“There’s something I want to do.”
A smirk slowly lifted his lips as he looked around. “You want to have sex here?”
“No,” I laughed, shaking my head.
“Okay, what?”
“Well…” I paused, glancing down in embarrassment. “I’ve…uh…always wanted to…okay, this is going to sound really silly,” I blushed.
He chuckled, leaning back against the wall. “Spit it out.”
I suddenly couldn’t get the words out of my mouth because it was so stupid. I guess since my childhood wasn’t much of one, I felt the need to rebel now and do things unbefitting of my age, but I didn’t care.
“I’ll show you.”
I jogged up the rest of the stairs and he followed. I headed for the door that marked the pathway to the roof.
With everything that had transpired in the last twenty-four hours, I needed the whole world to know that I was happy. I didn’t know how long this joy would last, so I wanted to revel in it for as long as possible.
“Sutton, what—”
My scream cut off the rest of his words.
I twirled around, whooping with joy, because I was finally free.
Caelan laughed, shoving his hands in his jeans pockets, rocking back on his heels.
I screamed again and again and again. My hair swirled around me, with my movement, and with the wind. The cool air tickled my skin and the sun warmed my face—two contrasting things, working together as one.
For so long I’d been ashamed of what happened to me, somehow twisting it in my mind so that I believed it was my fault—that I had asked for it or something. Marcus was good at manipulating people. He’d convinced me to keep quiet, instilling fear into every fiber of my being. He had everyone else fooled too. Anyone that met him thought he was an upstanding citizen. In school he’d made the best grades, went to the best college, and now worked as a…wait for it…teacher. The man that had single-handedly destroyed my life, was now guiding our youth. Lovely. No one, except me, could see the darkness that lurked inside him. While everyone has a little bit of bad in them, Marcus was pure evil.
I let out a squeal when Caelan’s hand snaked around my waist. Then he did something that completely surprised me.
He began to dance and scream with me.
I knew this moment would be stored in my mind forever as one of my favorite memories.
Eventually we stopped screaming like banshees and he held me. He wrapped both his arms around me and the comfort I was filled with was unparalleled. I hadn’t felt safe in a long time, and Caelan gave that back to me.
CHAPTER 19
Sutton
Hours later, and before I had to go to work, we sat on the ledge of the roof. A wine bottle sat between us, one which we took turns drinking from, and a cigarette dangled from Caelan’s fingers. I guessed he was trying to stay away from the harder stuff, and this was his compromise.
Taking a sip of the wine, I ventured to ask, “Have you been back?”
“Huh?” He questioned, flicking the ash from the tip of the cigarette over the side of the building.
“Back to your house where…where it happened?”
“No,” he let out a laugh that was anything but pleasant. “Absolutely not. I don’t think I can ever set foot in that house.”
“Does someone else own it now?”
“It was left to me, but I haven’t been able to part with it. Dumb, I know,” he shrugged, taking a drag from the cigarette, causing his cheeks to hollow. “I should sell it, but I can’t. Doing that feels wrong somehow.”
“I think it makes complete sense,” I said and meant it. “It’s a part of your life. It’s where you grew up. It’s normal not to want to part with things that hold a special place in our hearts.”