Beyond Eighteen

Beyond Eighteen

~ Book 3 ~

a novel by

Wilson Mooney, Beyond
Eighteen

Gretchen de la O

Copyright
©
Gretchen de la O 2013

Published at Smashwords

This ebook is licensed for your
personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given
away to other people. If you would like to share this book with
another person, please purchase an additional copy for each reader.
If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not
purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com
and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work
of this author.

This book is a work of fiction. Any
references to historical events,

real people, or real locales are used
fictitiously.

Other names, characters, places, and
incidents are the product of the author’s imagination, and any
resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons—living or dead—is
entirely coincidental.

All rights reserved. No part of this
publication may be reproduced, stored on a retrieval system, or
transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical,
photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the written
permission of the author.

ISBN:
0983665850

ISBN:
978-0-9836658-5-4

Printed in the U.S.A.

First Edition, October 2013

Edited by Tiffany Barkman Grayson

Original Art and cover designed by Eunice
Ortegón

Photography Art by Liza Aharonovich

My Shout-outs…

Wilson’s Beta Readers:
Becky, Debbie, Karley, and Suzanne:
When I
needed you…you answered. Thank you for being the most amazing beta
readers a girl can ever ask for. As this journey ends with this
series I hope you are willing to come with me on the next
one.

Liza:
Thank you for sharing your talent. You capture such
authenticity with your photos. I am happy I had a chance to meet
you and glad you agreed to be a part of Wilson and Max’s
journey.

Tiffany:
You rock!
I came to you
with a tight deadline on this book and you didn’t even blink. You
worked tirelessly to make me shine, and I can’t thank you enough.
You keep fixing the same mistakes I’ve repeated through all three
books, and never once did you lose your patience with me. You are
such a generous, caring, and wonderful person.

Eunice:
Thank you for working so hard on all three books.
Not only did you create my vision for the first two original
covers, but you selflessly spent hours creating all three new ones.
Times were challenging and you met them head on. Thank you for
living through my craziness. I appreciate the journey you and I
have had with this series.

Becky:
I don’t think there is another person alive who knows the
characters in this series better than you (including me!). You have
been my record keeper, my note taker, my beta reader, my idea
bouncer offer, and my best friend. I will
never
be able to thank you enough,
for everything you’ve done for my family, my craft, my books and
the stories that bounce around in my head.

My family: Ed, Jared, Kyle, Nate, and my mom
(Grandma K):

Ed thanks for giving me the opportunity to
grow my dreams and build my career; your support, even when silent
speaks volumes. Mom, thanks for reminding me that my career is not
a hobby, and I must remember to treat it as such. Jared, Kyle and
Nate, it wasn’t glamorous by any means, nor do I feel anything less
than guilty for the times you’ve missed me. But I hope that I
taught you to follow your heart, never give up on your dreams and
even when things look like they aren’t going to work out…have faith
that there is something greater than you…supporting you along your
journey. I love you all so very much.

~ Wilson ~

I couldn’t stop shivering and every muscle
in my body ached like I’d been in a head-on collision. My voice was
raw from crying endlessly since Max left; it felt like I’d
swallowed jagged shards of glass plastered with every missing word
I should have said to him. Somewhere above my body, a space that I
never really knew existed carried all of my relevant thoughts away.
The look on his face when he found out I betrayed him steamrolled
across my head over and over again. Visions of him driving away as
I collapsed on the porch killed every butterfly caged in my gut.
Max left me on the bone-chilling granite—rotting, longing, and
totally broken. How will I ever find my way back after hurting the
man I love more than anything in this world? A war was being waged
in my body, and I was losing…big time.

Joanie’s hands were scalding hot against the
side of my head as she held me on the Browlers’ sofa. She rocked
back and forth in an attempt to soothe the searing pain that
vibrated from my core out to every last part of my body.

“Shhhh, Wilson, sweetheart, shhh. I am so
sorry honey, so sorry.” The nature of her words only made it
worse.

Incoherent babbling tumbled from my lips. I
searched behind my closed eyes, working to see patterns that I
could dissolve into, but I couldn’t see past the ache that throbbed
in my head. Joanie clung to me so hard that I couldn’t catch a deep
breath.
Please, God, let me just disappear; let me become that
person who nobody hears from ever again
. There was nothing I
could do to repair the damage I’d caused. When I kissed Nick I
destroyed everything Max and I had.

I heard footsteps strike against the
hardwood floor and the whispering concern of a guy’s voice as I
slumped heavily in Joanie’s embrace.

“Is she...okay? If she needs anything—” Nick
said in a low voice.

I felt the pressure of Joanie’s hand across
my back withdraw and her voice vibrate through her chest as she
whispered back at him, “Thanks, but I think I’m just going to take
her upstairs.” There was a sizable pause before she continued,
“She’ll be fine, Nick. She just needs some time right now.”

I could feel Nick staring at me before I
heard him walk toward the kitchen. Even if I wanted to look at him,
I couldn’t. Suddenly I didn’t feel the same need to be comforted by
him. He was part of the reason I lost Max.

Joanie dragged her hands to the back of my
biceps as she pulled me away from her chest.

