From The Wreckage - Complete (43 page)

“Hey Jules?”  Jason stands at her doorway, looking cozy in his skateboard pajamas.

“Yeah, bud?”

“You going out?” he asks.

She’s standing beside her bed with several sweaters spread out, trying to decide what to wear. It’s Thanksgiving weekend and her family just got home that afternoon from a week-long surprise vacation cruise. 

Seven days. 

She has gone seven days without seeing him or barely even speaking to him, and right now as she stands in her room, her insides are screaming in excitement to get to her man.

“I am,” she answers with a smile. “I’m gonna go see West for just a bit. What’s up?”

“I thought mom and dad said you had to stay home tonight?” 

She frowns and pulls a chunky gray sweater over her white thermal shirt. All the way home from the cruise, her parents were adamant that she could wait to see West until tomorrow. He’d gone up to A&M for the holiday, but still made plans to come home early to spend the night with her, alone. There was no way in hell after a week apart she was going to give up a chance to be with him tonight.

“They did, but I can change their minds. I miss West, and I’m just going to go say hi. I won’t be long.”

Grabbing her keys and checking her appearance in the mirror once more, she goes to ruffle her brother’s hair when he stops her.

“I was wondering if you’ve stopped having nightmares.”

Her hand stills at the light switch.
No
, she thinks. 

“Why do you think I’m having nightmares?” 

“I hear you. Sometimes you scream in your sleep and it wakes me up. I came in here the first few times you did it, but you were always still asleep. Plus, I heard you talking to West about it once when he was over.”

“I…” She cuts herself short and tries to think of a clever response. “Why are you asking? You’re not still scared, are you?”

He shrugs and twists his mouth to the side — his lying tell — and rolls his blue eyes around his head.

“I’m sorry, you know what? It’s okay if you’re still scared. I am. I think I will always be at least a little scared of storms.”

“You will?” His voice is coated in awe and she wonders if that was the wrong thing to say.

“Sure, it’s normal to be scared. What happened was scary and we’ll always be sad about the people who lost their lives. To answer your question, yes I do still have nightmares.”
Every night
, she adds mentally. “But I wake up each time and remind myself that I am safe and loved. Just like you.” She pulls him into a hug and he squeezes her tightly. One thing the cruise did was help her reconnect with Jason. She’s spent so much time wrapped up in West lately, she’s hardly made time for her little brother. She fixed that over their vacation, and she is glad they had the time before she leaves for college.

“I’m going to stay up here so I don’t have to hear you fight with mom and dad.”

“Good idea, bud.”

She takes a deep sigh when she comes to the bottom of the steps. There’s the door right in front of her. She thinks about sneaking out for two seconds, and knows she’d probably be pulling into the street before they notice, if they even notice at all. Not smart. Instead, she holds her head high and enters the kitchen. Her mom is gathering up some type of snack and her dad is nowhere to be seen.

“Where do you think you’re going?” her mom asks; narrowing her eyes and looking Jules over.

“Mom, I’ve been gone a week. I don’t think it’s too much to ask that I go say hi to West. I won’t be long. I miss him.” She tries not to whine or plead, but her voice sounds a bit pathetic when she says she misses him.

“And you’ll see him tomorrow. Go change and watch a movie with us.”

There’s a ‘No discussion happening here’ vibe in her tone, and there’s no wavering in her answer.

“Mom.”

“Juliet Marie, don’t you ‘Mom’ me. I said no. You two are way too attached to each other. Nobody’s going to die if you go one more day without seeing one another.”

The comment sucks the breath out of her. Deep down she knows her mother didn’t mean to sound so harsh, but it still hurts. “Really mother, that’s a little callous. I’d probably be dead if it wasn’t for him, you know.”

Her mother pulls a plate of nachos out of the microwave, sets them down on the counter and turns her way. “Jules…”

“You’re being unreasonable. You don’t even have a good reason to say no.” 

“I don’t need a reason, young lady. I’m your mother.”

