Hearts on Fire Page 6

  “I’d give you a thousand minutes, but you know we’re already going to have to deal with their ‘I told you so’ bullshit.”

  “Okay, I’m ready,” I said throwing on my jeans and pulling myself together enough to be presentable. We left the hotel room with our heads held high. Hand in hand. We didn’t look back or feel ashamed. We were in love.

  We walked into the diner and spotted Chris and Tori in the back corner waiting for us. “Well, well, well…look who decided to show,” Chris mocked us.

  “You said 10:30, it’s like 10:35. Give us a break,” Tyler shot back.

  “I’m just sayin’ I wasn’t sure you’d make it.” Chris was not going to cut us a break.

  Tyler slid in and I squeezed into the booth next to Tori and she gave me a quick hug. “How was it?” she whispered in my ear.

  “Later,” I waved her off, a silent message exchanged between us. She raised her eyebrow in understanding.

  We ordered breakfast and ate with easy conversation flowing between the four of us. We relived the night, discussing the typical high school gossip. Funny moments of the night and of course the outrageous. “I can’t believe it’s over,” I sighed. “Our senior year is over!”

  “You know what that means, don’t you?” Chris looked at the three of us. We looked at each other questioningly, shaking our heads.

  “It means our kick-ass summer is about to begin, bitches!” Chris held up his water glass as a toast.

  We raised ours in return. “To summer,” Tyler toasted. “To summer,” we chanted and clinked glasses in a fit of laughter.

  I couldn’t wipe the happiness from my face, as I looked at my friends. I was so lucky to have these amazing people in my life.

  Chapter 16

  Tyler

  Two months. That’s all we would have before I had to leave for Michigan State.

  After leaving everyone at the diner that morning, I went home to an empty house. I grabbed a few beers out of the fridge, jumped back in my car and drove out to the lake. I sat on a picnic table looking out over the water. Lost in my own thoughts. I turned my hat backwards and took another long pull off the bottle in my hand.

  When I had accepted the football scholarship to MSU back in January, I was excited. That was my dream. I had wanted to play college ball forever. My dad had taken me to a game when I was ten and that was it for me. I had looked at the stadium full of people, all cheering for their team. The energy was electric. I felt it consume me. I wanted to be running onto that field earning the screams of the crowd. From that day forward, I lived and breathed football.

  Until Kyla.

  I wanted to move away from home. Live life in the dorms. Explore the life that awaited me on the MSU campus. The freedom. The girls. The parties. Just break free and be me.

  Until Kyla.

  I never planned on falling so deeply in love. Never planned on needing someone else, like I needed air. Never saw myself planning a future beyond football.

  Until Kyla.

  I finished off my first beer and twisted the top off another, trying to drown out my own thoughts.

  Now I was fucked. The things I wanted then and the things I wanted now weren’t in sync. I wanted Kyla every minute of every day. She was beautiful with her long blond waves and bright emerald eyes. Eyes I could get lost in for hours. She looked at me as if she could see my soul.

  Touching her last night had been better than anything I could have imagined. She was so responsive. I saw a different side of her last night. I hadn’t planned on going down on her, but I had to taste her. I wanted all of her. Knowing I was the only one to ever touch her like that, taste her like that, please her like that, fuck her so thoroughly ‘til her body went limp. Not gonna lie, knowing I could do that to her, was a turn on in itself. Seeing my sweet girl transform into the sex kitten she was last night was … there really were no words. I felt myself harden just thinking about her again.

  Now I was fucked. Two months and I had to leave for football training. I wouldn’t be able to see her every day. Hell, it could be weeks. Training would be intense and would require me to be focused on the game.

  Kyla, Tori and Chris were all going to Western. They would all be together and I was going to be alone. I was following my dreams, not my girl. The campuses were close, but I was going to be so busy that the ninety-minute drive might as well be ninety hours. Maybe Western would be a better choice for me.

  I finished off my last beer and dropped the bottles in a trash bin on my way back to the car. I slid in the seat and dropped my head down to the steering wheel. How was I going to do this? Being away from Kyla was going to be torture. Something needed to change.

