Loving Valentine: A Novella Read online

  I sucked back more tears as I lied, “I threw up. I really don’t feel well.”

  “Okay. It worried your teacher you’re driving home alone.”

  “I’m okay. I just need to go to bed.”

  “Well, I hope it’s just something you’ve eaten and not a bug. You’ve got end of semester exams to concentrate on.”

  Gee. Thanks for the sympathy, Mom.

  “Right. I gotta go.”

  “Oh, sweetheart, I didn’t mean it like that. You know how I get. I just want you to do well. Text me when you arrive at the house. Feel better.”

  I texted her when I got to the house but I didn’t feel better.

  First, I stopped in the doorway of Micah’s room, was just down the hall from my bedroom. It had once been a nicely appointed guest room.

  Now it smelled like Micah, and he had posters and drawings on the wall. Mostly posters of favorite bands, books, and artists. The drawings were sketches of building designs he’d imagined. He was so talented. So smart. Smarter than me.

  Smart like Christy.

  Of course he was into intelligent, stupidly gorgeous, blond cheerleaders with legs up to their ears.

  I promptly returned to my room, curled up on my bed and sobbed until it felt like my entire body ached.

  It couldn’t have been that much longer when my eyes cracked open at the feel of a hand on my arm.

  I knew who it was without turning my head.

  The last person I wanted to see.

  “Hey.” His deep voice made my chest hurt. His palm brushed down my arm in comfort. “Kim said you had to come home early.”

  My swollen eyes moved to the vintage alarm clock on my bedside table. School had only just let out. “Shouldn’t you be at practice?” I sounded rough, croaky.

  “Cupid, you don’t sound so good.”

  I squeezed my eyes closed at his nickname for me. He thought it was interesting that my parents, who didn’t seem all that romantic, would give me such a romantic name. But they met on Valentine’s Day. Hence my name. And Micah’s pet name for me.

  A pet name I moronically thought meant something.

  Turned out it was because he saw me like a little sister.

  “I’m fine. Practice?”

  “Four guys on the team got detention today. Coach was so mad he cancelled practice. And then Kim told me you left school cause you were sick. I got worried.” He gently pulled on my arm so I turned to look at him.

  His handsome face clouded over, those amazing gray eyes of his filled with suspicion and concern. “You’ve been crying. You’re not sick, something happened.” Micah seemed suddenly fierce. Like he’d fight off an army for me.

  The vision of him and Christy in the darkroom flashed before my eyes and I turned away from him. “Nothing. I’m okay.”

  Hurt silence filled the air between us.

  I never shut out Micah.

  But that was the problem.

  “Valentine.” He leaned over me, brushing my hair off my face. I suppressed a shiver. “You’re really worrying me.”

  “There’s nothing to worry about,” I whispered, my voice cracking as I fought back more tears. “It’s just stupid girl stuff.”

  “Oh. Is it… is it your period?”

  My eyebrows hit my hairline and I looked at him in surprise. Most boys (even my dad!) couldn’t even say the word, let alone think it.

  Micah grinned. It was crooked and boyish. And I was so in love with his smile. “I grew up with just my mom. I’m not squeamish. Girls get periods, it sounds like they suck, and I don’t envy you. Unfortunately, they’re kind of a big deal in the perpetuation of humanity, and you ladies have to bear it for us men because we have a zero-pain threshold. And the baby thing. No way we could do that. So… thanks. For all of that.”

  I couldn’t help it. I laughed at his rambling.

  His eyes brightened. “That’s better.” He shook me gently. “Come on, Cupid. Tell me what’s wrong.”

  A tear escaped before I could stop it. “It’s not my period… I found out today that the boy I like, likes someone else.”

  He seemed shocked. Uncomfortable. His hand withdrew from my arm.

  I turned away. “Told you it was stupid.”

  “Hey, hey.” Micah leaned over me again and I couldn’t help but meet his gaze. He studied my face like I was precious. I wish he wouldn’t. It just confused me. “Any guy who doesn’t see how unbelievably special you are, isn’t worth all these tears.”

