CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
Ice
“WHAT THE FUCK are you doing?” I asked Lindsey as she walked out to the truck. The very same fucking truck that I was getting into. “Claire and Lucy invited me to go to Gettysburg with them. I figured it would be good to get away.” “No. No fucking way. I was invited to go to Gettysburg. I’m not driving in the same vehicle with you for four fucking hours. I paid my dues when I brought you back here from Ohio.” “Paid your dues?” She asked in a snarky tone. “So, all that shit about you loving me? What the fuck was that?” “That was when I went temporarily insane and thought you were actually a woman worth loving.” “Then why were you snuggling with me last night?” “I wasn’t-” “Don’t even try to tell me that you weren’t doing it. I felt you pressed up against my ass all night.” “Pussy is still pussy,” I said, running my eyes up and down her body. I was being a dick, but I needed this break from her and now I was going to be stuck with her. Again. She sneered at me and shoved her way past me, getting into Jules’s truck. I looked over at Jules with a scowl. He shrugged and got in the driver’s seat. This was fucking unbelievable. “So, looks like we’re taking another road trip,” Jules said. “Just the three of us. Again. And you guys hate each other. Again. This is like fucking déjà vu or something.” “Shut it,” I snapped, feeling the last threads of my sanity slip from my body. “You could just not come and then neither of us would have to take this trip together,” Lindsey suggested. “And why the fuck should I stay home? They’re my fucking friends.” “They’re my friends too, or did you forget that at one time we were all friends?” she asked. “Look, I know you don’t give a shit, but I need this. I need to get away from all the…crap that happened and not think for a few days. Do you think you could put aside your shit for just this weekend?” “Do you think you could put aside your shit for just this weekend?” I said in a mocking tone. “Real mature.” “What can I say? You bring out the best in me.” “Fuck,” Jules swore. “I’m gonna have a migraine by the time we get there.”
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“What do you mean, we have to share a room together?” I asked Ryan as we stood outside the motel. “Well, you guys all decided to tag along on this trip and there were only so many rooms.” “If you want,” Chance gave me a big smile. “I’ll share a room with her. I hear that your room has only a queen sized bed.” He waggled his eyebrows at me. The stupid fucker, I was ready to knock his goddamn head off. “Fine,” I snarled. “I’ll share the fucking room with her.” There was no fucking way any other guy was going to be sharing a fucking bed with her. I didn’t want to even think about one of my friends waking up with her ass snuggled up to their dicks. Not gonna happen. “Let’s go,” I snarled at Lindsey as I walked past her to our room. When we entered, I threw our shit on the bed and avoided looking at her. We were going to have to share a bed. Again. It was hard enough to do in my own fucking bed and now I was going to be doing it when I was on fucking vacation with her. We left soon after, walking around the battlegrounds. She went off with Claire and Lucy, while I tried to stay as far away as possible. Our last stop for the day was Culp’s Hill and it was getting dark with storm clouds. The sirens were already sounding, signaling severe weather, but we were already at the top of the hill in the observatory. “Maybe we should turn around and head back,” Lindsey said. “It wouldn’t do us any good. We wouldn’t get to shelter before a storm hit anyway,” I said in irritation. We headed down the observatory and started walking through the trees where the battle for Culp’s Hill had taken place. It was creepy as fuck and I was man enough to admit that I didn’t like walking through this shit. I had already been through enough battles with ghosts haunting me. I didn’t need Civil War soldiers coming out of the tree line and creeping me the fuck out. “Maybe we should head back,” Ryan suggested. “It’s getting dark.” A twig snapped behind us and all of us guys whipped around, looking for a threat, but there was nothing there. “I’m with Ryan,” Hunter said in a deep voice. “We should leave before someone gets hurt trying to walk back in the dark.” “I’m fine,” Lucy shrugged. “I think it’s kind of cool. Maybe we could have a seance and see if we can bring back any soldiers.” “That would be so awesome,” Claire said excitedly. “Have you ever been on one of those ghost tours?” Lindsey asked. “I went on one and you could hear all these noises, but no one was there and then things would move and it would totally freak you out. It’s so cool.” “That