Текст книги "Thief"

Автор книги: Chantal Fernando

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Chapter Six

I wake up with a smile on my face, replaying last night in my head. Dash and I had gotten some food together, chatted and flirted, and then he dropped me home and walked me to my door, where we kissed for a few magical moments. I reach over and grab my phone, frowning when I see no messages from either Max or Dash, when I told them both to message me when they got home safely.

I have a quick shower, some breakfast, and then head next door to annoy Max. Last time he was hung over, I jumped on his bed until he actually picked me up, deposited me at his front door, and then locked me out. It was even funnier, because his mum yelled at him for it afterwards. I knock on his front door, hoping his parents are home to open it for me; otherwise, I’ll have to climb the wall and jump through his window. It’s been done several times before, but only in emergencies, because it takes a hell of a lot of effort to get up there. The door opens and I breathe a sigh of relief, but then I get a look at Leah’s, Max’s mum’s, face.

“What’s wrong?” I ask her, wondering why it looks like she’s been crying. Her eyes are red and swollen, and what’s worse than that, is that they look lifeless. A horrible feeling creeps up on me, spreading through my body and settling in my stomach.

“Leah?” I ask, my voice breaking.

She pulls me into her arms and starts sobbing.

I start to cry too, because I know something bad has happened.

Is Max’s dad okay?

“He’s gone, Vi,” she says through her tears. “He’s gone. What am I going to do without my baby?”

“Who is gone?” I manage to get out, not understanding. I know Max is okay. He’s in his bed, fast asleep. I know he is. I step away from her and run up the stairs to his room, slam the door open, and stare in disbelief at his untouched sheets.

He must have stayed with a girl overnight.

Max is fine; he has to be.

“Their car crashed,” she says to me, crying so loudly that I can’t think. “He didn’t make it.”

“No,” is all I say, shaking my head from side to side. “No!”

“Max is gone, Vi,” she says, glancing around his room. “He’s gone.”

As I absorb this information, my body shuts down.

My heart freezes.

My soul perishes.

Max isn’t the only one who died that morning.

*****

Sometimes, emotional pain can hurt worse than physical.

Sometimes, emotional pain can feel like physical pain.

My chest hurts, feeling tight and constricted.

I can’t breathe.

When will I breathe easy again?

My head hurts.

My heart doesn’t feel like it will ever beat again.

Pain…all I feel is pain.

Grief.

Loss.

The most excruciating, hopeless pain I’ve ever felt.

I will never be me again.

I won’t make it out of this unscathed.

My pieces can’t be put back together.

My best friend is dead.

Sleep.

I just need sleep.

But even then, he finds me in my dreams.

*****

“Vi, you need to eat something,” Dash says, rubbing his warm hands on my ice-cold ones. “Just have some of this soup, okay? It will make you feel better, and then everyone will leave you alone and stop harassing you to eat.”

He brings the spoon to my mouth, but I don’t open it. I don’t know why everyone can’t understand that I just don’t feel hungry. Food is the last thing on my mind. My body is perfectly fine surviving on emptiness, loneliness, and misery.

“How long are you going to do this?” he growls, clearly getting frustrated with me. “We all miss him, Vi, all of us. Do you think he would want you to do this to yourself?”

Max isn’t here to tell me what he wants, but thanks for the reminder.

“It’s been two weeks,” he continues, pacing up and down my bedroom now. “And you’ve barely said a word, barely eaten. Do you want to end up in the hospital? Have you even looked at you? You’ve lost so much weight you’re basically disappearing before our eyes!”

Had it only been two weeks?

It feels like two years have passed.

“I should have made him come home with me,” I say, my voice coming out throaty and dry. “If I insisted that he came home, I’d still have my best friend right now.”

Dash sits down on my bed. “You can’t think like that. He wanted to stay; he made the choice. He got in the car with a driver who was drunk. That’s not on you.”

I stay silent, pondering his words.

“I used to blame myself for my dad leaving us,” he says, looking down at his hands. “He just decided we were all too much, I guess, and I always thought that maybe if I was a better kid, he would have stayed.”

His dad is obviously an asshole, because Dash is amazing.

“There was nothing you could have done to stop this, Viola. Don’t blame yourself, because that is going to eat you alive. And Max wouldn’t want that. He’s probably looking down on you right now, yelling at you for wasting perfectly good food.”

My lip twitches at that, because it so is something Max would say.

Dash tries again, scooping some soup in the spoon and bringing it to my lips.

This time, I open my mouth.

He smiles, but I don’t.

I still feel numb and broken, but I don’t want everyone to worry about me.

