The Road That Leads to Us Read online

  “Being here with you…I missed you so, so much while I was gone and I should’ve told you that.”

  “Ah, Will,” he shook his head, “you’ve never been very open with what you’re thinking and feeling. How could I expect you to start now?” He winked, opening his arms for me to dive into.

  He held me tight and I allowed myself to soak in a brief amount of comfort from his arms.

  “I love you.” I leaned my head on his shoulder.

  I felt him breathe out a soft sigh. “I love you too, Willow.”

  Dean

  We left the dock shortly after that and explored the town a bit more.

  We found a little Bed and Breakfast and decided to see if they had any availability.

  We walked inside to an open foyer area. There was a desk set up with a laptop and notepad, but the chair was currently unoccupied.

  I stepped forward to ring the bell on the desk, but Willow beat me to it, and like a little kid she kept hitting at it creating a bit of a beat.

  I grabbed her hand and she pouted at me for making her stop.

  “Sorry, sorry, sorry!” A woman came running towards us from a side room. She didn’t look very old, late twenties or early thirties at the most.

  “We were wondering if you had any availability,” I broached. “One room with two beds.”

  She made a face. “Sorry, the only room we have available for the evening is the honeymoon suite.”

  I paled and beside me Willow snickered.

  “We’ll take it,” she said.

  My head snapped to the side. “Wha?”

  “Oh, excellent!” The woman clapped her hands together and grinned at us. “I’m Marjorie, by the way.” She held out her hand for us to shake.

  “Willow.”

  “Dean.”

  “It’s a pleasure to meet you both,” she said as she took a seat at the desk chair.

  We went through the standard check-in information like we would at any hotel and then we were handed a keycard.

  “Snacks are available in the dining room from seven to ten at night and we serve breakfast at eight.”

  “Thank you,” I told her as I tucked the card in my pocket.

  Willow and I headed outside to grab our bags, and I immediately cornered her.

  “Why the hell did you say we’d share a bed?” I grabbed her arm to stop her from getting any closer to the car.

  Her blue eyes widened in surprise. “I didn’t think it would be a problem. It’s one night and it’s probably a king size bed. Plenty of room,” she added, like I thought bed space was the problem.

  I took a deep breath, trying to calm myself and quiet my racing thoughts.

  Being that close to Willow when my feelings were…whatever they were…was going to be difficult. But I’d have to do it. There was no way in hell I was going to explain to her why I didn’t want to do this.

  “Yeah, you’re right,” I let my hand drop from her arm, “it’ll be fine.”

  She looked at me doubtfully, but for once chose to keep her mouth shut.

  We gathered our bags in silence and headed inside and up to our room.

  It was a decent size, and did have a king size bed, with an attached bathroom. The room was decorated in soft blues and whites and the bed had some sort of flower/paisley design.

  Willow kicked her shoes off and flopped on the bed. “Ah,” she sighed.

  “Comfy?” I asked from where I leaned against the wall.

  “Very.” She closed her eyes and let out this soft humming sound. She peeked one eye open. “How tired are you?”

  “I’m okay.” I shrugged and picked up a round paperweight off the table, tossing it from hand to hand.

  “Wanna help me practice driving some more?”

  “As long as I get to have a steak for dinner.” I put the paperweight back down and fiddled with the information packet.

  “Deal!” She cried, jumping up from the bed.

  Even though I would’ve preferred chilling in the room for a bit I grabbed my keys and followed her outside to the car.

  I ended up finding an abandoned parking lot a mile or so away and parked there so Willow could drive without the risk of hitting another car and damaging my baby.

  After an hour or so of practice, she’d gotten the hang of it. The car still jerked from time to time, but I wasn’t scared for my life, so I figured that counted for something.

  “Can I drive to the restaurant?” She asked.

  I leaned back in the seat and eyed her. “Do you feel comfortable with that?”

  She nodded her head eagerly.

  “Then go for it,” I said simply. “You’ve got this, Will.”

