hand. Did that mean I had to read it?
I stuffed it into my pocket. “Fine. Hey, is Nat home?”
Mrs. Murray tilted her head. “She didn’t tell you?”
“Tell me what?”
“One of the shows was canceled, so Nat flew down early to
be with Alec.”
“Oh.” A stab of disappointment jammed my chest, irritating
the hell out of me.
“Demetri?”
“Yeah?” I turned back around.
“You need to find some friends.”
Find? She made it sound like a Where’s Waldo game. Crap. At
this point I’d even settle for Waldo, but there were next to no
normal people in this small town. Most of them partied anyway.
How did a person even make friends without partying? I laughed
and shrugged her off. “Story of my life. I’ll let you know how the
search goes next time I’m out and about, singing my taffy song.”
“Okay.” She smiled warmly, and I left the house.
The warm summer air whipped my hair against my
forehead. I pulled out my cell phone and sent a group text to Nat
and Alec.
BOTH OF YOU SUCK. I HATE U. O, AND I ALMST CRIED
IN MY COUNSELING SESSION. YOUR FAULT. BOTH OF U. P.S.
I TRIED THREE FLAVORS OF TAFFY TODAY. SCORE!
I jumped into my car. Within seconds the phone buzzed. I
looked down, and there was a picture of Alec and Nat both making
sad faces, and below the picture it said, WE LUV U. STOP BEING
A BABY. MAYBE IF U EAT THE ALCOHOL-FLAVORED TAFFY,
YOU’LL STOP BEING SUCH A GIRL. KIDDING. STAY CLEAN !
“Right.” I rubbed my eyes and started the engine, then
remembered I lived next door. What the heck? Maybe I was losing
my mind. The last place I wanted to be was home by myself. Bob
might get pissed, considering he’s kind of like my babysitter, but
still. I wanted to go. Out.
I put the car into drive and headed toward city center.
Chapter Five
Alyssa
I closed the door to the store and leaned against it. There
wasn’t much to clean up, considering we hadn’t been very busy.
After my counseling appointment, I came back to the store to work.
Dad and Mom both decided to go home and have some
dinner. But I wasn’t hungry; besides, someone had to stay and lock
up.
I went to the counter and put away the free samples. We had
just made a new flavor. It was salted caramel popcorn. I had
wanted to try it, but the smell kept me away.
Grimacing, I threw it in the trash and gathered up the tossed
wrappers. Within a few minutes the back counter was cleared. The
sun was beginning to set. I went to the windows to pull the blinds,
when a flashy car caught my eye.
What the heck was Demetri doing back at work?
I knew his schedule. Okay, so I hated myself that I knew his
schedule. But he only worked until four every day. It was already
past six. I was still trying to decide how pathetic it was that, after
only a few days, I knew exactly when the guy arrived and left
work. Clearly, I needed to find a hobby or something.
Like a peeping tom, I drew the blinds farthest from the door
then peeked between them. Demetri’s car was parked by the taffy
store, but he was nowhere to be seen.
I squinted and opened the blinds wider.
Weird. Did he go inside?
I was just getting ready to open the door and step outside
when a hand hit the window in front of me.
With a curse, I fell back to the ground taking an entire row of
taffy with me.
Lucky for me, the blinds to the door weren’t closed, meaning
Demetri, the bastard, saw everything.
Though to be fair, he did look a bit shocked as he ran into
the store and helped me to my feet.
“Trying to kill me?” I brushed his hands away, but he kept
prodding at me as if I was some sort of science experiment gone
bad, so I shoved him. It just seemed like it was the right thing to do.
And honestly, it felt good to hit him. Maybe I was packing a lot of
rage for the rock star. But nobody should have it as easy as he did.
Good looking? Rich? All he had to do was smile, and he had the
world at his feet. Maybe it was jealousy that while I was stuck at
my parents’ store, he had the whole world as his oyster, yet chose
his life.
“I’m so sorry.” Demetri dropped to the floor and began
putting the taffy back into the buckets.
“You’re sorry you scared me? Sorry you nearly gave me a
heart attack? Or sorry you caused me to bruise my butt?”
Demetri looked up into my eyes with his smug smile. “Your
butt, huh? Want me to take a look? Wouldn’t want any permanent
damage.”
“No thanks.” I rolled my eyes and knelt down next to him.
“You can go. I’ve got this.”
“This…” He pointed to the mess at our knees. “Is all my
fault. Honestly, I was just trying to scare you, not kill you or
destroy your taffy. Hey, what flavor is this?”
“ADD much?” I snatched the taffy from his hand.
“ADD? Hey, that’s like our band name, AD2…” He grabbed
another piece of taffy from the floor. “How about this one? What’s
this flavor?”
“Oh my gosh! Just leave!” I snatched the taffy from his hand.
