More to Us (39 page)

"Where's Allison?" I ask.

"I don't know. She's not out there, and her car's not there."

"Then who knocked on the door?" Kira asks.

"Whoever left this behind." He holds up the envelope. It's a beige envelope with his name and address written on the front but no stamp and no return address.

"What is it?" I ask.

"Hell if I no but it can't be good. Who drops off an envelope late at night?" He sits down on the recliner, staring at the envelope.

"Are you gonna open it?"

"Whoever wrote this has good handwriting." He shows us the front. "Check this out. It's like calligraphy, or whatever they call that scripty type."

"Wait a minute." Kira steps up to get a closer look at it. "That looks like..."

"What?" I ask her. "It looks like what?"

"Nothing," she says, coming to stand beside me again. "You should open it," she says to Dylan.

He rips open the side of the envelope and pulls out a piece of paper. It's folded in thirds, and as he unfolds it, I see there's writing on both sides. It's written in the same handwriting that was on the envelope.

"What is it?" I ask.

"A letter," he says, smiling slightly.

"A letter? Who the hell writes letters anymore?"

Kira nudges me and whispers, "Let him read it."

It's almost like she knows who wrote it. But I don't ask because she's giving me a look to keep quiet.

Dylan's expression turns serious as he reads the letter, turning it to read the other side. When he's done, he just stares at the floor, not saying anything.

"What did—" I'm stopped by a sharp tug on my arm by Kira, who's giving me that 'keep quiet' look again. I don't get it. What the hell's going on?

We both look at Dylan. He's still staring at the floor, but that slight smile appears again. "She said she'd write letters," he mutters.

Before I can ask what he means, I get another tug on my arm by Kira and see her mouth the word 'wait' to me.

Dylan starts mumbling again. "She said if she ever found him, she'd write him letters. She said it's romantic." He laughs to himself. "The girl is fucking crazy. And yet..." He bursts from his chair and runs back to his room.

I turn to Kira. "What the hell just happened?"

She smiles and quietly says, "Amber wrote him a letter!"
 

"Amber? How do you know—" I stop when Dylan comes back in the room. He's walking fast and looking all around. He searches the drawer in the side table, then slams it shut and goes in the kitchen.

Moments later, he races back to the living room. "We don't have any paper." He scrubs his hand through his hair. "Shit."

"What do you need paper for?" I ask.

"For his letter," Kira says quietly to me. She looks at Dylan. "Can you use notebook paper? I'm sure you have some of that."

"No." He shakes his head really fast. "It has to be real paper. Nice paper. Like old-fashioned paper."

"Old-fashioned paper?" I ask as I watch him search the drawer in the side table again. "What the fuck you talking about?"

"I'll explain later," Kira whispers in my ear. "Let's go."

The doorbell rings and Dylan stops his frantic search and stares at the door. The bell rings again and a girl says, "Dylan, hurry your ass up. It's cold out here."

He walks quickly to the door and flings it open. Allison's standing there in a trench coat, which I'm sure is hiding her naked body underneath.

"Hey," Dylan says, blocking the door so she can't come in. "Tonight's off. Actually, we're done."

"What?" She sounds shocked. She's probably never been dumped before.

"We're done. I don't want to do this anymore."

She huffs. "Are you drunk?"

"I've had some beers, but no, I'm not drunk. I'm just not interested."

"Every guy's interested in this." She opens her trench coat, showing off her body, which is covered only by a black push-up bra and matching panties. She does have a smoking hot body. I'll give her that.

Kira clears her throat and jabs my side. I quickly glance away from the door.

"What are THEY doing here?" I hear Allison ask. When I look back at her, she has her coat closed up.

"We were just hanging out," Dylan says. "Now could you leave? I have things to do."

She huffs again. "Fine. I was cheating on you anyway."

"Yeah, I figured you were. Have a good life, Allison." He shuts the door, not looking the least bit regretful that he just broke up with his girlfriend. But like I said, she wasn't much of a girlfriend. She was more of a friend with benefits. No. Scratch that. She wasn't even a friend. She treated him like shit. I never liked her. I'm glad she's gone.

"Well, we're going to head out," Kira says, walking up to Dylan.

"Don't tell her it's coming," he says.

"I won't." She turns back to me. "You ready?"

"Yeah." I meet her at the door, still confused by the whole thing. I give Dylan a wave. "Talk tomorrow?"

"Yeah, I'll call ya." He goes in the kitchen.

Kira and I go out to my truck, but I don't start it. I look at her and say, "Are you gonna explain what the hell just went on in there?"

She's smiling and bouncing up and down in her seat. "Oh my God, this is so exciting. I totally get the whole old-fashioned romance thing now."

"What do you mean?"

"The letter. Amber wrote Dylan that letter and left it at his door."

"Yeah, I already got that part. But why'd she do it? Why didn't she just call him or talk to him?"

"Because it's more romantic this way. I told you she's a hopeless romantic."

"Which makes no sense because she was not romantic at all with Matt."

"Because he's not the guy she's supposed to end up with."

"What?" I asked, still confused.

She turns to face me. "Okay, I know this sounds stupid but just go with it. Amber has always had this idea in her head that if she ever found the right guy, as in the one she's meant to be with, she'd instantly know. And although she hasn't admitted it to me, I've always thought Dylan is that guy, which has now been confirmed by that letter."

