A year went by since that night of clarity at his house.
There wasn’t much more to say after that. We exorcised our demons and the truths were finally told. We were both emotionally drained, and at that point we agreed we needed some space from one another. To reflect on years of regrets that neither one of us could change.
Dylan told Giselle about the ring the next time he had her for a weekend. She couldn’t wait to tell me all about it when she got home a few days later. Saying that she was right and he did still love me. We’re meant to be together. He wouldn’t have kept the ring all those years if he didn’t want to be with me.
I wanted so desperately to believe her, but too much had happened.
We had broken each other too many times to count.
I explained to her that sometimes it’s better for two people to walk away from each other rather than keep hurting one another. I reassured her we’d always love her and be devoted parents to her for the rest of her life. It didn’t appease her, if anything it agitated her. She said I didn’t know what I was talking about and our love could surpass anything.
That it already had been proven time and time again.
Now it was time that we found our way back together.
It’s where we belonged.
A lot had changed since that night. Dylan was nice to me now, well, in his own Dylan way of course. We hung out with the boys, Alex, and sometimes it felt like old times, except we weren’t together.
We were friends.
It was nice to have him in my life again, even if it wasn’t in the way that I once hoped for.
Dating was a lot harder than I remembered.
I had gone on a few dates and not one of them kept my interest.
Half-Pint said Dylan wasn’t dating anyone. She hadn’t seen any women around him, either. I found that hard to believe. He couldn’t go long without some sort of interaction with his dick. I think she was trying to keep me in the dark when it came to his sex life.
“Mom, you think this looks okay?”
I nodded, looking at Giselle in the mirror. She was dressed in a blue gown for her junior year prom.
“Honey, you’re breathtakingly beautiful,” I beamed as I took her hand and made her spin for me.
“What the fuck is she wearing?” Dylan roared, making me shake my head.
Giselle and I both turned around to find him leaning against the doorframe in that McGraw sort of way. After all these years that look still made my panties wet. His arms crossed over his chest, one leg draped over the other with the biggest grin on his face. The man could be sinfully sexy even when he was being a complete asshole.
He started to make himself more at home in my house, not knocking on the door when he came in, staying for dinner without being asked. He even crashed a few times in the guest bedroom. Giselle was always with us. There were very few times that we hung out alone without the boys or Alex.
“Oh my God, you don’t like it?” Giselle panicked.
I glared at him.
Her Dad’s opinion topped everyone else’s. She had him wrapped around her finger and she knew it.
“Where’s the rest of it?” he asked, looking her up and down.
She followed his gaze. “What do you mean?” she said, holding her dress out, swaying for him side to side.
“I mean…” He gestured toward his chest. “What’s up with this?”
I shut my eyes, silently laughing.
“They’re called boobs, Dad.”
I had to turn around to hide my laughter. She was going to give him a heart attack.
“No shit. Why are they out?”
She looked at him like he had grown two heads. “I can’t really do much about that. I got them from Mom. You should know that, I catch you staring at them all the time.”
I blushed, clearing my throat. “Giselle—”
“I don’t like this. I don’t like this one fucking bit.” He pushed off the door and left.
Her eyes widened.
“Honey, you know your Dad, he’s just… well… he’s just kind of an asshole.”
“Tell me about it. He threatened Mason about tonight. He warned him that if he didn’t keep his you-know-what in his pants that he would shoot it off.”
I wasn’t surprised, I actually thought it was pretty tame for Dylan.
“Reminding him that he’s already been to prison for killing someone so if he hurts me in anyway, he’d get one of his prison buddy’s to ‘take care’ of him. Mom, who’s Bubba?”
I busted out laughing. She wasn’t amused.
“Let me talk to him, okay? You have a great time tonight.”
I made my way downstairs and into the kitchen. Dylan was leaning against the counter with a beer in his hand and an empty bottle beside him.
“Dylan—”
“Don’t even fuckin’ try me, Bree,” he warned.
“She’s seventeen and she’s going with Mason. You know, Mason, your best friend Lucas’ son?”
“Exactly. Do you remember what Lucas was like at Mason’s age?”
I bit my lip.
“How about what I was like?”
My eyes widened. Oh shit.
“Should I keep going?” He pushed off the counter to stand in front of me. “What about what happened after my junior prom?” he asked, cocking an eyebrow.
“Oh my God! She’s not going.”
“I’ll go tell her,” he said over his shoulder as he walked away.
I gripped his arm. “I’m kidding! Stop! She’s fine. I trust her. I trust Mason. He’s good to her. And let me remind you that Lucas was also good to Half-Pint, it was you boys that fucked everything up for them.”
“Debatable.”
I laughed. “You gotta let her grow up. She’s graduating next year. Who knows where she will want to go to college.”
“Fine. Then give me another one,” he simply stated, almost knocking me on my ass.
“What—”
The doorbell rang and I jumped. Dylan didn’t even bat an eye. He starred at my hold on his arm and I instantly let go.
“I’m going to… the door… umm… yeah that,” I stammered, leaving to go answer.
I took thousands of pictures of our baby girl and Mason. It brought me back to the time when my mom had done the same thing to us. I made a mental note to tell her about it later. Dylan lurked in the back corner of the living room like a creeper, literally burning holes into Mason the entire time. Poor boy never stood a chance. We kissed Giselle goodbye and told her to have the time of her life. I held back the tears when I saw them get into the limo and drive off.
