Catch Me (51 page)
“I saw Gia,” I whisper, inching my chair closer to his bed. I don’t tell him that I haven’t seen her around ever since the day he was brought in.
Shea exhales a dark laugh. “My mom called her to tell her I was awake and she said Gia was happy but said she wasn’t coming back because she had a tour to finish.”
My mouth falls open. “She’s just going to go on tour? Without you? Just like that?” I ask in disbelief.
He lets out a dark laugh. “Funny thing about people, Bee, when you’re up, they’re all over you. When you’re down, they don’t give a shit about you.” He shrugs.
Even though he’s completely right about that, it kills me to hear that he feels that way. I hate that Gia is one of those women and I hate that Shea can take it with such ease, probably because he knew that to begin with. Still, I make a mental note to call the bitch and give her hell for this.
“I’m sorry,” I offer quietly, lowering my eyes.
He squeezes my hand, making me bring my eyes back to his. “Hey, there’s nothing to be sorry for. The only person I need is here.” His eyes are sad, but truthful, and although it’s supposed to make me feel better, my heart cracks a little more.
I exhale. “Always, Shea. I’m just scared me being here for you won’t be enough.”
“Moms says Leo and Fern have been coming. They’ll be back,” he says.
“You know what I mean,” I mutter.
“I know,” he whispers, tracing my jaw with his fingers. “It makes me happy to see you happy though, BK. It really does.”
Blinking my eyes rapidly, I hold his hand on my face to still it. If he keeps talking, I’m going to cry again. “Thank you. It means a lot to hear you say that.”
“What are best friends for?” he says with a smile, and it’s a genuine smile. I return it. He drops his hand when Nick walks back in the room with two cups of coffee in his hand. “You’re a lucky motherfucker, Shadow. You better not fuck this up.”
Nick chuckles, shaking his head. “I wouldn’t dream of it,” he responds, looking directly at me.
The nurse Shea was waiting for comes in and wheels him out to run some tests, leaving Nick and I alone in the room. He sits in the chair opposite of me and places the cups on the table beside us before leaning in and tugging a lock of my hair.
“Have I told you how beautiful you are today?” he asks.
I smile, shaking my head.
“Well, you are,” he says. “And you have the most amazing green eyes I’ve ever seen.”
“Thank you,” I whisper, thinking the same about his ocean eyes, the ones I now know hold a lot of sharks in it, but I don’t care. I’ll happily jump in them and let them take a chunk out of me, like they do every day. Tearing my eyes away from him, I look back at the monitors in the room, remembering a time that I was in one similar. I wonder if Shea will really seek help and if he’ll be able to stay drug free. I know it’s not easy to do, and it scares me that he’ll probably want to go right back to his tour.
“Are you sure everything will be okay?” I ask Nick in a whisper.
He scoots his chair closer to mine so that our knees are touching and cups my face. “No, babe, I’m not, but that’s the beauty of life,” he says, drawing circles over my cheeks. “The only thing I’m sure about is us.”
And then he puts his mouth on mine, and I let myself fall.
I Don’t Feel it Anymore
(Song of the Sparrow) – William Fitzsimmons
Tell Her This
– Del Amitri
Hit the Ground
– Paige Chaplin (
http://paigechaplin.bandcamp.com
)
Ready
– Paige Chaplin*
Sober
– Pink
Everlong
– Foo Fighters
Farewell
– Rosie Thomas
All I Want
– Kodaline
Trouble
– Ray LaMontagne*
One and Only
– Adele
Global Concepts
– Robert DeLong*
We Found Love
– Rihanna*
Hopeless Wanderer
– Mumford & Sons
Dreaming With a Broken Heart
– John Meyer
Gravity
– John Meyer
Say Something
– A Great Big World
Mercury
– Sleeping At Last
Homesick
– Sleeping At Last
Connect
– Drake*
Wrecking Ball
– Miley Cyrus
Young and Beautiful
– Lana Del Rey
Skyscraper
– Demi Lovato
“You know what I love about life?” she asks in a whisper. I turn her in my hold so that I can look at her when she speaks. I love seeing the way her full lips move and her green eyes light up or dim down, depending on what she’s talking about. Right now they’re dim and that peaks my interest, I never know where her head is when her eyes get that faraway look in them, but I can guess. I don’t mind it though, it doesn’t bother me that she’s a little torn up as long as she lets me help with the stitching.
We’ve been lying in our bungalow in Maldives for the past two days, away from our chaotic lives. I’d never been here, but she’s told me how much my eyes remind her of this water, so I decided to bring her. She’s only looked at the water once since we got here, the rest of the time she’s spent looking at me. I would pay the fortune I spent getting here to come back here every week just to have her do that.
“What’s that, baby?” I ask, my hands moving from her tangled up hair to the curve of her waist. I can’t get enough of touching her.
“How beautiful it is, how tragic it is,” she responds, her eyes are on mine, but have that distant look in them
“You know what I love about life?” I ask, smiling when she frowns slightly. “Having you in it every day.”
I watch her the clouds in her eyes dissipate and her lips curl up as she lets me response sink in. She sits up, letting her body fall against mine, and I catch her.
Catch me, if you dare:
Twitter: @ClariCon
Facebook:
www.facebook.com/Ccontrerasbooks
Email:
[email protected]
Also- please show some love to the very talented Paige Chaplin:
https://www.facebook.com/paigechaplinmusic
Get her music on iTunes or here:
http://paigechaplin.bandcamp.com
Claire Contreras is from the Dominican Republic, but was raised in Miami, Fl, where she still resides with her husband, two boys, and two American Bulldogs.
More books from this author:
There is No Light in Darkness
Darkness Before Dawn
It takes one person to write a book, but it takes an army to get one published. This has been and will probably continue to be my experience and I wouldn’t have it any other way.
Because I’m going to say many “I love yous” and “thank yous”, I’ll get that part out of the way here. I love you all and am insanely grateful to you and for you: