Lyrics of a Small Town by Abbi Glines

Fourteen

I put the last letter down around midnight and stared at the pile on the coffee table. Rio was right about the Lyra who wrote the letters being my mom. I would know that handwriting anywhere. It was my mother’s alright. Albeit a bit neater back then.

Whoever Rebel was that was the man who aided in my creation. I didn’t doubt that. The way Rio’s mom had written him, I was pretty sure Rebel was the only guy in her life too. There was a ninety-nine percent chance in my estimation that Rio was in fact my half brother. He had been sure of it when he took me out on the beach and told me, and now I could see why.

Proving this was going to be another issue. Although we could easily take a DNA test. Did those tell you who your father was? Or would it just tell us we were siblings? I had never had to think about this before and DNA tests weren’t something I knew much about.

Gran’s grandfather clock began to chime twelve and I knew I had to get in bed. Four in the morning would be here too soon. Yawning, I stood up and started toward the kitchen when a knock at the door caused me to yelp in surprise. Spinning around to see who had knocked, I froze when I saw Saul standing on the other side of the door. I stared at him a moment and he held my gaze.

Why was he here?

Slowly I moved to the door and battled with myself over if I should open it or tell him to leave through the glass. When I reached it, I already knew which side of me had won. It was the stupid side. I unlocked the bolt then the knob itself before turning it and opening it up.

“Can I help you?” I asked him, hoping to at least sound snippy since I had opened the dang thing.

“No,” he replied and his short response was the reminder I needed to close the door back.

His hand flattened on the glass and stopped me before I could move. It was as if he had read my thoughts. Maybe he had that power too. He could look sexy in anything he wore, he could make girls do stupid things, he had the ability to sting you with one glance, why not read minds? Seemed feasible. If you were Edward Cullen at least. Yeah, I was getting delirious and needed to get some sleep.

“Can I come in?” he asked me.

“No,” I replied.

He sighed. “Please,” he added.

Damn, damn, damn, I was such a girl. I stepped back and opened the door wider but said nothing. I would let him say what he wanted then I would tell him to leave so I could go to bed.

Saul walked inside and stopped just a few inches from me. I closed the door behind him and waited. He had come here. I hadn’t invited him. I did not have to make conversation or beg him to tell me why he was here. But he stayed silent.

“How is Lily?” I asked him. That was the only thing I cared about.

“Better, for now,” he replied, but he didn’t turn his head to look at me.

I wanted him to elaborate on that but decided I would go visit her myself and find out. He had brought me the gate key to get into his mother’s penthouse but hadn’t mentioned then Lily was his mom.

The longer he stood there not looking at me and not talking, my aggravation turned to anger. Why had he come here to act weird and say nothing? He didn’t like me; he had made that clear. I knew now that the few times he had been nice to me was for my Gran’s sake and not mine. I knew nothing about him but that he had an addict for a mom, but was also very wealthy, which was probably how he afforded a million-dollar home, and he had a girlfriend who seemed to be heading down that path as well.

“It’s late, I have work in the morning, I don’t know why you’re here, but I need you to go,” I told him.

He didn’t move nor did he look at me.

Was he on something? Did he do drugs too? Was that another secret I didn’t know about him?

“Saul, please leave,” I said with more conviction and started to move to open the door back up.

His hand shot out so quickly I didn’t see it until his fingers were wrapped around my wrist. It wasn’t painful, but it was firm. “Don’t. Please,” was all he said.

Sighing in frustration, I tried to free my arm from his grasp, but he didn’t loosen his hold. “Saul, if you’re high, I can call Rio. He can come get you, but I am tired and I am done with this-”

“Rio,” he said, interrupting me. “He was here. Two nights this week you were with him. You like him?” he asked, finally turning to look at me.

I stared at him completely baffled by this line of questioning. Was he here to warn me away from Rio too? Well tough luck because Rio may be his friend, but it was looking like he was my brother. I had greater dibs.

“Not your business,” I said, pulling harder on my arm this time with no luck.

Saul groaned and muttered a curse word. “Just tell me. Do you like him?”

“Why does it matter?” I shot back. “Are you going to tell me to stay away from him too?”

“No,” he said. “Rio isn’t Drake.”

His response surprised me enough to be still and stop pulling at my arm. Saul lifted his eyes and met mine. “Do you like him?”

I growled in frustration. Why did he care so much? “Again, not your business.”

He turned then and he was facing me. Much too closely. He smelled of sunscreen and cigarettes. “Rio is my friend. My best friend,” he said.

I waited for more and fought the urge to step back. He was too close.

“Then ask Rio,” I replied.

“I want to know if you like Rio,” he repeated.

“Why?” I shot back at him.

He took a step closer to me, his eyes hooded and hard to read. “Because, Henley, if you like Rio, it changes things.”

“What things?” I asked confused.

“Fuck it,” he muttered.

At that moment, it felt like slow motion, but it also happened so quickly I didn’t have time to prepare. Saul’s mouth was on mine and his hands were on my hips, pulling me against him. His hard chest pressed against my softer one and I was overwhelmed to the point my knees no longer felt very sturdy. I swayed slightly and one of his hands grabbed the back of my head to hold me there as his mouth opened over mine and I was tasting him. I was sure he could feel the pounding of my heart as I found myself holding onto his arms for support. The warmth of his body and scent of sunshine on his skin was intoxicating.

The kiss was turning into something much more intense than two lips colliding. Everything inside me was humming with a pleasure I had never experienced. Clinging to Saul, wanting to get closer to him and not ever let go. All the anger, hurt and annoyance that had built up from his treatment of me vanished in the moment. I cared only about this.

Saul’s hand slid down over my hip, and just as I thought he would touch more of me, he was gone.

I stumbled from the loss of his support as my eyes snapped open in confusion. My gaze met his and he looked to be in some sort of physical pain while I had been experiencing the exact opposite.

“I can’t. This… we…. I can’t.” He said the words in a hoarse whisper before he turned and left the house. The firm click of the door closing behind him.

I stood there unable to move. My lips still tingling from the kiss, my head still reeling from all that had happened. My heart slightly damaged from a beautiful boy who was set on breaking me.

The next day I woke up at four, baked my items, delivered them, and tried to go back to sleep. When I couldn’t sleep, I called my mom, listened to her complain about me wasting my summer, how I needed to move on with my life, how I was messing up my future, then I went for a walk on the beach. Rio didn’t come over because he had to work an extra shift to pay off the bail money his pop had given him to repay Saul. I didn’t feel like attacking another item on Gran’s list. I wanted to believe it was my phone conversation with my mother that had gotten me in this funk, but I knew… it was because of Saul.