Hypnotized (17 page)

A cool breeze swept through my body causing goose bumps. I wanted Gabe badly, and I didn’t know how much longer I could hold out before finally being with him. I guess first, I had to apologize and hope he hadn’t done anything stupid with Kelly.

I quickly pulled my hair up into a loose pony tail, then collected my phone and house key and went down to the street to wait on him. Thankfully, I didn’t have to wait long; he pulled up on the curb just as I came down the stairwell.

Gabe pulled the helmet off his head. His gaze swept down my body, then back up until he met my own stare.

“Hey,” he said.

“Hey.”

He reached behind him and opened the part that held my helmet. He held it out to me and I took it from him. We didn’t say anything else. I climbed on the back, wrapped my arms around him, and finally felt whole again. How had this happened? How had another human made me feel like they were meant for me?

Gabe pulled away from the curb and we headed away from downtown. I had an idea where we’d go, but for now, I’d just hold tightly and enjoy the ride. I rested my chin on his shoulder.

We rode for awhile until he finally parked his bike in front of his place. I hadn’t expected him to bring me here. I figured we’d go somewhere public to talk.

Gabe cut the bike off and climbed off. I followed suit. As we walked on the brick path toward his front door, I took off my helmet and hugged it against me. I wasn’t sure I wanted to be here. Kelly had been here last.

Damn it. We had to talk and figure this out. Where had it gone so wrong?

Once inside, we both set our helmets down.

“Want anything to drink?” he asked.

“Water.”

“Go have a seat.” He motioned toward the couch.

He disappeared into the kitchen and I sat down. Had he and Kelly made out here—or worse—had sex?
Stop it, Paisley!
I was going to drive myself mad.

“Here.” He held out a bottle.

“Thanks.”

Gabe sat on the opposite end of the couch. This wasn’t good. “We have a lot to discuss.”

I’d never done this before. I’d been in relationships, but nothing serious like this. Nothing that made me feel like if this ended, my heart would be ripped from my chest; that I would have no reason to live. I didn’t even know where to start.

“I first want to say, nothing happened with Kelly. You ran away so quickly, I didn’t get to tell you.” He opened the water bottle in his hand and took a long drink. “She stopped by after the incident at the party to make sure I was okay. She tried hitting on me, but I turned her down.”

Was I relieved or jealous? I couldn’t tell. All I knew was my damn heart was beating so fast, I worried I might pass out, but I could do this.

“So you didn’t kiss her?” I asked.

“No. Nothing. I sent her on her way the second you left. She purposely made you think we’d done something. We didn’t.”

So now I was the only one who’d done something wrong. I was the bad guy. Me! All I ever heard was how sweet and innocent I was. Boy, those tables sure had changed.

Tears started to fall and I couldn’t control it. I buried my face in my hands and sobbed. I waited and hoped Gabe would pull me into his arms and tell me everything was fine. He didn’t. Instead, he sat there and let me cry.

Finally, I looked up at him. I’d really screwed this up, and now I needed to figure out how to fix this. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”

He cleared his throat, and I could see his eyes watered as well. “What are you sorry for?”

“I kissed Evan back.”

“I know. I saw. Why?”

“Because I wanted to see if what I felt for you was real, and if there was anything with Evan. He’s been hounding me. When he kissed me, I decided to just kiss him back. It was wrong, but I know now that I want you. When we kiss, my world stops. When I kissed Evan, it felt familiar, but not right.”

He sighed. “So you kissed him to see if what you felt for me was real?”

“You make it sound like I went up and kissed him. I just went along with what he started.”

He shook his head. “Paisley, it doesn’t really matter how the kiss came about. The point is you did it. You didn’t push him away. I ended it between you two. How long would you have been lip locked if I hadn’t come along?”

I sucked in my bottom lip. I didn’t have an answer.

“We’re human and we make mistakes.” He set the water bottle down on the table in front of him. “But come on, you had to know it was wrong while you were in the act.”

I groaned, irritation setting in. “Of course I knew it was. I’m not stupid.”

“I never said you were.”

I stood and balled my hands into fists. “I’ve not had nearly the amount of experience as you. I’ve only kissed two other guys before you. So when Evan kissed me, yes, I kissed him back. But like I said, I wanted to see what it felt like.”

“Why?”

“Because I’ve fallen in love with you.” Oh. My. God. Had I just blurted that out?

I glanced at Gabe, who sat there and stared at me. Telling someone you loved them was sometimes a relationship breaker, but it was the truth. Somehow I’d fallen over the edge of lust into full blown love.

“Say something.” I couldn’t stand being so vulnerable.

Gabe stood and came toward me. He took my hand in his and placed a kiss on it. “I’ve fallen in love with you, too.”