“Wilson, sweetie, let’s go upstairs. You can
clean up and change your clothes. Freshen up a bit,” Joanie said in
a soothing voice. It was the same voice I found comfort in when
every other shitty event happened in my life. She ran her hands up
and down my arms from my elbows up to my shoulders and back,
collecting the heat she generated with her friction.

I didn’t say anything. I just willed the
muscles in my legs to work and Joanie did the rest. She supported
me as I ambled out of the living room and up the imperial
staircase. I also knew better than to try and argue with Joanie.
She knew what I was going to need, and how much time it was going
to take me to wallow in my misery.

My knees stretched and ached as I pushed up
each step. They seemed to be taller than I remembered. The same
gut-wrenching feeling I’d had when I first climbed these stairs
twisted low in my stomach. Those familiar feelings of wanting Max
and not knowing if he felt the same way about me started to swirl
throughout my body. The beads of perspiration that tickled and
rolled from my hairline down the back of my neck when I decided to
find him at Cindy’s “seasonal” party just a month earlier began to
push from my pores. It seemed so long ago and yet not long enough
to be in this much pain.

We were almost to the top of the stairs, my
body still leaning into Joanie’s, still hoping that I could make it
up to the room, when I saw Cindy standing at the top of the stairs.
God, she is the absolute last person I want to see right
now.
Her lips twisted into a smirk and her eyes gleamed with
the triumph she felt at ruining my life. Every bit of her, even the
way she pressed her hands against her hips, looked like she was
ready to rub it in my face that she was right and I was nothing
more than a tragedy in the life of Max Goldstein.

I took a deep breath, about to tell Cindy I
couldn’t deal with whatever she had to say, when Joanie did my
bidding for me.

“Not now, Cindy,” Joanie steamed as she
waited for Cindy to get out of the way.

I went numb. Cindy finally knew about Max
and me. I couldn’t even find my voice to argue back. Everything I’d
ever stood for my entire life was ripped away the moment Cindy
walked in and found me making out with Nick. My honor, my morals,
my credibility—all wiped away like it never existed. I wanted to
crawl into a hole and shrivel up into the piece of crap I felt
like. I’d used Nick, ruined my reputation, and beyond it all, lost
Max by making a stupid mistake.

“Well, I think right now is the perfect
time. What did you expect, Wilson? Did you really think you could
make out with two different guys in the same week without either of
them finding out?” Cindy spewed in her snarky way.

“Shut up, Cindy. Can’t you, for once, dig
deep and find some compassion for what Wilson is going through?”
Joanie barked.

“Compassion? She was playing the two ends
against the middle and got caught!” Cindy said before she continued
with an answerless question directed at me. “Come on, Wilson, did
you really expect that you’d be able to play with fire and not get
burned? Did you honestly believe they wouldn’t find out about each
other?”

Her words sliced me down to the bone.

“Cindy, please, I’m sorry that I hurt your
brother. I never meant for anything like that to happen.”

“You think I care about that? I could care
less about you and Nick having a sleazy fling in my kitchen.”

“Then why are you being such a bitch to
her?” Joanie steamed. I felt her body heaving with her words.

“Because, Joanie, finally the stellar
shining star of Wesley has burned out. And what better way to make
sure I get exactly what I want? I’ve got proof that our amazingly
brilliant government teacher is sleeping with one of his
underprivileged students,” Cindy said in a sappy tone.

That’s when I snapped. I couldn’t hold back
any more. Couldn’t stand there and listen to any more of her
bullshit. I just went off. Tears streamed down my cheeks, burning
the already raw skin on my face.

“What do you want? What sick pleasure are
you getting from ruining my life? What do you want to hear? That
I’m a slut? That I made a totally screwed-up mistake and ruined my
life when I kissed your brother? Or maybe you want to see me suffer
because you just can’t handle the fact that Max loved me and I
loved him back. There you go, Cindy, there is your ammunition: I
love Max. I am totally and completely in love with him. And, up
until today, he loved me back.”

My chest swelled and my head pounded with
all the other words I didn’t say. With our eyes locked, I watched
as Cindy’s widened and looked past me. Her face turned scarlet red
before her jaw dropped open. I turned to Joanie, thinking Cindy was
looking at her but when I saw Joanie looking down the stairs, her
face drained of any color, I had a feeling
he
must be
standing behind me.

I turned all the way around and whatever
strength I had left fell to my feet. My breath hitched, painful in
my chest, and my eyes flooded with the apologies I ached to tell
him. It
was
Max, standing at the bottom of the stairs. God,
he was my forever. He was every breath I needed to take and every
pulse that kept my blood pumping. He was the home I always wanted
to have.

His eyes, bloodshot and narrow, matched the
hue of his cheeks. The edges of his lips bent south and his jaw
constricted as he looked up at me. It was the same look he gave me
when I left him on
his
staircase. He swallowed hard as the
tip of his tongue pushed and curled just enough to wet his lips,
making it seem like every word that flashed in his head was poison
to him. His head swayed to the side as if he was struggling to
formulate his thoughts into words. His scent strolled toward me,
teasing me, making me long to inhale him completely. My mouth
watered. I swallowed hard, waiting for him to say
something—anything. But he didn’t.