Read Online For the Best by LJ Scar - Free Book Online

Seriously?”
    She didn’t ask about the tears.
     
    Tanner -
After the ritual
    She and I were different together. Yet we
still were very much a couple. Hanna no longer attended parties
with me. Scratch parties, she didn’t go anyplace with me unless we
would be alone. No school sports games, no dinners with friends, no
study sessions. When I asked her why, she didn’t answer.
    I’d messed around on her. Sometimes too
drunk or drugged to know who with but mostly it was with her friend
Peyton. I didn’t even like the girl, she was just available.
    Hanna and I had been settling down for a
movie night alone. Thirty minutes in, she hit pause and turned to
me.
    She stared at our hands clasped together in
my lap. Her voice low, hurt she spoke, “Do you think it hurts worst
to be betrayed by a friend or a lover?”
    Guiltily, I answered, “I would imagine both
would be painful.”
    She nodded. “I thought I had a lot of
friends. Only one friend was also my lover. Their silence, your
silence was like acknowledged acceptance. Foundations of lifetimes
are built on your strongest friendships. I guess none of mine were
sturdy enough.” She hit play.
    I was left dumbfounded.
     
    Hanna
    After the funeral, I questioned everything:
my life, my future, our love. All through my mom’s last bout with
cancer I had wanted some adult other than my father to swoop in and
take over. Wishful thinking…my mother’s parents had succumbed to
bad health themselves. Mom’s mother died while I was in elementary
school. My maternal grandfather was wasting away in some nursing
home in the Midwest so memory impaired he hadn’t been brought to
the funeral by my mom’s only sibling, her brother. My mom and he
had not seen eye to eye on her dad’s permanent care. With power of
attorney my uncle had dumped the old man in state care, so I had no
ill-conceived notions he would be willing to help me out
either.
    As for my father’s immediate family, they
were selfish, money hungry phonies. So many holidays had been spent
sitting quietly aside observing the way my father and his siblings
boasted about who earned what, the value of their portfolios, and
the cars they drove. It was off putting and kept me rooted to the
ground hoping I would never become like them. I was truly alone,
with the exception of Tanner.
     
Two months after the funeral
    The mourning had depleted me completely. I
was incapable of emotions – no anger, no happiness, no love. Still
I wondered if what he’d done was surmountable.
    I leaned in. My breast brushed his arm. My
mouth was less than an inch from his. I moved the book off his
lap.
    The longing that never eased from his eyes
drew me in as his hand wove into my hair holding me locked close.
“Careful,” he whispered smiling seductively.
    We hadn’t touched intimately since I found
out about the contest video. I didn’t want him…I just wanted to
know.
    When his mouth claimed mine a surge of blood
pumped into my veins and I could feel my heart rate quicken. Gator
jumped off the couch as Tanner backed me down into the cushions. I
felt his weight, and I deftly moved my fingers up under his t-shirt
skimming his stomach and sides until I pressed them into his back
trying to get closer.
    His mouth descended down my chest. He rose
up on his arms unbuttoning my blouse as he kept his mouth on mine.
I closed my eyes, blocked my thoughts, and let myself forget.
     
Present
    Marilyn, Poo Poo’s owner texted me and said
her commuter flight couldn’t land back in Jacksonville
International due to fog. Please spend the night
with Poo Poo. Gator is welcome.
    After I finished walking Bowzer, Romeo and
Juliet, I gave Sox his daily dose of love and attention before I
found myself cold and drenched in the Marilyn’s garage. The rain
wouldn’t let up. I was dripping, from my t-shirt to my jeans to my
canvas sneakers. I wanted warmth. A hot shower would have been
nice, but I needed something instantaneous. I lifted the top