Sparkling Hope (The Eastburgh Devils Series Book 1)

‘Thanks for the ride home,’ I unbuckled my seatbelt, leaned over the center console of his car, and gave Landon a quick hug.

‘And you’re coming in?’ Landon asked me, looking out the open window of his car at me as I already got out.

‘Sure, Weston has a key hidden around here somewhere.’

‘All right then. See you around, Luna.’

I waved at him after he pulled out of the driveway toward the street and disappeared behind the dense fir trees.

The Halloween party could have gone on until this morning, and I would have stayed until the end, but the small number of hours  I slept made them noticeable.

Besides, I didn’t know what had gotten into me getting so involved with Weston.

I was and still am mad at him, but at that moment, I folded and gave him a sense of power to get what he wanted.

That can never happen again.

Ever again.

As I left the storage room, I ran into Landon, and he offered me a ride home. It was best to get out of there and put distance between Weston and myself.

I once overheard Weston hiding a key on the trailer’s tires. On the property of the Sinclairs, there was a car trailer with a boat on it, which was covered with a tarp.

So I searched the tires and found a key on one of the back tires with a skate as a tag.

I couldn’t ring the bell because I would wake up the entire house, as loud as that bell was, and I couldn’t call my mother either because my cell phone didn’t have a drop of battery left.

Quietly I unlocked the heavy wooden door, and after closing it again, I tiptoed through the living area to the stairs and caught a step where the wood creaked loudly.

‘Fuck,’ I bit my lower lip and stopped like that for a moment, listening to the silence in the house.

The only thing I could hear was my heartbeat. It was that quiet in this vast house.

Once in my room, I threw the key on my nightstand and flopped on the bed.

I preferred to stay in this bed, complete with costume and sleep, but I had to shower urgently.

The smell of sweat, nicotine, and grass settled in my hair and the fibers of my costume.

I just wanted to forget this night.

Every little moment because every time I thought about the party now, I thought about how much I fell for him in the storage room.

I must hate him.

I swore I would hate him forever.

Weston hit such a sore spot in me, something I didn’t want anyone to see and certainly not him.

The best thing after a hot shower was always the stuffy air in the bathroom and the smell of shower gel in the air.

With a towel around my body, I went into my room, picked out fresh sleeping clothes from the dresser, and then began to dry my hair with the towel.

Suddenly my cell phone buzzed.

WESTON SINCLAIR

I am dwnstaiirs.

Yuoo hav my kiy.

69

LUNA

Coming.

The last message was a bit questionable, but the way he wrote the other messages and made up any new words, I was sure he wouldn’t be completely sober.

I trudged barefoot across the warm wooden floor, laid with underfloor heating, to the front door. Ignoring the other messages and calls, I left my phone on the kitchen island and walked to the front door.

A small lamp hanging on the outside wall of the house next to the front door shone through the small window on the door into the hallway, and as I looked through it, I already saw Weston.

After Landon let me out here, I unlocked the front door with the same key I used to enter the house earlier.

When I opened the front door, I was looking at a topless Weston, whose writing on his torso where it had previously said MALE WHORE was now completely smeared.

He was leaning against the door frame with his upper arm.

‘Thank God you didn’t ring the doorbell,’ I whispered.

‘Don’t you dare,’ I slapped his hand away as he suddenly moved his finger to the doorbell.

‘Maybe I should have. You didn’t answer my messages.’

I felt the cool night air on my skin and the goosebumps forming.

‘I did answer, and now come in. It’s cold.’

‘Give me a minute,’ Weston propped his upper arm on the door frame and walked to the bushes across from the house, leaving me unsuspecting at the door.

Judging from the sounds, Weston was throwing up, but the wind flying through the canopy of fir trees drowned it out.

‘Weston?’ I yelled in a whisper and ran down the steps until I stopped at the last step and called his name again when I had already got no response the first time I called.

Still, I got no response, nor did I hear anything except the wind blowing through the pines.

So I walked carefully on tiptoe over the pebbles, contorting my face with each step.

‘Damn it, Wes,’ I shook and crossed my arms in front of my chest.

If someone had told me ten minutes ago that I’d be standing in the middle of the driveway in the middle of the night in nothing but shorts, a t-shirt, and soaking wet hair, I would have worn something different.

‘Shit, Weston,’ I took more small steps towards the thick bushes until suddenly, out of nowhere, he popped out.

‘Fuck, I thought you passed out or something.’

‘So you were worried?’ he grinned dirty, and he looked like he was doing excellent again.

Great.

‘Come on in now!’

I turned around, and this time I didn’t care how much the pebbles hurt under the soles of my feet because all I wanted to do was get in the house and curl up in my bed.

‘Do you have a key?’ Weston asked, slowly following me.

‘No, why?’

I turned to face him until he pointed his finger at the front door, which slammed shut through the wind.

‘Fuck, fuck, fuck.’

I leaned my forehead against the front door several times and banged it against the wood.

Why did something like this have to happen right now?

I was annoyed because I could have just put the key back on one of the tires, and none of this would have happened. Otherwise, I’d be in bed by now, not freezing my ass off.

