Chapter 13
Ian
While the girls dealt with the police, I made some calls off to the side. Eventually I had to step out so I could hear over Stacy’s yelling. She’s naturally pretty confrontational but I’d never seen anyone get under her skin the way this officer did. About a half hour later, I had to literally drag Stacy out of the station with us while she flailed her arms around, shooting empty threats of violence against a station full of law enforcement. Crazy dumbass.
Stacy was practically a sister to me and we’d been friends as long as I could remember. Carrie and I practically lived at her house when we were young. Our parents used to fight constantly, then after our dad left us, our mom became really depressed. She wouldn’t get out of bed for days and we would never have food to eat in our house, so Stacy’s mom had kind of taken us in as her own and when we weren’t at school we were at her house, only going home to sleep.
About a year after our dad left, mom got really sick. Her symptoms weren’t as obvious at first because she had started drinking, but when it started to become obvious something was really wrong I begged her to see a doctor, but she wouldn’t go. It wasn’t until she actually passed away three years after my dad had left that we found out what was even wrong with her.
I managed to make it through high school while trying to take care of my mom and Carrie, but my grades had suffered because of it. Because I was only fifteen when our dad left I had been forced to grow up very quickly. He sent money every month, so I took over managing the bills, so at least we weren’t completely homeless since most days our mom wouldn’t even get out of bed.
Our mom died when I was eighteen, so I petitioned the court for guardianship of Carrie. We continued to live off of our dad’s monthly payments, but we didn’t need much and I put most of it aside in an account for Carrie to use for college or whatever she would need later. We continued to spend most of our time at Stacy’s house and we were thankful for the home cooked meals.
If it weren’t for Stacy and her mom, that time of our lives definitely would have been a lot more difficult. I did as much as I could to be a father figure to Carrie, but I was still very much a kid myself. I worried constantly about her, trying to watch for signs of depression, not wanting her to end up like our mom. One of her passions was dancing and I made sure she was still able to continue pursuing that even when everything was falling apart. Carrie managed to make it through high school with good grades and ended up going to school for dance. I couldn’t have been more proud of her than I was.
And none of that could have happened without Stacy. Stacy was our rock, standing by our side through everything. Even with how young her and Carrie were when our dad left, Stacy always seemed to know the right things to say and could tell when we just wanted to pretend everything was normal. She was our only family, so even as I sat in the car listening to her rant about her night in jail, I knew I’d do anything for her. Which might soon include bailing her out of jail for assaulting a police officer.
Snapping out of my reverie, I tuned in to hear the girls complaining about how hungry they were. I turned to ask Adalyn where she wanted to eat and Stacy pushed her way up from my backseat and stuck her head in between us. “I don’t care where we go, but I want some fucking pancakes. And I want them stat, so stop eye fucking each other and get going.”
Adalyn just rolled her eyes and I laughed under my breath while Stacy threw herself back, crossing her arms over her chest. All I could think about was that moment in my apartment right before Stacy called. The way Adalyn was looking at me and how amazing her lips felt against mine. I’d had my fair share of women and some of them had been extremely gorgeous and really great in bed, but I had never wanted any of them as much as I wanted Adalyn. I’d never really wanted any of them for more than a night. They were a means to end, a scratch to an itch. I wanted so much more from Adalyn than just one night, even though I knew it would be amazing.
I shifted in my seat, trying to discretely rearrange my cock, now hard from the thought of Adalyn naked in my bed. I wasn’t discreet enough, though, because I could see Adalyn’s mouth twitch into a smile before she quickly looked away. I wanted to reach over and twine my fingers through hers, desperate for some sort of physical contact, but remembering Stacy was with us I decided against it. Whatever was happening with Adalyn was fragile, and I didn’t want to put pressure on her. For all I knew she regretted kissing me, though the smile still lingering on her lips as she quietly stared out the window told me otherwise.
The next hour was the most enjoyable I’d had in a while. Just sitting back, listening as Stacy recounted the previous night’s events to Adalyn, getting to watch Adalyn’s face light up and the laughter flow so easily was causing my chest to tighten. She looked so happy and carefree. I wanted to be the one making her look that way.
I knew I should be terrified by the intense feelings I was already having for Adalyn, but I couldn’t bring myself to let my mind go there. Having spent so much of my life focused on my career, I found I was ready to put my focus somewhere else for once. But not just somewhere, on someone. I could reason away my attraction to her, find excuses as to why I was already growing so attached, but my instincts had gotten me this far in life. Anything worth having involved risks. Everything I had, I had earned by pushing limits, being determined and by taking risks on things other people found to be insane or unreasonable.
So even though this girl already had the ability to completely crush me, I knew it was worth it. I didn’t do regrets, and not pursuing Adalyn would undoubtedly be a regret I would have to live with for the rest of my life.
I realized I had just been sitting there like a dumbass, not saying anything the entire time, when I could have been using this opportunity to get to know Adalyn. So as soon as there was a lull in the conversation, I made my move.
“So Adalyn, Stacy has shown me some of your artwork. It’s pretty phenomenal. Did you go to college for art?”
Adalyn, who was sitting directly across from me, choked on her water and Stacy, who was sitting next to her, started pounding on her back. It took several seconds for Adalyn to get her coughing settled down and she finally looked up at me, looking slightly embarrassed.
“Sorry, wrong pipe,” she finally said as she cleared her throat. “No, I didn’t study art in college. I mean, I took some classes and originally I had planned to major in music education with a minor in art history, but after the ra…the uh…once it came time to make a decision I figured it would be smarter of me to pick something that would give me more options when it came time to start a career.” She let out a self deprecating laugh and shook her head. “It backfired in the end. I still haven’t been able to find anything I’m passionate about enough to make a career out of.”
“Well, I’m no art buff by any means, but from what I saw, you have some serious talent. I’m sure there is a way for you to put that talent to use in the work force. Have you thought about looking for jobs at museums or art galleries?”
“Yeah, I thought about it, but I’m more of a do-er, so just standing around selling someone else’s stuff really sounds more like torture than anything. And honestly, I kind of left that part of me behind. It’s more of a hobby than anything.”
“Well, that’s a shame. Keeping all your beauty from the world like that seems like an injustice.” She tilted her head to the side and smiled coyly at me. “I mean the beauty of your paintings, not you yourself. Not that you aren’t beautiful, because you are. You’re extremely beautiful. Breathtakingly beautiful. I just meant that…dammit, I’m just going to shut up now.”
Adalyn giggled at my rambling and gave me a shy smile. The spark in her eyes and the change in her demeanor just in the last day had changed so drastically, and this shy side of Adalyn was adorable. Yeah, I still had some walls to break through, but I was a patient man. It was time to put into action my plan to win over the girl in front of me who unknowingly already possessed my heart.