He shrugged. “I have nowhere to go, and this is going to
take you at least another hour. Plus, it’s the least I can do after
nearly killing you at the ripe old age of…” His voice trailed off as
he looked at me with seductive eyes.
I felt myself flush as I looked away. “Eighteen. I’m
eighteen.”
“Me too.”
“Congratulations, you’ve found common ground. Now we
can get married.”
“Ah, the other one.” He snapped his fingers in the air and
grinned.
“Huh?”
He unwrapped a piece of taffy. “The other sarcastic client
Mrs. Murray had today. Thanks for that, by the way. By the time I
got to her she had already had her fill of sarcasm for the day. And I
ate an entire bowl of popcorn to keep myself from spilling all my
feelings.”
“An entire bowl?” I divided the taffy into piles, so I could
put them in the right buckets. “And you’re still hungry?” I pointed
to the taffy he was unwrapping.
“Oh this.” He put the trash in his pocket and popped the
taffy into his mouth. “I told my friend, Nat, that I’d stay clean,
right?”
I nodded.
“So, I have this thing. Every day I stay clean, I try at least
three new taffy flavors. Gives me something to look forward to and
all that.”
“That’s depressing.”
He laughed. “If you only knew.” His eyes sparkled just a bit
before he scratched his forehead and swallowed the taffy. “So what
flavor did I just eat?”
“I don’t know, give me the wrapper.”
He pulled it out of his pocket and placed it in my hand. I
purposefully ignored the fact t
hat his touch lingered longer than
necessary and lifted the wrapper to my nose. “Blueberry
pancakes.”
“Whoa. Taffy super powers. Nice.”
I laughed. “To be fair, you have the taffy jingle super
powers, so we’re kind of even.”
He smiled back at me. My heart nearly stopped. His deep-set
dimples brought attention to his mouth, and when I looked at his
mouth, I felt things I hadn’t felt since Brady. I cleared my throat
and continued putting taffy into piles.
Demetri sighed. “Right, so I’ll just help you sort all this.”
We worked in silence. Demetri ate two more pieces of taffy,
each time asking me to please sniff the wrapper, because it was the
most exciting thing he’d seen in weeks.
It was hard not to laugh around him.
“That it?” He picked up the last bucket and shoved it onto
the rack.
“Yup.” I looked around the store.
“Can I ask you something?” Demetri looked at me then
down at his feet. Was he nervous?
Amused, I crossed my arms. “You may ask me something,
yes.”
“Promise not to laugh?”
“No.”
“Promise not to feel sorry for me.”
At that I did laugh. “Easy. I’d never feel sorry for a celebrity
who owned a car more expensive than my house, but since it seems
to piss you off more, yeah, I feel real sorry for you.”
His shoulders seemed to sag a bit. “Fine, at least promise
you won’t blog about what I ask you.”
“That, I can promise,” I agreed. “That is, if you promise to
leave.”
He rolled his eyes and ignored my jab. “What’s it like to
have friends? Actual friends. The types you can tell anything to, the
ones that you do stupid shit with and stay up all night with just
shooting the breeze?”
That was not what I was expecting him to ask. Stunned, I
could only stare at him as I told my mouth to work and form
words.
He cursed. “Forget it.”
“No, wait.” I grabbed him before he could leave. My hand
was on his thickly muscled forearm. I swallowed the dryness in my
throat as I looked into his eyes. I expected to see some sort of
smugness or at least the familiar cockiness, but all I saw was pain.
Deep-rooted pain.
I knew that look.
It was the same look I saw in the mirror every single day.
And I knew because of that look, now I felt bad that I promised
him, because in that moment I did pity him. I pitied anyone who
had that look in their eyes, because I knew what it meant. I knew
what it held. I knew what its future was, and it was a very, very
lonely future.
“Honestly?” I pulled back my hand. “I used to know what it
was like. It was nice. But I don’t really have friends anymore.”
“Why?” His eyebrows drew together in confusion.
I wanted to tell him everything, tell him how they’d
abandoned me after the accident. That I was considered broken,
and after a while my friends couldn’t handle being around me. It
was too hard for them, too hard for me, and eventually too hard for
everyone in this sleepy town.
“They moved away,” I lied and gave him a weak smile.
“Besides, I have a career.” I nodded to all the taffy and offered him
another smile.
He smiled with me. “Yes, I can see that.”
“Good.” I nudged him. “Anyway, thanks for helping me.”
“Well, it was my fault to begin with, but you’re welcome…”
I knew he was searching for my name.
I bit my lip and sighed. “Alyssa, my name is Alyssa.”
Did he just blush? Demetri looked down at the floor then bit
his lip. I wondered if he had the same nervous habit. “I like it.”
“Me too.”
“Don’t you want to know my name?” he teased.
