Pieces of Summer (A stand-alone novel)(28)

I’ll make sure she knows how much I love her every single day. She’ll never regret it.



Can’t get her out of my f*cking head. Every time I close my eyes, forgotten memories resurface. Two days ago, my lips were on hers, her body was in my hands, and I managed to force myself to walk away.

“Why can’t you just be with her if she’s in Hayden anyway?” Blake asks.

I hate f*cking tequila. I rarely drink liquor. It’s even rarer that I actually get drunk. My parents were both useless alcoholics who drowned themselves out of the world daily. Dad managed to hold down a job to support his habit. Mom got drunk and would screw whatever guy paid her twenty dollars just so she could get her next meth fix to go with her shot of liquor.

Getting drunk makes you forget, or it makes you bare your f*cking soul or some shit. Unfortunately, the latter was my issue the other night, so now Blake knows everything.

“Because she needs to leave.” It doesn’t even sound like a good answer to me anymore. But Mika and I… There’s just too much history there, and I’d fall back into the trap of being someone else, getting lost in her like there’s hope for a happy ending. Then have it brutally ripped away from me when she realizes the same thing her father did all those years ago.

She’ll want more than I can ever give her. With Mika, there’s no chance of a no-strings relationship, or I’d f*ck her just to get it out of my system. No. There’s no such thing as getting her out of my system—I’ve been trying for many f*cking years.

With Mika, I’ll get consumed all over again. She’s like a f*cking drug.

“I still wish I knew why she seems familiar,” Blake says idly.

“No idea. You didn’t move here until after she stopped coming.”

“It’s the eyes… Something about those eyes.”

“Can we please quit talking about her?” I groan. “This shit is getting hard enough to deal with without you constantly bringing her up.”

“I just think it’s shitty for you to put a ban on her from me and anyone else interested if you’re going to put your dick on a leash and keep it away from her.”

He’s goading me and I know it.

“Fuck off, Blake. I mean it. I’m sick of talking about—”

My words die on my tongue when the bane of my existence walks into my shop. Wearing a pair of cutoff shorts, cowboy boots, and a t-shirt, Mika smiles at Beth while running a hand through her silky dark hair. Blake looks at me with wide, amused eyes as I hold my breath.

It’d be nice if there was somewhere to hide right about now.

“Can I help you?” Beth asks her.

“They said next door that Blake was over here?”

Beth smirks and motions our way, and I give up hoping to resemble a statue when Mika’s eyes shift down the corridor to the back room, landing on us.

“Hello, gorgeous. Thought you were avoiding me,” Blake says while going to lean against the doorframe.

Mika’s smile falters, and her eyes lock onto mine in surprise. She apparently didn’t know this was my place. Shit.

After several silent minutes pass between us, I start feeling the old, familiar buzz beneath my skin, and every dirty thought imaginable crosses my mind. The look in her eyes shifts, and she tugs her lip between her teeth, as though she’s imagining the same thing. It makes it really hard to keep standing here instead of bending her over one of the chairs.

“You were looking for me?” Blake chimes in, smirking.

Mika blinks rapidly several times before turning to face Blake.

“Um. Yeah. I was wondering if you could… um… Oh! I mean, Hunter asked me to drop something off for you. He had to take an early flight out this morning because of a big business opportunity. Apparently you two are friends or something?”

“Yeah, I got fond of Skinny Jeans, even though he still looks ridiculous.”

Mika smiles nervously, and she hesitates. “I’ll just leave it here. It’s some kind of liquor you like or something.”

She sets a box down on the counter in front of Beth and practically sprints out.

Beth eyes me, and Blake turns to stare at me as well, grinning like the damn cat who ate the canary.

“What the f*ck was that? I’m practically dripping wet just from feeling all the sexual tension between you two, and you two didn’t even have to speak,” Beth drawls.

Swallowing hard, I shrug, but I can’t find a way to answer.

“Her brother is gone too,” Blake says, still grinning at me. “Left yesterday. I checked his car myself before he left for the airport. Says he’ll be gone for a while, but he’ll be back. Seems intent on keeping a close eye on his baby sister. Even asked me to call him if anything seems off with her, but to keep my hands to my-f*cking-self. His words. I don’t even know the guy.”

“They’re twins,” I say as though that explains his protectiveness, even though I don’t know why I say it. He wasn’t protective of her when they were growing up.

I shouldn’t be thinking about anything from the past, but I guess it’s better than thinking about Mika being alone in that house.

“Gonna storm tonight,” Beth adds, still watching me like I’m a science experiment that might bubble over at any moment.

“Heard it was going to be a rough one. Probably some power outages and such. Hope Mika isn’t scared of the dark,” Blake goes on.