The Secret 02 The Forever of Ella and Micha (3 page)

“I know that,” he replies. “And for the record, I talk to you because you’re an interesting person. You remind me a lot of my friends back home.”

I’m curious what his friends are like back home. “Are you sure you want to take me? Because you don’t have to.”

“I’m sure.” He tucks the car keys into the back pocket of his jeans. “It’s worth it just to keep that happy look on your face. You don’t smile very much.”

I can’t stop smiling. “Well, thank you. It means a lot to me.”

“Why don’t you go grab your stuff and we can meet back here in, like, an hour.” He backs down the sidewalk as I hike across the grass toward Lila.

“Sounds good,” I call over my shoulder. “And thanks again.”

By the time I reach Lila, she’s writing her phone number on Parker’s hand with a red pen.

“We’re going on a road trip,” I announce, interrupting the conversation.

Parker gives me a once-over and then dismisses me with his eyes. “So I’ll call you later then?” he asks Lila.

“Yeah, sure.” She waves at him and he struts toward the main entrance of the campus, high-fiving another guy standing beneath the canopy in front of the doors.

“Where and why are we going on a road trip?” Lila clicks the cap back on the pen and drops it into her bag.

My stomach flips, thinking about how I’m going to see Micha in just hours. “To LA. Blake is giving us a ride. And before you say anything, he has a girlfriend.”

“Sure he does,” Lila says cynically. “And he also really loves her and would never do anything to hurt her. Typical guy cop-out.”

“What… Are you okay?” I’ve never heard her say anything like this before.

“I’m fine,” she swears, shrugging it off. “Let’s go.”

Blake’s a slow driver and when I ask him what he has under the hood, he has no idea. I try not to give him too much crap about it, but a few sarcastic remarks slip out.

“Aw, you like cars.” He merges the car back into the slower traffic lane.

From the backseat, Lila snort-laughs. “Likes them. The girl’s insane about them. It’s actually kind of annoying.” She shoots me a grin and I flip her the middle finger.

“Is it just old cars?” He makes a careful turn down the off-ramp. “Or is it cars in general?”

“Fast cars.” Like Micha’s poor Chevelle lying in pieces in his garage back home. May it rest in peace. “One’s that will kick ass in a race.”

He cuts me a sideways glance. “Now I’m starting to get concerned about letting you borrow my car.”

“I won’t race it.” I cross my heart with my finger. “I swear I’ll be easy on it.”

He winks at me. “Don’t worry, I trust you.”

The way he says it makes me uncomfortable and Lila gives me a knowing look in the rearview mirror.

We keep quiet for most of the drive. Blake doesn’t have the air on and the black leather seats get hot and stick to the back of my legs. When we pull up to his girlfriend’s house, which is in the suburbs where every house and yard looks similar, I’m sweating.

His girlfriend runs out of the house and throws her arms around him, nearly knocking him to the ground. She’s petite with red streaks in her hair and a piercing through her nose. She waves at us and then Blake backtracks to the trunk. Maneuvering over the console and into the driver’s seat, I pop the handle and he gets his suitcase out, before shutting it.

He walks around to the driver’s-side window and waits for me to roll it down.

“Be careful,” he reminds me in a serious tone and I nod.

Flashing me a grin, he heads off to the house as Lila dives over the console and into the front seat.

“Be careful,” she says in a low, mocking voice. “I’m trying to be so sexy.”

“He didn’t sound like that.” I pull out onto the street.

“You’re so blind.”

“And sometimes you see too much.”

I merge out onto the freeway and into the fast lane, but resist the urge to punch the pedal to the floor and get us there in half the time. Lila takes a nap with her head resting against the window and I bask in the peace of being on the road until we brink the edge of town, which glows against the night.

I nudge Lila’s shoulder to wake her up. “We’re here.”

She blinks her weary eyes and sits up in the seat. “What’s up? Where are we?”