  She grinned at my praise and drove off the lot.

  We’d passed a nice looking local restaurant on our way here so Willow made her way back towards it.

  She parked the car and killed the engine. She immediately let out a high-pitched shriek and tackle hugged me. “Thank you for teaching me to drive it!”

  I hugged her back and muttered, “’Course,” into her hair.

  When she moved to get out of the car I looked up and saw a couple of young guys, probably my age, sitting in an SUV watching Willow with an appraising look.

  Jealousy roared like a monster inside of me.

  I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, silently reminding myself that Willow wasn’t mine and these kinds of feelings weren’t allowed.

  Still berating myself I finally managed to heave my suddenly leaden body out of the car to join Willow where she stood impatiently waiting by the door and completely oblivious to the guys watching her.

  The restaurant was definitely nicer than the places we’d been eating the past few days and my mouth watered.

  I wanted a steak and a baked potato.

  Mmmm.

  “Hi, how many?” The hostess smiled pleasantly.

  “Two,” Willow replied, holding up two fingers and wiggling them around.

  “Right this way.” The hostess grabbed the menus and weaved through the restaurant to a booth in a far corner. “Enjoy your meal,” she said, grabbing the extra utensils off the table.

  Willow slid into the booth and I sat on the opposite side.

  Her lips pursed as she looked down at the menu and she reached up to toy with a stray piece of blonde hair.

  I knew I shouldn’t be sitting here staring at her, but I couldn’t help myself.

  There was something about her that was magnetic and I was helpless to fight the pull.

  Finally I tore my eyes away from her face, where I’d begun counting the freckles dotting her nose, and looked down at the menu.

  Luckily, they had exactly what I wanted so I slid the menu away and sat back to wait.

  Willow lifted her eyes away from the menu, her lips lifting into a smile. She chose to say nothing though and shook her head as her eyes lowered to the menu once more.

  A waiter appeared at our table for our drink order and we both ordered water.

  “I was going to get pasta,” she started, “but I know if I see you with a steak then I’ll want that.”

  I chuckled. “I’m not sharing.”

  She stuck her tongue out at me.

  “One of these days I’m going to pinch your tongue when you do that,” I warned her with a mock-stern glare.

  She stuck her tongue out again and wiggled it. “You’ll have to catch it first.” She grinned broadly.

  I smiled back and shook my head.

  That girl.

  You couldn’t win with her.

  The waiter set our waters down and pulled out a notepad. “I’m assuming you’re ready to order.” He eyed our menus slid to the edge of the table and then smiled at Willow.

  I bristled.

  Calm the fuck down, Dean. I scolded myself.

  “We’re both going to have the steak dinner, I’d like a baked potato and asparagus with mine.” She told the waiter and then turned to raise her brows at me.

  “I’d like a b
aked potato and asparagus with mine as well.”

  “How would you like those cooked?” He questioned.

  “Medium well,” Willow replied.

  “Same,” I echoed.

  “Excellent. That was easy.” The waiter smiled at me and took the menus before departing.

  See, you asshole. He’s just friendly. He wasn’t flirting with her and what difference would it make anyway?

  “Are you okay?” Willow questioned, giving me a weird look. “You look mad about something.”

  I did my best to smooth out my features. “Me? I’m fine.” I acted as if she was crazy.

  Her blue eyes narrowed on me shrewdly. “Mhmm.” She bit down on her tongue.

  “Just hungry,” I added by way of explanation.

  She still looked doubtful, but finally shrugged and took a sip of water.

