Here Comes the Light (Cambrooke #1) (32 page)

“What was he like?” I ask him softly.

His hand grazes my arm. “Who?” his voice is low and calm.

“Your friend, Liam.”
I hope this doesn’t end in disaster every time I have ever tried to talk about a dead person it always ends with someone in tears.

“He was cool, loved skateboarding and jelly beans.”

“Jelly beans?” I giggle. This makes Declan chuckle underneath me.

“Yeah, he always had a bag of
Jelly Belly Jelly Beans with him.” we share a laugh.

“Why did he do it?” I ask on a more serious note.

I feel Declan’s chest rise and fall. “His parents were going through a bitter divorce and custody battle. He was old enough to choose who he wanted to live with and they were both pressuring him to choose them.” His voice is almost a whisper. “He tried to talk to me about it he told me he was thinking about doing it.” Declan has to pause again. “I told him to stop talking crazy.” Declan swallows and his thumb makes circles on my back.

“D,” I roll over on my stomach to face him. Tears are sliding down his face. “There is no way you could have know
n he was serious.”

He turns his face toward me and smiles faintly. “I still sh
ould have let him talk about it; maybe I could have stopped him.”

“D, Liam did it. It’s not your fault.”  I hate that I upset him. Leaning up I press m
y lips against his. He grins at me when we finish the kiss.

“Tell me about your mom.” His voice is scratchy and his hand slides up and down my back.

“I don’t remember much,” I take a deep breath and stare at his chest rising and falling. “I was young when she…when she found out she was sick.”

“I’m sorry.” He whispers as he kisses my forehead. I shrug before I lay my head on his chest.

We look up at the stars he plays with my hair almost putting me to sleep. I am aware of everyplace my body touches his. I feel like this is exactly where I belong. I stare at the sky and watch as the yellow and white lights spit across the black background. I have never seen a meteor shower before and it is amazing; though I am more amazed with the boy underneath my head at the moment than the lights above.

“It has almost been a year,
” his voice a low rumble under me.

“A year since what?”
I turn my face towards his.

He looks me in the eyes. “A year since Liam…” I don’t know what to say to this. I can feel his heart beating rapidly through his shirt. “I missed two weeks of school. It’s hard to lose your best fr
iend, but I found him. Covered in all that blood.” He pauses to take another deep breath. “It was a Friday night. I was planning on sleeping over; his mom and Jaylynn weren’t there. I brought over a brand-new video game to try out, Thrill Ride.” Declan shakes his head. “We were so close it was nothing for me to let myself in… when I got to his room there he was in a puddle of blood.” I don’t have any words to console him. I can’t even imagine how he felt. I lean up and press my lips to his.

“My first day back to school, I look up just as you were walking into Math that is when God told me I was going to marry you.” He says making me kiss him even more as we urgently kiss
he tugs on me pulling me on top of him, I straddle his torso. His hands slide up and down my back in a swift motion. I move my lips away from his only to use them to trail down his neck. “Miley.” His voice is choppy. “We need to stop.” He says breathing heavily.

Embarrassed, I quickly roll off of him. “I feel like a slut.” I mumble into my hands. I am glad he stopped because I am not sure I would have.
Declan sits up beside me and pulls an arm around me.

“You’re not a slut.”

“We should leave.” I say not able to look at him.

“Yeah.” He whispers
, though I’m a little disappointed when he agrees with me.

The silence is again awkward on the way to my house. I have to wonder what is going to happen with us now. Will he still want to be with me? Why did I never have a problem making Hudson stop but I wouldn’t have stopped Declan. I know I wouldn’t. I can’t get out of his truck fast enough when we pull into my driveway.

“Miley wait.” He says before I can make it out.

I turn to face him but can’t get the words out without the tears falling from my eyes. “I’m sorry.”

“What are you sorry about?” He hooks his arm around my neck and pulls me to him.

“I… we almost…” I mumble into his chest. I feel him kiss the top of my head.

“Miley, that isn’t your fault. If anything it would be mine. I am the one that took us ther
e, it was stupid of me when we’re wanting to wait to take us out in the middle of nowhere with blankets in the bed of my truck.”

“Do you think we should bre
ak up?” I ask him softly.

“No,
” he says quickly, “we should just stick to double dates. At least until we are married. How do you feel about eloping tomorrow?” he jokes.

“I don’t think my dad would approve of that.” I giggle.

Chapter 32

“W
hy aren’t you cheering this year?” Paige Mullins, the Jess for the Junior class asks me as I pull books from my locker.

“I just don’t want to.” I shrug.

“So you don’t have doctor’s orders then?” she tilts her blond head and blinks rapidly.

“Why would I have doctor’s order not to cheer?” I laugh.

“The baby.” She whispers as she glances down at my stomach.

“What are you talking about?” I pull my books against my chest.

“Don’t worry, I won’t tell.”

“Tell what?”

She huffs and rolls her eyes. “That you are pregnant with Hudson’s baby.” She whispers in my ear. “Do you think Declan will break up with you when he finds out?”

“I’m not pregnant.”

Paige shrugs. “You know you won’t be able to hide it forever.” She glances at my stomach again. “I mean you are already starting to show a little.”

I just nod and stalk away
,
where did that come from?
“Why didn’t you tell me?” I hear Nova’s voice shriek from behind me.

“Because it isn’t true.” I say just now realizing the whispers and glances people are giving me.

