Authors: Hilary Storm
She puts her arms around my neck and begins to comfort me. She whispers “That is what your tattoo means. You are the defeated angel.”
She sees everything. She feels everything. Her eyes are filled with compassion and heartache.
“I should have seen it. I
was so focused on what I wanted that I didn’t see that she was using again.”
“You can’t blame yourself for what she did. She needed help. Where is Nicole now?” She asks me quietly.
“In rehab…actually I have no idea. She should be out by now. I don’t care where she is. I don’t want to see her again. She fucking ripped out my heart and shredded it to pieces.”
“I am so sorry Talon. I wish I could make this better for you. You have to understand that this is not your fault.
You are not a failure. You could not have stopped her if she was determined. You are a great person and you didn’t deserve that.” I listen to her words. Everyone in my family has said the same words to me in some way or form, but for some reason they mean more to me coming from her. She doesn’t see it as my failure. Does she see the real me or just the person she wants me to be?
We lay back and look into the clear night sky at the stars shining bright. I show off my limited knowledge of some of the stars and constellations. She lays her head on my chest and listens to my every word. The night air is chilled and we both start to shiver. We put on our extra clothes and decide to head back to the marina. I have her sit with me in the driver’s seat and let her
take the wheel for part of the drive back. We both work to towel down the boat and secure it at the marina.
The drive home was quiet and peaceful. It wasn’t an awkward silence that I have had with other girls. We just sat next to each other, hand in hand and enjoyed the ride back to her apartment. I helped her get her bags and walked her to the door.
“Thank you so much for tonight. It was a perfect night.” She says as she looks up at me.
“Thank
you
for tonight. It was only perfect because
you
made it that way.” I lean in for one last kiss. This one is very soft, very slow. I don’t want to walk away from her. I linger into the kisses for a long time. This time she pulls away and turns to walk away.
“When can I see you again?” I ask her hoping she says in the morning as I wake up next to her.
“I don’t know you will have to call me sometime.” She winks at me and closes the door.
Chapter Six
E
aven
I lean against the door and reflect on tonight. Everything went so perfect. I can’t believe Talon’s story about Nicole. He is extremely troubled by the fact that he couldn’t save his baby. Who would have thought this tattooed drummer would have a piece of his heart missing from a little baby that he never met. That makes me like him even more. I know he loves with everything he has.
“Get over here and talk to me. You had better not hold anything back.” Ivy demands my attention. I am going to have to tell her all about the evening, but I will leave out the details of his past. Talon seems like a private person and I don’t want her to slip and say anything to him that would make him not trust me.
“By the way, how did Talon get into my bedroom when you should have stopped him? You knew that I was not dressed.”
“Oh sista,
I am just trying to push you guys together a little. It didn’t hurt anything. I knew you were covered in your towel.”
“That is beside the point. I guess I should be thanking you, because it got smoking hot in there for a little while. I thought we were going to tear up the sheets for a minute.”
“See? Ivy knows best!” Ivy always says that, but there are definitely times in our past that she has led us down some iffy paths. I love her crazy ways. I tell her all about the evening with exception of his past. She gets very eager when I describe the body shot that lead to our first kiss. I laugh at how excited she is for me.
“I know he is the one. You have found your soul mate. I can tell because you are so comfortable with him. For God sakes, you let him stay after he saw you in just a towel.
That is so unlike you! I am happy for you!” She says as she hugs me tightly.
“Well, I did struggle with it internally at first, but I decided to see where it went. I am really trying to step out and enjoy life outside of my box. You are the reason I feel comfortable doing it. You have taught me that it is fun as hell out here and I decided that it is long overdue. I
just hope the world can handle both of us living it up. You know just as you drug me out of my box, I pulled you back from getting out of control just as many times.”
“I know you have
, and I love you for always worrying about me. You are the best family that a girl could ask for. I may not have blood family, but I have you and that is much better.” Ivy is going to make me cry. We have known each other since the day she tried to bully me in sixth grade. I am so glad that she scared the shit out of me that day, so that I could meet my best friend in life. She was the badass and I was the stupid ass that stood up to her. If I had only known her reputation that day, we would never have become friends.
I’m not sure what it was she saw in me that day, but she decided that she liked me and she took me in. She loved to pick fights with anyone who merely looked at her wrong
back then. I often wondered how in the hell I didn’t get my hair yanked straight out of my head that day. Life with me chilled her out a bit after a couple of years. She started letting the issues that had made her angry roll off, since they were issues she had no control over.
We laugh about one day telling our kids how we met.
∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞
Eaven
First day of 6
th
grade
(nine years ago)
It is my first week at a new school. I am nervous and my stomach is churning. I am not what you would call a social butterfly. I don’t care what people think about me, I just don’t want to deal with any drama. The morning goes by smoothly. My classes were the usual boring introduction to the teacher and the rules that I must obey.
I make it through lunch sitting next to some girls who are afraid to look around or talk to anyone, so I just observe. There is a table of obvious jocks and cheerleaders at the back of the lunchroom. The next section I notice is a group of girls that are talking crap about the cheerleaders and
, frankly, anyone who looks at them. I find them intriguing. I wonder which girl is the leader of this group of bitches.
Apparently, I am staring t
oo long, as the blonde one catches me looking. She points me out to the rest of the group. I decide that I am finished with lunch and head to my locker to get ready for my next class.