  Right.

  Except he was.

  I lowered my gaze so he wouldn’t see the truth.

  “Come here.” Suddenly he hauled me into his arms. A big part of me wanted to shove him away. But I loved the feel of Micah’s strong arms around me. I pressed my cheek to his shoulder and held on as he whispered against my hair, voice gruff, “There is no one like you, Val. No one. Don’t waste your time on any guy that doesn’t realize how fucking lucky he is that you want to be with him.”

  I smiled sadly against his shoulder and held on a little tighter as my dreams of us each being part of one whole disappeared.

  I decided then and there that I would take Micah Green’s advice to heart.

  3

  Micah

  AGE 18

  “Are you in a mood? Is it because I danced with Steve? You know we’re just friends.”

  I looked down at my prom date, trying to figure out what she was saying.

  Me in a mood. Dancing with Steve. Right. I shook my head at Alison. “No. I’m not in a mood. You know prom’s not really my thing.”

  Alison chuckled and then grabbed me by the lapels. “It’s your senior prom. I’m going to make it your thing.” She dragged me onto the dance floor and I did my best, pretending like I wasn’t searching the room as we swayed to a cheesy song.

  The truth was, I was in a mood.

  I’d been in a mood my entire junior and senior years.

  That’s what happened when you were deeply, miserably fucking in love with a girl you couldn’t have.

  And to top this shitty year off, she was my friend’s prom date.

  I couldn’t believe Graham had asked Valentine to our senior prom.

  I couldn’t believe Valentine said yes.

  She’d dated quite a few losers for the past eighteen months. My little pep talk when I found her crying over some guy I didn’t even know but wanted to kill, worked a little too well.

  But Graham was the worst of the lot.

  There had been times when I first moved in with the Fairchilds that I thought my feelings for Valentine might be reciprocated. I wouldn’t do anything about it because I couldn’t reward their kindness by going after Val, but there was a part of me that felt elated she might feel the same way back. Instead, I screwed around with a couple of cheerleaders and hoped they’d take my mind off my whopping big crush on the daughter of the people who had turned my life around for the better.

  It didn’t work.

  Little Cupid was in my blood.

  As it turned out, I wasn’t in hers. She’d made that clear by dating half the guys in my class.

  “You are in a mood. I can feel the tension in your body,” Alison huffed.

  Alison had taken over as Student Body President and Head Cheerleader when Christy went off to college. It wasn’t that I had a thing for cheerleaders. I had a thing for smart girls who were as ambitious as I was and didn’t want to get weighed down by a high school romance.

  “I need to use the bathroom. I’ll be back in a sec.”

  I’d seen Valentine dancing with Graham a little while ago. His hand had rested on her ass.

  He hadn’t said it to me because he knew I’d fuck him up, but he had to be thinking he was going to get laid tonight. It was prom night.

  Over my dead body.

  Cursing under my breath, I escaped the ballroom of the fancy ass club the school had rented for the night and found the guy’s restroom. I tried to shake off the black cloud hovering above my head before g
oing back out there.

  As I was leaving the restroom, however, something caught my attention in my peripheral. I turned toward the hallway that led to a closed off part of the members-only club.

  There was Cupid. Sitting on the floor, knees to her chest, her arm around some girl I didn’t recognize as the girl wiped tears from her cheeks. Something inside me eased seeing her.

  I leaned against the wall and watched Valentine as she comforted the blond at her side.

  Eventually she pulled the girl to her feet, hugged her and then led her toward me. Val’s eyes brightened when she saw me. The blond blushed and hurried away from us both, joining the line into the girl’s restroom.

  Val and I met each other in the middle. I tried not to check her out. It was really goddamn difficult. She’d designed and made her own dress, and she was a knockout in it. Lately, she’d become obsessed with this ‘50s kind of vibe. It suited her. Over the past eighteen months, her body had changed. I’d heard her complaining about it to her mom and it took everything within me to tell her she had nothing to worry about.

