Chapter 9

MCKINLEY P.O.V

I had gone on a few dates with Liam over the last month and as much as I liked him and loved spending time with him, I was getting worried that he's never taken me back to his apartment. We hadn't made it official yet but I thought that it was strange that he always wanted to be at my place.

I of course tiptoed around my apartment so that Luke wouldn't come up and Liam answers the door again. Liam spent a lot of time at my place, I didn't mind, at least I had some company.

"Why haven't you taken me back to your place?" I asked as I cooked dinner for him.

"I live with my parents." I was a little shocked by that. He had loads and loads of money and he was living with his parents. "They had me when they were older, so they're getting up there in age and they can't do everything for themselves anymore. Last year my mom fell in the shower and she never really recovered from it." I then felt bad for being upset by it.

"I'm sorry."

"No worries. I just don't wanna bother when I bring someone back."

"Do you bring a lot of people back?"

"Do you?"

"No." I truly hadn't. Yeah the four noisy boys from downstairs come and steal my food whenever they please but I don't sleep with them. At least not all of them.

"I think you lie to me a lot."

"I don't lie to you." I commented.

"You still haven't told me about that guy from downstairs." I sighed. Luke was complicated. Not Luke himself but whatever I had going on with Luke was complicated. "Who is he?"

"He's my ex." I commented. "From New York. He moved out here a few months before I did. We dated for over a year, we lived together. Then he moved out here for work and broke it off with me."

"Did you move out here to be with him?"

"No. My company moved me out here about six months after he left." I sat down beside him. "I wanted to grow old with him. I thought that when I moved out here he would want to get back together. And he didn't."

"I'm a rebound."

"Aren't you always the rebound? There was always someone before you." It was true. There would always be someone before you. It could be a crush or a first love or a different sex partner. There was always someone that came first. "Who came before me?"

"Some bitch who was using me for money."

"See." I commented as I ate. "I'm not going to lie to you, Luke was the love of my life. I wanted to grow old with him." I thought he had wanted the same thing but clearly he didn't. He keeps saying that someday we will be back together and grow old together but lately it seems like that is never going to happen.

"I will make you forget about him." He commented swiveling my chair to face him. He rest his forehead on mine and kissed me. I smiled into the kiss. He ran his hands under my shirt and unclipped my bra. I lifted my shirt over my head and let the bra fall on my lap. I quickly moved to sit on his lap but he stood. I wrapped my arms and legs around him afraid that he would drop me.

Instead I hit the soft material of my bed. I giggled watching as he undressed himself before nearly tearing my leggings from my body.

"Easy tiger." I giggled.

"Holy shit." I sat up to look at what he was looking at and covered myself. "No no. You're beautiful." He held my hands to get a good look at me. I held his hips and unbuttoned his pants to let them fall down his legs.

"Where are you underwear?" How men can wear jeans without underwear was beyond me.

"Not wearing any."

"Clearly!" I giggled laying back waiting for him. I grabbed a condom from my side table and handed it to him. He quickly put it on before moving my legs to the side and slowly fingering me. I arched my back into his hand and moaned. His fingers were freezing cold but felt nice. Once I was slick enough, he moved back a little before pushing my legs further apart and thrusting into me. "Wait a second." I groaned trying to get comfortable.

He slowly thrusted into me making sure that I got used to his size. I gripped the sheets and threw my head back moaning. He slowly massaged my clit with his thumb making me moan louder.

"Harder." I ran my fingers through his hair before he moved away from me. I whined at the loss of contact before he grabbed my legs and put them on his shoulder's. He thrust back into harder than he was before. I threw my head back and nothing was coming out of my mouth from the amount of pleasure I was feeling. "Please." I finally was able to come up with some type of thoughts to tell him what I wanted and how.

Before he could change a position or before I could say anything, I orgasmed which sent him into an orgasm. He laid beside me as I tried to catch my breath.

"Should we order food or something?" He asked making me laugh.

"Sure." I commented getting up. "I'm gonna go shower while you order." I commented taking the sheets with me. I turned on the shower while listening to him order Chinese food. Once he hung up he joined me in the bathroom. I got in before him to wet my hair and wash myself before he got in.

"Tell me about your childhood."

"I had the best childhood. I was always outside playing with friends. We went to the beach nearly every day in the summer. We went camping all the time. I was always around friends or cousins. I had an awesome childhood." I commented rubbing his back.

"When did it all change?" I shrugged even though I was standing behind him and he couldn't see me. He looked over his shoulder at me.

"When I was 12." It was a long story, but apparently he had all the time in the world.

*LUKE P.O.V*

It was the first time in weeks since I've heard any movement from McKinley's apartment and it was from the bed banging around. Which broke my heart. I quickly grabbed my shoes and went for a run. I wasn't sticking around to hear how that ended.

Life without her was strange. It was strange that when she wasn't living here, I rarely thought about her. Of course at night when I was alone and wished that someone was there with me, my thoughts would drift to her but usually I wouldn't think about her. Of course I had been seeing Kendall for a few months up until I noticed that she was back so I guess my thoughts were occupied with her.