“You aren’t pregnant then? I heard you didn’t know if the daddy was Hudson or Declan.” she whispers like the rest of the school doesn’t already think this.

“Well considering Declan and I haven’t had sex…”

“So the baby is Hudson’s?” her big brown eyes blink at me waiting.

“I’m not pregnant.” I growl.

“Everyone is talking about it.” She says all dramatically.

“Everyone is ignorant.”

Nova gasps. “Don’t say things like that,” she says in a hush leaning into me. “Someone might hear you and you won’t have a chance to get homecoming queen. I bet if they think you’re pregnant with Hudson’s baby you guys will get all kinds of pity votes.”

“I don’t want to be homecoming queen.” I reply when my boyfriend appears in my line of sight. He smiles at me making my stomach warm. I don’t even notice Nova leave my s
ide by the time he approaches.

“You hear you’re pregnant?” he laughs in my ear.

“What version did you hear?” I groan.

“That the baby is Hudson’s and that the baby is mine. I was also asked if I am going to break up with you over it.”

“I am so over high school.” I moan as Declan and I make our way into Government. The low whispers filling the room abruptly stop and everybody looks at me. I just roll my eyes and make my way to my desk.

When class is over Declan is by my side t
o walk with me to our next one. Hudson hasn’t moved from his desk a couple of people stand around and talk to him. “Hey D, I think maybe I need to talk to Hudson.” My voice is soft waiting for him to go all jealous boyfriend on me.

“Alright I’ll see you at lunch.” He says calmly.
Really? He isn’t jealous? He kisses my cheek quickly before disappearing out the door. I slowly make my way to Hudson my stomach turns as people stare and the room gets oddly quiet.

“Hey.” My voice comes out almost a whisper. “Can we talk?” I can see the fear in his eyes when I say this.

“Uh,” he looks at the few buddies that are staring at him waiting for his reaction. “Yeah.” He nods his head to the side signaling to his minions that he needs some privacy, they scatter. We walk into the hall and my peers stare and whisper I am sure this looks like the rumors are true.

“I’m not pregnant.” I tell him. I can see color return to his face as he lets out his breath.

“Thank God.” He gushes.

I nod, “If I was it would be yours though.” I don’t know why I feel the need to give him this bit of information. “I haven’t been with anyone else.”

He looks surprised. I don’t know why, because it took me two years to sleep with him. “So you haven’t with Declan?” he looks at me with hope in his eyes.

I give him a soft grin, hoping it will soften the blow. “We haven’t because we are waiting until we get married.”

His eyes widen at this. “You are getting married?”

“Eventually.”
I shrug. He now looks like I punched him in the gut.

“You really do love him, don’t you?” He asks me softly.  I nod. “Is he good to you?”

“Yes.” I can’t keep my face from smiling.

“Then you deserve that.”
His tone is low as we stalk down the hall. A couple younger girls whisper and giggle as they look at us. “I will always regret how I treated you.” His gaze focuses ahead of us. “I always thought that you would forgive me, and I took that for granted. I see how happy you are and I’m okay with that now. I just want you to be happy.” He turns towards me and gives me a grin. The grin that used to make my stomach go all crazy, now I feel nothing when he does this. Maybe this is what people mean by closure.

“Thank you.” I whisper.

“If he does start treating you bad; I will be waiting to steal you back.” He smirks. “I do have to admit part of me was hoping you were pregnant with my baby; thought maybe there would be another chance for us.” He says in a teasing tone.

“Hudson.” I laugh as I nudge him in the stomach with my elbow.

Since our talk earlier I am surprised when Hudson approaches us at lunch. I thought he was going to leave us alone. He lowers himself down beside Declan. Garrett’s jaw tenses as he glares his way.

“Hey, can I talk to you outside, man?” he cups Declan’s shoulder. Garrett keeps a scowl on Hudson.

“Sure,” Declan says all friendly, and that is one of the reasons I love the guy.
Declan stands and pulls his leg over the bench beside Hudson and Garrett rises as well puffing out his chest like he is going to intimidate him or something.  “Sit down, Gare.” Declan growls Garrett sits slowly not taking his eyes off Declan and Hudson as they make their way out of the cafeteria.

“Gare, you can relax. Hudson and I are good now.” I assure him.

He slowly pulls his eyes away from Hudson and back to me. “You aren’t the only reason I hate that guy.” He growls. I’m sure I’m not. Hudson can be a bit of a jerk.

“So did you hear that I’m pregnant?” I laugh.

He spits out the water he just gulped into his mouth. “You’re what?”

“Relax, Gare, I’m not really pregnant. What I meant to say was did you hear the rumor?”

“Oh,” he blows out a breath and looks down at his food, now picking at his sandwich. “No, I hadn’t heard that.” He mumbles. What is his deal? After a few seconds he looks up at me and opens his mouth to say something then his eyes look over my shoulder and he stops. Declan slides back on the bench beside me. I think he was going to confide in me before Declan showed up.

“Well, Hudson told me I better be good to you.” Declan laughs as he looks at me. “I told him it was a no brainer. I would never be anything but good to you.”

“Are you serious? That guy is a jerk. You know he has an ulterior motive, right? How can you just forgive him like that?” Garrett says in a rush.

“It’s call
ed maturity, Gare; you should try it out sometime.” Declan says sarcastically.