...And He's Back (Book One, Breaking Open Series)

Not This Time, Firecracker

The sorrow laced in her voice hurts me to the point I've reverted back to my seventeen-year-old self. Helpless and not knowing how to comfort her. At the time I made stupid jokes and got her to laugh, but I know it won't help this time.

"I chased after his car." My fist clenches the bat as she holds it lifelessly. "I sat on the steps while he packed his bags with Matt holding me as we both listened to mom beg him to stay. When dad's hand touched the door handle Matt left me and ran up stairs. He blasted his music so loud it shook the whole house." She gives a dead laugh. "Stairway to Heaven by Led Zeppelin. I've never been able to listen to that song since."

I try taking the bat away from her but she still holds on. I watch her arm muscles tense as she's continues staring out into the night as if she's watching her dad's car leave all over again. "I ran so hard thinking that maybe if he saw me in his rearview mirror chasing after him so desperately then he would stay. I didn't even stop when his car finally disappeared, I just changed my direction. I came here. The bat and balls we had left from earlier that day were still around. I had no idea that was his way of saying goodbye."

Tears are streaming down her face and I take the bravest steps I have ever made. I'm so close to her that her shoulder hits my chest every time she breathes. She chokes back when she tries to speak then gives herself a few seconds. "All I wanted was to be alone and hit to my heart's content but then you came with pity in your eyes." She grips the bat and hides her face from me, "I hated seeing all those faces, no matter where I went I got those eyes staring at me. I was the girl he didn't want. That's all anyone saw me as." She allows me to rest my head on hers. "So why would anyone else want me? Now, I'm not just broken inside, but out too."

"No, you're not," I whisper, "You had healed from your dad, I saw it, but what you went through... sometimes circumstances reopen old wounds, even ones that have healed. I know you'll get through this because you're strong."

"Not anymore!" She shouts and again tries to rip the bat out of my grasp but I hold strong.

"Harp, you have always had this uncanny ability to take whatever bricks life or people threw at you and catch them like you do in softball. Yeah, at times you'd miss, but you'd always pick it back up and push through, get tougher."

"Just stop Owen!" She cries out in pain, "I can't do it anymore. I'm different now, ever since the explosion and losing..." She can't speak their names and I see the torment in her eyes as she steps back, still holding the bat... and still not looking at me.

"Then let me do it for you."

Her body freezes and her breathing is heavy. "You left me just like him, how can I trust you?"

I grit my teeth and lose my patience. I tug on the bat and it easily falls out of her hands. I hoist her up and her back collides with the fence and I trap her with my body. I clench my teeth as my arms reach out and my hands grip the fence because she feels so good flush against me. "This is what I wanted to do to you when you came out of your little red car and stomped over to me."

I pause and stare her down, even though her eyes are glued to my chest pressing against hers. "You were the most beautiful thing I had ever seen and I couldn't stop looking at you, teasing and wanting you. I wanted to pin you against my car and kiss you until I stole every bit of oxygen out of you." A deep chuckle vibrates in my chest as I remember that dumb pool party back in high school. "I wanted to do it back when we were arguing at the stupid pool party. The idea of one of my moron friends getting the chance to feel you up made me so angry I thought I was going to lose it." I dig my face into her hair until my lips touch her ear making her stiffen. "All I could think about when you yelled at me was shutting you up by sticking my tongue down your throat."