Without You (35 page)

The next thing I knew, Will’s lips were taking me to heaven and back, and I softly called out his name. He moved his lips up my body and to my neck.

“Lex…” Will quickly pulled back and looked at me. “Oh God. Lex, baby, I don’t have a condom. They are in my other bag in the tent. We can’t do this.”

I placed my hand on the side of his face. “Will, I’m on birth control. Please, please make love to me. I want to feel you inside me. I want it to just be you and me.”

He closed his eyes and then opened them. “I never want—”

“Will, it’s okay.”

He leaned down and gently kissed me. He moved over me and slowly began to push himself inside me. We continued to kiss, and after he pushed all the way in, he pulled back and moaned.

“You feel amazing, Lex. You mean so much to me, and I’ll always love you.”

Feeling how our bodies were one caused tears to build in my eyes.

“Will…” My voice cracked.

He stopped moving.

I wrapped my legs around him and pulled him closer to me. “I love you so much. I need you.”

I had never felt so wanted in my entire life. The way he was making love to me was beyond anything I could ever describe. It was more than magical. The love between us felt as if it had grown even more. Will made love to me slowly, lovingly, and passionately. It was one of the most amazing moments of my life.

Will whispered in my ear, “Lex, I never want tonight to end.”

I ran my fingertips up and down his back. “Neither do I.”

I began to feel the familiar buildup my body craved so much. “Will, oh God…I’m going to come.” I looked into his eyes.

“Lex…” He pushed in deeper.

I let my release go as I grabbed his arms and quietly called out his name. Our eyes never faltered as he continued to work my orgasm.

He briefly closed his eyes and then opened them. “Baby, I’m going to come. Lex…my God…”

I moaned when I felt his warm liquid spilling into my body. I knew that I would never be able to breathe without Will in my life.

He slowed down and hovered over my body. The moment was so intense for both of us that I thought we just needed to…be…just for a few seconds.

Will slowly pulled out of me as he looked into my eyes. “Alexandra Eryn, my life would be nothing without you. You are my entire world, the reason I breathe.”

A small sob escaped my mouth as we wrapped our bodies together. We held each other for a while as we whispered back and forth how much we loved each other. I didn’t want to break our connection.

“Lex, we should get back. It’s getting late.”

I pulled back to look into his eyes. “Thank you. That was another amazing moment in my life.”

He smiled, and my heart melted all over again.

Will he always have such an effect on me?

“It was for me, too, Lex. I can’t even put it into words right now. Being able to give myself into you like that…it was beyond words.”

I smiled back and started to stand up. Will pulled me into his arms and kissed me again. The love poured between our bodies and mixed together as the sounds of the waves crashed on the shore.

I’ll never forget this night for as long as I live
.

I heard the front door open and then slam shut. I was studying for my last final exam. I also had to get the house ready to close up for a few months since we’d be heading home in a week. I headed downstairs and saw Luke pacing back and forth with his hands in his hair.

“Fuck. Son of a bitch. Fucker. Fucking bastard!”

I stopped at the bottom of the stairs. “Luke, what the hell is wrong?”

He snapped his head over and looked at me. “She slept with him. She…she gave herself to him.”

“What? Who?”

He looked like he was about to be sick. I had been worried about him ever since we had come back from spring break. He never went out. He stayed home almost every weekend, only leaving to go study or go to the gym.

“Oh my God. Oh God, what have I done?” Luke dropped his hands to his knees and leaned over. He was sucking in one deep breath after another. “That was why she didn’t move in here. That was why. She knew she was gonna sleep with him.”

Libby? Is he talking about Libby?
My fists balled up.

I walked over to him and grabbed him. “Luke, look at me and calm the hell down. Are you talking about Libby? What’s going on?”

He dropped his head back and let out a long, drawn-out breath before looking back at me. “I went to Libby’s dorm room. I needed to talk to her because seeing her with him was too much. I couldn’t take it anymore. It turned out that she wasn’t alone. Zack was there, and…and…”

“And what?” I asked him even though I knew the answer.

“She was in a robe and kept telling me that now wasn’t a good time to talk. She said if I wanted to talk, we should have talked months ago. I pushed my way into her room and saw…”

I closed my eyes.
Dear God, no.

“I saw Zack in her bed. I took one look at him, and I just turned and left.”

I needed to calm myself down before I attempted to calm Luke down. I knew my sister was a grown woman, but all I wanted to do was beat the shit out of Zack.

“Ah shit. Damn, Luke. You had to know she was going to move on. I mean, they’ve been dating for a few months, and I’m sure that wasn’t the first time—”

“Stop! I don’t even want to think about any of this.” He started to head up the stairs.

“Where are you going?”

“Out.”

I closed my eyes and pulled out my phone. I quickly sent Libby a text message.

Me: Libby, you’re a grown woman, so I won’t tell you what you can and can’t do, but I sure hope you know what you’re doing…with Zack, I mean.

Libby: I need to get out of here. Please come get me.

My heart started pounding.
What if that fucker forced her to have sex with him?

Me: Libby…did Zack hurt you? I’ll fucking kill him.

Libby: No.

Me: What’s wrong then?

Libby: I just made the biggest mistake of my life, Will. I slept with Zack. I thought it would help me forget Luke. I need you, Will.

Me: I’m on my way.

Luke came down the stairs with a duffel bag.

