Fall Forever (Fall For Me) (2 page)

But oh!

When we got to the park, Cory was
there … with a girl. He didn’t see me as he was pressed against a tree, kissing
the girl, running his fingers through her hair all
You’re-mine-and-I-love-you-so-much-I-think-about-you-every-second-of-every-day
.

 
The girl was pretty, blond and cheerleader-like with curves
and pom-poms. She had a gold chain clasped around her neck. The special chain
I’d given Cory!

Suddenly, I knew where I’d seen the
girl before. She was at the party Cory took me to last week. She had called me
a freak when I said I liked Scream Dream and she’d laughed when I spilled my
punch. Cory saw all that. Cory knew.

I licked my lips, deciding I didn’t
need to be
too
gentle with
Cory. In fact, it seemed I didn’t need to be gentle at all.

Suddenly, I was feeling wolfishly
hungry. Lucky for me, it seemed I would soon be getting a main course.
And dessert, too.

Lucky me.

CHAPTER 1

Riley’s kiss!
His
kiss,
mmm
.
It was hot and
passionate. Had me melting into a puddle. His strong arms wrapped around me
tighter, pulling me closer and closer, his hungry mouth exploring mine as
though he couldn’t get enough.

My heart exploded with pleasure, my
knees going weak.

I purred. His mouth on mine was so
tantalizingly my world was evaporating into nothing but carnal bliss. There was
nothing else; only
me and Riley
; our hands and tongues
and heat.

Passion burned through me.
Everything inside me igniting.
But as I tried to bring Riley
closer still, he groaned, pulling away. He rested his head against my forehead,
his breathing as rapid as my pounding heart. “No, Jones.”

What
the—?

I tilted my head, tried to catch my
breath as I watched Riley back away from me.

His eyes still heated
flames,
he ran his hands through his disheveled hair as
though he wanted to tear it out. He exhaled and backed away even further. “I
shouldn’t have done that.”

“
You
shouldn’t have?” I leaned against his office door for
support, the world rushing back into my conscious, only dimly aware I wasn’t
breathing as I watched Riley rub his flushed face with the palms of his hands.

“You’re going to get back together
with Finn.” Riley’s voice sounded tortured. He looked up at the ceiling, then
back at me. Agony glistened in his dark eyes. Eyes that usually laughed and teased.
Now they looked haunted. “And now I’m going to know what it’s like to kiss
you.”

“Riley,” my voice caught. “I’m not
going to get back together with Finn.”

Uncertainty flickered in his eyes.
For a moment.
Then he shook his head slightly as though
fighting off hope. As though he didn’t even want to go there.

He scrubbed his flushed face again,
seeming tormented. “Finn’s my best friend and you’re his
girlfriend—you’ve
always
been
his girlfriend. The whole time I’ve known you, Jones.”

“But I’m not anymore, Riley. I’m
over him.”

Riley shook his head ruefully. “You’re
not over him, Jones. You can’t possibly be over him—a minute ago you were
crying about the guy.”

His husky voice came out as a
tortured growl, “We’ll count the kiss as your free pass—the one Finn gave
you. No harm done.”

My heart dropped to the floor like
a brick.
No harm done
?!

No
harm
?!!
I clutched my stomach, my whole
body twisting with pain.

It was as though he wasn’t
listening to my words—or he didn’t want to hear them…. Was that it? He’d
had his kiss—what he’d sought after for so long. Now the challenge was
over and didn’t seem worth all of the drama it would bring.

A shattering ache ripped through my
insides—through my heart and entire soul. Was Riley really, truly the
player he had always appeared?

Had I just been played?

I didn’t want to believe it was
true—and deep down I didn’t. I knew Riley. I knew he wouldn’t take
advantage of me when I was aching and hurting from finding out Finn was
cheating on me. He wouldn’t take advantage of my vulnerability like that.
Though I knew players did that sort of thing—I knew he wouldn’t.

Yet … here he was. He had kissed
me—and now he had second thoughts.