  She was all tits and ass.

  And the ‘50s vibe worked for her big time. It showed off her curves.

  Like now, in her strapless dress that fitted to her like a second skin. It was cherry red. The hem stopped just below the knee. The neckline had a heart shape and showed off Valentine’s cleavage a little more than I’d like. I wasn’t too happy about that. Neither was her dad.

  But the whole brunette Marilyn Monroe thing worked for her.

  My gaze dropped to the floor because I couldn’t look at her without wanting to kiss the hell out of her. Instead, my eyes caught on her high heels. They were tall. They had an ankle strap. Her legs looked fucking amazing.

  Shit.

  “Cupid,” I cleared my throat, swinging my gaze back up to her gorgeous face.

  Her dimples creased, her dark eyes glittering. “Hey. You okay?”

  “I’m fine. What about you?” I gestured to the girl she’d been comforting.

  “Oh, her name is Heather. She and I are just newly acquainted.”

  I raised an eyebrow. “You just met but she was sobbing on your shoulder?”

  “Yeah. Come on.” She tucked herself into my side, her arm around my back. I automatically curled my arm around her. Her head just came to my chest. To me, she was the perfect fit.

  She smelled good, too. Always did.

  As we walked toward the ballroom Valentine continued, “Heather’s a sophomore. Invited by that jackass junior, Steve Johnson. He’s danced with every hot girl since he got here and then started making out with another girl fifteen minutes ago.”

  Some guys were morons. “Asshole.”

  “Yup.”

  “Where are her friends?”

  Val shrugged. “I don’t know.”

  This was why I loved her. When Valentine saw anyone in pain, stranger or otherwise, she had to stop to help. Even if it interrupted her good time. “You’re amazing, you know that.”

  She grinned up at me, those dimples I’d wanted to kiss a million times, popping again. “You always make me feel that way.”

  “It’s because it’s true.”

  Something flickered in her eyes and I felt her tense against me.

  Could she see it? Sometimes I wondered how she could not see it?

  How much I adored her.

  “Dance with me.” It was out of my mouth before I could stop it. But I didn’t want to stop it. I couldn’t make Valentine Fairchild mine. The Fairchilds were already constantly fighting their daughter about her future. They’d told her no serious boyfriends until college. She’d told them she wasn’t going to college. It was causing major tension between them. They saw me as a brother figure to her and the buffer that kept their relationship from growing too hostile.

  If I suddenly announced I was in love with her, our entire family dynamic would implode. And I couldn’t risk hurting the Fairchilds like that. Not when I owed them everything.

  But I could have this one dance with her.

  Valentine smiled and took hold of my hand, leading me to the dancefloor even though I asked her. I tried not to notice the guys staring at her. The guys who wanted her. Or to think about the guy who would be lucky enough to have her.

  To really have her.

  All of her.

  Instead, I pushed that agonizing thought aside and pulled her into my arms. Her sweet curves pressed into my body. Her fingers tickled the strands of hair at my nape. Her perfume drifted over me, dragging me deeper under her spell… until everything around us just disappeared.

  It was just me and Valentine. Swaying to music I couldn’t even hear.

  I couldn’t hear anything but her voice as she murmured against my chest, “This is nice.”

  It was more than nice.

  It was right.

  Perfect.

  I tightened my arms around her waist and fantasized we were here together. That we’d just met at school like any two normal kids would.

  “Are you excited about college?” Val suddenly asked.

  Part of me was. Instead of BU, I’d gotten into MIT because going to a private academy had its advantages. MIT had one of the best schools for architecture in the world. Sometimes I couldn’t believe it. It was a partial scholarship. The Fairchilds were paying the rest. I’d promised I’d pay it back as soon as I could after school.

  Another reason their daughter was off limits.

  “Well?”

