Overcome (16 page)

Chapter 34

Parker

Parker wasn’t sure what to think of Carly’s silence. She was always so talkative; whether ticked or happy, she didn’t keep her mouth shut.

He reached across the console and placed his hand on her knee. “What’s up?”

Carly turned from the window, her face lit only by the glow from the dash board. The chicken picture she drew for him was beginning to fray, but it held on with the tiny piece of tape. She blinked at him. “Nothing.” Her curls wrapped around her ear when she tucked her hair behind it.

Her leg was warm under his hand. “Do you …” He let out a slow breath, he didn’t want her to get the wrong idea. “Did you want to go swim, maybe at the hotel?”

“Sure,” Carly’s voice was quiet, and she stared back out the window.

“You don’t have to … if you don’t want to … I just thought …”

“I want to.” Carly’s hand covered his, and he wanted to be relieved, but he couldn’t shake the fact she was lying to him about nothing being wrong. Classic girl dialogue, I’m fine, nothing, okay, and whatever. It’s when they say whatever that one has to be careful. Parker knew enough to know that nothing wasn’t nothing.

Silence filled the Jeep again, making Parker even more uncomfortable. His mind was everywhere from his mom, to Carly, and even to the talk Nate had with him at the lake. Though after hanging out at his sister’s house for the last few weeks, he’d heard Nate’s repetitive Jesus talk more than he cared to, but tonight something he said hit him. 

Nate lost his father in a car accident when he was eighteen. He told Parker he didn’t know how he’d gotten through those first six months without holding onto God.

“What do you think of all that?” He finally asked.

“Of what?”

Parker kept his gaze on the road as he continued. “You know, all that God stuff that Bree and Garrett, and Nate and Lexi are always talking about.”

Carly shifted in her seat when he glanced her way. She crossed her arms across her chest. “If it works for them, great, I guess.”

“Yeah … but, do you,” he hoped he didn’t regret bringing this up. “Do you ever wonder…what happened to … Colten?” He gripped the steering wheel tighter.

“Garrett claims he’s in heaven … I don’t know if there even is a heaven. Whatever helps Garrett deal.” She leaned forward and turned the music up almost to a level Parker couldn’t speak over without shouting. He took that as a sign. He wasn’t going to get anywhere with this conversation.

With the music cranked, Carly didn’t sing along like usual. She didn’t tap her fingers or bob her head. She just stared out the window, silent like a statue listening to the princess-pop-star that he knew she loved.

The fact that she was going to the same place as him seemed to slow the drive down, and it felt like forever with the song ringing in his ears and the silence from Carly.

When he finally pulled in to the hotel, he didn’t waste any time shutting off the Jeep and turning toward her.

Carly hopped out of the vehicle before he had the chance to speak. He followed her inside as the clop of her flip-flops echoed in the parking lot. She waved to the night shift worker at the front desk and headed straight to the pool.

Parker couldn’t catch up with her before she was tugging off her tank top and skirt, revealing her tiny bikini.

The water didn’t splash much when she dove in. The night air was still warm and humid.

Carly swam the length of the pool before popping out of the surface and taking a breath she came up face first. The water pulled her hair slick behind her. She looked up at Parker, breathing heavy. “Well, you coming?”

He was the one who asked her to swim in the first place. Parker smiled and stripped his shirt off; he didn’t pay attention to where he tossed it before jumping in beside her. When he came up out of the cool water, Carly was smiling again. He wanted to be happy about it. But it wasn’t her genuine smile. It was the fake one she wore when she wanted to cover up her true feelings.

“Race you?” She disappeared under the water. Parker didn’t even have time to catch his breath. He swam after her. Not to race her, he was going to catch her. He’d been waiting all night, watching her as she stared off onto the lake. He wanted to know what she was thinking about. He’d always imagined her being the center of attention in a big crowd, but it was as if she drew into herself as soon as they hit the beach.

It didn’t take long for Parker to catch up. He wrapped his hands around her bare waist and she squealed. When he pulled her against him, she turned her body around, and slid her hands up his chest.

“I thought you didn’t like my hair,” he said when she buried her hands in it. Pool water dripped off his forehead.

Carly giggled a raspy giggle as her gray eyes stared into his. “Shut up and kiss me,” she said, pulling him to her mouth.