No matter the spin on it—I
still felt played.

And hurt.

And abandoned.

My throat and chest went tight. I
couldn’t breathe. Still, I managed to choke out, “But you just told me you want
me to be your girlfriend.”

His eyes sparked.

His breath drew in sharply. Then
sadness welled in his eyes. “I do, Jones. You know that.” He clenched his jaw
muscles, going pale. “Well, I hope you know that.” He murmured softly, “Maybe
you don’t. But that’s what I’ve wanted since the first time I saw
you—that’s
all
I’ve
wanted.”

His eyes looked completely
defeated. “But Zoey, you have to talk to Finn first—you have to get
things straight with him. Believe me Jones, I’m praying you come back to me.”
He paled. “I’m just not sure you will.”

CHAPTER 2

Riley

When we were in middle school, Zoey
had to stand at the front of the class and read a poem that she was supposed to
be writing in American Literature. No one else in the class had to do that. It
was a punishment from our teacher Mrs. Woodland to Zoey, because Zoey was
talking when she was supposed to be writing. Zoey was always talking. But she
didn’t do it because she was “bad.” She did it because she had a lot to say.
The girl was interesting.
And beautiful….
And my best friend’s girlfriend.

I had slunk down in my seat,
half-worried for Zoey, half-intrigued. What would her poem be about? Did she
even
write
one? She’d been
talking an awful lot, whispering with her friends, probably about Finn.
Definitely not about me.
Or, okay, it was possible she was
whispering about me. But if she was, it was only to complain that I’d tied her
shoelaces together while she and Finn were eating lunch. They hadn’t even
noticed I’d done it because they’d been in their own little world—as
usual.
One that didn’t involve me—or the rest of the
school.
Just those two—Zoey and Finn—alone
in love.
It made my heart ache to see them together—let alone,
have to hang out with them.
Every
day. So, I tried not to. Only, Finn was my best friend…. And I was drawn to
Zoey. So, yeah, I was sort of sunk.

After enduring Zoey’s poem, as soon
as the bell rang I asked Jade Silver to be my girlfriend. It wasn’t that I
liked Jade, though she was pretty. It wasn’t even that Jade was popular, though
she was. She was what the
girls
in our class called
“The Queen” of popularity. But the reason I asked her out was I knew it would
bother Zoey. And I wanted to bother Zoey—bad.
‘Cause
she bothered me.

She was all I could think about,
all I wanted to look at. My eyes would follow her everywhere. Yet, she was
always looking at Finn. Smiling at Finn. Talking to Finn. That was why I was
able to tie her shoelaces together at lunch—she was in a world that only
involved Finn.

And her poem … the poem made my
heart catch. Ache. She had written about being in love. I wanted so
bad
for that poem to be about me. But I knew
who
it was about. Finn. She smiled at him after she finished
reading it. Her pretty eyes glowing as she gazed at him, like he was her bright,
shining angel that gave her breath.

Then she whispered, “This poem is
for my boyfriend, Finn.”

I winced hearing that. My heart
ached. So tortured.

So, yeah.
I asked out Jade, Zoey’s archenemy.
‘Cause Finn had Zoey’s
love.
All I could hope for was her hate. At least then she would look at
me….

Those were my complicated thoughts
back then—in middle school. And they hadn’t changed much in high school.

Having the girl I wanted so
bad
I couldn’t breathe—knowing she belonged to my best
friend—it ripped me up inside.

But so did this now—betraying
my best friend. Yeah, I knew Finn was messed up—cheating on Zoey. He
needed his skull smacked in—bad. But the guy loved Zoey. He did. It was
Bianca—all Bianca—her teasing him and tempting him with things he’d
never had. (Things he didn’t need, but he was too dumb to know that.)

But losing
Zoey—no way.
He couldn’t. He’d die. He was going to plead for her.
Beg her to forgive him … and Zoey would. She always did.

A chill crawled down my spine.

