Lana by R.K. Lilley Page A

her, I think that’s enough of a punishment.”
      He looked like he wanted to argue with me, but he stayed silent, pulling me to the hospital entrance.   “I still hate her guts, though,” I continued.   “I’m so jealous of her that I can barely stand it.”
      He looked genuinely surprised by my confession.   I couldn’t imagine why he’d be surprised by it.   “Why on earth would you be jealous of her?” he asked.
      “She told me she’d had a thousand nights with you, and I only got two.   One and a half, rather.   I hate her guts for that.   And knowing you two, you’ll probably reconcile again in a week.”  
      He gave me a very annoyed look as he opened the door for me.   “That’s ridiculous, Lana.   We’ve been broken up for years.   Though I guess you wouldn’t know it by how she still acts.   I can’t understand why she can’t get over it.   We were never good for each other, and over the years, we only got worse.   She resented me for what I couldn’t feel for her, and if I’m brutally honest, I only stayed with her for so long because I thought that I didn’t deserve better.   I ended it years ago, though, when I realized that I’d much rather be alone than with someone who brought out the worst in me.   Milena is a bitter woman who can’t grow up enough to let go of the past.   The very distant past, at that.   You have nothing to be jealous of.”
      I mulled that one over.   She wasn’t the only woman who couldn’t let go of the very distant past.   His assessment wounded me, because even though he’d been referring to Milena, I knew that I was no different.   I wanted to let go, but I didn’t seem to have that ability.   I wished to God that I did.   Unwillingly, my mind wandered back to the past.

CHAPTER TEN

    8 years ago
      When Akira had asked me what I wanted him to get me for my eighteenth birthday, I hadn’t even had to think about it.   I wanted him .   Though I was smarter than to tell him that.   Instead, I had asked him to spend the day with me.   He agreed without hesitation, though he stubbornly insisted that I couldn’t call it a date.  
      He hadn’t had to ask me how I wanted to spend the morning.   That one was a no-brainer.   We spent it in the ocean, catching waves for endless hours.   I had straddled my board a lot, practicing provocative poses, trying to tempt him, as I had taken to doing a lot recently.   But today, it was different.   I was a grown-up today, and there was no reason for Akira not to touch me now.  
      I arched my back when he looked at me, thrusting my full breasts forward in my tiny lavender bikini.   It was literally the tiniest one I could find, barely covering the essentials.   He gave me his stern, ‘knock it off’ look, and went back to studying the waves.  
      When he’d seen me walk out wearing the minuscule suit, he’d just raised his brows and said, “I guess you want to watch me get into some fights on your birthday.”   His tone had been dark, his face forbidding, but I had beamed at him, taking it as a good sign.
      He watched the waves for a good ten minutes after he’d given me ‘the look’, then finally, I’d resorted to drastic measures.   I had gone to great lengths to assure that I didn’t have a tan line for tonight, wanting my body to look perfect for him.   I’d been tanning naked in my back yard, so the feeling of   the soft breeze on my bare chest was not all that foreign to me as I untied the top of my suit, letting it fall down to my waist.   I studied the waves, as Akira did, pretending not to notice the slip.  
      I felt my breasts tighten the second that he saw what had happened.   He started cursing.   “Lana, your top!” he snapped at me.  
      I looked down at my chest, acting baffled, as though I couldn’t imagine what could have happened to it.   He was still cursing as he straddled his own board, paddling over to me to fix it himself,