“I know your name.”
His face turned serious. “Can I tell you anyway?”
“Sure.”
“Demetri.” He held out his hand. I took it. His hand
engulfed mine. It was like shaking hands with a giant. A very hot
giant.
“Nice to meet you, Demetri.” His name felt good on my lips.
I wasn’t sure if I should kick him for it or just pretend like I didn’t
care that he had such a crazy effect on me.
He released my hand and pushed the door open, then
turned around. “So I’ll see you around then?”
“I’ll be here.”
“And I’ll be over there.” He nodded toward the corner.
“Singing.”
“Don’t forget your bucket,” I teased.
He roared with laughter. “Goodnight, Alyssa.”
“Goodnight.”
Holy crap. I was in some deep, deep trouble.
Chapter Six
Demetri
I smiled like an idiot the rest of the way home. I couldn’t
help it. Alyssa. Laughing, I walked into the house and went to the
fridge for another soda. I’d usually have a beer about now, and I
was excited about actually talking to someone my age who wasn’t
my brother, my brother’s girlfriend, or a crazy fan. In fact, she
didn’t even stutter when I talked to her.
I wasn’t sure if I should be concerned or excited.
The TV was on in the background. I flipped open the can of
soda and downed half of it before jumping onto the couch.
Bob was sitting there, his eyes trained on the TV like a man
starved. Poor guy, because of his job he hardly got any TV time in,
and I know he was just as bored as I was, considering he had to
basically wait around while I worked at the taffy store.
“Tried blueberry pancakes yet?” I took another sip of soda.
“Yup.”
“Cherry Cola?”
“Yup.”
Damn. “Salted caramel corn?”
Bob fell silent then looked at me. “Nope.”
We played this every night. He was so far ahead in the taffy
tasting that it was pathetic. It was my one goal to beat him and eat
a piece of taffy he hadn’t yet eaten.
His eyes narrowed. “Seaside Taffy doesn’t have that flavor.”
“I know.” I smiled triumphantly. “I was flirting with the
competition.”
“Whoring yourself out again?”
“Very funny, Bob.”
He shrugged. “I thought so.”
“Admit it, you want to try some now.”
“Maybe.” He rose from his seat and gave me the remote.
I shook my head. “It’s all yours tonight, man. I’m going to go
write.”
“School’s out?” He leaned in as if to see if I was high.
I slapped his hand away. “I’m not high, I’m not drunk, and I
know school’s out. Songs. I’m going to go write some songs.”
“You haven’t written since you and Nat…”
“Thank you for being so perceptive.” I slapped him on the
back. “I’ll be upstairs writing and pouring out my feelings. Have
fun watching the game.”
He nodded and sat back down.
****
My guitar was gathering dust in the corner. I hadn’t picked
it up since that day last fall when I crashed Nat’s
homecoming and
played the song I wrote for her. I didn’t know it at the time, but she
and my brother were already in love. Later that night, I tried to get
her out of her clothes and into my bed before my brother beat me to
it.
I hit a wall.
It was like, I couldn’t write anymore.
It was also part of the reason I didn’t feel bad that Alec was
doing all our promo. We were supposed to go back on tour after
my rehab stint this summer, and somehow we had to record our
album in the next four months to do some tours in the fall.
It was the beginning of June, and I was still twiddling my
thumbs about writing some stuff.
Before, all my songs had been about getting wasted and
partying at the clubs. Then I wrote a song for Nat. It was my
favorite song I’d ever written. It was a different sound than before
and was going on our next album.
I wanted more songs like it, more songs that talked about
important stuff, not just going to parties and living it up.
I strummed a few chords and sighed.
The view from my room was legit. I put the guitar down and
pushed open the window. The sea breeze floated into the room.
Sitting back down, I grabbed my pencil and paper and strummed a
few chords again.
“Good Taffy, strong taffy,” I sang, then laughed. Wow, the
fans would love that one.
“Salted caramel corn makes me want to kiss her…” I
crooned and snorted with disgust.
“Alyssa,” I said her name softly and then a little louder.
Something was up with that chick. Why wouldn’t she have
friends? I didn’t for one second buy that crap about them all
moving away. Besides, she was gorgeous. I mean, she didn’t dress
the best, but still, those eyes, those lips? That face. I knew a hot girl
when I saw one. At least the girl should have a boyfriend.
“Pretty girl.” I sighed, and then like it had happened
thousands of times before, my fingers glided across the guitar, and
I began to sing.
“You’re bad. Bad for me, bad to me, bad with me. I know it when I
see your face, the way your smile tilts that way. But I can’t, can’t stop
myself from staring, can’t stop myself from swearing. I’ll never be that
way, with you.
Slowly, I catch myself from falling, faster. I want to be with you
now, not after, after you heal from that pain. I’ll never be the same.