The Hardest Fall

This time her eyes flashed with anger, and for some fucked-up reason, it thrilled me. My heart rate picked up and I gripped the wooden edge so I wouldn’t reach out to her and take her lips.

“I won’t leave this spot until you give me five minutes, and you will give me at least that much, buddy,” she spat.

“Suit yourself.” I walked away.

A minute later, Lindy came back in from her break and took over.

Ten minutes passed.

Then fifteen.

Then thirty.

With every second she kept sitting on that damn bar stool, I got closer and closer to losing my shit in front of everyone. When it reached a point where I couldn’t take it anymore, I snapped the rag I had in my hand and tossed it away. Getting out from behind the bar, I walked to her side. By the time I was there, she was already standing up, waiting.

“I’m not leaving, Dylan.”

“Yes, you are. I’ll listen to whatever it is you need to say just so you can get out of my sight.”

Grabbing her arm just above the elbow, I pulled her behind the bar.

“I’m taking ten,” I shouted to Lindy as I opened a door that took us into the small kitchen then led her out into the dimly lit back alley.

The metal door slammed shut behind us, and I let go of Zoe as if her skin had burned mine then put some distance between us.

“Start so I can be done with you already.”

She stayed silent, so I looked at her. Her eyes seemed to be filling with tears. I tried to ignore what I was feeling and stayed put.

“I’m so angry at you,” she said quietly, finally.

“Excuse me?”

“I’m so damn angry at you!” she repeated, her voice clear and strong.

“Yeah?” I crossed my arms over my chest. “For what? Because I didn’t play along with whatever fucked-up game you were playing at? Because I walked in on you with him and interrupted you two? How dare I, right?”

Her eyes narrowed as she leaned toward me. “I’m angry at you because you blocked me! I’m angry at you because you never even let me talk to you.” Then she straightened and she was no longer leaning forward. “I thought I was your friend, Dylan. If nothing else, I thought I was at least that.”

I snorted and laughed. “My friend? Were you thinking of your friend when you got into his car and left with him? Or right before I walked in on you two?”

“What are you talking about?” She frowned. “What car?”

“Don’t even try to lie to me, Zoe. If you’re here to tell me he just came to the apartment on his own and I misunderstood everything, save your breath. I was waiting for you in front of Jared’s apartment. I was right there when you ignored my text and climbed into his car.”

She licked her lips, stared at me for a moment, and then said, “You’re going to feel like a complete idiot and you don’t even know it.”

“I doubt it. If you’re done, I need to go back inside.”

She shook her head and bit her bottom lip, drawing my gaze to her mouth. She reached behind her and took something out of her back pocket. Unfolding a piece of paper, she closed the distance between us.

Three steps—that was all it took.

“Here.” She slapped the paper against my chest, and I watched it flutter to the ground.

When I flicked my gaze up, she looked unsure. Her chest was rising and falling rapidly. Someone slammed a door shut in the building next to us and the sound boomed in the alley, causing her to jump.

“Pick it up,” Zoe demanded, but I didn’t move. Her shoulders slumped and the fight seemed to have leaked out of her. “Read it, Dylan.”

A few seconds passed and I had to stand still when I saw her eyes start to fill with tears.

“You’re an idiot, Dylan Reed!” she shouted, and all I could hear was the hitch in her breath. All I could see was that heartbroken look on her face.

She turned around to leave, and I crouched down to retrieve the paper that looked like it had seen better days. I unfolded it two times and straightened up. With every word I read, my heart rate picked up. The second I understood what I was looking at, I groaned, let the paper fall to the ground again, and went after Zoe.

I hadn’t even noticed or heard the back door opening and closing, but I was the only one standing in that alley. I yanked the door open and caught up to her as she was walking through the kitchen. Her hands were fisted at her sides as she reached the door that would take her into the bar and away from me. I ignored everyone in the kitchen—which was a total of three people—grabbed her shoulder and spun her around.

I was breathing as hard as if I had just run ninety yards for a touchdown. When my gaze met her tearful one, I was almost afraid to speak. She looked so hopeful, so sad, and so damn beautiful.

“Zoe,” I whispered.

Then the tears started coming down faster and I couldn’t not touch her anymore. I couldn’t not hold her, and I couldn’t not keep her. I leaned down enough to wrap my arms under hers and hugged her. When her arms encircled my neck and she rested her head on my shoulder, her sobs became louder. I put my arms right under her butt, hoisted her up, and wrapped her legs around me. Her hold on my neck tightened and she pushed her face into my neck, still crying.

Ignoring the looks, I walked us back out to the alley and pushed her back against the door as soon as it shut.

I couldn’t feel my arms from the tight hold I had on her and I had no fucking idea how my legs kept us up, but I had no complaints about any of it.

When she lifted her face from my neck and held my face between her hands, I just stared at her, dumbfounded.

“It’s true?” I asked, needing to hear it from her lips and not just see it on a piece of paper.

She nodded.

“Let me hear you say it.”

“He is my biological father.” She swallowed and I watched her throat move, still having a hard time believing she was telling the truth.

“All this time…you let me think…”

She tilted my head up and looked into my eyes. She still had tears in hers. “I was going to tell you, Dylan, I swear to you. That’s why he was there, why he picked me up from Jared’s place—to talk to me. I told him I was going to tell you about him right before I walked into the library that day, and then everything else happened and I just pushed it back. But, I was going to tell you. I swear to you, I was. I can show you my text to him. I can tell you everything.”

I looked down to her shivering lips and couldn’t help myself anymore.

You need water to live, can only survive without it for three to five days, and it’d been so much longer since I’d had my fill of her, since I’d tasted her. I’d barely survived.

Our lips crashed and she let out a quiet whimper the second my tongue touched hers. It was the messiest kiss of my life and yet maybe one of the best. Our teeth bumped, our tongues tangled, and still, I couldn’t get enough of her. I let go of her legs and pushed myself more firmly against her body, crushing her between the door and myself.

My hands free, I cradled her face and tilted her head to the side so I could get more, and she gave me everything—absolutely everything. Pushing her arms between mine, she wrapped her arms around my neck again and let me lead.

When we stopped, we were both breathing hard, as if we had just finished a marathon, and I wouldn’t have had it any other way. This girl…she took my breath away.