doesn’t sound cool.” I bit out at Lindsey. What the fuck was she thinking? “Yeah, we should definitely leave,” Derek agreed. “You know, for the sake of the women. We wouldn’t want you guys to get scared out here. In the dark.” “With the ghosts of dead soldiers that are probably roaming the area, crying for help. For someone to save them?” Ali asked. “I think it’d be kind of cool to meet one,” Lola said thoughtfully. “You know, ask what it was like to fight in a battle a hundred and fifty years ago.” Between the thunder and the wind, I was looking around the woods, just waiting for some spooky shit to happen. And then it fucking did. Sounds of pain and agony filled the air. The others started arguing with the women about getting out of there, but I couldn’t fucking hear what they were saying. Ghosts were one thing I just didn’t mess around with. Call me a pussy if you will, but I didn’t do supernatural shit. I didn’t even wait another fucking minute. When moans started filling the air, I turned on my heel and took off for the vehicles. Fuck that, if the women wanted to tempt fate, that was up to them, but I was smart enough to get the fuck out of there. It was only another minute before the women were running out of the woods behind us. Apparently they could be scared off by some ghosts. “Believe us now?” Ryan asked as the women rushed out of the woods. “Nice of you to leave us behind. So much for women and children first,” Ali pointed a finger at Chris. “You could have left when we told you to. It’s not our fault you’re all too stubborn to listen to us.” “I think I’ve had enough for one night,” Lola sighed. “Can we go back to the motel now?” “Afraid the ghosts are gonna get you?” James asked. I swear to fucking God, I saw ghosts walking out of the forest, moaning and writhing in pain and that was it for me. I fucking ran for the truck and only gave enough time for the others to get in before I was roaring down the road and getting the fuck out of there.
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“I don’t suppose you’ll actually wear some clothes tonight,” Lindsey snapped. “Why the fuck should I?” “Well, considering that this isn’t exactly a four star hotel, who knows what kind of bed bugs are crawling around in this bed.” “Not this shit again,” I said in exhaustion. “Seriously, though. You think your own house might be disgusting, but hotels aren’t cleaned nearly as well as you might think. That comforter probably only gets washed twice a year.” “Can we skip all of this shit for tonight? I’m not in the fucking mood.” “Sure,” she said flippantly. “Just don’t use the mugs or the coffee pot. Those probably haven’t been washed all year.” I grabbed the remote, hoping to drown out her voice with the sound of the TV. “Oh, and I would stay away from the remote. Nobody ever cleans those. Imagine all those people that pick their nose and then touch the remote. Gross,” she cringed. “Or the people that watch porn and jack off at the same time.” She made a face of disgust and I instantly dropped the remote. “Why do you always have to fucking spoil everything?” An evil smile spread across her face. “I’m not spoiling anything. I’m just trying to make you aware so you don’t catch any infectious diseases.” With that, she turned and slammed the bathroom door, leaving me standing in the middle of the room, wondering what was safe to touch. When she came out of the bathroom, I was still standing in the middle of the fucking room. I was pissed that she was ruining all this for me. I was even more pissed that no matter how much I didn’t want her here, I wanted her more than anything in my life. When she stepped out of the bathroom in a t-shirt that I had given to her one night, my control snapped. I stalked across the room and hauled her up against my body, shoving my tongue in her mouth as my hands gripped her ass. She wrapped her arms around my neck, pulling me closer as she ground her pussy against me. I tore my lips from her and pierced her with a glare. “I still fucking hate you.” “I fucking hate you too.” She smashed her lips to mine, ripping my shirt up over my head and breaking the kiss. I latched onto her neck, needing to taste the saltiness of her skin. Sucking and moaning as she gripped onto my cock, I jerked in her hand and spun around, tossing her on the bed. Like always, she didn’t have any fucking panties on, leaving her pussy wide open for me to feast on. It had been way too long since I’d tasted her and I wasn’t wasting this opportunity. “John,” she moaned as I flicked her clit and sucked it into my mouth. Her legs were shaking as I spread them wider, licking and sucking all the juices from her sweet pussy. When she came, I held her open wider so I could taste every