“I’m eighteen and I’m -”

“You are eighteen and you live in
my
house. My house, my rules.”

Their voices have steadily increased in volume. It’s something she can hardly recall, fighting with either of her parents this way.

“That’s just lame.” She stomps off and her mother calls behind her.

“Yes, it’s lame, I know. I’m a horrible parent.”

“Yes, you are!” she yells back, but doesn’t go to her room or throw herself on the couch as her mother must have assumed. She heads straight out the front door and runs for her car the moment it closes behind her. As she predicts, her mom is just reaching the front steps when she pulls into the street.

Her cell starts to ring off the hook not three minutes later.

“Damn it!” Jules fumes, knowing she’s just done something stupid. “No turning back now.”

Hitting ‘Answer’, she holds the phone up to her ear. She doesn’t even have to speak before her mother’s piercing voice comes through.

“You get yourself back here right this minute Jules, or seven days will seem like nothing.”

The threat doesn’t work on Jules the way her mother probably expects it to. She laughs instead. 

“Mom, I see him every day.”

“What is
wrong
with you? I asked for one more night, Jules. It’s not the end of the world, you know.” 

“No, I don’t. You don’t get it, do you?” Her voice is shaking now. She hates fighting with her mother, especially after her visit with the Riveras on her birthday. “West is still the only thing that gets me through most days. I’m broken, falling to pieces, and he’s the glue that holds me together. I
need
to see him.”

“Sweetie, that’s too much pressure to put on a boy. Why haven’t you told us? Come home and we can talk.”

“I’ll be home in a few hours,” she says dryly and presses ‘End’ on the phone.    

Her hand shakes as she dials West’s number.

“Hey gorgeous!”

“Hey, where are you? I've been sprung.” She'd filled him in earlier on her parents’ decision to make her stay home; assuring him it wasn’t anything he did. 

“They changed their minds?”

“Uh, not exactly, but I'm coming anyway.” 

“Babe! What the hell? They'll be mad at me.”

“No they won't. I'll make sure they know you had no idea. And don’t cuss at me,” she grumbles defiantly. “It's too late now, I'm already gone.”

He sighs heavily and she pictures him scrubbing his hand over his face in irritation with her. Voices shout out in laughter in the background, and Jules assumes he's hanging out with some friends. "Okay,” he says, softening his tone now. “Go to my house and I'll head that way."

“Are you at a party?” 

“Uh, yeah. I figured I'd hang out since I couldn't see you tonight. You told me to go out.”

“Where?”

“Jules, just go to my place. We've got a week to make up for.”

She laughs and her stomach flips. Lord knows she's missed his lips pressing against hers. She misses the feel of his strong arms wrapping her up too, but she probably shouldn't be anywhere her parents might look if they are mad enough to come after her.

“My mom's pretty ticked at me, so I'd rather not be somewhere she can find me. Plus, I could really use a drink. Where are you?”

Conceding, he gives her directions to a small house on the outskirts of Rossview. She pulls up behind a beat-up truck she doesn't recognize and debates walking in by herself or calling West. Opening her door, the crisp air causes her eyes to water and her nose feels the cold immediately. She didn’t realize how cold it is, and in her haste to leave home she forgot to grab a coat, gloves or a hat.
Way to go, Jules
, she sighs at her stupidity.

A few people loiter in the front yard and the red glow of a joint flickers like a firefly in July as they pass it around. She recognizes Lauren taking a long hit when she gets closer to the group. She never would have figured her for a stoner.

“Hey princess, want a hit?” one of the guys in the group calls out. Lauren laughs and gives Jules a nod before she holds the joint out and offers it to her. 

“Nah, I’m trying to quit,” she quips. Lauren mumbles ‘Of course you are’ as Jules hurries by. The house is well lit and the windows are open, allowing the deep thumping of bass to pour into the night. People are spilling out the door and the drive is crowded with cars and people sitting on the hoods.