I traced my lips, pretending I
could still feel Zoey’s hot, sexy mouth on mine. Would I ever feel her soft
lips again? I was terrified I wouldn’t. And that fear scared the life out of
me.

I shuddered. Man. I’d dug my own
grave. I should have never kissed her. I’d made a pact with myself the moment I
found out she was Finn’s girl all those years ago: I’d never go there. But the
thing was, it was the only place I ever wanted to be.

CHAPTER 3

Zoey

I pressed my shaking hands against
my eyes and exhaled slowly. Then finally, I started my car and pulled out of
the restaurant’s parking lot. I was shaking. Violently. Not a good thing while
driving. Dangerous. Face
it,
I had no business on the
road.

Of course, I had no business doing
what I’d done only a few moments earlier, either—kissing Riley. Talk
about dangerous—that was lethal.
To my heart.
Though I had to admit, for a thrilling, crazy moment I’d been in absolute
heaven.

The memory of Riley’s strong arms
around me sent tremors of delight through my body and a jet of warmth to my heart.
At the first red light, I rested my head on the steering wheel, letting the
glorious memory seep inside me—Riley’s hot, eager lips on mine and his
hungry hands tangling in my hair—the memory had me in a happy cloud of
delusion—until the light turned green and cars’ horns woke me out of my
tantalized reverie.

Oh
yeah, I’m driving.
And dumped
.

I turned on to my street.

My whole body ignited in a fit of
violent shivers when I saw Finn’s beat-up blue Honda parked in my driveway.
Unspeakable pain shot through me.

I clutched the steering wheel
tighter and tried to breathe, but it caught as I spotted Finn himself sitting
on my front steps.

Seeing him there, my stomach
collapsed in on itself.

He was hunched over his knees with
his head in his hands. Obviously, he knew.

That is—he knew
I
knew.

I could tell by his posture. He
knew he was busted. And he was sorry. And aching. And miserable.

All that sorrow and torment I could
read from him—just from seeing him sitting there all
grief-stricken—but it was all just too bad.
And too
late.

Heat and anger from his full-on
betrayal stirred inside me, rising far above my pain. Kissing Riley had defused
some of my earlier fury, but now—seeing the lying, backstabbing, cheat
that had carelessly stomped on my fragile, trusting heart—it all gurgled
back up to the surface. Violently. Made me cringe with rage.

Black spots swam across my vision a
s
I narrowed my eyes, glaring at backstabbing Finn. My hurting, tortured mind
could only grasp one scrambling thought. Only one. But it held on to it tight.
Screamed it
: I’m so done forgiving!
I
would never, ever do it again. Ever. Not for him. He didn’t deserve it. He had
cheated and lied to me—over and over. He destroyed my ability to trust.
Seriously. I doubted I could ever fully trust anyone ever again. He took that
away from me. Trust.

He sucked
so
bad
.

I tightened my grip on the steering
wheel, so wanting to run him over.
Cheating,
lying, dirt-bag!!

Instead of ramming into him as my
fantasies begged, I drove past my house. Just drove right by. Didn’t stop or
even slow
down.
Just silently left him to wallow in
his ignorance.
‘Cause, obviously, I wasn’t ready to confront
him.
(Since all I wanted to do was bash his head in and do other
[satisfying] violent acts—talking wasn’t one of them.) I, in fact, never
wanted to talk to him again, ever. Seriously. People talk about
closure—but I didn’t want that. Didn’t need it. My heart was already
closed. Bam! Shut as tight as a vault.

I had listened to his
lies—over and over. Deep down, I’d even
known
they were lies—yet I’d let him convince me I was
being psycho and paranoid. He had
let
me think that—
led
me to
think that.

I gritted my teeth. I actually
hated him now. Truly. Hated. Him.

CHAPTER 4

I drove around my small beach town,
shaking and having nowhere to go.
Nowhere to hide and lick my
wounds.
Finn apparently was staking my house. And Riley had sent me home
from work. And well, work and Finn—sadly, those two things had become my
entire life.