Love Rekindled (Love Surfaced) (19 page)

I turn to find a welcome and warm smile. Seriously, this woman is a saint.

“Can you tell me how you and Brad met?”

My teeth clench. Oh shit, that’s not really a story you tell the mother. Couldn’t we talk about Em instead?

“At a fraternity party.”

Her smile only widens as she waits for more information, and my stomach churns. Surely, I can put our first encounter in a more innocent way than it really was.

“I spilled my drink on him.” My cheeks flame at the memory of that night.

I was on my third cup of “juice,” and my friends were on the dance floor. Staggering, I attempted to make my way from the kitchen to the makeshift dance floor. But I failed when a brick wall of a man stepped in my way. My head flew forward, my blonde strands obstructing my view, and before I realized it. “What the fuck?” someone spat out in a deep male voice. The guy right in front of me.

I brushed away my hair, quickly noticing my empty cup spinning on the floor.

“Oh, my God, I’m so sorry.” My hand moved to touch his T-shirt, but he back stepped and my hand fell to my side. I sobered up quickly and straightened my back to find Brad Ashby.

Our college was mid-size, but everyone knew the athletes. At least, in my circle they did. Brad Ashby’s reputation preceded him. He’d been lip-locked with most of the sorority circle, but still he didn’t disgust me. I was fresh off quarterback Jake Michaels; recently breaking up after finding him with some redhead with his pants around his ankles.

The animosity between Jake and Brad was just as well-known around campus as the disgusting egg concoction in the cafeteria.

“Taylor, right?” Brad clarified, and for some reason, the fact that he knew my name electrified every nerve in my body.

“Yeah.” Our eyes locked, his filled with mischief and mine with a little tipsy desire.

“Help me clean up?” He tilted his head to the staircase, and I glanced back at my friends on the dance floor, wrapped around each other, grinding with all the football players. Jake was right in the middle with two of my friends on either side.
Some friends.

I looked back at Brad with that goofy smirk that screamed sex appeal. “I did cause the mess,” I flirted, and he rested his hand on the small of my back, leading me toward the staircase.

We reached the bottom stair when his sister, Piper, stepped in front of us. She was feisty and a little on the mean side to the sorority girls.

“I want to go home.” She crossed her arms, glancing over at me like I was a piece of trash.

“Go. I’ll be okay.” Brad put his hand on her shoulder and pushed her out of the way.

“I’m your DD tonight, remember?” She ignored my existence, not that I was going to argue with her.

“Taylor’s got me.” His hand grazed along my arm until it was clasped in mine, igniting shivers up and down my back. The feeling of safety should not have surrounded me in that moment, but it did.

“Um, she just spilled her drink on you.” She points to his wet T-shirt. “She can’t drive you home.”

If matters couldn’t get worse, Tanner McCain, Brad’s best friend sauntered over.

“I got him.” He rested his hand on Piper’s shoulder, but she stepped to the side, letting it fall off. Tanner’s eyes drooped and he took a big breath.

“Both of you go. I’ll be fine.” Brad dragged me up a few steps and then swiveled around so fast, I became dizzy. “Not together, though.”

Both their cheeks heated with a pink flush and Tanner looked over to Piper, who was trying to act indifferent by not meeting his gaze, but anyone could figure out there was something going on there.

“Coach said if you get in trouble again, he’s taking you out of meets.” Piper hollered over the music, coming up a step to meet us. This was not what I was expecting when I agreed to help him ’clean his shirt.’

“Give it a damn rest. You’re not our mom.” Then he pulled me up a few more steps and stopped on the landing.

“Suit yourself. We’re out.” Tanner screamed, and his hand led Piper away, just like Brad had done to me moments before. Something was going on there.

“Hey, Michaels!” Brad yelled, and the whole dance floor looked up at us. “Taylor’s actually found a real man.” He dipped me and crushed his lips to mine.