  While yeah, it blew me away to be attending MIT, I was going to miss Cupid like fucking crazy. Not being able to walk down the hall, knock on her door and just sit and talk shit for hours about everything and nothing. To make her laugh whenever her parents were coming down hard on her. To make her whole face light up when I praised her newest creation.

  To feel her with me when my mom screwed up and had to go back to rehab for the hundredth time. To have her just lie with me and not say a word because she knew all I needed was her next to me.

  “Let’s not talk about it. I’m all talked out about it.”

  Her fingers stroked down my nape and I shivered as she whispered, “Okay.”

  It was tempting to take hold of her hands and put them somewhere else, but that was useless. Wherever she touched me would go straight to my dick. I was eighteen for fuck’s sake and in love with her.

  Thinking about how things could be between us if life had turned out differently, I asked, “What would your dream date be?”

  Valentine lifted her head to meet my gaze. She seemed surprised by the question. “My dream date?”

  “Yeah. Not who or anything like that.” I didn’t want to know that shit. “Where would you go? What would you do?”

  She bit her plump bottom lip. I glared at it. Wanting it.

  Finally she released it and melted into me with a laugh. “You’ll think it’s cheesy.”

  “No, I won’t.”

  Her dark eyes warmed. “No, you won’t, will you?”

  “Cupid?”

  Her eyes drifted past me as she smiled and confessed, “My dream date would be… okay, so I saw it in a movie and I thought it was so simple but really romantic. And perfect. This guy turned the rooftop of his city apartment into a wonderland. There were fairy lights strung everywhere, vases of flowers, flower petals, candles flickering in the dark. And in the middle of it all was a picnic. Music playing in the background.” She shrugged. “How romantic to be up there in a city of millions but feel as if you’re the only two people in the world. Hanging out in the stars with the one person you want to be with most.” Her eyes returned to meet mine when she said the last.

  And I swear my heart stopped.

  “Yeah,” she whispered, “The one person you want to be with most.”

  Valentine was looking at me like she wanted me to kiss her.

  Shock, thrill, anticipation all blasted through me at the thought of her reciprocating my feelings.

  Mostly, I couldn’t stop staring a
t her mouth and thinking how I could almost taste her.

  My need for her short-circuited my common sense.

  I bowed my head toward her and I felt her body press deeper into mine as she rose to meet me. Her mouth was almost on mine. Just one more breath—

  “There you are!” Alison’s voice was like an explosion.

  Valentine and I practically jumped out of our skins. Dazed, I dragged my gaze off her to find my date at our side with Graham. Val’s date.

  “Can I cut in?” Graham glared at me before turning to Val with a smile. He was pulling her across the dance floor before I could stop him.

  Then Alison wrapped her arms around my neck like Valentine just had.

  It didn’t feel the same. Her touch didn’t zing through my blood like bliss.

  My attention returned to Cupid.

  Our eyes met as she looked past Graham’s shoulder.

  “So that’s why you don’t date anyone seriously,” Alison said.

  Reluctantly, I turned my attention to her. I was being a dick to her, wasn’t I? “Sorry?” I vowed to focus on her for the rest of the night.

  She grinned, but there was a tinge of sadness to it. “You love Valentine. I always kind of suspected it, but that moment between you was so hot there’s no denying it now.”

  Her words were like ice through my veins. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  “Don’t, Micah. Look, only Graham and I noticed. And I won’t say anything. You can’t be with her. I get. The Fairchilds have done a lot for you.”

  I frowned, extremely uncomfortable to have something so private known by anyone.

  Alison leaned into me. “You know my mom remarried last year, right?”

  Confused by the random change of subject, I nodded.

  “Well, the guy she married has a son. He’s a freshman at college. And I have a whoppingly large and uncomfortable crush on him. Crushing on your stepbrother? Not cool. And never gonna happen. So I get it.” She gave me a commiserating look.

  “I’m sorry.” I didn’t know what else to say.

  “Me too.” Her arms tightened around my neck. “But that’s why we have each other. To distract us from who we really want and can’t have.”