“We’re in LA. Or on the outskirts of it anyway,” I say as her eyes sweep the towering buildings and the considerable amount of traffic in front of us. “Can you look up the address on your phone?”

She cracks her window, letting the warm air blow in. “Can’t you just call him and tell him you’re coming?”

“I want it to be a surprise.”

“Why? Are you trying to catch him doing something wrong, like, say, with Naomi?”

“No.” I flip on the blinker and check my mirror. “I trust Micha.”

“But you don’t trust
her
.” A large truck honks its horn and Lila glances out the window. “I don’t blame you. From the stories you’ve told me, she seems a little sketchy. In fact, maybe while we’re here, we could have a little talk with her.” She pops her knuckles and I bust up laughing.

“Oh my God, what have you been watching?” Tapping the brakes, I slow down the car to match the traffic.

“How to beat the girl who’s hitting on your best friend’s boyfriend.” She grins at me and retrieves the phone out of her purse. “What’s the name of the place?”

“The Slam,” I tell her and she arcs her eyebrows. “What? That’s what it’s called?”

“Are you sure it’s not called The Slam-er?” She laughs cleverly.

I roll my eyes. “Ha-ha. You’re so funny.”

She enters the location into the GPS and frowns at the long line of cars in front of us. “It says it’s like five miles into town… It’s going to take forever.”

My eyes narrow on the road as the traffic crawls forward. “No, it won’t.”

“
Hey.
” Lila stabs a finger at me, reeling in her seat. “You promised Blake you wouldn’t race his car.”

I down shift and the engine purrs to life. “I’m not going to race it. I’m just going to shoot the gaps.”

She secures her seatbelt over her shoulder. “I don’t even want to know what that means, but I swear to God, if we end up driving into the median, I’ll never talk to you again.”

“O ye of little faith.” I rev up the RPMs and swerve over to the next lane, cutting off a red Camry. The driver honks the horn and Lila grips the edge of the leather seat. “You know I’ve seen you drive this crazy before, right?”

She glares at me. “And I’m okay when I’m the driver and know I have control of the situation.” I flinch at her words and she adds, “It gives me a sense of safety.”

I loathe hearing the word “control.” It reminds me of how much my mind craves it. It’s sort of like an addiction, like alcohol or cigarettes.

I hit the brakes as the front of the car verges on the back end of a lifted truck. There’s a tiny gap over to the next lane and I debate if it’s doable.

“Don’t you dare,” Lila warns with fear in her blue eyes. “It’s too narrow.”

The guy in the side lane slows down and I redline the RPMs, crank the wheel at the last second, and squeeze us over easily.

Lila huffs out a breath as she slumps back in the seat. “If I didn’t love you so much, I’d totally hate you.” She fusses with her blonde hair and wipes some smeared eyeliner out from underneath her eyes.

I continue dodging in and out of traffic until we reach the exit. Driving like this makes me feel alive and by the time we reach the club Micha is playing at, adrenaline is coursing through my body.

“This place looks sketchy.” Lila crinkles her nose at the warehouse nestled between Larry’s Biker Bar and The Adult Video Store. It’s late, and the stars and moon light up the dry leaves and cigarette butts on the asphalt.

“You said that about Star Grove too.” I kick open the door and step outside. “And you survived that place.”

She rolls her eyes as she climbs out of the car. “Star Grove doesn’t look nearly as bad as this place.”

We head across the parking lot, walking close to each other when a group of guys smoking behind a truck make catcalls.

“I still can’t believe Blake let me borrow his car.” I jump over a pothole. “If I owned a Mustang, I sure as hell wouldn’t lend it out to someone I barely knew, especially after I told him I like to race.”

“I told you it’s because he likes you.” She elbows me as we turn down the alley that leads to the front entrance of the club. “I have an eye for these things.”

