Harassenger: Backseat Admirer ✔️

Chapter Nineteen

Chapter Nineteen

"Can I come in?" I as alone in my bedroom after the heated kiss with Mick Conrad. Mick had disappeared to take a bath downstairs, probably to rub that kiss off of his face. I, however, didn't want to take another bath again. My lips still sizzled from the kiss, and to know that Mick practically promised me many more kisses made me want to crash through the wall like the kool-aid man and sing hallelujah.

I was sitting against my bed frame surrounded by fluffy pillows as I took some time to read when I heard a voice behind my door. The voice was light, with not much of a smattering of confidence, but I knew it was Holt.

"Come in." He probably wanted to talk about Mick and me, hopefully less raffish this time.

Holt's hair was wet, and he had changed his shirt, now wearing a blue shirt fully unbuttoned with two pockets on either side. He must have taken a shower before Mick.

He sat on the foot of the bed, reaching for the book I had been reading. He smiled at the cover.

"Instead of reading Vogue or some girly magazine, you're reading a novel. Sounds like you." He messed with me.

"Yepp, that's me." I laughed.

"Oh, before I forget, I got you something. It's for your mom." Pulling from his lounge shorts, he retrieved a pamphlet sized card. It was a postcard for Destin.

"For Mom?" I asked, grabbing it from his hand.

"Yes. I know she's been to Destin before but I'm sure she will be surprised to get the card before we come home again. I know how she loves to travel and I bet she regrets not being here." She would have came, but Mom has the gym to look after and my little sister. If it were up to mom, and our economic status was negotiable, we would have left Salty Edge. Mom hates the small town life, but I was never much keen to the prospect of leaving for somewhere new. Everyone who runs away from Salty Edge runs faster to come back.

"Thanks, that was sweet of you. I'm sure she will love it. Could you send it out for me?"

"It's the least I can do, considering how I've been acting. I feel awful with the way I've treated you, but not knowing that you were dating someone hurt me. I'm one of your closest friends, and no offense to Trixie, but I feel like I am your best friend. I hate that I didn't know about you and Mick."

"I wanted to keep it secret, not just from you but from the entire town. You know how fast gossip goes around, and what if Mick and I wouldn't work out? It's best I kept it safe, and it's still best to keep it that way." Soon enough, when we get back to town I'll slowly let Mick fade away from my life and pretend like nothing happened, because nothing did happen. Well, with the exception of the kiss.

"I understand, but I don't understand at the same time, if that makes any sense. I'm still trying to wrap my mind around the idea of the two of you together. And you two are sharing a room, which makes me want to vomit, I won't lie." He said.

"I'm twenty-one; I'm not longer that vulnerable kid I was. I can take care if myself, alright?" I said, trying to comfort him the best I could. Now he knows what it felt like to not have control over a relationship. I couldn't control his relationship with Della, no matter how much I didn't like her.

"I'm not going to say I hate Mick, I won't, but I'm not going to say I like him either." He grunted.

"You've never had any problems with the guys who've liked me before."

"That's because I could control them. They were all smaller than I was so a few threats kept them away, but not Mick. Mick couldn't give two craps what I tell him, and he's going to do what he wants. He really likes you, so you can imagine why I'm so worried about you."

"I appreciate it; I really do." Holton threatening men on my behalf was new to me. Could that be why so many men in Salty Edge stay away?

"But not enough to listen to me? Mick's right about one thing: you're as stubborn as a mule." Holt shook his head, a grimace on pretty boy face.

"I don't want you to get hurt. I don't want you going into this relationship blind, thinking that you're going to fall in love with him."

"Holt, love is not blind; love is finally seeing. If I fall in love with him, I'll see it, and I'll know it."

"Is that how you think love works?" He asked, his acorn-shaped eyes finding mine.

"Yes, why? I'm sure you know that being as how you're married to the love of your life." I pointed out, twiddling my thumbs and waiting for a reply.

"Yeah, I guess you're right." He huffed anxiously.

"You guess? Holt, that question that I asked you the other day about Della,  did you ever find an answer?"

"Don't worry about it. Della is great, we are great. I have to go." So that's asked big fat no. He couldn't think of one thing he loved about her besides her looks.

The mattress rose when his weight lifted, and I listened for the click of the door before I began to read again. I couldn't concentrate, reading the same sentence a million times. I put the book on top of my head like a proper English lady, sinking into the comfy, cold sheets.

I wanted Holt to be happy in his relationship, which was a strike contrast to the way I wanted to destroy it before...before I met Mick Conrad. Things were different now, and I felt it, I saw it, and I knew it.