‘Don’t pull that face, Hazel Bug. Instead, get your cute ass over here.’ Weston stood in front of the stairs that led up to the balconies outside our rooms.

‘What are you going to do up there? Sleep on the bench?’

‘I want you to climb through my window.’

‘You want me to do what?’ I asked him indignantly but quickly realized from the look on his face that he was serious.

I had gone through his door before when he wouldn’t open the front door, but not through his window. This was my only chance to get us into this house without waking anyone up.

Weston proceeded slowly, but I quickly realized that with the alcohol, he wouldn’t be able to get up the stairs.

‘I got you,’ I put his left arm around my shoulders and my right arm around his waist.

Getting a hockey player that size over six feet two inches up the stairs was more strenuous than I thought.

Once at the top of the terrace, I dropped him onto the bench and walked over to his windows to see which one was open.

‘That window should be open,’ Weston pointed to the small window next to the door.

I don’t know how he figured it out, but there’s no way I will fit through that window. Especially since it was also stuck, and I couldn’t slide it up.

I could fit half a melon through it.

I slid my arm between them, opened the inside glass door, and turned the doorknob.

Weston managed to get up from the bench himself, and I took him straight to the bathroom, where I sat him on the bathtub’s edge. Even though I did not want to see Weston right now, I didn’t want to let him go to bed like that, so I decided to help him.

Because of the way he was sitting there, I was sure he would be sitting there until morning.

I rummaged his toothbrush out of the cupboard, which by now was next to my toothbrush cup because he accepted that I stored my things in there as well.

‘Here,’ I gave him the toothbrush with some toothpaste, and he started brushing his teeth.

While he was brushing his teeth, I went into his room to close the window again and find a t-shirt for him to put on. When I returned to the bathroom, he stood in front of the sink rinsing out his mouth and putting his toothbrush back in the cup.

‘I hope the t-shirt is okay,’ I put the t-shirt on the vanity and picked out a washcloth from one of the drawers so he could wipe away the smeared paint on his torso.

Weston sat on the edge of the bathtub again, took the rag I held under running warm water, and began wiping the black paint off his skin.

As far as he could manage with that alcohol level.

I cut a plaster in front of the washstand to fit the cut on his cheek because it came off again. I caught myself as my eyes slid to the mirror, where I saw Weston sitting behind me.

I wanted to create distance because I thought I was stupid when my body intensely reacted to his efforts.

This can’t be happening. I can’t look at him. What would he think of me if he suddenly looked up and saw me watching him through the mirror?

He reached for the t-shirt on the vanity, almost causing him to lose his balance, and pulled it on.

That’s all I would have needed if Weston’s drunken stupor had also caused him to hit the bathroom floor because then I didn’t know if the Band-Aid would still be enough.

‘Can I?’ I asked him as I stood between his legs and reached for the peach-colored washcloth he had placed on his thigh, now leaving a dark stain on his jeans.

‘Mhm.’

I carefully reached up to his chin and began to clean the skin around his wound with the tip of the rag so it wouldn’t get infected.

He winced. ‘Ouch.’

‘Sorry.’

Not only did I feel this weird tension between us, but I also felt my heart about to jump out of my chest and drop to the bathroom floor between us. I suddenly felt we were too close but wanted to do nothing about it.

I would love to run out of this bathroom and lock the door. Lock Weston and everything I just felt in there.

‘Thank you.’

‘Huh?’ I asked dreamily because I was so lost in thought.

‘Thank you for helping me.’

‘Of course, I’ll help you,’ I stuck the first thin strip of tape on the wound.

‘I mean it. I don’t take it for granted. I’ve been such a fucking asshole.’

I stuck the second tape on his cheek but felt his eyes resting on me.

‘I’m sorry, Luna.’

I looked down at him and felt his hands on my thighs, his fingers slowly stroking up and down my skin with great care. The individual spots he touched felt like fire, like sparks were jumping from his fingers over my skin right between my legs.

Weston didn’t go any higher, and the grip didn’t get any more intense, yet he continued to slide over my skin with such care that I thought my breath was getting choked up because I couldn’t focus on anything but his fingertips.

‘I mean it. I’m sorry,’ he apologized again, and something about this situation told me he was sorry.

‘It’s okay.’

We both knew exactly what just happened. Neither of us moved an inch. The air conditioner suddenly came on, and a hissing sound came from the air conditioner.

‘We should both go to sleep now,’ I stepped back and released his grip from my thighs.

Weston said nothing and walked toward his bed, in front of which he stripped off his jeans and pulled sweatpants over his legs.

I picked out a pill from the small cabinet next to the shower and walked into his room, placing the pill next to him on the nightstand where he had a water bottle.

‘Here for tomorrow morning,’ I showed him the pill again before turning and walking slowly towards the bathroom to finally get into bed because the sunrise could be seen from Weston’s windows.

‘Luna?’

‘Huh?’

‘Do you want to stay here?’ Weston propped his forearms on the mattress and waited for my answer.

‘Good night, Weston,’ I smiled briefly and disappeared into the bathroom.