I turn from my locker to see three of the bitch girls walking down the middle of the hall. Everyone parts like the Red Sea as they make their way towards me. They form a triangle.
The tall dark headed one is a few steps in front and the other two are right behind her on each side. I try to move down the hall, only to be brought face to face with her. I stare right in her eyes.
“What are you looking at
?” She says as she glares into the depths of my soul.
“You
.”
“You have a problem?” S
he said.
“
You.” I replied, as I was completely shitting inside. I hear gasps throughout the hall. I don’t dare move my eyes from hers.
“I’m
. Going. To. Kick. Your. Ass.” She slowly says as she pauses between each word. Oh my god, my insides are completely turning inside out. I feel like I could fall over dead with her stare alone.
I stand tall, never leaving her eyes and I say
, “Go ahead and throw the first punch, but I’ll be damned if you throw the last”.
She glares and her eyes narrow, one side of her mouth curves up just a bit. I haven’t taken a breath since I saw the trio coming down the hall. I could possibly pass out from lack of oxygen, and I’m acting like I can throw down with this badass chick that apparently owns this hallway and probably the entire school. She throws up her hand to gesture #2 and #3 to stand back.
I don’t know why, but she says to her two groupies “Let’s get out of here or we are going to be late.” As she moves around me, I notice every eye is on me in that hallway. People are gasping and pointing at me, like they have seen the craziest thing in their lives.
Once I will my legs to move me down the hall the mere ten feet to my class, a guy tells me
, “You had better watch your back; she is going to kill you.” My heart is racing out of my chest. I feel like I can’t breathe. How in the world am I supposed to get through this day?
Thankfully she left me alone. In fact she protected me the rest of the year if I needed it. We started a great friendship that day.
Chapter Seven
Eaven
Ivy and I have the same classes since we are both going to get a
business degree. Our plan is to start a photography studio together after college. We seem to have a natural eye for beauty when looking through the lens. We have been fortunate to pick up some clients back home for senior photos and we have even done a couple of weddings. My parents transformed the garage into a make-shift studio to help us out. My passion is outside photography. Ivy enjoys the glamor shots and the studio aspect of it.
We le
ft the apartment in time to stop for a mocha coffee before our first class. I was supposed to send Talon my schedule last night, but never did. Maybe we will run into each other today.
The classroom is huge. I am used to my small little junior college where we pretty much knew everyone. This classroom is shaped like half of a coliseum. The professor stands at the bottom with a microphone so that his voice can be amplified for everyone to hear. I can see how easy it would be to get lost in this environment. We sit
in the middle of the room and wait for class to start.
I see the man of my dreams at the top of the stairs. He is looking our way and then I realize that he
just looks like the man of my dreams, but instead is his disgusting twin. Just great.
“Hey hot cheeks, is this seat saved for anyone particular?” How could I have mistook him for Talon? Why does he disgust me so much? Oh wait
, probably because he can’t keep it in his pants and that reminds me of my ex-boyfriend.
“Not unless your better half is coming to class.” Ivy quickly jumps in to insult him. He flops down and leans over me to talk to Ivy. “Woman, there is nothing half
sized about me.”
“I’ll take your word for it lover boy. If you keep it up, your shit is going to rot off with skank disease. Then what will you hold on
to during those lonely nights?” Ivy isn’t afraid to tell it like it is.
“Who says I have lonely nights?” Taron tries to recover his suave mo-jo.
“With dick rot, you will.” Ivy says through a smile like she had just told him to have a wonderful day. The professor starts class ending their little battle of the sexes.
Taron leans over to my ear. “So did my brother get it in yesterday?” Seriously? This guy is
always thinking about sex. How does he get through the day?
“Oh yea he did! Maybe next time you can join us!” I decide to try to shock him back. He looks at me and smirks the same damn way Talon does. Shit! What have I done?
“Too bad baby. Lil bro would never share.” Thank God! Ok mental note, do not under any circumstances flirt with Taron! I can’t compete with that experience.
“I like you. You make my brother smile. He hasn’t been happy in a long time. I hope you treat him right. I would hate to have to hunt you down and teach you a lesson.”
“I would hate to be hunted by you. I like him too, but we are not together.”
“That’s just a minor clarification that will be
changed soon enough. The grin on his face last night made me think you had done the dirty.”
“Why does every sentence come back to sex for you?”
“I like to talk about things that are important to me.”
“Your brother’s sex life is important
to you?”
“If you only knew what he has been through, you would understand my concern.”
“He told me some of his past.”
“Really? Exactly what did he tell you?”
“The meaning of his tattoo and some stuff about Nicole.” I say, hoping this doesn’t come back to bite me in the ass. He trusted me with this information. He did say that Taron had been there through the whole ordeal.
“This tells me how much he trusts you.
Wow, I underestimated how much he likes you.” He says looking serious. “Talon doesn’t share his secrets with very many people. If he trusted you with them, please respect that.” Taron may be a sexual ass, but he cares about his brother. His warnings are heard loud and clear. We keep talking back and forth through the whole class.
For once in my life, I am going to have to ask Ivy for notes. That is messed up. These Walker boys have me abandoning my friend left and right. I am not sure what to think about that.
I notice my phone beep as we leave class.