Even though the person that would worry the most isn’t here anymore.

*****

Another week passes before my parents force me to go back to school. Everything reminds me of Max…everything, and I honestly don’t know how I’m going to make it through a full day, never mind finish the rest of the year without him. I feel like I’m honestly going to be in mourning for the rest of my life, and I don’t know how I’m going to live like that. Everyone stares at me in all my classes, with varying expressions of sympathy and curiosity. I ignore them all. I sit in our usual spot at lunchtime, on the grass, and place his lunch next to me in the spot where he sits. Dash comes and sits on the other side of me, and I manage to give him a small smile.

“You’re doing well,” he says, low enough so only I can hear. “Super proud of you today, Vi.”

“Thanks,” I say then ask a question I should have asked a long time ago. “How are you doing?”

He looks down at the grass. “I miss him.”

I lay my head against his shoulder. “I feel like half of me is missing.”

We sit like that in silence, together, until the bell for the end of lunch rings.

I survive my first day at school without him, but just barely.

*****

One Month Later

“She’s hardly sleeping and hardly eating! She’s like a walking zombie,” I hear my mum tell my dad. “We have to do something, David. She can’t go on like this. She just sits there and stares at Max’s house.”

“What do you suggest we do?” my dad asks, sounding tired.

My mum lowers her voice, so I can’t hear what she says next, and I’m curious to see what they think they can do to save me. Unless they know how to bring someone back to life, or how to go back in time to change an event, I think they’re shit out of luck.

Chapter Seven

“What the hell do you mean you’re moving?” Dash asks, grabbing my face in his hands. His violet eyes look a little panicked, and also a little sad.

“My parents are selling the house, and we’re moving somewhere new,” I say without any emotion, repeating the words told to me.

I don’t want to leave. All my memories with Max are here, in this house. His parents are next door, his room the exact way he left it. This is my last connection to him, here. I know he’ll always be with me anywhere I go, but staring at his house comforts me in some way. I can replay memories out and daydream about all the conversations we had over the years. It’s almost like seeing time pass before my eyes, of us as kids running around with water balloons, to us as teenagers sneaking out together at night.

“You can’t leave,” he says, resting his forehead against mine. “You can’t fucking leave me, Vi.”

“They’ve already decided,” I tell him, our gazes connected.

And I don’t have enough fight in me to argue anymore.

He kisses me, catching me off guard, and I kiss him back deeply, running my hands through his thick head of dark hair. He lifts me in his arms and carries me to the bed, where he lays me down with him on top of me.

“You realise you’ve become the reason I make it through every day at school, right?” he asks against my lips. “You can’t leave now, especially when we haven’t even begun to explore what we could be.”

The timing couldn’t be worse for Dash and me. I’m numb, and now is not the time for me to start a relationship with anyone, no matter how much I like Dash. Without Max, the core of me, who I am, is gone, and I need to fix myself before I do anything else.

I need to be able to breathe freely again.

“Feel the pain and let it go, Vi. What’s the point of holding on?” Dash whispers then kisses down my neck. I reach for his t-shirt, trying to take it off, but he stops me. “Are you sure?”

“I’m sure,” I tell him, and I am.

I want him.

“It would kill me if we did it and you regret it after,” he says, still hesitating. “I know it’s your first time.”

“I’d only regret it if you weren’t my first,” I say, kissing him to cut off any further complaints. I try to take his shirt off again, and this time he allows it. He takes the lead, for which I’m grateful, helping me undress before removing the rest of his own clothes.

“You’re the first guy to see me naked,” I say, wondering what he’s thinking as he looks at my body.

“You’re beautiful,” he assures me, kissing my collarbone. “Perfect.”

I look at his body. “So are you.” I pause. “How many times have you done this before?”

He starts to chuckle, amusement flashing in his violet depths, then says, “I’m smart enough to not answer that.”

I slap his arm playfully.

“But probably not as much as you think,” he says, kissing the side of my breast.

“Nice save,” I mutter, watching his every move.

He lays next to me and pulls me into his arms, his bare skin on mine, making me feel more protected than I have in a while.

He kisses my temple. “We don’t have to do this. We can just lie here like this, kissing, until your parents come home and castrate me.”

I laugh then, for the first time since Max’s death.

“Fuck, that’s a beautiful sound,” Dash says, watching me.

“It feels good to laugh,” I admit, resting my head on his chest. “So good.”

“You’re really leaving?” he asks, looking up at the ceiling.

“Yeah,” I whisper. “I guess I am. Dash?”

“Yeah, Vi?”

“Kiss me,” I demand.

He kisses me.