His tongue didn’t wait for me to allow him in; instead, it swept into my mouth, as though he was claiming me. My hand snaked around the back of his head, the light-brown strands tickling my skin. In all the chaos around us, he slowed and his lips merged with mine. Quickly, I was lost in Brad Ashby, until he swung me upright. The music had lessened and there was no carrying on in the party. Everyone’s eyes were locked on us, with a very angry Jake in the middle. He looked at me with complete disgust, but I didn’t give a shit.

“Fuck, Brad!” Tanner stomped up the stairs, two other guys from the swim team following. “Let’s go.” He grabbed Brad by the arm, dragged him down the stairs, but before they could get too far away, Brad linked hands with mine.

“She’s coming.” He smiled up to me, and every fiber in my body said,
stay put. This guy is trouble
. But I went anyway.

“Whatever,” Tanner said.

We reached the bottom of the staircase and I heard the rustling of people, some chanting, “Fight.” Tanner pushed Brad’s back, making him stumble forward through the door.

Quickly, we were on the porch with party goers who didn’t know a fight was brewing.

“Give it a break, Jake. You’re done with her.” The painful words came from one of Brad’s friends who was at the door. I suspected he was keeping the football team back until we could escape in the red Jeep parked out front.

Brad ducked in, never letting go of my hand the entire way. Tanner flew into the passenger seat, and when I found time to absorb everything, I discovered Piper in the driver’s seat.

“Go, Piper.” She pressed on the gas and drove down the road. “Thanks, guys!” Tanner yelled to his friends, hanging out the window. They each raise their hand in a wave. “Fuck off, Jake.”

Tanner sat down in his seat, grabbing his seatbelt.

“Why do you have to start shit?” Tanner’s green eyes lit up from the streetlights whizzing by. They centered on me for a second before switching to Brad.

He shrugged. “He’s a jackass.” He disregarded Tanner and turned to me. “What did you ever see in him anyway?”

I focused on my lap, but his hand let go of mine and moved to my thigh. A rush of electricity shot up my leg with his touch. “I have no idea.” That was the truth, but I was shallow and my friends thought so highly of me because I was dating Jake Michaels. I was fairly sure it would be horrible if I admitted that right then.

“He’s a complete douche,” Piper chimed in from the front, and I watched Tanner’s arm sling across the back of her seat. Piper scooted toward the window as though his touch was disgusting, which I believed was the exact opposite of what she felt.

“Well, girls can make mistakes,” I half stuck up for myself.

“Are we dropping you off, Taylor?” She changed the subject, and I was thankful.

I inched forward. “Sure, I live at Alpha—”

Brad tugged me back, his head in the crook of my neck. “Come home with me.” His hot breath caused goose bumps to scatter across my skin.

“I don’t know,” I said, enjoying the warmth of his body so near.

His mouth covered my earlobe, sucking it into his mouth. His teeth began to nibble on my neck and my breathing hitched. “Please,” he begged.

“Okay.” Any willpower I had left vanished in that moment. Not that the numerous cups of “juice” didn’t help the cause.

“Perfect,” he said, and leaned back to his side. “She’s coming to our place.”

Piper made a grunting sound and the Jeep started going faster.

“Can I stay at your place tonight?” Tanner asked, and Piper tried to act indifferent, narrowing her eyes at him.

“Fine. Wendy went back home anyway.” She never looked at him, because I’m fairly certain she’d be smiling. How could Tanner McCain not affect her?

“Great,” Brad said, moving over to me again. His fingers grazed my cheek, resting in the strands of my hair. “We’ll be alone.”

I swallowed a big gulp right before he kissed me again. This time, his mechanics were slow and gradual until I was a complete puddle in the cloth seats.

We parted ways with Piper and Tanner as they got off on the floor below ours. Once the elevator doors shut, Brad’s hand ventured south to my ass, in turn, pulling me toward him more. He dragged me down the hallway, his hand warm in mine.

You’d think he was completely sober by the way the key flawlessly fit in the lock and clicked open. He waited for me to enter first, and as the door closed, he had me pressed against the wall, my wrists pinned with one hand above my head. His finger traveled down the dip between my breasts. My tight shirt didn’t leave much to the imagination.