  Her phone began to vibrate and she sighed. “My dad,” she mumbled. “He’s called me fourteen times today.” She picked up the phone with a cheery, “Hello?” She nodded at what he was saying. “Mhmm. Yeah. We’re getting dinner now. No, it’s not McDonald’s. I ordered a steak. I don’t know the name of the restaurant, it’s some local place. Palatka, Florida. Daaad, you do realize a road trip requires me to leave the state right? You were fine yesterday about this, what happened? No! I’m not going to go to Mexico and join a drug cartel…on second thought, that’s an excellent idea.” To me, she said, “Dean, we should go to Mexico, please tell me you have your passport.” On the other end I heard her dad begin to yell. “Calm down,” she told him, “I was only kidding. You totally set yourself up for that one, so you have no one to blame but yourself.” She nodded at something he was saying. “I love you too. Tell mom and Mascen and Lyls that I love them too. Yeah. Talk to you tomorrow. Bye.”

  She hung up the phone and took a deep breath. “Tomorrow I’m going to have to send him a bunch of selfies to remind him that I am, indeed, alive.” She took a gulp of water. “Have you talked to your parents since we’ve been gone?”

  “A few times, but I’m a big boy so they don’t feel the need to check on me constantly.”

  She wrinkled her nose. “Hardy, har, har,” she intoned, “aren’t you just the special one.”

  I eyed her. “I prefer the chosen one.”

  She threw her straw wrapper at me. I laughed and threw it back, laughing even harder when it tangled in her hair.

  She plucked the wrapper out of her hair and set it on the table. “We act like we’re five.”

  “Growing up is overrated.” I shrugged.

  “It really is,” she muttered.

  She got that far away look in her eyes I hated so much. I frowned. I knew Willow was worried about what the future held for her, but I wanted nothing more than to erase her doubts. I knew the real world was scary, but that didn’t mean it couldn’t still be fun. All she needed to do was find something she was passionate about the way I was passionate about cars.

  The waiter appeared and set a basket of rolls on the table.

  “It’ll be a while on your steaks,” he said, “so I wanted to make sure you had something to snack on.”

  “Thanks,” I told him, still eyeing Willow.

  She slowly lifted her eyes and brightened when she saw the rolls. “Ooh! Food!”

  I laughed at her exuberance.

  She grabbed a roll and slathered it in butter. She took a huge bite and let out a loud moan that definitely wasn’t appropriate for a restaurant.

  “Oh, that’s good.” She took another bite. “Dean, if you want any you better hurry or they’ll be gone.”

  “I’m quite enjoying watching you eat them, so I’m good, thanks.” I sat back and watched as her eyes rolled into the back of her head and she moaned again.

  If she kept that up I was going to get a boner in the restaurant and that hadn’t happened to me since I was fourteen and a waitress spilled water all over her white blouse, exposing her lacy bra.

  “You snooze you lose.” She shrugged, reaching for another roll.

  She started moaning again, and more than a few people turned our way. I waved at them and Willow was oblivious since her eyes had fallen closed.

  “I didn’t realize I was so hungry.” She tore off a piece and stuffed it into her mouth.

  “Maybe that’s because you skipped lunch since apparently cupcakes and lollipops are sufficient.” I raised my brows, waiting for her response.

  She snickered at that. “Okay, so maybe I was wrong, but it was delicious.”

  I had to agree on that front. If the cupcake shop was still open on our way back we might have to stop because I could definitely go for another chocolate cupcake. My mouth was salivating at the thought alone.

  The waiter stopped at our table with a tray and set down our plates of food. My mouth watered for a brand new reason and my stomach rumbled to life with a renewed force.

  “Oh, that smells like heaven,” Willow commented.

  “I’ll be back in a few minutes to check on you.” Our waiter said before disappearing.

  Willow cut into her steak and took a bite. “That is delicious!” She cried and people stared at us again with disgusted expressions for disturbing the quiet. I didn’t bother shushing Willow. It would only make her talk louder if I did.

  I ate a bite of mine and nodded in agreement with Willow. It was definitely delicious.

  “That’s it,” I told her, chewing on another bite, “we have at least one decent meal a day.”

  “Deal.” She stuck her hand out across the table for me to shake.

  I took her hand and we shook on it.

