Caught Up in You Read online

  “You’ll get it,” he said, slowly nodding his head at me. “You’re hardworking and stubborn as hell, it might still be a ways off, but you’ll get there.”

  That wasn’t what I’d expected him to say. We were quiet for a few moments, just studying one another. The sudden sharp turn our relationship had taken caught me by surprise. He was so different than I ever thought he’d be.

  I walked over to the edge of the boat and sat down, letting my toes dip in the water. “You know that night you came up to the pub just before it closed?”

  “You mean the night you killed my social status with that beer?” Myles stretched out on his back along the cushioned seat. “Yeah, what about it?”

  I laid back and looked at him upside down. “Were you there to drive me home?”

  “I offered you a ride.”

  “That wasn’t the question,” I said, rolling over onto my stomach. “Were you there for me?”

  Myles turned on his side and held his hand up to shade his eyes from the sun. “I’ll tell you, but then you have to tell me something about you.”

  “I’ve been telling you stuff all day,” I said, stretching out my arm and letting the side of my head rest against it like a pillow.

  “Right, fluff crap like your favorite movie and band.”

  I smiled and flipped him off.

  He shook his head and laughed. “I’m interested in that shit. I just wanna hear something real too.”

  Something real? My stress level shot up. I knew I wouldn’t be able to hold him off long with the vague answers and carefully executed subject changes. Now I had to think of something to say that wasn’t a lie to satisfy him, but wouldn’t open up too many doors to my past all at once.

  “Well…” he said, holding his hand out to me.

  “Deal.” I reached up and hooked my index finger around his. “You first.”

  “Fine, I was there to haul your ass home,” he said, smiling at me. “I felt like shit for slamming my door in your face after you said you were walking to work. I should’ve offered to take you.”

  “Aww…” I tugged on his hand. “Under that spiky shell, you’re all gushy on the inside.”

  “Yeah, you’re ruining me,” he said, lacing his fingers through mine. “Your turn…”

  “Ok…” I thought for a few seconds and settled on the one thing I thought might get me out of the conversation. Even if it didn’t, I’d at least get the answer to a question I’d had swirling around in my head all day.

  “My dad went to Princeton,” I said, watching for his reaction. “He graduated at the top of his class—summa cum laude.”

  Myles kept hold of my hand but tipped onto his back. “That’s where I went.”

  “Really?” I hated acting like it was breaking news when I already knew he’d gone to the same university as my dad. The next question was even tougher to force out. “When did you graduate?”

  “I didn’t,” he said, letting go of my hand and sitting up. “The whole deal with the game company happened. I couldn’t do both…”

  If there was one thing I knew, it was lying—and Myles was lying his ass off. There was definitely more to the story than he wanted to talk about. His entire demeanor had changed. The relaxed way about him was gone and he sat there looking stiff and uncomfortable. All he’d wanted was something real out of me and I’d twisted things around on him. I felt like total crap for doing it.

  “Ok, here’s something else real,” I said, climbing up next to him and sitting on my knees. “My Aunt Jen and my dad used to argue about where I was gonna go to law school—Harvard or Princeton.”

  He cut his eyes at me. “You argue enough to be a goddamn lawyer.”

  “I do not,” I said, jabbing him in the ribs.

  A smile spread across his face as he brushed my hand away. “So what happened?”

  “Plans changed,” I said, relaxing now that he seemed a little better. “I finished two years so far at the community college in Masonville.”

  “The other night you said you were from Illinois. How the hell did you end up in Baylor Grove working at Puck’s?”

  That was the brick wall I’d been bracing for impact against. I caught myself starting to cook up a lie to feed him. If I did that there was no way we’d ever be more than what we were at that moment. If I wanted any kind of chance with him, I couldn’t lie.

  “Ok…” I pushed up my sunglasses and looked into the blue eyes in front of me. “I had to move out here with my Aunt Jen when I was seventeen after my dad went to jail—prison, actually.”

  “Damn,” he said, looking completely shocked. I was pretty shocked I’d just blurted it out like that too. “What the hell did he do?”

  “A lot…” I took a deep breath and started. “Extortion, bribery, accepting bribes, money laundering, embezzlement. If it has to do with cheating, stealing, or lying, my dad was nailed for it.”

  “They get it wrong sometimes…” Myles spoke softly, never looking away. “Not everyone who gets convicted or even accused is guilty.”

  I liked him even more at that moment just for trying to ease my mind. “He’s guilty, Myles. He didn’t even let it go to trial—he took a plea deal so he’d eventually have a shot at parole.”

  I slowly started explaining how my dad and his partners in the investment firm they’d started had been brought up on a slew of charges for financial related crimes. It’d been a long time since I’d sat and explained it from my point of view in such detail. It was like talking about someone else’s life.

  Three years earlier, the IRS froze all of my family’s assets and the federal government indicted my dad on a laundry list of charges. I’d just started twelfth grade when it happened. My brothers were eleven. The entire life my brothers and I knew was gone in an instant. There was no more soccer for them or cheerleading for me. It was simply to school and back, while trying to avoid the reporters lined up along the street in front of our house.

  To spare our family the pain and humiliation of a trial, my dad took a plea deal. He never once claimed to be innocent. Instead he told my brothers and me to pay our debts and never owe more favors than we had coming in return.

  Our father told us people just didn’t do nice things for each other unless they wanted something in return. Whether it was a few days from then, or even a few years down the road, they’d always come looking for their payback.

  The only way to avoid getting into the situation he was in was to always keep things even and expectations clear. We were to always spell out what we wanted from someone and demand to know what the person would require from us in return. If we left no loose strings or debts, no one could ever come back and take away what we’d worked for or force us to do something we didn’t want to.

  Once the feds finished poring over my family’s finances, the only thing we had left was the BMW my parents had bought me as a gift for my sixteenth birthday. Whether it was planned or not, my dad had put it in my name. Because of that, when the feds took everything else, they couldn’t touch my car.

  When the dust settled, that was all I had left. I’d considered selling it for the money more than once. Each time I couldn’t bring myself to do it. It was my only evidence that the good life I remembered living once upon a time had been real.

  Every word I spoke was like pulling down a brick from the wall between us. Eventually I hoped I’d be able to remove it completely. Myles never took his eyes off me. He simply listened without judging or even worse—feeling sorry for me. It made my apprehension about sharing some of my past ease up.

  When I was through, I smiled slightly and sighed. “Was it real enough for you?”

  Myles nodded. “Do you talk to your dad?”

  “I go to the prison to visit him once a year,” I said, “at Christmas.”

  He thought for a few seconds and then gave me a strange look. “What about your mom and brothers?”

  “They’re in Illinois,” I said, letting the side of my head rest the cushion.
I’d hoped he’d just let that part go.

  Myles turned sideways so he was nose to nose with me. “You don’t talk to them?”

  I shook my head. “No…”

  Myles took my hand and opened up my palm. “What happened here?” He lightly ran his finger across the fading scars.

  I felt tears building as I thought about the answer to his question. I couldn’t even remember the last time I’d cried. What I’d shared with Myles was only the catalyst to what led me to be sitting next to him. I wasn’t prepared to delve any deeper—not right then.

  “I don’t want to lie to you and I’m not sure how to tell the truth.” I lowered my head and watched his fingers run along my palm. “I know that sounds so fucking lame…”

  “It doesn’t.” Myles closed my hand and wrapped his fingers around it. “We all have shit we don’t know how to talk about…”

  Twelve

  Brantley

  For the first time since our paths crossed on the front lawn, I felt like Myles and I were friends—that maybe we could even be more. When we’d first met, I only saw how amazing he looked on the outside. I’d simply written him off as a complete dick.

  After spending the day alone together, I saw something different. There was more to Myles than his beautiful exterior and smart mouth. Underneath all that, I was starting to see the real person—the guy I wanted to get to know better. Maybe he’d be the one who could help me stop hiding from my past.

  “Just leave that shit,” Myles said, waving his hand at me as he tied the boat to the dock. “I’ll come out and get it in the morning.”

  I let go of the cooler and just grabbed the towel and bag I’d brought. “I think I might be starving to death.” I grabbed the railing and climbed up onto the dock. My stomach was grumbling as I followed him up to the cabin. “It would’ve been nice if you’d have tossed a sandwich or two into that cooler.”

  “Coolers are for beer.” Myles looked back at me as he pulled the screen door open and stepped inside. “Get changed and we’ll go into town to grab—”

  “Myles?”

  I watched his body tense as he sucked in a deep breath and turned around. His eyes locked on an older couple sitting on the couch in the living room. When they spotted me behind Myles they both stood up.

  “Dad,” Myles said, walking slowly toward the couple. “Mom. I thought you were staying with Aunt June until your house is fixed?”

  “We are.” His mother took a long look at me before turning her eyes back to Myles. “We came to check on you. You haven’t answered your phone in two days.”

  Myles dragged his hand through his hair. “Sorry. I’ve been busy.”

  His father gave me the same once-over his mother had and motioned to the flowers on the kitchen table. “Apparently.”

  “Go get ready for dinner,” Myles said, looking over at me. “I’ll come get you in a few minutes.”

  I just nodded and bolted for my room. Before I even had the door closed I heard angry voices. The door and walls was no match for the verbal battle.

  “What’s this really all about?” Myles voice echoed through the cabin. “I don’t believe you came out here because I didn’t answer my phone.”

  “No more fighting, no more drinking, and no more girls—that was the agreement,” his dad said. “You promised you’d get cleaned up.”

  “I did,” Myles said.

  “Tattoos, piercings, and that stringy hair?” His mother asked. “That’s getting cleaned up?”

  “I work, I live alone, and I paid back all the money you spent.” Miles sounded strained, as though he was struggling not to yell. “What the hell else do you want from me?”

  “We want you to stay out of trouble,” his mother said, raising her voice slightly, “instead we found you out here with some girl!”

  “That’s what this shit’s all about? You guys drove over a hundred miles to see if I had a chick in my room?”

  “One of the neighbors told your mother they saw a young woman they didn’t recognize hanging around,” his father said. “We came to see what was going on.”