  I needed to see my girl. Needed to talk to her. I grabbed my phone out of my pocket and pushed her number. Please pickup. Please pick up.

  “Hey baby,” she cooed into my ear.

  “Kyla. I need to see you. Can I come over?”

  Chapter 17

  Kyla

  That was just weird. I sat on the front steps looking at the black screen of my phone, waiting for Tyler. He sounded disconnected. Was he regretting last night? Had I just made the biggest mistake of my life? Did I just give everything away and he was going to walk away? I couldn’t stop the wheels from turning. I thought everything had been perfect, could I have been that naïve?

  A few minutes later, Tyler’s car pulled up in the driveway. I tentatively stood and waited for him to get out of the car. He had his hat pulled low over his eyes and didn’t look up at me as he approached.

  This was going to be bad. I could feel it. Tension hung in the air between us. I wrapped his hand in mine and led him to the backyard, where we could talk in private. My stomach was churning with dread at what was about to come. He hadn’t said a word. Yet.

  We sat on the bench in the corner of the patio, with the ugly cushions. I tucked my leg under me and turned to face him. “Tyler, what’s going on?”

  He finally lifted his head and stared at me. He looked lost and his sad eyes were rimmed with red. “I can’t do this.”

  I took a deep breath, hoping he wasn’t saying what I thought he was saying. “What do mean you can’t do this? Have you been drinking?” I knew the answer to my second question, by the stench of beer emanating from him.

  “A little,” he admitted, turning his hat backwards on his head. “I don’t know what I want anymore,” he stated matter-of-factly.

  This was it. The break up that I had dreaded. “But I thought you liked it…where we were going.”

  He put his hands on my cheeks and held my face, then leaned his forehead against mine. “I did. But I can’t go there with you and I hate myself for it.”

  “Did? You changed your mind that fast. What the hell?” Tears welled up in my eyes and a single tear rolled down my cheek. This was unbelievable. I didn’t know whether to be raging mad or totally heartbroken. “How could you do this?” I demanded. Raging mad was winning out as I stood and started pacing in front of the stupid bench with the stupid, ugly cushion.

  Tyler reached out and grabbed my wrist, turning me towards him. “Kyla, I’m doing this for you. For us.”

  I yanked my arm back. We had never even had an argument up to this point. I couldn’t believe this was happening. God, I was so stupid! “Are you seriously going to sit there and act like you’re doing me a favor?”

  Tyler stood and grabbed my hands bringing them together at his chest. He stared down at me, “I thought you would be happy about this.”

  “Happy? Are you serious right now?” The tears flowed down my cheeks now. I turned my back to him, “How could I have been so stupid?” I choked out, full on sobbing now.

  He stepped up behind me, wrapping his arms around me tight and pulling me back into his chest. My traitorous body fell back against him. I should hate him right now, but I couldn’t.

  “You’re not stupid babe. You’re smart and beautiful. Why would you say that?” He leaned over my shoulder and kissed my neck holding me
tenderly.

  “Last night…,” my throat closed and I couldn’t get it out.

  “Was amazing,” he whispered in my ear.

  I turned and wrapped my arms around his waist. He held me close. One hand was on my lower back the other cupped the back of my head, pressing me to his chest. I peered up at him, “Then why are you doing this? Why are you breaking up with me?”

  He grabbed me by the shoulders and turned me to look at him. Tyler stared down at me, his blue eyes wide with recognition. “Kyla, is that what you thought? Oh my God, baby. No! Just…no! He pulled me in again, crushing me to him and wrapping his body tightly around mine. “I’m not breaking up with you, Ky!”

  “I’m so confused,” I admitted. “You said you couldn’t do this. I thought you meant us.”

  His face quirked up on one side in a half smile. I didn’t understand. “I’m so sorry,” he apologized. “We need to work on our communication,” he continued pointing back and forth between us. “I meant I couldn’t leave you in the fall. I’m so in love with you. I always wanted to go to MSU to play football, but I don’t know how I’m going to stand being away from you. I’m thinking of going with you to Western instead. It’s just so confusing, because I still want to play ball, but I didn’t count on falling in love. I don’t know if I can have both, and I choose you.”

