The Harder I Fall (9 page)

I smiled. He sounded so proud of his dad, and that made me happy for some reason. Maybe because I never knew what normal was.

“My mom’s name is Ruth. She runs the charitable side of the family. We fund and operate a women’s shelter and a family shelter. My mom’s in charge of both. She oversees who’s hired, how much we give, and to which charities.” His parents sounded wonderful, and I honestly was sort of excited to meet them. Some of my anxiety melted away.

“They will love you,” he said. “My mom already does. I’ve talked about you enough to her.”

“What have you told her?” I was curious.

“All about your ballet, and how amazing you are when you dance. I told her how driven you are, and how you wouldn’t give me the time of day when we met.” He leaned over and kissed me. “You’re amazing, I honestly don't know how you pulled yourself out of the shitty situation you were in. Most people would have just given up.”

“I didn’t have a choice then, and I don’t now. Chad would never have lasted without my drive to make a better life for us.”

“Don’t do that,” he said.

“What?”

“Make less of who you are and what you’ve accomplished. Take the damn compliment and say thank you.” He grinned at me.

I threw my pillow at him. “Shut up!”

He rolled over me and kissed me softly. “I love you, Becca.” His lips were on mine and it wasn’t soft or gentle this time. It was hungry and rough, and I wanted more, more of him. My hands slid over his back, his skin hot under my fingers.

“Do you want to stop?” he whispered.

“No…”

He crushed my lips to his again, stealing my breath. Slipping my shirt over my head, he kissed down my neck to the edge of my lace bra. I arched my back as he dipped his tongue under the fabric. He kissed his way across the swell of my breasts and back up to my lips. I clung to him, never wanting him to let me go. He moved to slide the straps down my shoulder but I stopped him.

“Baby steps.” I gave him a shy smile.

He laughed and kissed me. “I’m okay with that. Doesn’t mean we can't step right up to the line, does it?”

Something coiled up deep within me as he spoke. His voice was thick and hoarse. He rolled us over so I was on top of him and motioned for me to sit up. I could feel just how much he wanted this, wanted me. “Holy hell, Becca. You are so hot.” He pulled my face down to his and gripped my hips tightly. I ran my tongue along his lower lip as we kissed and he groaned and pulled me tighter against him. “Okay, we need to stop now, or there won’t be any turning back.” He slid out from under me.

In that moment, I felt sexy and powerful. I looked over at him, his breath coming quickly, a dangerous look in his eyes. I didn’t want to stop; I wanted his hands on me again. I moved to touch him but he got out of bed. “I only have so much self-control,” he said as he stood against the wall. My shirt was on the floor and he threw it at me. “Not that I want you to put it on, but it would be better for both of us.”

“You can come back to bed. I’ll be on my best behavior.” I winked at him.

“Becca, the sex kitten. Dear Lord, what have I done?”

I giggled as he jumped back in bed next to me and shoved a pillow between us.

W
E MET
S
AMUEL AND
R
UTH
at their hotel just after breakfast. Ruth was so pretty, with her long dark hair and light green eyes. Levi looked just like his dad; they both had dark hair and dark eyes.

“It’s so good to meet you,” Ruth said, pulling me into a hug.

“Mom, Dad, thanks for coming.”

“Of course we came. How could we not?” Samuel hugged his son. “Let’s see what we can do to make all of this better for everyone.”

“My mom is going to be a problem, I can tell you that much,” I said.

“In what way?” Samuel asked me.

“She’s going to expect a handout.” I was embarrassed to even say it out loud.

“Don’t worry about any of this anymore, Becca. We’ll handle it. I’ll say this, though. We won't just take Chad in and let this kind of behavior continue. He will need to be in school, and to get good grades.”

“You don’t understand the situation.” I shook my head. “He wasn’t using, just selling so he could help my mom pay the mortgage. She lost her job and she hasn’t been doing much but getting drunk all day. He thought there was no other way. He’s really a good kid, always has gotten good grades. This isn’t him.” I wanted them to like Chad; he didn’t deserve to be judged for one incident.

Ruth squeezed my hand. “We aren’t judging him, honey. Sam was just telling you the expectations. Even good kids make mistakes sometimes.”

I knew she was referring to Levi. “Thank you both for being here, and for wanting to help us. I really can’t say that enough.” The realization that I didn’t have to do everything myself took a weight from my shoulders.

“Can you give us directions to your house?” Ruth asked.

“Don’t you want us to come with you?”

“It probably will be best for you guys not to come. I don’t want you to deal with anything else. Tomorrow we’ll get Chad out of jail and then we’ll make plans from there.”

I was grateful that I didn't have to see my mom. The only reason our house had ever looked half decent was because of me. I cooked and cleaned for Chad and myself. She never did more than drink herself into oblivion and cry about how she missed my dad.

Levi and I decided to go for a walk while his parents were talking to my mom. I needed to get my mind off of what was happening. I took him to a little hiking trail I used to go to a lot when I was younger. Not a lot of people went there, so I could be alone when I wanted.

“Tell me something I would be surprised to know about you,” I said and leaned against a big tree, watching watched him.

“Well, that’s not putting me on the spot or anything.” He laughed. “I’m awesome at the piano, like really, really good. I could have gone to Juilliard, but I didn’t want all the pressure.”

That was really surprising. “Do you still play?” I asked.

“Yeah, when I can. Not since I’ve been at school, though.”

“I’m actually really shocked by that. You don’t seem like the piano playing type.”

“What’s the piano playing type?”

“Oh, you know, not you. More serious.”

“Are you saying I’m not serious? Becca, you wound me.” He put a hand to his heart in mock outrage.

“You know what I mean.”

