Suppressed (Suppressed Saga) (15 page)

“
Who’s Seth again?” My dad piped up.

“
Cam’s boyfriend.” Lance answered. I loved how people were answering all of my questions for me. It was like I was a mute and couldn’t talk for myself.

My mom walked down the stairs and thankfully interrupted the conversation. She was very pretty, the female version of Lance. My dad went right to her and gave her a kiss; twenty-four years of marriage and they were still as in love as ever. It was rare to see a marriage last like theirs did. You would think this would be a positive enforcement on my whole ‘never fall in love’ scenario, but it wasn’t.

We all headed outside. My dad had a similar Yukon to Lance’s so we were all able to fit comfortably. Unfortunately I was stuck between my brother and Eric in the back.

Twenty minutes later we were at the restaurant. They must have built this since I moved away because I had never seen it before. The inside was huge. In the center of the room there was a waterfall with a tiny lagoon underneath. I never understood what the big deal was with making things so fancy.

It was surprisingly very loud in here, I could barely even think. Throughout dinner I noticed Eric looking around randomly eying certain people. He must be watching to see if there was anyone shady. I tried not to notice and kept my attention on my mom. Sometimes I could feel his eyes on me and that was another reason I kept my focus on her.

The food wasn’t too bad but I’m pretty sure my nerves were getting the best of me because I had six glasses of wine with dinner. After my mom opened up her presents I got up and started towards the bar. Eric caught up beside me and slipped his arm through mine.

“
Hold up, where you goin?”

“
To the bar,” I gave him a sly look and pointed across the room. My mood was slightly picking up, which I was glad of. I had a feeling it had something to do with the wine.

I slid on a bar stool next to Eric and waited for Amy to come up. After a few minutes she sauntered over and gave me a hug over the bar.

“
Hey guys, what can I get you?”

“
Captain and coke for me and he’ll have a beer. Whatever kind you got, he doesn’t care.”

“
Someone’s in a good mood tonight.” Eric mumbled.

“
Don’t get used to it. I figured we could get along for ten minutes.”

He grabbed his beer from Amy and took a swig. “Ten minutes is better than nothing.”

Amy leaned over on the counter and I brought my attention to her. “So Amy, what have you been up to?”

“
Nothing, I’m still going to school for nursing. What about you, how’s your photography going?”

“
Alright, a little hectic but nothing I can’t handle.”

“
Well you always were an over achiever. Are you seeing anyone?”

“
Yeah, his name is Seth. He’s roommates with this one.” I patted Eric lightly on the back.

Her gaze fell on Eric and I could tell she liked what she saw. “So why didn’t he come home with you?”

Eric gave her one of his dazzling smiles, “He had to work but he’ll be here soon.”

Lance came up and stood between me and Eric and I leaned over so he could reach across the bar and give her a hug. We all talked for about a half hour about random things. My brother was drinking like a fish as I started to slow down. I didn’t want to get too intoxicated. Eric’s eyes started to get a little glassy but something told me it took a lot to get him drunk. After a while Amy had to walk away to help more customers and Lance went over to a group of his friends. Even though she was working, Amy kept cutting her eyes our way taking small glances as Eric.

“
I think she likes you.” I whispered to Eric.

“
What’s not to like?” he said gesturing to his whole body. He was in a white and blue striped button up with the sleeves rolled up his forearm and his short black hair lay perfect.

“
Someone’s full of their self.” I said eying him with a grin.

“
I think the ten minute time limit on you being nice to me was up about an hour ago, why are you still being nice? Do you have a fever?”
“Oh shut it.” I said downing my drink.

He let out a laugh, “There’s my girl.”

I ignored his comment and scooted closer to him, “So tell me why you don’t have a girlfriend. I don’t think I’ve seen you with anyone yet. I figured there would be girls coming out of the wood work.”

He shook his head, “I don’t date. I have girls that I see occasionally but I never date seriously.”

Man whore, just as I expected. Use them and lose them; that was probably his motto.

“
And why don’t you date?”

“
Too complicated. I’ve thought about it but there’s just too much to my…lifestyle...to involve anyone else. I’ve never cared about anyone enough to even try. I don’t want to drag anyone through what I have to go through, it might end badly. I don’t want to hurt anyone.”

“
Oh”

I didn’t know if he was telling the truth but if he was then I felt a little bad for him.

“
Besides, we can’t all be like Seth and find a girl who understands and takes it all in like you do.”

I nudged him with my arm, “You never know. You might find a girl one day who will understand, you just haven’t met her yet.”

“
Maybe, I dunno. I’m not too worried about it.” He shrugged and looked away from me.

I rolled my eyes, “Oh please, we may not be friends but I know you don’t want to spend the rest of your life alone. No one deserves to be alone.”

He didn’t respond to my comment and I just let it go. The alcohol was getting to me and making me say things I wouldn’t normally say to him. I could feel my good mood slowly starting to disappear. But there was one thing I wanted to say to him before my good mood left and I was back to despising him.

“
Thank you.” I blurted out.