  Relief flooded my body as understanding sunk in. “You thought you had to choose?” I pulled him back over to the ugly cushions on the bench. I sat, pulling him down with me. “You don’t have to choose, Tyler. I would never ask you to give up your dreams for me. You can have both.”

  “Yeah? I don’t know how that is going to work. I’ll be so busy with practice and classes, there won’t be any time left for us,” he confessed.

  “We’ll make time for us. We’ll make this work. I’ll only be down the road. We can do this,” I said.

  “It’s not going to be easy, Kyla. The team schedule is going to be demanding. I don’t want to lose you.”

  “And I don’t want you to ever resent me for keeping you from your dreams. We can do this,” I reassured. “Okay?”

  “Okay. You’re amazing, you know that?” He leaned in close. His tongue ran along my bottom lip before pushing deep inside. His hands tangled in my hair as he pulled me in. His kiss scorched me, burned me from the inside out.

  I pulled back. “You know what this means? Since our time will be limited, we will have to take advantage of this summer,” I said mischievously.

  “Oh yeah…what exactly do you have in mind, baby girl?”

  I waggled my eyebrows at him. “A summer we won’t forget.”

  Chapter 18

  Tyler

  Begin “Operation: Kick-Ass Summer”. Chris and I were meeting with the girls to start the planning process. The guys wanted to just wing-it. The girls…well, Kyla… insisted we come up with a plan. She said if we didn’t plan stuff, pretty soon the summer would be over and we wouldn’t have “maximized our time together”. She was a planner. Which is probably how she ended up being the class valedictorian. I loved that she was so smart and put thought into everything she did. If I had been like her, I’m sure I would have ended my senior year with better grades. But she loved me-- flaws and all.

  We drove out to the beach, windows down, music blaring through the speakers. Now that we had graduated the feeling of freedom was taking over, even if it was only for a couple of months. I was going to enjoy every minute with my girl.

  “Sooo…I’m assuming prom night went good.” Chris shouted over the radio.

  I reached over and turned the volume down. “Yeah,” I answered nonchalantly.

  “She didn’t freak out on you or anything, did she?”

  “Nah, man. Just the opposite actually. There’s definitely two sides to that girl,” I answered smugly, but not giving too much away.

  “So she’s a freak in the sheets, huh? Good for you, man!” he nodded his approval.

  I punched him in the arm. “Dude! She’s my girl. Don’t talk about her like that. Not cool, man!”

  He grabbed his arm in mock hurt, rubbing it up and down. “What? I’m happy for you. Tori’s a total freak in bed and I love it. That girl will be the death of me, but what a way to go!” Chris leaned back in the seat and let out a contented sigh. “I’m telling you when she goes down…”

  “Stop!” I interrupted him mid-sentence. “I get the point. I don’t need the details.”

  “That’s cool, man. But if you don’t think Tori and Kyla are talking about this same stuff, you’re dreaming. Those two…their tight. They’re probably talking about our dicks right now.”

  We pulled up to the lake and walked to the beach where the girls said they would meet us. They were laying on the beach worshipping the sun. I stopped when I saw Kyla in her red bikini with her hair piled on top of her head in a messy knot. Her face was free of make-up and she was even more beautiful. I had to adjust myself and pull my shirt down to hide my growing hard-on.

  The girls were talking quietly and giggling like crazy. I loved seeing her this way. Carefree and happy.

  “Mind if we join you?” I asked standing above the girls staring down at them.

  Tori squinted up at us, using her hand to block out the sun. “Uhh…I don’t think so. We have boyfriends.”

  Kyla opened one eye to look at me, “Yeah,” she said. “They’re big, bad football players. I wouldn’t mess with them if I were you.”

  Chris crossed his arms over his chest, “I’m sure we can take them. What do these guys look like?”

