Pull

Chapter One

Seven weeks previous

Demetri

I sighed for the tenth time, hoping to gain some flicker of

sympathy from Nat. But she was immobile. Like a really hot stone

that refused to crack.

I nudged her with my foot.

Which made things worse.

I feel like that’s all I do these days. Make things worse and

then reap the awesome benefits of being a total and complete screw

up.

Maybe it’s because I’m clueless. I’m the guy who chases the

girl when clearly she wants someone else.

Damn. I’m the pathetic number two.

“Nat?” If she wasn’t going to give in, at least I could ask her

honestly. She was never the type of girl to completely ignore me

when I asked her a question.

After my near death experience, where I swear I saw my life

flash before my eyes, Nat had been a lot nicer about things between

me, her, and my brother.

The ménage a’weird.

“What, Demetri? You’ve only been sighing like some

lovesick teenager for the past hour. What do you want?”

Now that I felt completely stupid, I didn’t want to ask her

anymore. I knew she’d either tell my brother, Alec, or laugh in my

face.

“Promise you won’t tell Alec?”

“He’s my boyfriend. I love him. I tell him everything.”

Crap. “Everything?”

Nat rolled her brown eyes and shook her long blond hair to

the side. She had no idea how beautiful she was. Maybe it was a

good thing, because she had every right to be a total brat; instead

she was convinced she was plain.

“Yes, Demetri, everything. Including the time Mom and I

helped you shower after your accident, and you pretended to fall,

only to have me fall on top of you.”

Like an idiot, I grinned. I couldn’t help it. “I take it Alec

wasn’t amused.”

“You think?” She pushed me and switched the channel.

Wonder of wonders, it was my brother, singing at some awards

show.

Nat sighed. “I wish I could’ve gone with him.”

“Nat.” I nudged her with my leg. “You know he wishes you

were there too. He’ll be back in a few days to take you to college, so

you can both move on with your lives and leave me here in Hell.

Thanks for that, by the way.”

“Hey. Your choice, not mine.” She lifted her hands in the air

and sighed. “Besides, aren’t there some really good rehab places in

California? We could all be close and —”

I shook my head and managed to interrupt her by waving

my hand wildly in the air. “Not gonna happen.”

“Why?” She seemed genuinely upset, which made me want

to shoot myself — in a total non-suicidal way, of course.

“You guys need your time away from everything, away

from this.” I pointed at myself and managed a tight smile, even

when it was killing me inside to even be talking about that again.

Last year Nat had fallen for both me and my brother. I, being

the genuine ass that I was, knew she had the hots for him but

jumped in and tried to steal her anyway. I still wasn’t dealing with

some past shit that had nearly ruined my life. I blamed Alec for it,

and for once I just wanted the girl first, so I could rub his face in it.

Eventually it blew up in my face.

Literally blew up in my face in the form of a killer car

accident that I just barely managed to escape with all my limbs

intact.

After all that, it was apparent that while Nat loved me, it

wasn’t the type of love you sell your soul for, or die over. Nope, it

was more like the kind you feel for your hot cousin or maybe your

grandmother. You love them. You hope they do well in life, and

yeah, they may be good-looking (just to be clear, we’re talking

about the cousin here, not the grandma), but that’s as far as it goes.

The love she felt for Alec?

Well, it was the Twilight kind. Sorry, but it’s the only

comparison I could think of on the spot, especially considering Nat

made me read all the books. It was the I will literally stop breathing if

I can’t have you type of love.

A love I’ve only experienced once in my life. A love like that

doesn’t happen twice. It’s impossible.

“Nat?”

“What?” She seemed irritated with me. So what else was

new?

I turned around and sat back down. “Do you think?” Oh

man, I really needed to find a substitute for all the alcohol and pot,

because right now all I wanted to do was go get high or drunk or

jump off a cliff. Ever since I quit partying, I felt like a complete and

total girl. Commercials about dogs made me teary-eyed, and last

week when I saw an old man cross the street with his little wife and

watched him pat her hand, I grinned like a fool and whistled the

entire way home. Demetri Daniels does not whistle.

“Spit it out, Demetri.”

“Fine,” I grumbled and looked away from her. I couldn’t

look at her if I had to ask this. “Do you think that true love, the type

you have with Alec, do you think it could happen twice in a

lifetime?”

Nat flipped off the TV.

Aw, crap. She only did that when she needed to concentrate.

“Demetri, if this is about us…”

“No! Hell, no!” Nat scowled. “No, not like that. I don’t mean

it like that. What I meant was it’s not about us. I know how it

sounds. Sorry. I just… I don’t know. What I guess I’m asking is, do

you think I could be lucky enough to have that pull that you have

with Alec again in my lifetime?”

“Why wouldn’t you be able to?”

I looked at her. I mean, really looked at her. Damn, the girl

was too adorable. Was she serious? “Nat, I’m a recovering druggie

and alcoholic at nineteen. I almost died. Because I’m a rock star, I

have one true friend — two if you count my brother. And, oh right,

I’m stuck in Seaside, Oregon, for the next year while you go off and

have the time of your life in L.A. Add that in with all the intense

psychotherapy I’m in from two years ago when my girlfriend not

only cheated on me with my brother, but died in a tragic car

accident with their son, and yeah… I guess I’m being a little

pessimistic. Perhaps a bit depressing, but come on, Nat! Shit, look

at me!”

Nat’s lip began to tremble.

Crap. I made her cry.

Alec was going to have me by the balls.

“Nat, I didn’t mean…” I reached out to touch her arm.

