A Long Time Coming (9 page)

Chapter Nine

He was alive and he was in one
piece. The best part about it was the fact that he’d finally flown in an
airplane. And he’d done it all alone. He didn’t freak the hell out like he
feared he would have either. Life was finally…decent.

He’d flown into San José and
taken a shuttle the forty–five minutes just to get to Santa Cruz. When he had
finally found himself in front of his sister’s apartment, the clock on the dash
of the van had blinked eight–thirty. Needless to say he was worn out, and
hurting. But the emotion that raged at his insides more than anything else was
need—a desperate, uncontrollable, almost disgusting urge was more like it. An
urge to see Abigail, to make sure she was good, safe. Even though he already
knew that she was.

Jesus…he was obsessed and out
of control and idiotic. But he was also a little bit desperate too.

He was pretty sure he’d gotten
the right apartment number and all, but still, nobody answered after he’d
pounded on the wood for the fifteenth time. Nobody knew he was coming, and he
was kind of starting to regret the whole surprise element of this
trip—especially since he had no idea what he was going to get into when Abigail
realized why he’d come in the first place. But his plan was to say that he’d
had this getaway booked for a while now, and that all he wanted to do was
surprise his sister. Unfortunately, he also knew it was going to be a long–shot
sort of lie as well, especially since he’d practically begged Abigail not to go
in the first place. His only hope was that they would let it slide if they
figured out his secret, accept his sudden appearance, and be happy with it.
Then they could go from there.

The cup of coffee he held
between his palms grew cold the longer he sat on the hard, cement steps. He
sighed, setting it off to his left before stretching his arms above his head.
The sky above was ominous looking as he tipped his head back to look up at it.
Only the moon served as a light, while the stars stayed hidden. He shivered,
hating that the darkness still ate away at him even after all this time. The
darkness only reminded him of that night…the night he almost lost it all. He
shook his head and leaned his body forward a little bit more, shaking off his
memories and morbid thoughts. There was no point rehashing that night. He was
alive. Nothing else mattered.

He tilted his head from side
to side as he hunted for the impending signs of a car, or even a few people
walking his way. But it was now past eleven, and there wasn’t an engine, or a
voice in the vicinity around him. The quietness of this part of the city struck
him as odd. This was Santa Cruz, California, where in the hell were all the
people? Where was the traffic, the abundance of tourists? He shook his head and
shut his eyes, marveling in the weird familiarity of the whole scene. He was
pretty sure this little bit of silence was the only thing this city had in
common with Hillsdale, Nebraska.

Worn out, with his thigh
aching beyond belief, he scooted backwards until he was level with the hardness
of the brick wall behind him. It was apparently time to settle in for the long
haul, because he had no idea when they’d get home. He inhaled through his nose,
and the salty ocean scent curled through his senses. He wouldn’t admit it to
anyone, but he was pretty damn giddy to see the beach for the first time in his
life. His sister had titled the ocean as something close to ‘perfection’. He
could almost picture the sights, sounds, and waves as she’d described them to
him, in no uncertain detail, over the phone. She had said he’d never fully
enjoy life until he could sink his feet into the cool, damp sand. And now all
he wanted to do was experience that one simple thing…but with Abigail at his
side.

And preferably in her famous
red bikini…

He shook his head, digging his
hand into his cargo shorts pockets as thoughts of Abigail soared through his
mind. The way her skin heated against his fingers the night he’d foolishly
screwed up the one good thing left in his life. The way her chest—her perfect
curves—had pressed against the front of his shirt. The way she’d kissed his
chin, and then his neck. The way she’d taken complete control of the situation,
leaving him helpless to the girl he swore he wouldn’t get helpless with. He
groaned, knocking his head back lightly against the brick wall in a slow,
repetitive pattern. What he really needed to do was to grow a pair, and then
get the hell over this obsession with her. It’d never happen again; the two of
them being together, that is. Hell, it should’ve never happened in the first place.
He’d been over this, time and time again. But still, all thoughts of her were
addictive and he couldn’t fight them no matter how hard he tried.