  ***

  We were both too full to stop for another cupcake, so we headed back to the Bed and Breakfast. We took turns showering and now we were lying in bed watching High School Musical. I’d rather watch something else, but when Willow saw that it was on she insisted on watching it and singing along to every song. Unfortunately, I knew all the songs too, so I usually sang with her.

  “This is fun.” She turned her head and smiled up at me.

  I glanced down at her, taking in her happy expression and clear eyes. “It is,” I agreed, hoping she didn’t notice how fast my heart was beating—because surely she could see it through my shirt.

  Sharing a room had been difficult enough, but a bed? This was pure torture. The smell of her body wash was overwhelming and every time she stretched, her foot brushed my leg. I wanted nothing more than to reach out and tug her body against mine. I wanted to hold her tight and never let go. But I had to keep reminding myself that she was my friend and didn’t think of me that way, which really fucking sucked.

  The movie ended and she yawned as she stretched her arms above her head, nearly whacking me in the face in the process.

  “Will,” I groaned, grabbing her arm. Her hand hovered a centimeter from my face.

  “Oops. Sorry.” She giggled and let her limbs fall to the bed.

  The image of me hovering above her, kissing her neck and skimming my hand up her bare stomach to cup her breast played through my mind.

  I was so screwed tonight, and not in the good way.

  Rolling over to face me she blinked her big blue eyes at me.

  I held my breath, staring at her face and the sprinkling of freckles across her nose. I really loved those freckles.

  “Goodnight, Dean.”

  “G’night, Willow.” I murmured.

  But I didn’t have a good night. Instead, I lay awake, terrified that in my sleep I might wrap my body around hers and give my feelings away.

  But it wasn’t me I should’ve been worried about.

  After staring at the ceiling for a solid hour without sleep, I felt Willow stir beside me.

  “Dean,” she whispered in this soft pleading tone of voice while she slept.

  My body froze. I even stopped breathing.

  I felt her hand pat against the bed.

  Searching.

  For me.

  She wiggled in her sleep and let out a noise of disc
ontent.

  I turned my head slightly so I could look at her fully, and not from the corner of my eye, to confirm that she was still asleep.

  She wiggled again, this time moving exponentially closer to me.

  My blood roared in my ears.

  Oh, shit.

  Suddenly her body was wrapped around mine like a damn boa constrictor. Her arm fell across my stomach, her head landed on my chest, and she tangled her legs with mine.

  Her hair tickled my nose and I swallowed thickly.

  I’d thought the idea of me falling asleep and ending up snuggled against her was the worst thing imaginable.

  I was wrong, because this was so, so much worse.

  I definitely wouldn’t be falling asleep tonight.

  Willow

  I woke feeling refreshed and having slept better than I had in a while.

  Dean wasn’t in the bed, but I could hear him in the bathroom brushing his teeth.

  I sat up and stretched my arms above my head. I sighed in satisfaction.

  Dean stepped out of the bathroom already dressed in a pair of jeans and a shirt that said: NERD? I PREFER THE TERM “MORE INTELLIGENT THAN YOU”

  I shook my head at his shirt and lifted my eyes to his face. He was freshly shaved and his hair was damp, curling at the ends, but what worried me were the dark purple shadows beneath his eyes that were barely concealed behind the black-framed glasses he wore.

  “Dean,” I said softly, “did you get any sleep?”

  His face wrinkled in puzzlement. “Yeah, of course.”

  “Dean,” I said his name again with worry and reached for his arm, “are you going to be okay to drive today?”

  He shook off my hold and wouldn’t meet my eyes. “I’m fine, Will.” The words came out short and biting, which was unusual for Dean. He didn’t get snappy.

  He walked away from me and sat on the bed, rifling through his bag on the floor.

  I felt like I’d been dismissed and I didn’t like that one bit.

  Normally, I would’ve pestered him about his behavior but something kept me quiet.

  I grabbed my bag and shut myself into the bathroom, refusing to analyze his strange behavior.

  I chalked it up to the fact that he was a boy.