She spots West’s Jeep pulled in the grass and walks toward it, thinking maybe he’s waiting out here for her to arrive. Pulling her cell from her back pocket, Jules drops it when a hand grabs her upper arm and pulls her up against the house. Pushing her back into the cold brick, a hard body leans into hers and cool hands take possession of her face. It all happens so quickly she doesn’t have a chance to think before a pair of familiar lips crush into hers; settling her terrified mind. His mouth covers hers and his tongue swoops in, teasing her. The taste and scent of beer lingers on his lips.

“Damn baby girl, I missed the hell out of you,” he murmurs, and one of his hands lowers to the small of her back and presses her into his hips. The evidence of just how much he missed her has proudly risen to the occasion.

“Is that a banana in your pocket or are you just happy to see me, Spike?” she teases; her fingers tugging at the thick hair just touching his neck.

He groans at her pitiful, middle school joke. “I’m beyond happy, baby.”

“So I feel.” His lips connect with hers again and give her a thorough kiss before he steps back. The light shining out of the window next to them illuminates his hungry eyes. 

“You made me drop my phone when you grabbed me, you jerk.” 

“What? Really?” He produces his phone from his pocket and dials her number; taking her hands and looking around on the ground. A moment later they spot the screen lighting up from his call. 

“Sorry,” he offers with a kiss as he picks up and hands her the phone.

Her acceptance falls off her lips when she sees a missed text sitting there from her dad. Curious, she navigates to his message; taking it in and reading it out loud for West to hear.

Dad: I’m disappointed that you would walk out of this house like that, but not surprised. Be home by midnight and we’ll talk then.

“That was your dad?”

She nods, swipes the dirt from her phone and stuffs it in her pocket. “Beer?”

He looks like he wants to say something; his mouth opening and then shutting back as his hand reaches for hers. “Sure thing.”

Jules learns that the house is actually Lauren’s. Her deadbeat dad is locked up for possession, for who knows how many times, and her mom is out with a new boyfriend. The crowd here is different; older, rougher. She spots a few people she knows, but for the most part they are strangers to her. West, on the other hand, knows everyone. She’s not sure if this scares her or not. The pot use is prevalent and whenever someone lights up around them, West steers her in another direction. 

They’re both drinking their second beers, talking to Lauren, when Aubrey walks by them. She’s hanging onto some guy’s arm and Jules is relieved she’s found someone new to chase.

The muscles in West’s forearm flex under Jules’ fingertips and she glances his way, surprised to see his face a mask of anger.

“Why is Rick Cunningham here, Lar?”

Lauren’s eyes go wide and she shakes her head. “I don’t…I didn’t…” she stutters; her face going pale.

“Go inside and find Ziggy.”

“He’s beyond fried already.”

There’s an urgency between them that Jules doesn’t understand. “What’s going on?”

“Nothing,” Lauren snaps with a dismissive wave of her hand. “I’ll go in and find some guys. What are you going to do?” she asks West; dismissing Jules’ concerns altogether.

“I’ll get him to leave. Just stay inside, ‘kay?” Lauren leaves with a nod.

“Make him leave? Make
who
leave? What’s going on, West?”

He kisses the top of her head and steps away, but his eyes never leave whoever he has caught in his gaze. “It’s a long story, but I need to get Rick to leave. He shouldn’t be here.” His jaw flexes and he groans; a low string of curses flowing from his mouth. “Just stay back, okay?” He finally looks at Jules and his worried eyes plead with her. “Stay back, but close.”

He doesn’t leave her time to answer as he steps forward and shouts out, “Rick!”

To her horror, the guy Aubrey was just hanging on stops and looks their way. He’s Rick, and he’s huge.

“Rutledge,” he snarls. 

The guy is built like a linebacker. Tall like West, but stockier. The shoulders under his black leather jacket are significantly wider than West’s, and his thighs under the jeans he wears look huge.

“You shouldn’t be here, man.”