He pinched the insides of his
pockets, just as a few giggles erupted in the air. He sat up straighter, narrowing
his eyes as he studied the darkness off to his right. And followed by the sound
of giggles, was the sound of someone singing—a someone that sounded exactly
like a female cat…in heat. He grinned and shook his head. Abigail. There would
never be anyone who sounded as bad as she did.

He sat up quickly, only to
slowly push his way to a standing position. His stump throbbed even more, but
he could deal with it, for now. Dark shadows soon turned into dark shadowed
figures, four dark shadowed figures as a matter of fact. They were making their
way towards the apartment’s front steps at a leisurely pace. He perched up on
the tips of his shoes, one crutch braced under his side, before stepping
forward completely. And there in the shadow of the one lone street light was
the face of the girl he was desperate to see again, the face that fell nothing
short of beautiful, like that of an earth–borne cherub.

His heart did that familiar
pitter patter thing that it did whenever he knew she was getting closer. It was
way out of his control anymore. “Cuz baby toniiiiight, the DJ’s got us falling
in love agaaaain,” he grinned harder, finding his feet stepping down the rest
of the stairs before he could stop them. He was drawn to that voice, even if it
sounded raw and animalistic and downright shitty. He was drawn to everything
about that figure nearing him in the darkness of the night. Holy hell, he was
so damn needy, that you might as well have thrown a thong on his ass and called
him a girl.

“Abs, seriously, shut up! The
neighbors are all old around here.”

He chuckled to himself—leave
it to Harley to become the mother hen. Excitement brewed in his chest. God he
missed his sister with every fiber of his being.

“Aw, come on, Little Beast,
you know the neighbors don’t mind the noise. Especially the other night when I
was doing that thing you really like with my fingers, and you were all like—”

“Okay, shit you two, enough! I
do not
need to hear this shit. I’m not getting laid anytime soon and if
I hear
any
noises whatsoever tonight that require the neighbors to
complain, then I swear to God I will get on a plane, and take my ass back to
Hillsdale. Hell, I’ll call the cops myself if I have to.”

David gritted his teeth,
feeling the exact same way, but for completely different reasons. His sister
was a nun in his book. She didn’t have sex. She didn’t
scream
when… Ah,
hell, he couldn’t even
think
about that.

“Sorry,” Harley giggled.

David groaned, almost seeing
his sister’s face light up in the surrounding night. He was happy for her, damn
happy she was in love, but he still didn’t like the guy she was supposedly in
love with.

“Yeah, yeah, whatever, I will
believe it when I hear…it…”

He swallowed hard, little
balls of sweat beaded up on his forehead as he made his way down the last step.
He clenched his jaw even tighter as he waited for them to come closer. It was
about time for his secret surprise visit to become not so secret and surprising
anymore.

“Well shit, look who it is.
Are you seeing this, Little Beast?” David rolled his eyes. Yeah, leave it to
the surfer boy to say the first words. He seriously didn’t like the guy.

“Oh. My. God. David?
Seriously? Is that you?”

Screams elicited through the
night air, followed by the sound of running feet. And the next thing he knew,
he was getting pummeled—full frontal—by a head of curly, brown hair. “Good to
see you too, sis.” He smiled wide, wrapping his hands around her shoulders. He
pulled her tiny little body into a powerful hug. He kissed her head, instantly
feeling wetness against his tee shirt as she sobbed her tears of, hopefully,
happiness into his chest.

“Jesus, I can’t even…when did
you…I mean…how…? Shit, D, do Mom and Dad know you’re here?”

He shook his head, gripped her
shoulders, and pulled back to look down at her. Even in the dark he could see
how lit up she was, tears and all. Joy wasn’t an emotion he’d seen on his
sister’s face for a long–ass time, and it was damn good to see it there again.
Finally.

“I flew in this afternoon,” he
chuckled, yanking on her curls as he pulled her into a one armed hug, “…and I
got on a plane. And yes, they know.”