I grabbed his arm to stop him. “Don’t go to Abigail.”

He looked at me, shocked. He slowly shook his head. “I haven’t seen Abigail in weeks. I took my last final today. I’m going home.”

He pulled his arm from mine and headed out the door. I let out a deep breath and hit Lex’s number.

“Hey, handsome. I’m about to take my last final, and then I’ll be packing up the rest of my stuff and saying good-bye to UT!”

I smiled, and if I wasn’t so worried about Libby and Luke, I would be turned-on. Just the sound of her voice had my body craving her.

“Awesome. Baby, I’ve got a problem.”

“What? Are you okay? Is everything okay?”

“I’m fine. It’s Libby and Luke.”

She sighed. “Grace just showed me a text from Luke. He said he is on his way home and that he ruined everything with Libby. Is he okay?”

“No, he stopped by Libby’s dorm room to talk to her. About Libby and Zack. The only problem is, he walked in on Libby and Zack together. I texted Libby, and she is really upset and asked me to come get her.”

“Oh God. She slept with Zack? He didn’t force her, did he?”

“No. I asked her, and she said she just made the biggest mistake of her life. Lex, can you call her? I’m on my way, but talking to you and Grace might help.”

“Of course. Yes. Grace will call her right now, and we’ll talk to her.”

“Thank you, baby. I’ll call you in a little bit.”

“Will?”

I grabbed my truck keys and started heading out of the house. “Yeah?”

“I love you so much.”

My stomach did that funny little flip thing, and my heart felt like it skipped a beat. I realized how damn lucky Lex and I were.

“I love you, too, Lex, more than you will ever know.”

I knocked on Libby’s dorm room door and slowly started opening it. I walked into the room and saw my sister sitting on her bed. She had her legs pulled up to her chest as she rocked back and forth. The moment her eyes met mine, my heart broke, and I wanted to kick someone’s ass.

“Libby…Jesus, honey, what’s wrong?” I quickly walked over and sat on the bed.

She threw herself into my arms. “I should have moved into the house with y’all. What did I do? Oh God. Oh God.”

Her body was shaking, and she was crying so hard that I could hardly understand her. I pulled back to look at her and used my finger to make her look at me.

“Libby, you’re scaring the hell out of me right now. Honey, please tell me what happened.
Please
, Libby.”

She shook her head. “His face. I’ll never forget the look on his face.”

“Whose face? Did Zack do something to you?”

She shook her head. “No, I thought I was ready. I thought it would help me move on and forget…forget…”

I was so confused. “Libby, I need you to calm down. You’re not making any sense, and honestly, I’m ready to go find Zack and pound the shit out of him.”

She smiled slightly, and she started to take in a few deep breaths before letting them out. I waited patiently as she calmed herself down enough to talk.

“I thought I was ready to…to…” Her voice cracked. She closed her eyes and slowly opened them. “I thought I was ready to sleep with Zack. I mean, I like him. I really do. Well, we…”

I grabbed her hand and held it in mine. It was harder than hell to sit here and listen to my sister talk about having sex with someone.

“We had sex. It wasn’t great or life-changing, and it was not at all like how Lex talks about her first time with you.”

She smiled slightly as I grinned back at her. My heart was already breaking for her.

“I thought I wanted it, Will. I thought this might be the final thing that would connect Zack and me…and make me forget about—” A sob escaped her mouth. “Make me forget about Luke.” She began crying but quickly regained her composure.

My heart was pounding so hard in my chest. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to beat the hell out of Zack for touching my sister or fight Luke for pushing her away like this.

“When someone started knocking on the door, I quickly jumped up and put on a robe. I wasn’t even thinking that it could be Luke. He hasn’t even looked my way since…”

I tilted my head. “Since when?”

She swallowed hard. “Since spring break.” She shook her head as if trying to erase a bad memory. “I opened the door, and he was standing there. He asked to talk to me, and I said it wasn’t a good time, but he…he just wouldn’t take no for an answer. Then, he pushed his way in and saw Zack in my bed. He turned and looked at me, and the look in his eyes…” She dropped her head, and tears began falling. “He looked devastated, broken. He didn’t say a word. He just stared at me, and then he left.”

“Libby, shit. You and Luke need to sit down and talk.” I wiped her tears away.

She nodded her head. “In that very moment, I knew I had made a mistake. I knew Luke and I pushing each other away was the cause of all of this.”

She looked into my eyes. Her eyes were so sad.

“But he’s slept with other people, Will. He’s been with Abigail this whole year, and he comes in and makes me feel like I’m the bad person.”

“Libby, sweetheart, Luke hasn’t been with Abigail in months. I don’t even remember the last time Luke went to a party.”

Her mouth dropped open. Then, she turned her head and stared out the window. “But…Abigail told me…I thought…”

“Libby, listen, it’s not your fault, okay? You can’t feel guilty. You and Zack are dating. Luke had plenty of chances to tell you how he felt about you. If he wasn’t so afraid of his feelings for you, y’all would have talked it through and stopped playing this cat-and-mouse game.”

She quickly looked back at me and shook her head. “No, it’s my fault. This is all my fault.”

I didn’t know why she was saying that. “Libby, Luke has never given you any real reason to think he has feelings for you. This is not your fault.”

She quickly wiped away her tears. “Where is he? I need to talk to him.”

I pushed my hand through my hair and stood up. “He, um…he’s gone.”