My Secret Love (18+)

Chapter 18

I haven't talked to Michael in over a week. I have been inside the house, crying over the death of my brother and drinking to heal the pain of losing him.

I walked into the kitchen and poured myself a shot. I downed it and poured another one. I saw Michael was still sleeping on the beach, he had gotten himself a tent and has been camping out on the beach until I welcomed him back in. Which I haven't.

I missed him. I felt so stupid for blaming him for something that wasn't completely his fault. I downed the second shot and looked at the time. It was only 3 in the afternoon. I figure I should get out of this house. I downed another shot and went to go get dressed.

I grabbed the car keys and walked out the front door. I wasn't able to go to far because Michael was just about to knock on the door.

"Hey, how are you?" He asked as he looked down in my hands and saw the bottle of tequila and car keys I had in my hand. "Where are you going?"

I was silent and slowly walked passed him. I didn't know what to say, but cry at this point.

"You shouldn't be driving with that." He said as I then turned to him and tossed the keys to him.

"Fine, I will walk." I said before turning around and muttering 'asshole'. I took another sip and walked down the boardwalk. It wasn't that busy for a Friday, but it looked like it was going to rain. I still kept walking, taking sips of the bottle of tequila while people stopped and stared. I could care less. My life was coming to be pointless.

I found an empty bench that was facing the ocean, I just sat and watched the sun set. Someone came up and sat next to me. "Elizabeth?"

I turned and saw Dylan, the guy I met at the nightclub. I turned and faced the ocean again. "Are you okay? You look like you have been crying. Is everything okay?"

I took another sip and muttered 'No'. I started to cry some more. "What can I do to help you? I'm not gonna leave you here to be drunk."

"Can you bring back my dead brother?" I asked, looking at him.

"I can't."

"Then there is nothing you can do for me."

"Where is your boyfriend? Do you want me to go find him for you?" I laughed.

"I never had one to begin with." I said, still laughing that he thought that Michael was my boyfriend.

"Okay, well, what do you want to do?" He asked as I got up to stretch. "Get drunk with me." I downed the rest of the bottle and handed it to him. I started to walk down to the nightclub, where we first met. Dylan followed and threw the bottle in the trash and grabbed my hand. I held onto his hand, not caring if Michael saw.

"I want some shots!" I yelled at Dylan, while we were standing at the bar. Dylan nodded and ordered some for us. Once they were in front of me, I looked at Dylan and grinned. "I'm gonna warn you that I'm already pretty drunk and that I might take your shots." He then downed his and mine once I finished speaking.

"Hey! Now you need to order more!" I said, Dylan laughed and I smiled. I haven't smiled in such a long time that it felt good to smile.

"Bartender, I need two more for her." Dylan said as the bartender poured another two shots. I downed them both and looked up at Dylan. "Do you want to go back to my house? I've got a hot tub."

"Yeah! I don't have a bathing suit though." I said Dylan paid the bartender and we started to walk out.

"That's okay, I can buy you one or you can go in your bra and panties." He smirked. I grabbed his hand as we walked down the boardwalk to his house. His place was huge, like a mansion, almost. "Dude, I didn't know you were rich!" Dylan laughed as he opened the gate and held open for me. "Who do you think owns the boardwalk?"

"Shut up! No way!" I said as we walked up the path and entered into his home. We walked upstairs to his room and on the balcony was a hot tub. He started to take off his shirt and looked at me. "Well what are you waiting for?" He then got into the hot tub. I slowly took my tank top off and then my shorts. I was wearing a red bra and panties set. "Damn, you look hot." Dylan said as I took off my flip flops and got into the hot tub.

"This is so relaxing. Thank you." I said as Dylan smiled.

"No problem, do you want something to drink and some music?" He asked, I shook my head yes as Dylan got out. "I'll be right back."

I closed my eyes and just took a minute to relax. It was a long time since I have felt relax, or calm. Dylan came back in and had turned on a Pandora station and handed me a glass of red wine.

I took a sip as he got back into the hot tub. "You look a lot more stressed free." He said as he sat down beside me. "With what I had gone through in the past week or so, I needed this."

He wrapped his arm around be and took a sip of his wine. I did as well. He then smiled. "So now that you aren't with that dude, am I okay to finish what I started?" He asked, I took a moment to think about it. Maybe it wasn't a good idea? I'm drunk and I don't think Michael would like the fact that I would be doing something with another guy. I was still upset with him.

I looked at Dylan and placed a kiss on his lips. I pulled back and looked up at the sky, a tear fell from my cheek. "If you don't mind me asking, but what happened?" I was silent for a minute. I closed my eyes and all I could picture was that bloody scene, my brother, death in my arms.

"My brother was shot in the head by my ex." I said as I looked at him. "I thought I was in love with my ex, but once we were engaged, everything changed about him."

"He would beat and rape me. Some nights, I didn't even want to go home. I didn't feel safe anymore."

Dylan stayed silent after I took another breath.

"One night, I had enough, he beat me almost to death and that's when Michael took my brother and I here. I thought we would be safe, but he found me. My father was helping him look for me and he ended up killing him. Tim and I got away, but I blamed Michael for everything. Tim and I, stupidly, left Michael and stayed at a hotel. My ex found us, shot my brother and I killed him."

I started to cry some more, Dylan then hugged me. "I'm so sorry, Elizabeth." I looked up at him and he wiped my tears away. "Let's get you into some dry clothes and get you some sleep, okay?" I nodded as Dylan helped me out of the hot tub. He gave me a shirt and sweatpants, that smelled like his scent. I laid down in his bed, placing the covers over me. "If you need anything, I'll be downstairs." As Dylan started to walk out of the room.

"Wait." I said as Dylan stopped. "Can you lay with me?" I asked as Dylan nodded and got underneath the covers as well. He wrapped his arms around me and I fell off to sleep. The only thing that I was think about was Michael.