"I'm still not getting it."

"She said that if she ever met that guy, the one she instantly connected with, that she wouldn't date him right away. Instead, they'd write letters, and through the letters, they'd get to know each other, like people did in the old days. She loves all that old-fashioned romance stuff. Like when couples wrote love letters while the guy was at war? We watched a documentary on that once and she cried her eyes out. She lives for that stuff. Anyway, she assumed this dating via letters thing would never actually happen because people don't write letters anymore, especially guys." She smiles. "But now, Dylan's actually going to write her back! And the fact that she even wrote him a letter in the first place just proves that she thinks he's the one."

"How did Dylan know about the letters?"

"She must've told him that night they were together."

"So they're never going to date? They're just going to write letters?"

"The letters are just until they get to know each other better. Then at a certain time, they'll agree to meet."

"They've already met. And had sex."

Kira sighs. "I know. That kind of ruins the whole old-fashioned romance...or maybe it's just a modern spin on it."

"Have sex first? Write letters next?"

"Exactly." She laughs. "It's not how Amber originally imagined it. But whatever. The important thing is that Amber thinks Dylan might be the one. She has this whole time, but now she's finally admitting he's more than just a one-night stand. She's finally accepting it." She looks down. "And sometimes, accepting the truth is the hardest part."
 

I reach over and brush my hand over her cheek. "And what happens after you accept it?"

"Things get easier. You feel better. You have hope again." She looks at me. "You're able to see what really matters."

There's a loud honking noise in front of us and bright headlights practically blind us. Dylan is in his car, backing out of the garage.

I start my truck and roll the window down and yell at him, "Where you going?"

"To the store," he yells back. "I gotta get paper."

"It's after midnight. Nothing's open."

"The drugstore's open twenty-four hours. Now get your big-ass truck out of the way."
 

Kira's laughing. "We better move before he mows us down."

"In that little piece of shit car? My truck would crush that thing." I pull out of the driveway and we watch as he backs out and takes off down the street. "Why is he in such a damn hurry to write this letter?"

"Knowing Amber, she probably put a time limit for him to get back to her. I'm guessing she's in her room right now, nervously pacing the floor, waiting for a response. She probably gave him twenty-four hours."

"He should just make her wait. She made
him
wait months before she finally contacted him."

"Given how he reacted just now, I don't think he cares. I don't think either one of them wants to wait a second longer to get this relationship started."

"Just like I don't want to wait a second longer to get you back to my place. Now can we get out of here?" I start to drive forward but she puts her hand on my arm.

"Wait."

I put the truck in park. "What?"

She takes her seatbelt off and leans over and kisses me. "I love you."

"I love you too."

She sits back in her seat, a smile on her face.

I reach over and pull her seatbelt over her. "That's it? You just wanted to tell me that?"

"That was it. We can go now."

I hold her hand and drive off, a big-ass grin on my face. Just minutes ago, I was thinking Dylan was an idiot for going after Amber. After all she put him through, why bother? Find someone else. But I should know better. When you love a girl, you can't just let her go. It doesn't work that way. It's not that easy.

When Kira and I broke up, I wanted to let her go. I tried, but I couldn't do it. I had to see her again. And once I did, it just reaffirmed how much I love her. She's stubborn and determined and pushes herself way too hard, to the point that I'll probably always have to pull her back. But I realized that I love that she's that way. It's that stubbornness and determination of hers that made her fight to get me back, not that she had to fight that hard. I wanted her back.

I look over and see her resting her head back on the seat, quietly singing along to whatever song is on the radio. She always sings along like that but never sings the right words. She doesn't even get the chorus right. It makes me laugh and is just another thing I love about her. There are so many things I love about her.

So letting her go? It was never going to happen. And I get the feeling it never will.

From the Author

Wondering what happens with Dylan and Amber? Let me know if you want their story, either in your review or by leaving a comment on Facebook. And if you liked Austin's story, please spread the word by telling a friend and leaving a review.

Find news about upcoming books as well as sneak peeks and bonus scenes at
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Books by Allie Everhart

The Jade Series

(New Adult Romance/Suspense)

Choosing You

Knowing You

Loving You
 

Promising You

Forever You

Finding Us

Becoming Us

Always Us

Garret: A Jade Series Companion Novel

The Kensington Series

(Romantic Suspense)

Needing Her

Keeping Her

Protecting Her

Only Her

Contemporary Romance

(Standalone Novels)

Next to Me
(Wheeler Brothers #1)

Give Us a Chance
(Wheeler Brothers #2)

Can't Let You Go
(Wheeler Brothers #3)

More to Us (Wheeler Brothers #4)

For fans of The Jade Series and Kensington Series...BONUS Sneak Peek of Lilly, a Kensington Family Novel.

So many of you have asked for a book about Lilly that I finally decided to write one! I'm working on it now and hope to have it out before the end of the year. The story takes place when Lilly is starting college. If you've only read The Jade Series, and not The Kensingtons, make sure you read The Kensingtons before reading Lilly. It'll explain some things that are in the Lilly book.

I'll be posting updates about the Lilly book on my blog. To make sure you see them, go to
allieeverhart.com
and click on "Sign Up to get Allie's Blog Posts via Email" (located on the upper right hand side of the homepage). I'll post some, but not all, of the updates on Facebook as well.