“Mandy,” he whispers as he looks at me with half-closed eyes. “This is me at my most honest. I want to tell you. I—”
The door to the house opens and we both duck down as someone hits the garage door button. The huge door starts grinding and groaning as it rises.
I can’t see who’s there, but there’s about half a dozen of them, all men, and they’re walking past the car.
“Shit,” I whisper as I look at the windows. They’re all steamy.
The men don’t notice as they walk past the car, talking and laughing as they stand at the edge of the garage.
“Let’s sneak out,” Ethan whispers as he puts his cock away.
“Can I have my underwear back?” I whisper as I pull my dress back down.
He grins. “Not a chance.”
He opens the door as quietly as he can, grabs his jacket, and sneaks out without making a sound. He reaches back for me and helps me out. I stay crouched down as he carefully closes the door. The car is blocking us from the men and hopefully the alcohol will help them in not noticing us.
The smell of cigars hits my nose as Christine’s dad and his friends light up.
Ethan turns to me and laughs without a sound. I laugh back at the wonderful craziness of this night.
He squeezes my hand and then starts moving. I follow closely behind him, keeping my head low.
“Ethan!” Christine’s dad says when he gets up and tries to make a break for the door. “There you are! I have a ripe twenty-year old for you!”
“What?!” Ethan says with a shocked and guilty look on his face.
“Scotch! Aged twenty years.”
“Oh,” he says with a laugh. I bet he was thinking about a different kind of twenty-year old…
He shoots me a quick glance and then heads over to the guys, distracting them with a joke as I rush out of the garage unnoticed.
I close the door behind me and lean on it, feeling extremely naked under my dress as I take a deep breath.
I shake the lust from my eyes, smooth back my hair, and rejoin the party like nothing happened.Chapter SevenMandyIt’s late in the night when the party winds down. There’s a crowd at the door saying goodbye as they leave. The lights are on, the music is off. It’s over.
But I desperately want this to be a new start. The start of something incredible with Ethan.
He’s on the other side of the room, watching me as he hangs back. We haven’t talked much since we fled the backseat of Mr. Hearst’s car. I haven’t given him my number. We haven’t made any plans to see each other again.
My stomach is in knots, wondering what’s going to happen as my parents come stumbling over. I grab my mother as she almost does a head dive into the plant and then I struggle to get her back to her feet. My dad tries to help, but he’s just as plastered.
“We have to go,” he says, sounding like a frog. His voice always changes when he’s had too many. “Judy, Steven, thank you for the party and Merry Christmas.”
My mother tries to say the same, but she burps and then giggles like a little kid.
“Come on,” I say as I grab her arm and pull her to the door.
Christine comes racing down the stairs with our jackets and helps my father get into his.
“Congratulations again,” I say to her. I’m so happy for them. Matt and she are going to be one of those happy couples who stay together until they’re both well past a hundred. “I’ll call you tomorrow.”
She tries to help my mother into her coat but I shake my head. “Don’t. The cold air might help sober her up.”
I glance over longingly at Ethan, but he just stands there and nods back. It can’t end like this, can it?
But it does. There’s a nausea in my stomach and a pain in my chest as I walk outside into the cool air. My heart is breaking as I help my mother to the car.
I get them both into the backseat and then take one last look at the house, hoping to see Ethan coming out. The red door is closed with the wreath hanging quietly.
“Okay,” I whisper to myself as tears burn the back of my eyes. I guess that was it.
I guess he means more to me than I mean to him.
The door crunches as I open it. I sigh as I sit on the hard frozen seats and start the car. It’s so cold in here that I can see my breath, but I’m only thinking about the last time I was in a car. It was so heated and perfect with Ethan. And now, this…
“I think I’m going to be sick,” my mother says from the back.