“You have?” A whole other feeling flooded through me now. Peace of sorts.

“Yes, it’s why I can’t understand, and it hurts that much more. That’s why I can’t just say everything is going to be okay.”

Couldn’t we just put a band aid on this and move on? “Can you forgive me?”

He wrapped his arms around me waist and tugged me tightly against him. I lay my head against his chest.

“Yes, I can in time. I don’t want to see things end between us, but it’s going to take awhile to heal.”

Maybe I would leave here with my heart intact. Oh crap. I pulled away. “I need to go.”

He raised an eyebrow.

“I have to work tonight. I totally forgot.”

He leaned forward and brushed his lips to mine. God, it felt heavenly, and right. “Let me get you home. Though, I do hope you change.”

I giggled. “Why? I got this for you.”

“I know. I don’t want that bookstore to become the most popular one in town with men coming to look at your legs.”

Things were going to be okay. I could sense it wasn’t better yet, and we still had some work to do, but it was worth it. I would spend my life proving to him just how sorry I was.

I felt like I could sleep for hours. And yet, my parents needed me to come into the coffee shop for some meeting. Maybe it was time I broke away from this place. It wasn’t like they paid me. Just reminded me all the time that one day this place would be mine. The question was, did I want it? Ninety percent of me said no, but then the other ten percent saw easy money in a college town.

I pulled the heavy door open and went inside. I was surprised to find the lights on high. Usually this place was dimly lit. My mom sat at a table writing something on paper and Nate was next to her on his tablet.

“Hey,” I said as I pulled out a chair and sat.

“You’re a little late.” Mom gave me a stern look. Parents, why did they still do that?  I’m an adult. I know what time it is. Besides, when did she become a clock watcher?

“Sorry. I worked last night.”

My dad came over and sat in the other chair. He didn’t look to happy.

“What’s up?” I asked.

“I’ve had an offer come in.” My dad took a deep breath. “Someone wants to buy the place. Your mother and I want your input.”

Sell the place? Wow, I never expected this was why they wanted me down here. “Is it a good offer?”

He nodded and handed me the proposal. Damn. It was a really good offer. He’d be stupid to pass it up. “So, what do you want me to tell you?”

A minute ago my mom talked to me like a kid, now they wanted me opinion as an adult.

“We’ve talked in the past about handing this place down to you. So we wanted to find out if you still wanted that.” Mom leaned back in her chair and rubbed Nate’s shaggy brown hair. “I can just see you two running this together.”

Oh yeah, I’m twenty-three and he’s four. We’d make a great team—not.

“Honestly, no. I never wanted the place. It’s not my dream to run a coffee shop. Have you looked around? They are everywhere. Nate’s only four, so there is no point in holding onto it for him.”

Dad chuckled. “Yeah, I know. As you know, sales are okay, but could be better. Your mom and I think this might be a good option to get out while we can. However, we didn’t want to take this away from you if it was something you wanted.”

I shook my head. “Sell it.” I didn’t want to be burdened with this place.

My parents grinned at each other and I wondered if that was a good sign. Obviously, they’d wanted to get away from this place, too.

“What are you guys going to do when this place is gone?”

Mom smirked and dad answered, “Open up an adult shop.”

“An…”
Gross
. “I won’t be working on my writing in there.”

My parents won the award on weird. They lived their life and us kids just tagged along.

“You know there are two already in town.” Great, now my parents knew I’d been to those places.

Mom nodded. “Yes, but we plan to do some different things with ours.”

I held my hand up. “Not interested.”

The coffee shop entrance door swung open and Evan with some guy I’d never seen walked in. Only something was off in Evan’s expression. Was he high?

“Heeey.” Evan patted my shoulder. “How are you?”

“Not as good as you.”

Evan laughed and the other guy did, too. “We want to get some coffee.”

Dad raised an eyebrow as he stood and went behind the counter.

“We’ve got that here.”

“Where is Paisley?” Evan asked. “Since you won her.”

I took a deep breath to respond, but my mom beat me to it. “You on something?”

Evan shook his head, put a hand over his heart, and grinned. “No, I swear.”

Mom looked at my little brother. “Nate, go in the back really quick, would ya?”

As soon as Nate was in the back, she stood and placed her hands on her slender hips. “Boys, I know two messed up people when I see them, and you two are on something.” She glanced back at my dad. “Get them two coffees, black, in to-go cups, then these boys will be on their way.”

“Ah, you’ve got a great mom.” Evan put his arm around my shoulder. “I have a great mom, too.”

I shrugged it off. “Dude.”

Even smirked. “Kissing Paisley was good, but almost like a board, too.”

“Excuse me?”
The nerve of this guy!