She shook her head; a single tear ran down her cheek.

“Demetri, I’m so sorry!”

I hated it when Nat cried. It made my chest hurt, and I knew

Alec would be pissed that I was the one that caused it. I had always

caused it. Feeling like a total ass, I pulled her into my arms and

shushed her. “Nat, you know I didn’t mean it the way it sounded. I

guess I just want to know there’s more out there for me, you know?

More to look forward to than a life full of twelve steps and empty

fame.”

Nat sniffled and pulled back. “Do you really think that

poorly of yourself? That it would be impossible for someone to fall

in love with you?”

I shook my head. “It’s not that easy, Nat. Everyone loves me.”

She punched me and laughed as she wiped a few tears

away.

“Nat.” I groaned. “It’s true, and you know it. But who’s ever

going to see me for me and fall in love with me? The real me.” I

wanted to smack myself. Why was it so important that I find what

Nat and Alec had anyway? My heart clenched a bit in my chest. I

tried to ignore the pain. I mean, it could be heartburn or something,

right? It just sucked, and honestly, after all the paparazzi stopped

stalking my every waking move, and after Alec left for L.A… I was

kind of, lonely. Shit. I was a freaking girl.

Nat was silent. She bit her lip, sniffling still. “Demetri,

nobody’s going to fall in love with you.”

My heart pounded loudly in my chest as the truth of her

words hit home. I opened my mouth to speak, but she kept talking.

“Not until you learn to love yourself. Not until you learn to

forgive. You can’t ask someone to love you when you still don’t

even love yourself.”

Natalee Murray, ladies and gentleman. Wisest woman in the

world. “You sure you’re only eighteen?”

“Going on ninety,” she joked and punched me in the arm.

“Seriously, Demetri. Maybe you’re right. Maybe it’s good you’re

staying back here this summer. I think it will be good for you to just

lay low. Besides, Mom said that you still had some things to work

through with her rehab program.”

Nat’s mom was one of the best addiction counselors on the

west coast. How fortunate for me that she lived in the most boring

place in the world. Also known as the taffy capital of the universe.

I groaned. “I’m going to be bored out of my mind.”

“You have Bob!” she said enthusiastically, pointing at my

security guard and, sadly, one of my only friends if you didn’t

count Nat or Alec. And again, the loneliness reared its ugly head.

“He’s bald and watches American Idol to fill the void that

killing too many people has put in his life.”

“Heard that,” Bob mumbled from the corner.

“Wasn’t whispering!” I shouted.

Bob cleared his throat.

“Sorry, Bob,” we said in unison.

Ever since the accident, the media had been relentless, so

Bob was the only relationship I was in. Sadly, I looked forward to

seeing his ugly mug every day. Of course, it may have to do with

the fact that he made coffee every morning.

One would think that after the accident things would have

died down. Instead, not a day went by that I didn’t see some new

story about myself on the news. That’s always fun, seeing ugly

pictures of myself with headlines above them saying I’m on drugs.

It’s a real self-esteem booster. I groaned into my hands.

“You’ll be fine, Demetri. I promise.”

“What am I going to do?” I whined.

Nat laughed. “Why don’t you work?”

“I work.”

“You’ve been sitting on your butt ever since the accident.

You haven’t even written one song — not even a jingle. Why don’t

you get a job?”

Bob laughed from the corner.

I narrowed my eyes at him and pointed harshly before

turning back to Nat. “Sorry, babe I don’t know the meaning of the

word.”

“You put in hours, make money, pay bills.”

“Hmm, sounds an awful lot like prostitution, and I don’t

want to give away the goods for free, if you get my meaning.”

Nat groaned and put her face in her hands.

I grinned, liking our little exchange. No way in hell was I

getting a job.

“I’ve got it!” Nat jumped from her seat. “Follow me!”

She ran up the stairs.

I chose not to follow.

Hey, I almost died! Physical exertion? Not my thing. I was

the type of guy that had the six-pack abs without even trying.

Pretty sure that was another reason I got hate mail.

Nat came back downstairs and breezed past me. “Close your

eyes.”

I glared.

“Just do it!”

“Fine.” I closed my eyes and waited, while she fashioned

something on my head.

“Okay, open!”

I opened my eyes and slowly walked to the kitchen mirror. I

gazed at my reflection and swore. Nat was jumping wildly behind

me. Bob was trying his best not to laugh.

“Hell. No.” I reached up for the visor on my head that said

Seaside Taffy, but Nat swatted my hand away.

“It will be perfect! You’ll see!”

“No, I won’t, because I’m not doing it. No.” I shook my head

and crossed my arms. “No. Never.”

Nat smiled and pulled out her phone. “We’ll see about that.”

“Who are you calling?” I tried to keep the panic from my

voice.

“Your brother.”

“Why?”

“I’m going to tell him you tried to get me to give you a

sponge bath tonight.”

I cursed. “You wouldn’t.”

“I would.” She held the phone up. “Take the job, Demetri.

Make friends. Get a life.”

“Sometimes I wish we weren’t friends.”

She threw back her head and laughed. “No, you don’t. You

love me, and I love you.”

“That’s what got me in this stupid situation in the first

place,” I grumbled, keeping the visor on and slumping into the

nearest chair.”

“Just think,” Nat leaned over me whispering. “You can try

all the taffy flavors! Bob over there is on number two hundred

already.”

“Swell.” How sad that trying every taffy flavor was

supposed to be a perk.

“Oh, and Demetri? Mr. Smith says an early riser is a happy

worker!”