“He has a girlfriend, Lila. And it seemed like they really love each other.” I sidestep a Dumpster and emerge onto the busy sidewalk. Cars drive up and down the road and bright graffiti decorates the metal exterior of the neighboring buildings.

Pausing in front of the entrance, I pull my hair out of the ponytail and it falls to my shoulders. Letting go of Lila’s arm, I quickly tie the lace of my boot, then unfasten two of the top buttons on my plaid shirt and smooth out the wrinkles on my denim skirt.

“Wow, I’ve never seen you this fussy before,” Lila comments as she refastens the ribbon lacing up the front of her maroon shirt. “It’s very entertaining.”

“I don’t know why, but I suddenly feel really nervous,” I admit, tousling my hair with my fingers.

“It’s because you
love
him.” Lila bats her eyelashes and I shove her gently. “Relax. It’s because you haven’t seen him for, like, a month. Honestly, I’m a little afraid to be in the same room as you two. You’ll probably have your clothes off and on the floor in a matter of seconds.”

Rolling my eyes, I enter the club where a bouncer with snake tattoos on his muscular arms and a scar on his lip blocks the path to the table area.

“IDs please.” His tone suggests we don’t have them.

Lila and I take our fake IDs out of our pockets and hand them to him. He evaluates them carefully and gives them back to us, stepping aside to let us through.

We walk into an open room filled with tables and chairs. The air is musty, the bar is crammed with people, and the music is loud, but the sound of the singer’s voice is more familiar than the beat of my heart.

“Aw, look at him up there all hot and sexy,” Lila says, but I barely hear her.

All of my concentration focuses on the stage near the far back wall. Beneath the low lighting, Micha sings one of his own songs, playing the guitar with his head tipped down and his hair hanging in his sparkling aqua eyes. My hands ache to touch him, tangle through his hair, feel the softness of his lips.

The band plays in the background and it takes my breath away as his lyrics flow over my body.

The room blends away and it’s just him and me. I hear Lila move away from me, probably heading to the bar to order a drink. It takes Micha only seconds to find me in the middle of the crowded room, like our hearts sense each other. He tries to maintain a straight face as he spills out the lyrics, but a trace of a smile reveals at his lips.

He finishes out the last set with a final chord, and then quickly turns to Naomi, who’s wearing a tight black dress and knee-high boots. Micha says something to her as he hands her the guitar. She nods, tucking her black hair behind her ear, and he hops off stage, and his long legs stride for me as he shoves through the crowd. He doesn’t slow down until he scoops me up in his arms, not caring that there are a ton of people watching us.

I fasten my legs around his waist and he kisses me intensely, stealing every ounce of oxygen from my lungs. Our bodies and tongues conform together, and the heat of him sears my skin. His lip ring scores into my bottom lip, but I want more. Begging him closer, I breathe him in, tasting him, wanting to feel him as much as possible before we part again.

When he leans back, a fire flares deep inside his aqua eyes and my stomach somersaults with excitement.

“God, I’ve missed you, pretty girl.” He kisses me again and his hands wander all over my body. Reluctantly, he pulls away, breathless. “Don’t take this the wrong way, but what are you doing here? Is something wrong?”

“No, nothing’s wrong. Lila said I needed to come see you before you left.” I trace my fingers along the back of his neck and he shivers from my touch. “She said that she was sick of my bad attitude and that I needed to get you out of my system, at least for a day or so.”

He bites at his lip, stifling a smile. “You know you could never get me out of your system. It’s not possible.”

“I know, but I can try,” I tease. “In fact, I could try a lot.”

A naughty look dances in his eyes. “I like the sound of that.”

He moves in for another kiss, deliberately this time, but with equally as much passion as all our kisses. “I have two more songs to play and then you and I can leave.”

I blink dazedly. “Where are we going?”

He lets out a breathy laugh as he presses up against me. “First things first. We’re going to go back to the hotel and take care of some much needed business.”

I try not to smile, but it’s impossible. “And then what are we going to do?”