“Yeah. She knew what she was doing, but it wasn’t for me. Now Kelly, she’s…”

I punched him right in the jaw. “Shut up, you punk.”

Evan rubbed his jaw and I fully expected him to hit me back, but he laughed. Which confirmed my suspicion he was on something.

Dad walked over and handed them their coffee. “See ya around.”

I opened the door and Evan stopped in front of me. “You hit hard. Bet I’ll feel that later. One of these times, I’m gonna hit you back. After all, you stole my girl.”

I shook my head. I had no doubt he would come at me one day, but there was no way he would get Paisley from me.

Closing the door, I turned back to my parents. My mom glared at me. “You know them?”

“Evan. He’s Paisley’s friend.”

“She needs to choose better friends.”

Did she know Evan was involved with drugs? I hated being the bearer of bad news, but I knew they’d been friends for a long time. Right now Evan needed a friend, and fuck, that friend needed to be Paisley.

***

“Hold on,” Paisley yelled from inside her apartment.

I hoped she hurried. The door down stairs had closed and the lights were out in the stairway, leaving me in pitch black. I wasn’t afraid of the dark, just not crazy about it.

Finally, she swung the door open. Damn, she was hot. Again, she wore a short jean skirt. She was after my heart, and as far as I was concerned, it was hers to do with what she pleased.

“Sorry, I was finishing up an assignment and wanted to print it.”

“How long has that light been out? And when will it be fixed?” The idea of her coming up the dark stairs at night after work…I didn’t even want to let my mind go there.

“Only a day. I called the landlord and he’s added it to his to-do list.”

“Hopefully it’s near the top.”

She sat down on the couch and propped on leg up on the coffee table, giving me a glimpse of her long legs. “So, it sounded urgent.”

I took my seat next to her. We could talk in a minute. It had been too long since I’d tasted Paisley. I knew we had a few issues to resolve, but at this moment, as far as I was concerned, it was fixed.

Tilting her chin up, I claimed her sweet lips. She moaned and slid her tongue to meet mine. I was already hard and my cock begged to be freed from these cargo pants. I wasn’t sure how much longer I could be gentle with her. I really wanted to shove her back, yank her skirt down, and bury myself inside her.

I pulled back. “I can’t kiss you anymore.”

Her eyes went wide. “Was it bad?”

I smirked. “Hell no. It’s so damn good I can’t resist you much longer. I know I said I could wait, but it’s getting hard.”

“Then let’s not wait anymore.” She stroked my arm. “I’m ready.”

I gulped. She’d always said she wanted to wait for the right guy. I wasn’t the right one, but she thought I was. “You drive me crazy. Your first time should be special. Not spontaneous on the couch.”

She groaned. “You’re over thinking it. I’ve been thinking about us taking this next step a lot lately. I want my first time to be with someone who makes me feel the way you do. Besides, it’s mine to give when I want.”

“You’re right.”

She scooted closer and ran her hand behind my neck. The passion in her eyes told me she was a willing partner.

“Let’s talk first. What I have to tell you might sour the mood.”

“All right.” She put her hands back in her lap.

“This might be shocking.” I hated giving bad news. She stared at me, waiting. “Evan came into the coffee shop today and he was on something.”

“What do you mean?”

“Some sort of drug. I don’t know what it was, but he was messed up.”

She glanced away, her blonde hair falling over her shoulder, blocking my view of her face. “I caught him snorting coke right before he kissed me.”

The asshole was high and had the nerve to call her a board kisser. “So you know.”

“He told me it was an occasional thing to relieve stress.”

A lot of college kids did that, hell I had, too, but I had a feeling that wasn’t the case when it came to Evan. “I wanted you to know.”

“Thanks.” She stood and crossed the living room. “I guess I need to do something I really didn’t want to do.”

I went to her and pulled her into my arms. “What?”

Gazing up, she said, “Tell his parents. He’d going to be so pissed.”

I placed a kiss on her forehead. “You’re a good friend.” I was so damn blessed to have found someone like Paisley who cared for others so deeply.

“I’m really sorry.” She laid her head against my chest. “I’ve thought about it and I see what you were saying.”

What was she talking about?

“I kissed him, too. It was wrong. I let the kiss happen and if you hadn’t stopped it.” She was quiet. My stomach tightened as I waited for her to continue. “I don’t know what would’ve happened. I honestly don’t think anything. I would’ve pulled back and ended it, but I let it happen.”

Tightening my arms around her, I set my cheek on top of her head. I wasn’t really sure what to say with her coming to terms with the kiss. “Paisley,” I whispered.

“Yeah.”

“I think…I think…” My throat was dry. “I love you.”

She pulled away and stared at me, her eyes wet. “I love you, too.”