Innocent Lies (5 page)

“I have nothing to say to you.” I
reached for Logan’s hand and tried to smile my sweetest smile at
him. “Plus, I already have a real man to talk to.”

Ethan placed his hand over his
heart as if he had been wounded. “That hurts. Dylan, I’m not
leaving again.” He looked back at Logan. “Enjoy my girl tonight.”
Ethan said through gritted teeth and slammed his fist on the table
with such force he made the plates bounce and me jump. He slid out
of the booth and took a seat directly across from us.

“Are you dating
that asshole?” Logan asked.

I shook my head. “I had a couple
of dates with him a long time ago. He means nothing to me.” I
glanced over at him knowing that was the blackest of lies. It
hadn’t been a day that I hadn’t thought about him. Seeing him made
my heart leap in my chest.

“Good,” Logan said
with a megawatt smile. He pulled out a green folder and neatly
tucked inside was a completed report. “I got bored last night, hope
you don’t care.”

I smiled, the joy of having a
brilliant pre-med student as your biology lab partner.

“Plus, I would rather enjoy your
smile than work on this tonight anyway.”

Logan took my hand in his and
stroked his thumb over mine. He should’ve been the one that made me
smile. I couldn’t even fathom how having someone like him in my
life would have changed it. He was the kind of guy I used to lay in
bed at night and pray for. But it was the guy across the room
giving me a death glare that I wanted.

I started moving around the grains
of salt on the table with my fingertips as Logan told me about his
family. No wonder he was so damn smart, his dad was a pediatric
surgeon, and his mom was a microbiologist. I bit my bottom lip.
What was I supposed to have said? ‘My dad is dead, my mom is in the
state pen, and oh yeah, and she said because of me her last man is
six feet under.’ I was not the girl you brought home to mom; no
matter how much I tried to hide it. I glanced back at Mr. Tall,
Flawless, and Dangerous; something told me that his family might
have had a few nuts on the tree too.

Logan excused himself to use the
lavatory. I half expected Ethan to come over and try talking to me
again. I was half-disappointed he didn’t. He had the attention of
some girl who was too young for him. She looked more like a slut
than the one he kicked out. I guess I knew what or who he was doing
that night.

“Hey babe,” Logan whispered in my
ear as he scooted into the booth beside me. I didn’t know if it was
the fact that he had invaded my space or if he used the name babe.
I hadn’t been called that name since Ethan left me a year
ago.

I scrunched against the wall and
started eating on my salad. Hoping, he would get the idea. He
didn’t. He slipped his arm around my waist and tugged me back
against him. He reached up to my face and turned it, then kissed
me. I waited to pull away. I wanted Ethan to see me at that moment
and, maybe just maybe, have a small pain of jealousy. Logan started
to kiss down my neck. Thankfully, the numbness started. I welcomed
his lips. They distanced me from the thought of being in the same
room as Ethan.

I reached up to run my fingers in
Logan’s hair when I heard a manly cough come from the other side of
the room. My arms fell to my side. I immediately shoved Logan off
me and glanced over to Ethan. He had his elbows resting on the
table, watching us.

“Dylan, you’re distracted.” Logan
looked over at Ethan. “Maybe we can go out on a real date some
other time.”

I nodded. “I’m just not feeling
good.” I tried to bat my lashes and smiled. “Ethan, I would be
honored to go out sometime.”

Logan stood up and threw a fifty
on the table. “That’s great, but I’m Logan.” He turned and glared
back at Ethan.

“Logan, wait.” I
yelled at him, but he was gone. I slumped in my seat and looked
over at Ethan. He had the full attention of the little, blonde
waitress. She brushed her fingers repeatedly through her hair and
shifted her weight from one foot to the other, making sure her hip
would rub against Ethan’s arm.

How could he make me feel things I
had never felt before? Hell, Logan had his lips on me, but it was
the S.O.B. across the room that sent my heart racing. I pushed the
plate across the table and got up. He never looked at me as I
walked right by him, and left.

Saturday, September 20,
2014

“Dylan, wake up.”
Sarah hollered down the hall. I rubbed my eyes that were reluctant
to open. “Some guy is here for you.” She swung around the open
door. I glanced at the clock; it was only eight o’clock in the
morning. Of course, she woke up looking like she stepped off a
runway. I, on the other hand, looked like I had been run
over.

“What?” I uttered,
still half asleep.

“Get up, you have
to see this guy.” She bounced from foot to foot excitedly. I
climbed out of bed and scratched my fingers through the nest I
called hair.

“
Do you know him?” Ethan instantly came to my
mind. Sarah shook her head.
Yeah, he’s probably with that waitress or any other
list of women.
I clambered
out of bed and followed a bubbly Sarah. I stalled. Ethan stood in
my living room. Sarah offered him a cup of coffee, then it dawned
on me, she had never met Ethan.

“Dylan,” He said
and winked. “Please, Privy, talk to me.” He reached his hand out
for mine. I wanted to push him away, but I was paralyzed. No matter
how much he made me hurt by leaving; it felt right having my hand
in his.

“There is nothing
to talk about.” I smiled. I should’ve been furious, but found
myself giddy and unable to suppress a face-splitting smile. Ethan
was back and for some reason having him around made everything else
fade away.

“I have so much to
tell you.’ He gently pulled me into his arms, burying his nose in
my jacked-up hair, and nipped at my ear. “Please give me an hour,
let me explain.”

I could do that.
What’s an hour, especially when I am with Ethan?
Tears threatened. My subconscious
nodded in agreement. I would give him an hour or two. Taking a deep
breath, I finally spoke. “Let me change and we can go grab a cup of
coffee.”

