CHAPTER TEN
Ace
“No Anthony! Don’t you dare!” she screams as I pull her from the dry, sandy beach, toward the crashing waves on the shoreline.
I try not to notice the way her tits shake in the cups of her bikini as we push and pull one another. Try not to notice the beaded nipple against the fabric. It wouldn’t take much for me to pull her into my arms and crush her against my chest.
“C’mon, I’ll protect you.” I grin at her, grabbing hold of her hand and coaxing her to where the waves and beach meet.
“I don’t know if I trust you, Ace.”
I give her my best grin. “Violet, you trust the fuck outta me. It’s why we’re sharing a bed.”
Her face blushes a pink shade that matches the skin peeking out from beneath the turquoise bikini she’s wearing. The very bikini that had made me do a double take when she’d walked out of our bathroom this morning. Even though she and I have been hanging out, it’s typically in sweatpants and t-shirts. What’s covering her body today isn’t leaving much to the imagination.
“Stop teasing her.” Leighton throws sand in my direction.
“Shit, that could have gone in my eye.” I turn my face away. “And nothing hurts worse than getting a fucking grain of sand in your eye. Not cool, Leigh,” I laugh, wiping my palm over my forehead.
“Not cool the way you’re dragging her into the ocean.” Her point is made with the bite of her tone.
Looking at Violet, I take in that her face does look terrified and she is digging her heels in deeply. It causes me to drop her hand, makes me feel like a piece of shit. “If you don’t want to go, you don’t have to.”
“Do you think I’ll like it?” she asks softly as she pushes back hair that’s escaped from her braid. The moment that asshole was locked up, this ultra-feminine side of Violet came out, and I fucking approve.
“I think you’ll love it. There’s nothing more relaxing than just letting the waves take you where they will. It’s trusting them to move you in the right direction and not fighting against the current.”
“Like finding my true north,” she says softly.
“Yeah, exactly like that.”
It doesn’t escape either of us, what I’m saying to her. Violet’s life has been spent fighting against the current, and here I am telling her to go with it. I can tell by the way her head tilts a little to the left. She’s wearing mirrored sunglasses and I wish I could see her face, but I’ll take the tilting of her head as an indication of what we’re sharing.
Slowly we walk out into the water. I wait until she gets acquainted with the first few steps – shrieking when the waves crash into her and runs back – before she starts walking toward me again. Reaching out, I offer my hand to her this time, palm up. No more grabbing hold and pulling her into a place she’s not sure she wants to go.
Gradually we make it out far enough that she’s up to her hips. She grabs hold of the waistband of my swim trunks, stopping me. “I think this is as far as I want to go.”
“Then we won’t go any farther.” I turn her to face me. “How’s it feel?”
“Weird, I can’t see the bottom, can’t see my feet, so I’m unsure of what I’m stepping on. But it’s peaceful, the way it’s wrapping around our bodies.”
“You’re going on blind trust.” I put my arms around her waist, holding on tightly. The tits I was eyeing earlier are now definitely pressed against me. I just hope she can’t feel the reaction that’s sprung up in between us. “I’m proud of you.”
She gifts me with the brightest smile I think I’ve ever seen her give anyone. “Ya know what? I’m proud of me, too. All the changes I’ve made in the past few months. Honestly though, I wouldn’t be where I am without you.”
“You should be. It’s taken a lot of courage to make those changes, Violet. I know none of this has been easy for you. And you would have done what you had to do, I’ve done nothing but help facilitate you becoming independent. You did that all on your own.”
She’s quiet for a few moments, and I’m enjoying being with her. It’s almost as if we’re sitting back out on the porch, sharing a couple bottles of beer and a container of wings from the BBQ joint we both love. When the next words come out of her mouth, I’m not prepared for them.
“I’ve filed for divorce, Anthony. I want to be free. I don’t want my life tied to what’s happened with him the past eight years. It’s time for a fresh start. The counselor I saw for the first few months I was back to work told me I’d know when I was ready. I woke up the other day and just knew. It helps knowing he’s going to have to serve time for what he did and knowing I have a restraining order for when he does get out, but this is my decision. Like you told me not long ago, our relationship is about compromise, and this is mine.”
There’s a lump in my throat, and I’m scared to ask the next question. “Is that fresh start gonna be away from Laurel Springs?” I want to take off those damn mirrored sunglasses of hers and see the brown depths that I sometimes get lost in, see for myself how she’s feeling, be prepared when she lets me down easy.
She plays with the edges of my swim trunks, she has yet to let go of. I’m not even sure she realizes she’s doing it, but I let her because it seems to be soothing her. I hope like hell it’ll get her talking to me.
“I’ve thought a lot about it. Leaving or staying in Laurel Springs – there are pros and cons to both. It’s kept me up at night, to be honest with you, but after I filed for divorce, I knew what I had to do.”
“What’s that, honey?”
