Page 6 of Bullet
He went from my best friend to my keeper. It was like overnight, he became my parent. Dragging me home from parties, making sure I kept going to school. He forced me to eat when it was the last thing I wanted to do.
Everything changed, and I both love and hate him for it.
“If you want to leave, I won’t stop you, but until your taillights are fading away from me, I’m going to make sure you are taking care of yourself. Now get up.” He pushes himself off my bed and walks out of my room, not bothering to shut the door behind him.
Rolling onto my back, I stare at the ceiling, and the tears begin to fall.
I miss her. God, do I miss her.
It’s in these moments when the alcohol and drugs fade that I remember that she will never come in and wake me up again. I will never hear her complain about my clothes on the floor or the way I would leave dishes in the sink.
She’s gone and never coming back. She missed my eighteenth birthday. For years, we had planned for her and dad to take me to get a tattoo on my birthday, but it never happened. My skin is still ink-free even though Midnight offered.
My chest aches as I think about the way he looked at me with sympathy. The way all the brothers do. I’ll give them credit, they’ve tried to step in, in my parents’ absence, but it’s not the same. Even when I’m with them, I feel alone. Even in a room full of people, I’m lonely. Dying slowly, and they don’t know.
Or maybe they do. It doesn’t change anything, though. Nothing is the way it should be.
I have to bite back a sob as I think about my impending graduation. Another thing she was supposed to be by my side during. Instead, I’ll do it alone and a year later than we planned. Still, I am going to do it.
She was supposed to help me pick out a college, buy everything to trick out my dorm. I was supposed to call her and tell her about the guy on campus who always smiles at me and then have her sit on the phone with me while I got ready for our first date.
None of it will happen, though.
We never got to experience my first date together. She will never go wedding dress shopping with me or be there for the birth of my babies. If I even want to have them. I used to, but now…
“Harlee, don’t make me come back up there!” Bullet yells from down the hall.
Closing my eyes, I shake my head.
If I didn’t know better, I would think he knows that I’m spiraling. Then again, maybe he does. He always seems to know when I need him. Even if I never want to admit it.
Everyone turns to look as I roll into the high school parking lot. As I come to a stop next to the front doors of the building, people begin to whisper.
“You would think they would be used to seeing us together by now,” Harlee murmurs as her body brushes against mine.
As soon as she gets off the bike, I want to tell her to get back on. I know it’s fucked up, but I like the way she feels against me. I like knowing she’s the only person who’s ever ridden with me.
She’s leaving, though. Or claims she is.
“Maybe they wouldn’t stare so much if you weren’t such a hellion,” I tell her.
She rolls her eyes as she takes off her helmet. Like a fucking sucker, I can’t help but watch as her blonde hair tumbles down around her shoulders, shaking it out.
I clear my throat. “I’ll be back to pick you up.”
“I’ll find a ride.”
My jaw clenches, but I don’t fight her on it, even though I want to.
“Call me if you need me, and for the love of God, don’t start shit with anyone today, okay?”
With her helmet tucked under her arm, she turns and gives me her middle finger as she walks away.
What I wouldn’t do to lay her over my bike and spank her ass red.
I thought she was a fucking handful at sixteen, but that has nothing on her at nineteen. The girl is all fire and ice.
Woman. She’s a woman now, even though I try like fucking hell to ignore it.
