're worried about Alex, but he didn't give a shit about my feelings last night when he was hanging all over Beth friggin' Jansen!" Teghan raised her voice and waved her hairbrush at her friend to make her point.

Annabelle laughed.

"Why are you laughing at me?" Teghan asked.

"You're such a drama queen. You know Alex didn't do anything with Beth. And I'd bet anything, he's probably feeling pretty guilty about sleeping next to her."

"That's really not my problem." Teghan shrugged. "We're not together anymore." She'd said it as if that magically solved everything.

"You're absolutely right. You're not together, Teghan. And you can't have it both ways."

"I'm not asking to have it both ways."

"Aren't you?" Annabelle asked. "You want to hook up with Donnie and not have Alex get mad about it, yet you're furious about Alex and Beth."

Teghan sighed. She hated it when Annabelle was so blunt. But she hated it even more that Annabelle was always right.

"You made a choice when you broke up with Alex. No one said it was going to be easy. But you either need to deal with it or get back together with him." Annabelle shrugged on her sweater.

"I really hate you right now." Teghan laughed.

"No, you don't." Annabelle chuckled. "If I didn't keep you in line, who would?"

Teghan rolled her eyes. "You worry too much, Annie."

"And you don't worry enough," Annabelle said as they walked out of their room.

They followed a short pathway that led from the dorms to Greek Row, which looked like a scene straight out of a movie with all the large houses and perfectly manicured lawns. They easily found the Omega Theta Pi house. It was impressive, just like every other house they'd seen. A perfectly laid stone path led straight to the front door of the house that had a porch running the entire length of it.

"Hello," said a tall, pasty white girl with jet black hair.

"Hi," Teghan said.
That chick looks like Morticia. Doesn't she realize she's in California? Some sun wouldn't kill her.