“I do, and in truth, playing the piano was a way to channel my energy,” he said. “Once I stopped all the drugs and shit, I started playing again, and I got serious about it. My mom had me in lessons at a really young age, but I stopped them for maybe a year or so when I was heavy into drugs and drinking.”

“What do you want to do with your life?” I asked. “Where do you see yourself in five years?”

“Wow, bringing out the big guns today, aren’t we? I don’t know. I think I’ll work with my dad and Uncle Jacob. I’m majoring in business, and after I graduate, I plan on going to the Gemological Institute of America. I want to be really hands-on, to be able to buy and sell. I guess in five years, I’d like to be on my way to all of that, and maybe on the way to marriage and a family.”

I don’t know why I was shocked to hear him mention marriage and family. Most normal people thought about those things. They wanted a walk down the aisle, kids, all of it. I wasn't sure I wanted that, though.

“What’s that face about?” he asked. “You look like I just told you that I have plans to become a mass murderer and you’re first on my list to kill.”

I laughed. “Sorry. I just was thinking about the future, and where I want to be.”

“That’s bad?”

“No, I just don’t know that I want marriage, or kids.”

Levi shrugged. “I wasn’t saying I wanted to marry you right this second, or at all.” I blushed; he was right. He never said he wanted to marry me. “But I’m not saying I can’t see that in the future, either. We’re young. We have tons of time to decide what we want.”

My phone buzzed in my pocket; it was my mom. “Ugh, I don’t want to deal with her.”

“So don’t.”

“Not sure how long I can put it off.”

“Until after Chad gets out. She’s only going to yell at you if you go now.”

“You’re right.”

We continued walking for a while, but the mood from before was lost. I was stuck in my own world again, and no matter how hard he tried to pull me out, it didn't work. I wanted so badly to believe that things were going to work out, but good things like this didn’t happen to people like Chad and me.

“Get out of your head,” Levi said. “Stop overthinking it. You worrying right now won’t help anything.” I knew he was right, but I couldn’t seem to help it.

We met his parents for lunch in town, and I was on pins and needles until we all sat down. “The good news is that your mom has agreed to let Chad come and live with us.” Samuel smiled. I was glad she has agreed to it, but I knew there was something else.

“There’s a bit of bad news, too. She says you are not allowed to see him when he’s with us. We didn’t agree to it, but she asked all the same. I’m hoping it won’t become an issue in the future. ”

My heart sank, although somehow I wasn’t surprised she had pulled a stunt like this. “If you will excuse me,” I mumbled and took off from the restaurant. Levi tried to come after me, but I didn't stop. I was seeing red, and she wasn’t going to get away with this.

I ran all the way to my mom’s house, a little over a mile. My anger fueled me. I wasn't even tired. I banged on the front door. “I know you’re in there. Open the damn door.”

“Rebecca, how lovely to see you.” She sneered at me, and the stench of stale cigarettes and alcohol assaulted my nose. “Please do come in.”

“How much did they give you?” My voice was icy cold.

“Enough.”

“How much?” I demanded.

“Fifty thousand.”

“Do you feel good about yourself? You sold your son to a rich couple? If you were any kind of mom, you would have just agreed to let him go, but I know exactly who you are.”

“Don’t you talk to me like that in my own house!”

“Or what?” I asked. “What do you think you can do to me that you haven’t already done? Did you think I would let you get away with keeping Chad from me? Or that they would just say ok to something as ridiculous as that? They know who has raised him, and it sure as hell wasn’t you” I stepped closer to her, my rage simmering just under the surface.

“Now you’ll know, Becca; now you’ll know how it feels to be kept from the one person you love. You took your daddy from me, and now I’m taking Chad from you.”

“Who are you? That you could even be saying it’s the same thing. He killed Frannie, Mom; he beat her to death. Twenty years in prison isn’t enough. He should have gotten death.”

“You don’t know what love is, Rebecca,” she said. “I love your daddy more than anything. And you took him away. You took the only good thing in my life away from me.”

“I’ve spent my whole life hating you,” I told her. “Hating that you loved him more than us. Why did you even have us? You obviously have never loved any of us. You weren't even sad when Frannie died. I never saw you cry for her once. You’ve spent all this time being angry at me for this, when he was the one who did something wrong. I tried to save her, and I will go to my grave with the image of her blood all over me. If you think you can keep Chad from me, you can sure as hell try, but it won’t happen. Chad is my family, my only family, and I will see him, no matter what you say or what you had the Kleins agree to.”

She opened her mouth to speak, but I put my hand up to stop her. “I don’t want to hear anything you have to say. I’m done now. We’re done. I never want to speak to you again.”

She nodded and watched me walk out the door into the front yard. Levi was waiting by the car for me. I was shaking; my legs felt like they were going to turn into mush as I walked to him.

“Are you okay?” he asked.

“Honestly? No, but I will be.”

E
ARLY
M
ONDAY MORNING,
J
OSEPH HAD
a meeting with the judge and the DA and arranged for Chad’s release. They let him off with time served, which I was so grateful for. I hugged him so tight when he and Joseph walked out of the courthouse. “Don’t you ever, ever, do something like this again! I’ve been half crazy since you called. I’m so happy you’re okay, and you're out.”

He beamed at me and hugged me back. “Hey, it was a one-time thing; don’t worry about me ever doing it again.”

“Can you give us a minute?” I asked Levi and his parents.

“Of course, take all the time you need.” Levi kissed my cheek and they all walked away from us.

“So you have a boyfriend?” Chad asked.

“Um, yeah, I have a boyfriend. Look, there’s some things we need to talk about.” I led him over to one of the big stone benches in front of the steps. I filled him in on everything that had happened, and all of the decisions that were made.