And then he makes love to me.

And my first time couldn’t have been any sweeter.

*****

Dash

I watch her car drive away, and my heart breaks just a little.

I never knew what to think of Viola, but from the very second I saw her, there was something about her. I thought she was a pain in the ass, cute, beautiful. Full of courage. Strong, yet vulnerable at the same time. With all my responsibilities at home, Vi was my escape, something for just me. I took too long though, and now she’s gone before she’s even mine. I pull out my phone and send her a message.

Miss you already, Vi.

She replies instantly. I miss you too. I’ll message you every day, Dash. I’m still here for you, in text and voice.

I grin at that and reply, Do you promise?

I promise, she sends back.

I glance at her house, and then at Max’s one last time before I walk to my car.

Sometimes you get a fresh start, even when you don’t want one.

Things change, and you need to adapt. Feel things, and then let them go.

But I never let Vi go, not entirely.

And I never will.

Chapter Eight

Nine Years Later

Viola

“You have really nice teeth,” the man says to me, leering in a creepy way. “They’re very white.”

“Umm, thank you,” I say, thinking the compliment is extremely random. I look back down at my drink, hoping he gets the picture, but he just keeps talking. “Do you have a boyfriend?”

I’m extremely single, but I don’t want to tell the man that. “I do, yes.”

“Oh,” he says, looking around. “Where is he?”

“He will be here any moment now,” I lie, forcing a smile. “I’m waiting for him.”

“Not nice to keep a lady waiting,” he huffs then wanders off.

The bartender chick laughs. “What a creeper.”

I glance up to look at her. “Tell me about it. Although he gets points for the originality of his pickup line.”

“What was it?” she asks curiously, leaning on the bar.

“He said I have really nice, white teeth.”

She laughs, eyes dancing with amusement. “If he kept at you, I was going to save you.”

“Thank you,” I tell her, smiling. “I’m Viola.”

“Nice to meet you, Viola,” she says, holding her hand out to me. “I’m Summer.”

We shake hands. “Nice to meet you too. This is my first time in this bar. It’s really lovely.”

She looks around as if only just noticing the place. “I’m glad you think so.”

“Viola?” a masculine voice says from behind me. I turn and see a handsome man with shoulder-length light brown hair and hazel eyes.

“Xander?” I ask. I’ve spoken to him on the phone several times, but I’ve never met him in person.

“Yes,” he says, offering me his hand. “Nice to meet you. And I see my sister has been keeping you busy.”

I look at Summer. “Sister?”

She grins and nods. “Big sister. And by the way, you’re the hottest real estate agent I’ve ever seen.”

I laugh at that.

Xander leans over the bar and kisses Summer’s forehead. “How are you, Sum?”

“I’m fine,” she replies, smiling fondly at him. “You can use the backroom if you want. Or just one of the tables.”

He glances at me.

“Tables are fine,” I say, shrugging.

I stand up and follow Xander to one of the tables, my black pumps clicking with each step. The black suit I’m wearing today is my favourite. It’s feminine and pretty, but also means business.

“Can I get you another drink?” he asks me as I sit down.

“No, thank you,” I tell him, opening my file and placing it on the table. “So, you said on the phone you are looking at buying another property.”

“Yes,” he nods, “an investment property.”

I hand him a form and ask him to fill it out. I find it easier to help a client with their needs if I get them to answer a few questions about what they want.

“When will you be free to view some houses?” I ask him, making a note in my notepad. “I already have a few in mind that just became available.”

“Any time this week would be perfect,” he says, hazel eyes lifting to mine. “How about Thursday?”

“Thursday works,” I say, marking it on my schedule.

Xander hands me back the form and I read over his answers. “Excellent. I’ll set up several viewings for Thursday with these answers in mind.”

“Thanks, Viola,” he says, resting back against the chair. “Are you sure I can’t get you a drink, or something to eat?”

“No, but thank you,” I tell him, packing away my papers and smiling at him. “I’ve never been to this bar before, even though my office is just down the road from here. Maybe I’ll have to check it out one a weekend.”

“It’s my brother-in-law’s,” he explains, glancing around. “Have a hell of a lot of good memories here.”

I smile warmly. “That’s really nice, Xander.” I glance at the time and cringe. “Sorry, I have to get going.”

I stand up and shake his hand once more, saying goodbye. I stop and say bye to Summer, too, before rushing to my car.

What a nice guy, I think to myself as I drive to my next appointment.