She slugged his side with her
tiny fist. He barely flinched as he winked down at her. “Don’t be such a smart
ass, I mean how did you actually
get here
without Mom and Dad hounding
your ass about it? I mean I’m sure Dad didn’t care much and all, but Mom…”

His face went stoic, “I told
them the truth. I told them I was a big boy and that I could handle it.”

Mason approached his other
side, eyeing him up and down. David arched one eyebrow, staring back at him,
pursing his lips in annoyance. What was he doing? Sizing him out like a piece
of meat he wanted to sink his teeth into? Or did surfer boy suddenly swing the
other way? David always thought there was something off about the guy, or then
again, he just didn’t like him because he’d stolen Harley right out from under
him.

“Look at you, dude! No chair,
one crutch… Damn, it’s really good to see you, man.” Mason mock punched his
shoulder, a seemingly genuine smile curled up on his mouth as he did. David
couldn’t see much, but the warmth he felt from his welcome was unlike any other
time he’d been around him. It was weird…to put it mildly.

“I know, right? I’m so proud
of you too! Mom mentioned no doctor’s appointments for six weeks! That’s
amazing, D!” He shrugged, fighting a blush from her praise. No way was he going
to turn all pansy here.

“Yeah,” he nodded down at her,
“…guess it
is
pretty cool.” It was more than cool. It was damn near
awesome. And if he were at home, with just Harley, then he would’ve told her
just how awesome it was. But David was too distracted to say much of anything
because of the third and fourth persons standing just a few feet ahead of them.

“Abigail, get your ass up here
and say hi to my brother,” Harley laughed, scooting away to grab hold of
Mason’s hand.

Heels hit the sidewalk, slow,
methodic…hypnotizing, the only sound that echoed in his ears the closer she
neared. He gripped his one crutch tightly within his fingers to keep himself
balanced both physically and mentally. If he let go, then there was no way he
could stop himself from grabbing Abigail and pressing her close to him.

“Hey stranger,” she finally
whispered, appearing in front of him with an almost celestial quality; his
perfect angel of the night. He shook his head, and blinked, fighting against
his generic, corny thoughts.

“Hey,” he whispered back,
unable to tear his gaze from hers. The electricity pulled him closer, but also
kept him away.

“Yo, dude, wassup? I’m Kevin,”
a voice hiccupped behind her form.

Arms appeared around Abigail’s
bare shoulders, and his entire body screamed at him to do something about it.
He gnawed on the inside of his lower lip, hating that the punk with the
multiple facial piercings, had his hand hanging dangerously low over her
shoulder. Another inch and he’d be hitting second base. He growled low in his
throat, drawing blood in his mouth from his teeth. There was something about
Abigail that made him want to stake a ridiculous claim over her. Nobody was
going to play any bases with her but him, dammit!

Abigail stiffened, her arms
plastered to her side. Tension and something else covered her darkened face
before she stared up at him completely. Was that guilt in her eyes? What had
she done with this…
freak?
What was she hiding? There were secrets there.
He knew when she was holding onto her secrets. He’d seen them first hand. The
thought had his insides spinning with worry, as well as rage and jealousy.

“Hey, um, let’s head inside,
sound good, David?” Harley, God bless the girl who could read him like a novel,
re–approached with tentative footsteps. She reached out, and locked her arm
through his, before leading him on. But he couldn’t stop himself from staring
back over his shoulder at Abigail.

She was still frozen in place,
her eyes burning with shock and that unknown emotion. But her little
friend
was
now currently kneeling on the cement, with his face only inches from the
sidewalk. Puking noises, followed by groans, soared through the night air, and
David couldn’t help but smile as Abigail jumped away, screeching.

“David man, I’m serious. It
is
really good to see you!” Mason nudged him from the other side, before
darting up the rest of the stairs to unlock the front door. Mason was trying,
that much was obvious. But David couldn’t get the image of his sister, laid up
in that hospital bed, out of his head. The day she’d taken too many pills,
drank all that fucking alcohol… Shit, David still believed that was all Mason’s
fault, even though Harley had insisted throughout the whole ordeal that it was
her own issues that took her to that point, not anything Mason had done.