Her legs were warm as she wrapped them around his waist. The smell of her fruity shampoo mixed with the strong chlorine scent from the pool reminded him of the night she first kissed him.

Was she doing that again? Distraction?

His heart raced as she worked her lips and tongue against his. He wanted her. His mind was in a hazy fog and though he knew he didn’t want it to go too far, he found himself having a difficult time pulling away.

Carly slid her hands to his neck then down his chest until they were resting on his stomach just above the waistband of his shorts.

He didn’t want to stop her. It took every last ounce of self-control to pull away from her and even more when the moon shone silver across her face. Her lips were swollen and she was breathing heavy like she’d just swam a dozen laps.

“What’s wrong?”  Her voice cracked.

Parker groaned and looked at the star filled sky. “It’s … it’s … Carly … I have to … I
need
to tell you something.”

Her lips turned down and she crossed her arms over her chest. “Oh, are you a virgin?” She gasped and her eyes went wide.

“What? No.” Water sprayed from his hair as he shook his head. “I … it was … it was Haley.”

“I already told you I don’t want to know.” She swam away, to the side of the pool.

Parker followed, gaining on her before she could lift herself out. He hugged her from behind. “I need to tell you. You can’t hear it from somebody else.”

Carly’s body went limp in his arms, and she laid her head back on his shoulder. “Fine.”

“At least look at me,” he whispered in her ear. He felt the goose bumps on her skin. Her body was slick as she spun around in his arms. He placed his hands on either side of her to cage her in. She tilted her head up and blinked.

“Haley and I were friends. Friends only because our dads were business partners. At the Christmas party last year, there was a big merger our dads were working on and they needed to impress a guy. So what else do two teenagers do?” He paused long enough to look away from her. Her expressionless face was killing him. “Well three, stealing the champagne was Spencer’s idea.”

Carly stilled.

“Once we had the bottle empty, Spencer went back down to the party … and that’s when … that’s when Haley and I … well … you can probably guess. It was kind of a dare at first, and we just wanted to see how far the other would go.” He closed his eyes, trying to remember what went wrong. “After, it was like … please don’t hate me for admitting this.” He opened his eyes and saw Carly staring at him.

“I don’t think I could hate you,” she whispered.

He let all the air out of his lungs. He prayed that she meant what she said. “Haley wanted to be more than friends. I didn’t like her like that. She went crazy the next time we saw each other, expecting me to be her boyfriend and all. When I wouldn’t give in, she ran off and told everyone …” he swallowed the lump in his throat. This was something he hadn’t said out loud in a long time. “She told everyone that I raped her. There was no evidence … no witnesses … just my word against hers.”

“Crap.” Carly’s arms slid up around his neck. He’d expected her to push away from him, for her to be like everyone else and believe Haley over him. It seemed like in that situation everyone sided with the girl. He would have even sided with the girl if it was someone else.

“She pressed charges. It caused a huge feud between our dads. They no longer do business together; our family took a big hit financially. She finally came clean, but not after screwing everything up. People at school just thought my dad paid her off. My name still isn’t completely clear. But, I don’t care if nobody else believes my side … I just I need to know you believe me.”

The breeze sent a cool burst of air across the pool, making Parker shiver. He felt like he waited forever for Carly to speak as the crickets chirped into the night.

She slid closer to him pulling him against her she rested her head on his chest. “I believe you.”

Parker’s heart warmed … with what? Relief?
Love?
Both? He wasn’t sure. All he knew was that she—Carly, the only one in the world he cared about, believed him.

“Parker … I’ve been date raped … and if you wanted to, you could have with me, and you didn’t.”

Parker didn’t mean to tighten his arms around her that hard, but the thought of someone hurting her set him off.

“I don’t like to talk about it. I never pressed charges and Garrett and Bree are the only ones who know besides, well, the guy.”

“Why didn’t you turn him in?” Parker’s jaw clenched at the thought of some jerk getting away with that while he had to be tortured even though he was innocent.

“I don’t want to relive that night. I just want to let it go,” she whispered and tilted her face toward him.

“Just another thing you keep hidden in your shell,” he said, staring at her.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Her arms loosened around him and she tried to push away, but she wasn’t getting away. Not this time.