I had tried to keep myself busy with work, but that wasn't helping. If anyone ever came in with a love song, I automatically thought of her. I had no idea what was wrong with me.

So, we decided to plan a guys trip. Of course Michael's girlfriend was attached to him at the hip so she was coming with us.

We got off the plane in Barbados and checked into our hotel. It was right on the water and it was so pretty.

"Wanna go to the beach with me?" Ashton asked. Me, him and Calum were sharing a room while Michael was at the other end of the hall with his girlfriend.

"Yeah." He changed into our swim suits and went to the beach. We ordered drinks and laid on the beach before Calum joined us.

"It's nice getting out. I feel like we work too much." I nodded my head while closing my eyes. I felt like all we did was work. We deserved this break. We had sent to the dogs to doggy day care and hopefully everything went smooth until we got back. "I kinda miss Duke though." He pouted making me laugh.

"We're only gone for a week. Enjoy it." As soon as we got back, we would have to go back to work. As much as I hated it, I knew it needed to be done. I loved my job, I did. But sometimes it got to be too much. The worst part was that my job didn't end on the weekend. Lots of artists can only find time to come in on the weekends. The other guys refuse to come in on weekends so it's up to me. Of course they have lives outside of the studio and I don't.

We were all silent for a while before Ashton sighed.

"What?" I asked looking over at him.

"It sucks being single." He's telling me.

"Yeah. But at least you didn't have to listen to your ex having sex a few days ago."

"Bro, even I listened to your ex have sex the other night." Calum commented. "Hottest thing I've ever heard. I would do her."

"Shut up, Calum." I couldn't help but smile. I knew he was joking but it still hurt a little. McKinley was beautiful but that didn't mean that I wanted to hear what my friends would do with her.

"I wish I had met her first. I haven't had a girlfriend in years."

"Yeah but you get laid all the time." Ashton commented. Calum was always bringing girls back to the apartment and he never shared with me or Ashton. It was rather rude of him to not share.

"I give some of those girls to Ashton!" He defended himself.

"Why don't you share with me?"

"Cause you still love McKinley." I was taken back by his words. I didn't realize that it had been obvious to everyone. I thought that I was keeping it on the down low. "Don't give me that look." Apparently my face was talking for me. "It's very obvious that you still love her, Luke. You talk about her all the time. But it's weird, when we first moved out to L.A, you never talked about her. What changed?"

"I got to see her again. And hear her voice again. I am so stupid for not taking her back."

"Well, has she asked to get back together?"

"Yeah. Ton's of times."

"Too bad she's with that Liam guy."

"He has a name?"

"All people have names." Ashton commented ordering another drink. I'm sure he needed to be drunk to be having this conversation with me. "I met him a week ago. I went up to hang out with her and he was there." I think I needed to be drunk to continue the conversation. "Does she know how you feel?"

"No."

"Then how is she suppose to do anything if you don't tell her how you feel?" I shrugged. I didn't know how to tell her. I wasn't sure how to tell her that I loved her but also hated her. I hated seeing her everyday. I hated seeing how happy she became when Liam came around. I hated hearing her heels click on the floor and not being able to go up there and kiss her.

But, I hated myself more than I could ever hate her. She wanted me. She told me she did and I told her no. How could I be mad at her? I was the one who said that we couldn't be together. I was the one who said that I wasn't in a good spot. I was the one who broke her heart not the other way around. I shouldn't be upset or hurt.

"I'm a moron."

"Yeah." They both agreed. If anyone else in this world had a beautiful girl like her, they would never let her go.

******

As a group we had decided to go to dinner. Michael and his girlfriend, Lynn sat down at the table with us and both had smiles on their faces.

"What?" Ashton was the first to ask.

"We're engaged." I was a little shocked to say the least. He had only been with her for about 7 months. I looked at Ashton and Calum as they looked at each other and then me.

"What?" I was the first to break the silence.

"We're engaged." Michael confirmed as she held up her hand for us to look at the ring. It was huge and sparkled under the moonlight.

"You're serious?" Calum asked. Michael and Lynn's faces dropped when none of us said anything positive right away. I mean, how could we? They had literally been together for 7 months! I had no idea what to say to them. I thought that it was crazy and a bad idea.

"Are you not happy for us?" This was not a conversation that I was willing to have when I was 1)slightly drunk and 2)in the presence of his girlfriend. Marriage wasn't something that you just did for fun. I would know, I tried that when I was 19. I was getting married in spite of my parents and it backfired on me.

"Don't you think it's a little too soon?" Ashton has always been the voice of reason in the group but it was obvious that none of us would be able to change Michael's mind about this one.

The conversation moved forward but I stayed quiet. I don't think either of them wanted to know what I was thinking.

When the night came to an end, Michael and Lynn went off to their hotel room to...well. Me, Ashton, and Calum went to our hotel room.

"You didn't say anything to Michael or Lynn."

"Remember when I was going to get married after only knowing the girl for 10 months?" They nodded. "This is the same thing. Either they're going to break up before the wedding or they'll get divorced. Either way, it'll break Michael's heart."

"We can't look at the negative." Well, I only looked at the negative.