He glanced hard at me; his dark
and brooding eyes never left my face. He didn’t smile. His fingers
grazed over my cheek, wiping away a tear that had dwindled down my
face. “I didn’t leave you. I left to protect someone that is very
special to me.” He cradled my face in his hands. “Get ready, Privy,
and we will go where ever.”

“This is not a
date. We’re just talking,” I blurted out.

“Whatever.” He
gripped my hand like he was scared he would lose me. However, I was
the one terrified I’d never hold his hand again. No one had ever
touched me the way that Ethan did. He raised my hand to kiss
it.

“Dylan,” he said. My eyes looked up
at him. He gasped. There was a primal quality to his stare. If I
didn’t know better, I would have believed he wanted me as much as I
craved him. “Privy, last night, when you left, it killed me to let
you go.”

“You never noticed me
leaving.”

“Oh, yes, I did. It was eight
thirty-eight some girl, and I use that word loosely, was talking to
me. I couldn’t look at you and watch you leave. I wanted to beat
that boy to a pulp . . . I looked for you. I’ve been back about
three months, and I’ve looked everywhere.” His hands cupped my
head, squashing my face between them. “You moved. You never came
back to the Pizza House. I went to the college. It was as if my
beautiful Dylan had vanished.”

“Huh?”

“I had to leave.
Someone who is very important to me was in danger. I had to keep
her safe.” He took the two steps that closed the gap between us.
His eyes devoured me. My heart sunk. I licked the corner of my lips
as my mouth went dry.

Her, not him or my
mom or even an aunt, but a her. Was she still in his life?
“Who is she?”

“You,” he forcibly
whispered in my ear. He pulled me to him, wrapping his arms
painfully around me. “You’re all that matters. I’m not leaving. Not
today, tomorrow, or next year, my Privy.”

“Why do you call me
Privy?”

“Privy is short for pretty. Which I
agree you are more than pretty. It also means having knowledge of
something, having an interest in something. You’re the first person
I’ve ever wanted privy to my life.”

We walked three blocks to The
Third Place, the most talked-about coffee shop in Knoxville. I had
never been myself. With the higher rent, I barely had money for
instant coffee, but Sarah loved it. She said the peppermint
cappuccino was to die for. I idly chattered the whole way there and
couldn’t tell you a thing I said. Him never letting go of my hand
was seared upon ever nerve ending in my body. He looked at me as if
I was an oasis in the depths of the desert, and he was dying of
thirst. The little inner voice deep inside of me started mumbling,
reminding me how it felt when I found that letter the day after our
last night together. The day after day, I spent looking for him. I
bit my tongue. I wouldn’t let Ethan affect me like that again. No
matter how many times my mind said, ‘yeah, right.’ He started
stroking his fingers across my shoulder.

“I’m not leaving. I know I handled
it all wrong last year, but you’re not the only one that missed
us.” He tipped my chin up forcing me to look at him. “I feel it
too. The pull. That undeniable force drawing us together. I felt it
last year, and every day since.”

My knees shook, my stomach leaped
in my throat. How did he know my feelings? More hearing him repeat
them as if they were his own almost hurt. “Ethan, what makes you
say those things.” I struggled to maintain a composed face, so I
gazed off to the other patrons. It was then when I noticed that I
was not the only one who crumbled at his feet. They all were
focused on Ethan. He had a draw about him for sure, and I was not
the only one who noticed. My jealousy surfaced. He was with
me.

“Find a seat,
Privy. Let me get our drinks, and then we will talk more.” He
smiled.

I found a table in the center of
the cafe, wanting everyone to see he was with me, and watched him.
I could’ve watched him all day. He moved with unbelievable
confidence. He was aware of every inch of his body and knew exactly
how to move it. He ran his fingers through his tousled hair and our
eyes met. He winked and smiled. My face flamed. I glanced down at
my fingers that were rolling a straw wrapper around.

“Privy?” He glided the tray across
the table, startling me. I managed to smile up at him. He pulled a
chair close to me and straddled it. I envied the way he was so at
ease with himself. “Talk to me.”

I reached for the mug and started
swirling around the whip-topping when I realized it was the
peppermint cappuccino. I raised an eyebrow.

“What? Isn’t that
what you wanted? You rattled on about it for five minutes.”

I nodded, smiled, and took a gulp.
It was delicious.

“Dylan, I know you don’t trust me,
and I understand. I’ll earn it.” He concentrated as his long
fingers slowly peeled back a banana. “I tried to find you. I did
leave to protect someone so very special. But in doing so I saved
myself too.”

My head popped up. “What are you
talking about?”

“I realized what a mess I had
become. If you could pop it, I was addicted to it. I spent six
months in rehab, fighting to get back to you every day. I wrote you
a letter. I guess you didn’t get it because of the
move.”

“
You’re clean now?”
Oh, Ethan, I’ve lived
with a drug-addicted mom. I won’t go back there. He’s clean, Dylan.
Give him the benefit, he’s clean now, and he wrote you a
letter.

“Yeah, it feels good to finally
feel without the haze of drugs. When I saw you last night, I got my
first real high. The high of being in the room with the girl I
can’t stop thinking about. I followed you home. I wasn’t going to
lose you again.”

“I’m glad you
found me.” I bit my lip and glanced down at the froth on my
drink.

He cocked his head, and looked
quizzically at me. “Is the boy last night special?”

“No, he’s my lab partner.” I
started crumbling a strawberry muffin on my plate. “Do you have
someone special?” I looked up at him.