  Myles let out an irritated laugh. “So basically you called the neighbor to see what I was doing?”

  “Yes!” His father shot back immediately. “We didn’t live through that nightmare at Princeton just to stand by and watch you screw your life up again!”

  “It’s been two years!” Myles shouted. “I’ve done every single fucking thing I said I would and you’re still up my ass!”

  “The girl needs to be sent off to wherever it is you found her,” his mother said, sounding as if she was trying to settle things down. “If you need female company, I’ll stay out here with you until it’s time to go back to Baylor Grove.”

  After that their voices got quieter until I couldn’t hear them anymore. It sounded like the door to Myles’ bedroom opened and then closed again. I figured they’d added another layer between me and them so I couldn’t hear what they were saying. Honestly, I’d heard enough anyhow.

  I changed out of my bathing suit and packed up my things. I found uncomfortable situations—well, uncomfortable. Especially when I felt like I was the cause. I felt better leaving on my own and not making a scene. Besides, I didn’t want Myles stuck trying to figure out what to do with me.

  From being in town the night before, I knew cabs lined up along the main street waiting for people to come out of the bars. According to my phone, there was a bus station about ten miles from there. That sounded like as good of a destination as any. I didn’t know where I was headed, but getting out of Moore Lake was the first step.

  I peeked out the door and saw that Myles was still in his room with the door closed talking to his parents. Since notes were his preferred form of communication when his door was shut, I left one for him on the dresser in the room I’d been using. After making sure I didn’t forget anything, I slung my bag over my shoulder and headed out the door.

  After a fifteen minute walk, I reached the area with the cabs. It was busy and there was a short line of people ahead of me. I grabbed a seat on a nearby bench to wait it out.

  After the incredible day we’d had together, leaving Myles put an ache in my chest. I didn’t know how we’d be able to find time to hang out once we were back at our apartments—or if he even wanted to spend more time with me. Between his odd hours and my long work days, we’d hardly ever see each other.

  Even though it was disappointing that his parents showed up, I was still happy for the time I’d gotten with him. Even if we never spend another second alone like that again, I’d still been able to make my first good memory after so many bad ones.

  “Brantley!” Within seconds the spot next to me was taken. “What’s going on, hottie?”

  “Waiting for a cab,” I said, looking over at Jake. It was obvious he’d had a lot to drink. “If you wanna call me something, use my name. I already told you I’m not big on the pet names, remember?”

  “You also told me Myles was just your neighbor.”

  “He is.” Great. A drunk scorned guy. That never ended well.

  Jake scooted close and tossed his arm over my shoulders. “Can I be your neighbor too?”

  “Good one…” I said, shrugging off his arm.

  “I saw Myles’ parents having dinner in town earlier, so I cleaned my apartment.”

  I shook my head. “I’m not even sure how to respond to that.”

  “It means I figured you’d need somewhere to stay and I was right.”

  I turned sideways on the bench toward him. “What makes you say that?”

  “It’s ten o’clock at night and you’re out here with your bag,” he said, winking at me.

  “Well obviously… What made you think his parents wouldn’t want me with him?”

  “Oh, c’mon,” he said, shaking his head. “You really think I don’t know why he was booted from school? Some of his family was in town when it happened—his cousins told me.”

  I paused, thinking about what
to say. There was a fine line between being nosy and just curious. I had to walk carefully or it would look like I was poking into his past.

  “That doesn’t mean it was true,” I said, shrugging, “rumors spread—even in families.”

  “I’m sitting next to the queen of denial,” he said, tipping his head back and rolling his eyes. “Why would the girl lie? It’s easy enough to do a paternity test.”

  I leaned back against the bench. “He got a girl pregnant…”

  “Holy shit…” Jake looked almost as shocked as I was. “You didn’t even know?”

  I shook my head, trying to digest what I was hearing. “That’s no reason for him to be kicked out of school though…”

  “It is when she’s only sixteen,” he said, getting to his feet. “Always gotta watch out for the young ones. Even when they look old enough it doesn’t mean they are.”

  I was truly stunned. I could hardly form intelligent responses as Jake continued babbling. Once he finally got the hint that no matter how clean his apartment was, I wasn’t going back there with him, he gave up and left.

  Myles got a sixteen year old girl pregnant. I probably wouldn’t have believed it had I not just overheard the panic in his parent’s voices when they discovered he was alone in Moore Lake with me. Granted, I was no sixteen year old, but since the Franco’s twenty-three year son already had one accident that got him tossed from school, they probably wanted to do everything they could to make sure it didn’t happen twice.

  All the ideas sprouting up in my head about a relationship with Myles wilted one by one. After I climbed into a cab and directed the driver to the bus station, I sat there turning over what I’d learned in my head. Myles had a child—a baby somewhere that was over a year old. That was the last thing I thought I’d ever find out about him.

  Myles

  Brantley was gone. She’d just packed up and left. The note I found on the dresser only said she’d see me back in Baylor Grove. Nothing else. I didn’t even have her phone number. I was torn between being worried and completely pissed off at her.