He turned to me with a confused expression on his face, “For?”

“
Taking care of Chris. I didn’t get to thank you for it. So, thank you.”

For a second he looked surprised and his eyes started to light up. “You’re welcome. And I guess thank you for picking me up off the side of the road and helping me.”

“
You’re welcome.”

I kept my eyes on him for a second and something came creeping back to me, something I didn’t like. I think it was time to go back to being mean to him. Nice with him wasn’t easy. “Well, times up.”

He let out a throaty laugh and shook his head. His eyes diverted from mine and went behind me.

“
There’s your boy.” He nodded.

I whipped around in my seat and saw Seth walking up to the bar. Just seeing him helped clear my head. A smile came up on my face and his mirrored the same as I pushed myself off the bar stool and rushed to him. I wasn’t the type of girl to run and jump on a guy; but that’s exactly what I did. Seth didn’t seem to have a problem with it because he caught me and gave me and long hard kiss that would have made me fall to the ground if he wasn’t holding on to me.

“
You’re beautiful.” He muttered as he pulled away.

“
And you’re sexy.”

He laughed and kissed me on the forehead. “How much have you been drinking?”

“
Eh, just a little. My friend from high school is the bartender.”

“
Ah, that explains it. Where did Eric go?” he looked behind me and I turned to the bar where I left Eric but he wasn’t there anymore.

“
Amy, where did Eric go?” I yelled out to the bar.

“
I think he walked back to where your parent’s are.” She pointed to the table we had been at earlier. Her eyes fell on Seth and she gave me a smirk. “Is this the boyfriend?”

“
Yeah, Seth this is Amy.”

Seth nodded and she gave a little wave. As Amy went back to the bar I grabbed Seth’s hand to lead him back to the table. My mom and dad were sitting with a few of their friends when they saw us and my mom stood up quickly to come over. I could tell, like me, that she’d had too much wine. She pulled Seth into a hug and kissed him on the cheek before calling my dad over to introduce them. We went and sat with my brother and Eric, who were with a few of Lance’s friends from school. As soon as I sat down Amy walked over with two drinks and sat beside me. She set one of the drinks in front of me and started sipping on the other.

“
I just got off.” She said at seeing the odd look I gave her.

I grabbed up my drink, “Good, now we can catch up.”

The rest of the night was a blur. I remember Amy getting shots and my brother passing out in a booth. After Amy made me dance with her I ended up passing out on Seth’s shoulder.

When I woke up the next morning my head felt bigger than a basketball. After brushing the nastiness out of my mouth I headed down stairs and clutched my eyes shut against the sun that came blindingly through the glass door.

Voices came from the kitchen and I went in to see everybody standing around the island. Well, everybody but Eric.

Seth came up to me holding a cup of coffee, “How you feeling?”

I grabbed the coffee from him and downed half of it.

“
Could be better.”

Lance was sitting at the island with his head on the counter. He almost looked asleep.

I grabbed a piece of bacon and shoved it in my mouth. “Is Eric still sleeping?”

When Seth spoke he did so only I could hear. “No, he went home with that friend of yours. Amy.”

I choked on the bacon and it scratched my throat. “What?”

“
Yeah, I just talked to him though. He said he was on his way back.”

I shook my head fuming. If he was in front of me right now I would kill him. I hope Amy didn’t expect anymore from him because knowing him he would never talk to her again. I can’t believe I actually felt bad for him last night. Right then I made a promise to myself to never be nice to him again.

A clicking noise sounded from behind me and I turned to see Eric slipping through the front door and heading up the stairs. I took off down the hall and pounded up the stairs after him. With in no time I pushed open the door to the guest room and he jumped at the sight of me.

“
I can’t believe you!” I said harshly.

“
What?”

I pointed out the window at nothing. “She’s my friend and you’re just going to sleep with her and never talk to her again.”

“
I might give her a call sometime.” He said sarcastically with a shrug.

I reached forward and smacked him upside the head, his eyes started to get bright and he clenched his jaw. I could tell he was getting ready to say something but I cut him off before he did.

“
I’m not even going to waste my breath on you anymore. You’re not even worth it. I could care less what you do, just don’t mess with my friend.”

“
Whatever, you can go now.” He waved a hand to the door and I left. I heard him slam the door behind me as I stomped off towards my room.

Seth was sitting on my bed when I walked in and looked like he wanted to bust out laughing.

“
I can’t believe that thing is your friend.” I said throwing myself on the bed.

“
He’s not that bad of a guy.”

Ignoring what he said I got up to start packing my bag. I threw on jeans and a sweat shirt then threw my hair up messily. “I just want to go back to Boston.”

“
We’re not going back to Boston, at least not right away.”

“
Excuse me?”

“
I left my truck at the restaurant last night. Amy dropped Eric off at the truck and he drove it back. The guys who are after you don’t know I’m here. Eric and your brother are going to leave and then he’ll call us when they get far enough away to make sure they are following him. Then when we’re clear you and I will head out.”

Life was so complicated now. I shrugged and plopped back on the bed. “Okay”