fucking drop of her. Shucking my pants, I rammed my cock inside her. My eyes rolled back as I felt her sweetness surround me. It was too fucking much. I held still, clenching my teeth as I tried my hardest not to come inside her just yet. It had been too long and too many nights lying next to her and not taking what should have been mine. I fucked her hard and fast, sending her over the edge a second time in just a matter of minutes. Her legs wrapped around my waist and she pulled me in close so I was lying on top of her. Our bodies, slickened with sweat, slid against each other as I fucked her slow and hard. Every thrust deeper and harder than the last. Her breasts rubbed against my chest, the tight peaks driving me insane. I didn’t want this to be intimate and I didn’t want this to be sweet, but every taste of her had me going slower and savoring every inch of her body. I didn’t know if I would ever get this again and I wanted to remember this one last perfect time together. “John,” she whispered against my ear. “Please, John. I need you.” “I need you too.” I said hoarsely. “I love you so fucking much,” I said, wishing immediately that I hadn’t just laid that out there for her, but then she pulled back and her eyes sparkled. “I love you too. Don’t ever fucking leave me again.” “Never,” I swore as I slid deeper and deeper inside her. “I never want to leave you again.” I kissed her sweetly and pushed inside one last time before I came hard inside her. As I slid off her and laid down next to her, I couldn’t help but pull her tight against me and run my fingers through her hair. I had been missing holding her for so long and now that she was back, there was no fucking way I was letting her go. We would work out our issues and find a way to make this work. “John,” she said quietly. “We need to talk. We need to figure this out.” “I know,” I said with a sigh. “Just promise me that you’ll really listen to me.” She nodded in agreement and I launched into the whole story of what happened when we were on that protective detail that changed the course of our lives. I told her about the woman’s tendency to cause a scene and how it would have been a huge clusterfuck for us. “I know it was wrong to kiss her and I never want you to worry about me doing something so stupid again. But if we’re going to move past this, you have to trust me that I won’t let something like that happen again and you have to forgive me.” She shifted to her elbow and looked at me intently. “I do, John. I trust you and I know that you would have never done anything to hurt me.” She took a deep breath and looked down. I had to bring her chin up so she would look me in the eyes again. “You were right. I was running away. I was a coward because I didn’t want to deal with the situation. I kept thinking that you were a player and I was a fool for thinking that you would change your ways for me. But the truth is I was a fool because I believed the worst in you when you didn’t deserve it.” “We just have to move past this shit If we keep going back to it, we’ll never really move on.” “I just need to know one thing before we truly move past this. Why did you leave when I was in the hospital?” “You told me to,” I said slowly. She looked at me strangely and shook her head. “No, you never stopped by. You just left.” “No, you called me at your house. I showed up with Hunter, Chris, and Jules. We found you at the bottom of the stairs and you were…” I choked on my words, not wanting to think of how I had found her that night. “I waited at the hospital for two days with you, praying to God that you would wake up. When you did, you told me to go.” “I don’t…” She shook her head and focused on the bedspread. “You don’t remember.” “No, I was so confused when I woke up. I didn’t remember half the stuff that had happened. Things just kind of slowly went back into place after a few days.” “Fuck,” I said, thunking my head against the headboard. “I’m sorry. I should have fucking known. I just thought you were still pissed at me and didn’t want me around.” “So, what you’re saying is that for the past month or so, we’ve been pissed at each other for nothing?” “It would seem so,” I said with a huff. “I’m so sorry.” “Me too. And I don’t fucking hate you. I could never hate you.” “I tried,” she said sheepishly. “It didn’t work.” She laid her head down on my chest and her fingers skimmed down my abs. “So, what do we do now?” “Now you move all your shit back in with me and we fuck a lot.” “That’s it?” “No, that’s not it. You’re going to set a date and we’re going to get married. Then, after I’ve thoroughly fucked you for a year or so, we’ll have a few kids. But I’m warning you right now, not one of them is ever going to wear fucking plaid.”
