Pieces of Summer (A stand-alone novel)(57)

She snickers softly while pulling her shirt down, and I tilt her chin up as she turns around.

“It needs a companion though.”

Her eyes sadden like I’ve said something wrong, and I internally curse myself for pushing too soon again.

“I got one on my arm too,” I tell her, pulling back so she can study it.

“This sleeve is an eagle?” she asks, confused. It takes her a second to realize it’s half eagle half snake. The head creeps up onto my hand, and the wings turn into scales as it slithers up my arm.

Half of it represents her. Half of it represents the coldness that took place in my life after she was gone.

Her eyes meet mine, and she forces a smile. “Guess we both have scars,” she says softly, getting the meaning of it without me having to explain.

“At least you know all of mine.”

She doesn’t break eye contact, and for a second, I think she’s finally going to tell me everything. But she doesn’t. Instead, she turns and grabs her purse.

“Come on. I want a rematch in bowling.”

My lips twitch, but there’s something that concerns me. She can’t seem to bowl at all anymore, and I watch her as she walks toward the door. Her walk is sexy, but it’s completely different from her walk back then. It’s not just the years that changed it, considering her entire posture is different. She used to lean forward a little when she walked. Now she stands straight. It’s almost like she’s an entirely different person with all her new mannerisms and dark secrets.

But when she turns and smiles at me, she’s still the same girl I fell in love with so long ago. Until I look into her eyes and see the hopeless despair. It’s almost like looking at my reflection back in a time when I was stuck with no future.

Nothing makes sense.





Chapter 34


CHASE



“Your mother is a whore. I bet you don’t even know who your real daddy is,” Heath says, spitting out blood as I shake out my throbbing fist.

He really wants me to kill him. All this because his mommy and daddy are getting a divorce. Apparently he thinks I give a damn about his sorry excuse for a problem.

“At least my mother gets paid for f*cking your sick, disgusting father. Your mom f*cks my dad for free,” I tell him, smirking when he turns an angry shade of red. I really like pissing him off. “I think I hear her scream his name at least twice a week nowadays. You sure you know who your real dad is? We could be brothers…”

He jumps up and charges me, and my fist slams into his side twice before my knee connects with his face. He’s thrown back and hits the ground with a hard thud that has everyone going silent around us who has gathered in the halls.

“Nah,” I say, laughing when he starts to cry. “No brother of mine would cry like a bitch when he takes a beating.”

“Chase James!”

Ah, f*ck.

Turning around, I see Mr. Johnson stalking toward me. Looks like another week or two of detention.

The second we’re in his office, he shuts the door. “Suspended for one week,” is what I hear, but I don’t give a damn. That’s better than detention. Just means I get to hang out at the lake for a week or maybe pick up some extra hours at the diner.

“Let me guess, Heath doesn’t get anything again. Right?” I ask bitterly.

His eyes turn to angry slits as he glares at me.

“Heath isn’t the troublemaking little shit of a thorn in my side. Be glad Milton Dalton has an interest in you. Because of his relationship with the superintendent, I’m not allowed to expel you. In my opinion, you’re nothing more than a waste of breath and time.”

Milton. Should have known. No wonder I’m still in school. I don’t know why he likes me either, but it makes me glad at least someone besides my girl cares enough to have my back.

Summer will be coming soon, and nothing else will matter. For at least three months, they can all go to hell.



Mika is asleep on my chest, and I stare up at the ceiling, feeling like I can breathe so easily that it’s almost laughable. So much of my life was spent in survival mode that I never really lived until the day my mother died.

The only time I felt alive before that day was… summer.

Dark hair is fanned over my chest in waves as she sleeps so peacefully, completely naked. I’m tempted to pry into her life to search for answers. For three days, she’s soaked me in like I used to soak her in.

It feels so f*cking good, but I keep feeling like she’s holding back, the way I always did. As though she’s waiting on everything to be taken away from her, just like I once felt.

We were many things over the years, but kindred was never one of them.

She sighs as she snuggles against me, and I hold her to me, brushing my lips across her head. Logically, I know we can’t pick up right where we left off—just like she pointed out.

Tell that to the illogical part of my brain though. It’s as though the past twelve years haven’t been missing. It’s as though the summers never stopped and life didn’t continue on. It feels like I just stepped out of the school for the last time, and the dream world we planned has finally come true.

And for once, I don’t want to hold back. I didn’t make her choose Hayden. She came back. Hell, I could go anywhere she wanted to now. There’s nothing keeping me here but her at this point. It’s always been her.