Angel (Book 4)

Chapter 14. Hide And Seek

            The waves crashed against the rocks of the cliff we were sitting on. The cliff wasn't high from the water, but the water wasn't deep enough to jump off of. The cliff only rose about fifteen feet above the water below.

Mia and I had walked up the sandy beach and climbed the rocks. It was getting late, but the sun wouldn't set for another hour. It would go down over the ocean. Today it reached ninety degrees. It was so humid it made the smell of the saltwater stronger somehow.

Mia was sitting between my legs with her head rested against my chest. My eyes were more focused on her than anything else. To me, there was nothing more beautiful than her. We had somehow managed to keep us a secret.

A gay friend of mine, Cameron, agreed to pretend to date, Mia. As far as any of us could tell it was working. He would bring her to me, and her parents believed she was with him. We were nearing graduation.

Graduation was just six weeks away. Mia and I had been together now for nearly six months. Mia was now eighteen, just as I was. I wanted to buy her a car for her birthday, but she wouldn't allow that. She did, however, buy herself a decent car.

The car was a Mazda. It was used. The Mazda she had was about four years old and had about forty thousand miles on it. The car was in great shape, though. The car was red, her favorite color. She still had some money after the fact too. We even went to prom together. The after-party was far better.

Six months may seem like a long time to people, but I don't think a lifetime with her would even be enough to satisfy me. I wished life would never end, so I would never have to let go of her.

She played with a ring that was on my finger. "How old is this ring?" She asked thoughtfully.

"Old," I said. "I'm not exactly sure, but I would assume around the seventeen-hundreds. My mom had it before me. Carlos had it before her. So on and so forth," I explained.

"Whoever takes over the family business gets the ring?" She asked.

"Yeah."

"Hmm," she hummed.

Mia still had no idea about the secret. However, I was reaching that point of telling her. My parents even told me that maybe it was time. I was leaning more toward after graduation, though. I would take over after graduation.

Mom and Dad were so excited to retire that they already have a house bought, and their shit is packed. Mom was singing around and dancing the other night as she packed the last of their things. They have some clothes still in dressers, and that is about it.

Mom is leaving me the furniture. She is pretty stoked about buying new furniture and decorating her new mansion, which is pretty big. Their new place is only about eight miles from me and about four miles from Austin and Carly. My grandparents plan to move with them too.

Mia snuggled further into me. I grabbed her hand and played with the promise ring I had given her about a month ago. After everything and all this time I still hadn't forced out the L-word. It had almost slipped a dozen times. I knew that it was true, but I was afraid of saying it. I was afraid that if I told her that I loved her that she might disappear.

I've always been so closed off to women, but not her. She somehow saw right through me. She knew there was something I was leaving out, but she was clueless as to what. It amazed me that she allowed it for so long. We don't even fight over it.

"What happens after graduation?" Mia asked. She tilted her head up slightly to look up at me.

I stared back down at her for a long moment. I wasn't sure that I had an answer to her question.