“You sure, Taylor?” he asked, and in that moment, I couldn’t imagine doing anything else.

“Yes,” was my last word before Brad Ashby was all I felt, saw, and heard around me.

“Thank God.” His fingers manipulated the button of my jeans and the sound of the zipper bounced off the empty apartment walls. I gasped for air when his hand snaked down my pants and his mouth cast small kisses to my neck.

“Oh, I can image Brad’s reaction.” Maggie’s voice cools me from the memory.

I touch my hot cheek. “Yeah, he took it well, though.” A smile snakes across my lips as I think about his smirk that night.

“You’re very beautiful, so I imagine he did.”

I nod, unable to form a coherent sentence. The recollection of our first time together only makes me yearn for his touch. I concentrate on the woman polishing my toes, but still, my body is a hum of electricity.

“You know, fear can make people do things outside of themselves.” She continues to talk, and I really don’t want to have a heart-to-heart right now, especially with Maggie.

“Uh-huh,” I say, nodding my head.

“Did Brad tell you about Bayli?”

Hearing the name is like a million little needles pricking my skin at once.

“I know about her, yes.”

Her hand rests on my arm, and I really wish her pedicurist would ask her to stop fidgeting because I’m not good with affection and this woman seems to thrive on it.

“I knew she wasn’t the one for him. Brad is charismatic.”

If that’s what you want to call it.

“He’s quick with his decisions and actions. Never fully thinking things through before acting on his wants.” She smiles and I wonder why those are good qualities. “I’m very similar to him.”

Gotcha.

“He can be rash,” I add, even though it’s a quality I admire in him. Being with Brad made me spontaneous, which I enjoyed.

“But usually he knows what he’s doing. Things always seem to work out for him. But when he didn’t get a shot at the Olympics, it took him down a long road of depression.”

“Maggie,” I interrupt her because I witnessed it and I tried to heal him. She stops talking, so I take my opportunity to intervene. “I tried to help him, to pull him up from the trenches, but he couldn’t be saved. You’re right, things always work out for Brad, and when they didn’t, he spun a world of heartbreak in his path. I’m not sure what you know about why we broke up, and it’s really not my business to tell you, but know this, you don’t have to sell me on your son. I’m still very much in love with him. It’s trust that’s keeping us apart right now.”

“Tayl—”

“Just please let me finish.” She nods. “I apologize for keeping Em away from you these years. I was wrong to do that. My family comes from a life of addiction and a long line of hurting the ones you love to gain what you want. When Brad fell into drugs, drinking, and depression, I tried to pick him back up, but he wouldn’t meet me halfway. I got more confused. Suddenly, that love and belief I always had in him waned, and I saw my baby’s life being one of feeling lost and unloved by her father. That’s why I left him without telling him about my pregnancy.”

She nods, a tear slowly falling from her.

“It wasn’t my intention to make you cry.”

She shakes her head, wiping the tears from her eyes.

“You love him. You love him for him.” Her voice trembles, and I’m confused she’s taking that from my confession.

Her hand ventures back over, clasping mine. “The best thing in the world is when you discover someone loves your child for who they are.”

“Um, Maggie, love isn’t enough.” I’m trying to slowly bring her back down from the love bubble she’s floating on.

“Yes, it is. I can see he hurt you quite a bit, but you’re here with him, willing to help him, and that speaks to how much you love him.”

She claps her hands and the two women doing our toes stare, intrigued by the crazy lady next to me.

“We aren’t back together,” I clarify before she pulls her feet from the woman’s hands and starts dancing in the middle of the salon.

“Yet, honey. Yet.”

“Maybe never,” again, I correct her.

“Oh, sweetie. You love him too much to let him go completely. He’s your one.”

“Um, I can’t promise you that, Maggie. Em comes first.”

Her hand squeezes mine. “I know, and I’m sure that’s the same for Brad too, but more comes from love than hate, darling. And you love him.”

She smiles wide, as if I just told her we were getting married. But her excitement is contagious and a stir of hope spurs inside of me that maybe love will heal Brad and me. If only the vision of that girl would erase from my memory.