She pulls me closer, using the waistband of the swim trunks. For a moment I panic, hoping like fuck my hard dick doesn’t appear over the edge. I don’t want to stop her, since she seems to be feeling more confident, but motherfuck how much am I supposed to withstand in a day? “I’ve started to build a life here, with the people who have become my friends. I go to school, I have a job, and I have a home. None of that is thanks to Brent, I’ve done all those things on my own. With your help of course. You’ve shown me what it’s like to be independent. I’ve stood on my own two feet. And I’ve never had that anywhere else, Anthony. If I leave” – she pulls her bottom lip in between her teeth, lifting her shoulder up in the absence of words, before she continues – “I lose two of the best friends I’ve ever had in you and Leigh. I don’t think I can handle that.”
My palms cup her face. I have to touch her, have to have some tangible connection to the string of awareness we have with one another. I want to kiss her. I’ve kept myself from doing it so far, I can wait a little while longer. Little pecks on the cheek have been the name of our game, and we’ll keep it that way until I can blow her mind. My voice is rough and choked with emotion when I finally speak. “I’m glad you’re staying. I truly don’t know what I’d do without you in my life, Vi. You’ve become a very important part of it.”
And those words are no bullshit. They’re self-preservation, because I can’t lose this woman. She means way too fuckin’ much to me.
Violet
“Oh my God, Stella.” I giggle as she picks up handfuls of wet sand and throws them over her shoulder.
They land in her hair, tangling it into a knotty, wet mess. “Your mom is going to kill us.” I giggle as I glance over at Leigh.
“Nah.” Leigh wrinkles her nose. “She’ll just make us clean her off, but given the amount of sand this kid has in her hair, that might take a while.”
I silently agree as the three of us sit under a huge umbrella on the beach. The rest of our group has gone to parasail. Leaving Leighton, Stella, and myself to hold our spot.
“I know why she didn’t go, and I’m scared to death of heights. Why didn’t you go?” I ask Leigh as we watch the sky for our group. I can see the boat, a small dot out on the horizon. This is one of those times I wish Anthony’s fearlessness would rub off on me.
“This child I’m carrying has to have one parent when my husband falls to his demise in that deathtrap of a parasail.” She places her hand over her still flat stomach as she too watches the horizon.
“What????!!!!” I turn to face her. “How did you not tell me? How did I not know?”
“We haven’t told anybody.” She grins over at me. “You’re the first, my friend.”
I leap up from my seat, wrapping her in my arms. “I’m so excited for you. I know you all have been trying since October.”
She wipes at her eyes. “We have.” She nods. “But we’d decided just to forget about it, and go on with our lives. Maybe go to a fertility appointment or look into adoption. We got a little drunk on Valentine’s Day, and surprise.”
“That’s why you aren’t showing yet.”
“Right, but if you look closely I’m up a damn cup size in my boobs. Like I can’t believe how big my tits have gotten. The fact that no one has noticed tells me how small I was before,” she huffs as she reaches forward, pushing some sand off Stella’s face. “Stell-Belle, you’re a mess,” she laughs.
“When are you going to tell everyone?” I take a wipe out of Stella’s bag and go to work on trying to at least clean her face, as Leighton tries to get the sand out of her hair.
“When we get to twelve weeks, but I’ve been dying to tell someone, especially you. We work together so closely, and there’s been some days where I’ve had to go out back, puke, and go back to work with a smile on my face. It’s not been awful, but I have had some morning sickness.”
“I thought you’ve looked green some days.” I think back to a few times when Leighton complained of not feeling well. “How’s Holden taking it?”
“Oh my God.” She giggles. “He’s walking around like he’s the only person in the world to ever get a woman pregnant. It’s a point of pride with him, and he acts like he’s got super sperm. It’s embarrassing. We have an ultrasound picture on our bedside table. He’ll walk by it and say, ‘Look what I did.’ Like seriously dude? You didn’t do this on your own.”
I’m laughing hardcore. If there are two people in the world who are meant to be parents, it’s these two. The way they love each other is how I aspire for a man to love me.
“Since you shared a secret with me, I’ll share one with you.”
“Oh do tell.” She leans close, as she pulls Stella’s hair into a ponytail. “Have you and Ace done the nasty yet? He’s talented with his hips, isn’t he?”
“Jesus, woman!”
“I can’t help it. I’m one of those women who has gotten incredibly horny since getting pregnant. I think about sex like a teenage boy. Holden is loving life right now, let me tell you. In between puking, we’re fucking like rabbits.”
I can’t even with this girl. She’s one of my best friends, but right now, I seriously can’t with her. Putting my face in the palm of my hand, I giggle. “TMI, Leigh. So much TMI. But to tell you what’s going on with me – I filed for divorce.”
“For Ace?” she asks excitedly.
“No.” I shake my head. “For me, but Ace is a part of it. If I decide to hop into a relationship with him, I want it to be fair for the both of us. If I’m still married, it’s not fair for him. He’ll always be the other man, and I don’t want that.”
“Let’s be honest, Violet, he’s never been the other man with you, not since he walked into The Café.”
Leighton’s right. Anthony’s the only man and maybe that’s what scares me more than anything. He has the power to hurt me more than Brent did. But I’ve learned something about myself in the last few months. I truly believe in the happily ever after, and I’ll be damned if I don’t have one for myself. Complete with a hot man, a screaming orgasm, and the settled life I’ve always wanted to have with a man I love and respect.