  Tori jumped in, “Oh you know… tall, big muscles, kind of hot actually,” she said with a smirk.

  “Hot huh?” Chris leaned down, scooped Tori up, threw her over his shoulder and started running towards the water. “I’ll show you hot, baby!”

  “Chris! Don’t you dare! Put me down!” Tori screamed as he tossed her into the lake. He followed her into the water splashing and laughing.

  I sat down next to Kyla giving her a quick kiss, “Hey, sexy”.

  “Hey,” she said as she grabbed her sunglasses off the towel and placed them on her face.

  I had to know. My eyes hiding behind my aviators, I squinted at her and asked, “Were you girls talking about our dicks?”

  “Kyla’s eyes went wide behind her sunglasses. “What? No! Why would you ask that?” The red creeping into her cheeks gave her away.

  “Oh my god! You were weren’t you?” I started laughing so hard I could barely catch my breath. “Chris was so right. You girls are so bad.”

  “She’s my best friend…we just…I’m so embarrassed,” she grabbed the hat off my head and pulled it down low on hers, hiding her face.

  I lifted the brim, exposing her horrified face. I couldn’t stop laughing. “I don’t care. Just didn’t take you for the type to kiss and tell. I hope it was all good.”

  She looked up at me. “Very good,” she said smiling.

  Chris and Tori started back up the beach towards us, both dripping wet and laughing. Tori wrung her hair out over her shoulder, “Well, that was fun!”

  “Dude, you were so right,” I said, nodding to Chris. “They were totally talking about our dicks.”

  The expression on Tori’s face was priceless as she looked between the two of us. “Told you so,” Chris threw back and we collapsed in a fit of laughter.

  “You’re such an asshole,” Tori swatted at Chris.

  “That’s not what you said last night, ‘Oh Chris, harder, harder. You’re so awesome Chris!’” he imitated Tori, barely able to catch his breath from laughing so hard.

  Tori jumped on him, covering his mouth with her hand. He pulled it away. “Oh Chris!” he moaned, imitating her again.

  Tori struggled to use both hands to cover his mouth, sitting on his chest. He held her wrists and pulled her hands from his mouth, “You know you love it”.

  “I do,” she conceded, a ridiculous grin on her face.

  By the time we left the beach, we had a pr
etty extensive list of things we wanted to do during the next two months. Kyla and I had both gotten jobs for the summer. We would need the money in order to fulfill the list we had come up with. She was going to be working at the marina and I was helping my uncle with his lawn service. We would be busy during the days, but the nights would be ours together.

  We decided, that to end the summer, the four of us would go to Tori’s family’s house on Lake Michigan, just past Traverse City. Her mom and step-dad spent a lot of time there in the summer, but Tori had talked them into letting us use it for a week, at the end of July. Kyla’s parents weren’t too keen on the idea, but she convinced them that she was going away in the fall anyway and they wouldn’t know what she would be doing. We were moving into adulthood and making our own decisions.

  I had to be at MSU for football training starting the first week of August. Kyla would go back to the marina and work until she had to leave for Western towards the end of August. I was going to try and come home on weekends, but couldn’t make any promises. The week at the lake house would be our last chance for quality time together for a while. It would be the best week and worst week of my life.

  Chapter 19

  Kyla

  The summer was flying by. I spent my days catering to the rich people at the marina. I was at their beck and call. They placed orders of beer, booze, food, and ice. I took the orders, filled them and ran them out to the docked boats in the marina. I was a glorified waitress, but the tips were good. Usually my mornings flew by, as people prepared to take their boats out on Lake St. Clair.

  By my second week on the job, I knew most of the regulars and they treated me well. Some of the older guys were a little over friendly, but I didn’t mind. It was harmless flirting, and the payout in tips was worth it.

  Tyler’s uncle had gotten the contract at the marina, so once a week I would get to see him. He looked sexy in his work clothes. The sleeveless shirt showed off his muscular arms. Paired with the shorts and work boots, he was pure sex. And of course, his hat, always backwards, the way I liked it. I looked forward to the times I could drink him in and be thankful that he was mine.