“What I mean is you have so many things tucked under your mask … and yes I can see through it, don’t ask me how, but I can.”

She looked down, and he hated that he couldn’t see her face.

“I should get home.” She nudged his chest with her clenched fists, but he didn’t budge.

“Not this time. You know my secret. You don’t have to be scared to break.”

She whipped her face back up toward him. Her lips were pursed, and her eyes were like a fierce storm. “What makes you think I’m going to break?” she snapped. “I keep things in, to forget about them, so I don’t break … I never break.”  This time she pushed hard against his chest to loosen herself from his grip. He let her go.

Water rose with her as she pushed herself up out of the side of the pool.

“Maybe you need to break so you can let go of whatever it is you’re holding on to.”

With her clothes tucked under her arm, she glared back at him. “Why can’t you just be like all the other guys and take the sex?”

Chapter 35

Carly

A sick feeling in her gut hit Carly the moment she pulled into the hotel and saw his Jeep still sitting in the same spot it was when they came back from the party.

She was tired of constantly putting herself out there. It didn’t help she had little sleep thinking of their entire conversation all night long, going over things again and again. Why did he have to push? It wasn’t hurting him if she kept things bottled up; it wasn’t hurting her either. If everything stayed neatly tucked away, she didn’t have to think about it.

She stared at her dash board and gripped her steering wheel. She could do this, walk in there and face him. Maybe he’d wait until she was gone before he checked out?

She slipped out of her car and felt she was off the hook when she saw him stalking out of the hotel entrance. She was both relieved and sad that he tried to leave before her shift.

His puffy, red eyes met hers for a second before he turned to the ground, the bill of his hat hid his face from her.

She stared at the double doors. She wanted to go in, needed to go inside and forget whatever it was they had. It was brief and stupid. Just a fling she could recover from.

“Parker wait,” she said as her feet moved toward him. She didn’t know why.

“This isn’t about you.” He lifted his hand to his hat.

Was he crying? Carly jogged toward his vehicle, reaching his Jeep before he could.

“I get it, Carly. I’ll leave you alone. You leave me alone, okay?”  He still wouldn’t look at her. “I’m going home, and we never have to see one another again.”

“It’s your mom, isn’t it?” Carly’s heart sank as the realization hit her.

Parker came to a complete stop. He looked up, his mouth in a stiff line.

“My dad summoned me this morning.” He swiped under his nose with the back of his hand. “Her lungs filled up with fluid. He’s not sure if she’s going to last long enough for me to get home.”

Carly’s heart ached, knowing he could have been with his mom the last few days, but he was here.

“She was supposed to have another month,” he stared behind her.

“Parker, I’m sorry.” She stepped toward him, folding her hands at her middle, scratching at the chipping polish.

“That’s life, right?” He finally looked at her. “Everyone lives and everyone dies.”

“Parker …”

He lifted his arms up, his duffle bag swung at his side. “Hey, I can deal with it Carly style. Don’t even have to worry about it, just pretend it didn’t happen.”

Carly’s eyes burned and heart hurt. “You don’t have to be so mean.” Her voice shook when she spoke, and the tears she fought to keep back spilled over her eyes. “Goodbye, Parker, have a nice life.” she turned on her heels and started toward the hotel. She couldn’t let him see her cry.

“Carly wait.” His voice was much softer.

She stopped, despite the fact she wanted to walk away. To disappear into the hotel and not give it a second thought. To go back to making out with random guys just because. She swiped the tears from her cheeks before she turned to him.

His arms came around her and his face fell into the crook of her neck. “I’m sorry.”

Carly squeezed his waist and kissed his shoulder. “No, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it … last night. And you don’t need my issues right now.”

He pulled back just enough to look her in the eyes. “I don’t care about your issues. I want you … all of you.” He pushed her curls out of her face.

“But you’re not supposed to want all of me.”

“I do.”

Carly looked at the ground, “You need to get to your mom.”

Parker’s arms slid from her back, around to her sides. “I know.” He kissed her forehead. “I’ll call you as soon as I can. I promise I won’t make you wait, okay?”

Carly frowned as she looked up at him. “I don’t mind waiting on your calls. Just let me know when something happens.”

Parker’s long lashes touched his cheek as he looked at the ground. “Thanks.”