*****

Thursday comes around, and we find Xander the most perfect investment property. To celebrate, he tells me to come to the bar on that Saturday night, because he’ll be having a gathering there. I decide to stop by, telling myself I need to get out and meet more people, and also because Xander and Summer are both really nice people. I wear a simple black dress, strappy heels, and a cute little clutch that only fits my phone, bank card, and ID. When I walk into the bar, hip-hop music is playing, and I spot Summer on the dance floor straight away. Xander sees me and comes over to me.

“You made it,” he says, grinning. He looks to the woman next to him. “This is my wife Trillian. Trill, this is Viola.”

“Nice to meet you, Viola,” she says, smiling warmly at me. “There’s some finger food on the table, if you’re hungry, and whatever you want to drink. It’s an open bar.”

There’s an open bar?

“Thank you,” I say, looking around. “All these people are your friends and family?”

“Pretty much,” he says, nodding. “Or people I work with and their families.”

“You made it,” Summer says, coming over to me. She points to a sexy blond god. “That’s my husband Reid.” Then to another sexy blond god. “And his twin brother, Ryan, with his wife Taiya.”

“Wow,” is all I can manage to say, making Summer laugh. “That’s Tag and Clara, other friends of ours. Anyway, everyone is friendly and welcoming here.” She grimaces. “Except Reid, probably, so just ignore him. That’s my sister-in-law Persephone,” she says as a pretty blonde walks by.

“Are you only friends with good-looking people?” I blurt out, making Summer, Xander, and Trillian laugh.

“Look who decided to show up,” Xander says, staring at the entrance with a smile on his face.  I turn to follow his line of sight, my jaw dropping.

No way.

It can’t be.

I do a double take, just to make sure.

My world comes to a stop.

I can’t hear or see anyone or anything else, all I see is him.

I can’t believe it.

“Dash?” I say out loud, making those around me look at me.

He looks different, of course, more masculine, nothing boyish about him left. I see tattoos peeking out of his shirt where it’s rolled up at the sleeves, but I’d never forget his face, or those eyes. He was all hard edges now, dressed in all black, looking really good. And for the first time since I can remember, I get butterflies in my stomach. He smiles, dimples popping out, eyes scanning the crowd. When they land on me, he literally stops in his tracks, and I can feel everyone now watching us. He studies me, jaw going slack and eyes going wide before he approaches.

“Vi?” he asks, voice deep and sexy. “Holy shit, is it really you?”

I nod, still in shock. “Dash, how are you?”

“I’m fine,” he says, gaze unwavering. “How have you been?

“Can’t complain,” I say, taking him in.

When we were teenagers, the timing wasn’t right. Right people, right chemistry, wrong timing. But now? Was I getting a second chance with him? Was fate finally handing me something back? Giving me a break? I take a step closer to him, and we both can’t tear our gazes away from each other.

The timing is perfect.

I know it.

I feel it in my bones.

And then I hear a woman say, “Dash, are you going to introduce me to your friends?”

I look to his right.

I hadn’t even seen her, but of course he has a woman in his life.

I should have expected it. I mean, look at him. For some reason, it still hurts though, and the butterflies in my stomach turn into something else, like a heavy weight.

Dash grimaces and tries to hide it, but it’s too late; we all saw it. “Everyone, this is Vanessa.”

“His girlfriend,” she adds, glancing in my direction.

Okay, so I’m wrong.

The timing isn’t right.

And it probably never will be.

I smile at the couple then make my way toward the bar. Instead of ordering the ten Wet Pussy shots I really want to, I order a gin and tonic then sip it as I look anywhere except at Dash. Summer comes over and wraps her arm around me.

“Okay, I’m going to need a briefing over what just happened there,” she whispers, making me laugh.

I shrug my shoulders and stare into my drink. “Knew Dash from high school.”

“Dated?” she asks, eyes widening. “What a small world.”

“We didn’t date exactly,” I say, tilting my head to the side. “I lost my virginity to him though.”

Summer almost spits out her drink then wipes her mouth with the back of her hand. “No way. Didn’t see that one coming. So let me get this right; you had a thing back in the day, and now you run into him for the first time in ages, and he’s with his girlfriend, who none of us have even met before.”

I nod. “I think that sums it up.”

“You know, I met Dash years ago. I came to live with Xander, and Dash is one of his best friends.” She puts her hand on my shoulder. “I’ve never seen him actually commit to a woman, and I have no doubt this will be no different.”

That didn’t sound like good news for me, either.

“You know what?” she prompts. “Forget about the girlfriend. Let’s just go dance and have a good time, all right?”

“All right,” I say, letting her pull me to the dance floor.

Dash and I could be just friends. We are adults, and so much time has passed since we meant anything to each other.

I should just be happy he’s back in my life.