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I could hardly keep my hands off Lindsey the next morning. Everyone was staring at me like I’d lost my fucking mind, but I didn’t give a shit. I had her back and I wanted the whole world to know that she was mine. The rest of the group was watching the reenactment up ahead, but I was too busy trying to reenact some of our activities from last night. Something about Lola’s tone brought me out of my lust-filled haze and made me pay attention. “Does this seem a little too…” Lola asked. “Realistic?” Hunter asked. “Yeah, I was kind of thinking the same thing.” “Is that..?” Lola pointed at the sky. “It couldn’t be,” Derek said. “Why would they…?” “But if they did…” Lola said. “It’d be bad for…” Hunter said. “Will one of you finish your sentence,” Ryan snapped. “What the hell are you guys talking about?” “They appear to be using actual cannonballs,” Lola said simply. I looked closer at the battle and really looked at what was happening. People were falling to the ground a little too realistically and it appeared that they were actually being blown up. I’d never seen a reenactment look this real. “I think they’re using real bullets too,” Ryan groaned. “What? They can’t be. Do they even make musket balls any more?” Lola asked. “Apparently.” Ryan’s voice wavered slightly. “I think I got shot.” I looked at Ryan closer and saw red spreading across his arm. He was fucking bleeding. Lola and Hunter jumped into action, trying to staunch the bleeding just before Hunter glanced back and yelled loud for everyone in the group to hear. “Incoming!” I looked over to where Hunter was looking and saw a fucking cannonball headed straight for us. I dove over Lindsey, shoving her to the ground and covering her body with mine. Dirt flew over us as the cannonball bounced and exploded further ahead. I glanced around to see everyone else appeared alright. I got to my feet, hauling Lindsey up and holding her close to me. Lindsey was fucking innocent and she shouldn’t be a part of battle, even if it was a fake battle that someone was pretending was real. “Hey,” Hunter shouted. “We have to get everyone to safety.” “Where would that be exactly?” Lola asked. “Anywhere that’s not the battlefield,” I shouted over to them. “Is that blood?” Lindsey asked and then swayed on her feet. “Shit,” I grabbed onto her just as she started to fall and cradled her head in my arm. “Hey, come on.” She was seconds away from slipping under, but we couldn’t afford for her to faint right now. We needed to get the fuck out of here and find someplace safe to go. I slapped her face several times until she finally peeled her eyes open and looked at me. “We don’t have time for you to pass out right now. It’s just a scratch.” She shook her head and focused a little more before finally pushing against me and standing on her own, refusing to look in Ryan’s directions. When Lindsey started to walk, but stumbled several times, I threw her over my shoulder and started running with her. I needed to get her someplace safe before this shit got out of control. Tourists were running, having finally realized that something was very wrong with this reenactment. When another cannonball sent us all sprawling to the ground and heading for cover, I decided I’d had enough of this shit. Setting Lindsey down, I leaned her up against a breastwork and cupped her face with my hands. She was pale and shaking, but hadn’t completely lost it yet, which I took as a good sign. “I have to go see if the others need help and we need to put together a plan. Just stay here and don’t move a fucking muscle, okay?” She nodded and I ran over to the rest of the group. We spent the next few minutes gathering a plan in which Derek would ride off and pretend to be General Lee, surrendering to General Meade. Brilliant? Maybe not, but it was our only option at this point. I kept looking over at Lindsey, needing to get back to her. I didn’t like the idea of her being over there all alone. I watched as Derek stalked off to a soldier, ripping clothes from a fallen soldier. Bullets flew and more cannons were launched, but he was toward the outside of the battlefield. “Should one of us go help him?” Claire asked. “Nah, it’s not like we can shoot anyone here. What good would it do?” Hunter said. “I don’t know,” Claire said hysterically. “Keep him from getting killed?” “He’ll be fine,” I said cooly. “The guy’s got brass balls.” “I like how calm all of you are being about the safety of my fiancé,” Claire shot back. When Derek came running back, I took that as my signal that I could get back to Lindsey. Running over to her, I wrapped my arms around her and watched the action to see what was happening. “Is this seriously happening?” she mumbled. “Yeah, fucking crazy.” “John, don’t take this the wrong way, but-” “But what?” I asked, not sure I wanted to know the answer. “You’re all fucking crazy. I mean, like seriously bat-shit crazy. Everything I’ve learned about you and your friends since I’ve met you leads me to believe that all of you guys and most of the women are certifiably insane.” “Why would you say that? I mean,” I shrugged, thinking back to all the stuff that had happened since I met her. “There have been a few…incidents, but overall, we’re just regular people doing regular things.” “Incidents? John, we came on vacation and a war broke out. One that happened about a hundred and fifty years ago. I don’t know anyone that has that kind of luck.” “Well,” I looked around the battlefield and pointed at the other tourists. “What about them? They’re just normal people and they’re here.” “Yeah, but would this have happened if you guys didn’t show up here?” “I’m confused, are you saying we caused this?” “I’m saying that you guys have the worst luck in the world or you’re the biggest jinxes wherever you go. It’s making me rethink a few things.” I stiffened as I looked down at her. “Like what exactly?” “Like ever going on vacation with you again. What’ll happen next time? Gangs and civil war reenactments gone wild are too much for one year.” “So, you’re not leaving?” “Leave? John, you may bring trouble with you, but I’d still rather be by your side through the chaos than be anywhere else without you.” Cannonballs left devastation all around us and bullets whizzed by our heads, but all I saw was her. I smiled as I pressed my lips to hers. We were going to be okay. We might have a few bumps in the road, but I was finally going to make her mine. I would make sure that as soon as we were home, I put a ring on her finger and made her officially mine. She would never be able to run from me again, because I would never do anything stupid enough to fuck this up.