Keeping You Away (Ex-Con Duet 1)

I hope you like them.

Everleigh is going with a guy from our chem class, and although a few people asked me, I turned them all down. I wish you could be my date. The only person who could make it a night to remember forever is you. You know me better than anyone, which is crazy, considering we haven’t seen each other face-to-face in almost four years, but I feel so close to you. There’s literally nothing I haven’t told you. Some of the things I haven’t even told Everleigh or Katie, and they’re my best friends.

I guess it’s safe to say you could ruin me if you wanted. I’ve told you all my secrets.

But I know you well enough to know you’d never do that to me.

As weird as it sounds, I always imagined I’d lose my virginity on prom night. It’s super cliché, but it seems so romantic. Spend the day getting ready for the magical event, take pictures, go to a fancy dinner, dance for hours, then experience sex for the first time. It’d be the best night of my entire life.

Oh, well.

Promise me things won’t be awkward between us when you come home in a couple of months. I’ve dreamed about the first time we see each other again, and honestly, thinking about it makes me nervous. I told Everleigh we’ve been writing to each other for years, but she has no idea how much or what we talk about. I have a feeling she knows I’ve had a crush on you since seventh grade.

I’ll write you again after prom to tell you how it went.

See you soon,

Gemma

* * *

The photos she added inside that letter had every part of my body on alert. My head felt dizzy from staring at them for so long. Gemma wasn’t a kid anymore, and while I knew that, the pictures proved it. Though she didn’t fully admit it, I could read between the lines. I wished like hell I would’ve been able to get home sooner, but I still had six weeks left.

Her letters went from sweet and innocent to deep and emotional over the course of those four years. Gemma had always been on the shy side, but she wasn’t afraid to express how she felt in her letters. Writing her was therapeutic, and I think she wrote me to deal with the teenage emotions she had during high school. It helped me to open up too and allowed me to work on feelings I had about my childhood. I felt comfortable sharing my life with her, how I was handling the military, and my fears of what I’d do after I was done.

In the few letters she sent me after that day, she became even more honest. She admitted that she couldn’t wait to see me, how she hoped we’d spend some time together, and that she wished I’d be her first. She was waiting for me.

I could no longer deny I’d fallen for Gemma Reid. Slowly, the words we shared changed everything, and they were no longer a quick check-in or about town gossip. I spilled my heart to her in my final letter, and the anticipation of seeing her was so strong that I hardly recognized myself.

Chapter Four

GEMMA

Last night, after I had dinner with Robert, I went home and slept like total shit. I kept tossing and turning, thinking about Tyler and his piercing gaze. There’s a tug-of-war inside me when I wake up, and I’m so annoyed that neither my dad nor Everleigh mentioned anything about him working at the garage. Yesterday, Tyler glided across the floor as if he was a ghost from my past coming to haunt me. And he is. Glancing at the clock, I realize I need to move my ass so I’m not late. It’s one of Dad’s biggest pet peeves.

As soon as I unlock the lobby door, we’re slammed with customers. I inhale a donut when things finally slow down and replay the conversation Tyler and I had yesterday. My nerves got the best of me, and I felt like I was a teenage girl again. I shake my head and swallow, grabbing a bottle of water from the break room.

I drink it down, hoping it cools off my insides that are hot like an inferno. When my dad walks in to grab a soda, I take the opportunity to nonchalantly mention it since he hasn’t yet.

“So…Tyler Blackwood.” I casually look at him as he pops the tab of the soda and takes a long swig.

“Yeah. Could use the help. You think he’ll be good?”

My breath hitches, but he doesn’t notice. “Why didn’t you ask me before you hired him?” I glance over and force a smile. “I mean, I am the office manager.” A title I have earned and am quite proud of.