I walked back into the living room and McGraw had made himself at home, sitting on my couch with a beer in one hand and the remote in the other.
My heart pounded with every step I took, and at the last second I decided to sit in the armchair. My legs tucked underneath me as I stared into the TV, feeling his intense stare on the side of my face.
I glanced over at him. His eyebrow was arched and he was grinning like a fool.
“Why so far away?” he asked, cocking his head to the side. “I don’t bite, darlin’.”
I took an audible breath, taking my time to walk over to the couch before settling beside him. He reached out and tugged on the ends of my hair. He hadn’t done that in years.
“You wearing yellow for me?” he asked, playing with the hem of my dress.
I shook my head no.
“Is that right?”
His hand slowly moved to caress the side of my cheek, and I resisted the urge to lean into his touch.
“What is this about?” I blurted, needing to know.
He smiled not answering, sliding his fingers down my face to my neck. Touching the charm on the necklace he gave me.
“Are you just trying to get laid? Is that what this is about?”
He raised his eyebrows with a predatory regard.
“You and I know both know that I don’t have a problem scoring pussy, suga’.”
He also hadn’t called me that in years, and it still stirred emotions in me.
“You know I bought that necklace as a gift for our wedding day. I was going to put it in your jewelry box for you to wear down the aisle.”
My mouth parted and I swallowed hard.
“I had that charm made when I bought the ring.”
He let go of the necklace, and I almost whimpered at the loss of his warm touch. Reaching into his pocket, he brought out his keys. He took off a keychain and threw his keys on the coffee table. It had a series of numbers engraved on it with a heart cut out on the side, like it was missing a piece.
“I had this made that same day. It’s the coordinates to the beach by Ian’s house. The beach where I realized that you belonged to me.”
He brought the keychain up to my necklace and placed my heart charm inside the cut out.
It was a perfect fit.
“See, darlin’, you’ve always had my heart and I’ve always been your home.”
“Dylan…”
“I am your soft place to fall.”
The air was so thick between us that I found it hard to breathe, not knowing where he was going with this.
Hoping.
“After Giselle was born my aunt asked me if I wanted to name her. To have her carry a part of me, a part of us even though she was going with her.”
He narrowed his eyes at me not understanding what I was getting at.
“Giselle means promise.”
He beamed. “Well that explains a lot, doesn’t it?”
I nodded.
“She gave me your letters.”
I jerked away only to have him pull me back in by the nook of my neck.
“I asked her to. I read every last one. Word for word. I didn’t stop until I read them all. Every time the guard would come to my cell to tell me you were there, I already knew it. I felt you. A huge part of me didn’t want you to see me like that. I didn’t want you to see the man that I had become. The man I hardly recognized anymore. I was a miserable bastard the entire time I was locked up. I barely spoke to anyone. I kept to myself. I purposely started fights so that they would put me in the hole and I didn’t have to be around anyone and I could get lost in my own thoughts. Memories. Of you.” He laughed, his thumb rubbing back and forth along the pulse of my neck.
“I should have known better when they said I was getting out early for good behavior. I was anything but.”
He looked deep into my eyes for a few seconds, contemplating what to say as I waited on pins and needles.
So when he said, “I hated you.”
I felt all my wishful thinking come apart.
“But mostly… I hated you because I couldn’t stop loving you.”
She visibly relaxed.
“This last year I’ve done a lot of soul searching. For the first time in my life I was lost. I tried to find that man. The one that you met. The one that you loved. The one that was made just for you. I couldn’t find him. The more I searched, the harder it was to accept that I might never be him again. The more time we spent together, the more I started to laugh, I started to smile, I started to feel like I was alive again. It was then that I understood that you could save me, too.”
She finally leaned into my touch. I yearned to feel her. Wanting her to give me anything she could.
“I couldn’t forgive you, suga’, until I forgave myself,” I sincerely spoke.
She closed her eyes, taking in my words. As if she wanted to remember them forever.
To remember this moment for the rest of her life.
I leaned in close to her lips, resisting the desire to claim her mouth, the urge to make her mine once again.
“I love you, Aubrey,” I breathed against her mouth. “I have never stopped loving you. I belong to you. Just you and me. You’re my girl.”
She didn’t hesitate, “Promise?”
I smiled along her lips before I softly pecked her. I kissed her slowly, wanting to savor this moment as much as she was.
“Always,” I murmured, parting my lips, beckoning her to do the same.
She did.
We kissed for the first time in what felt like an eternity.
My chest rose and descended with each deep breath I took. I placed my hand over her heart and it felt like it beat for me and only me.
Like it never stopped.
With my hands framing her face, I kissed her again. Slower, more delicate, and defined this time. Less frantic, and desperate, but with the same intensity and passion.
“Dylan,” she panted.
I bit her bottom lip and stood up bringing her with me. She wrapped her legs around my waist. I wanted to take my time with her. Remembering every last inch of her gorgeous body.
The layers of all our regrets were stripped away and all that was left was us.
I couldn’t stop kissing her. Not for one damn second. I set her against the wall and her eyes immediately widened. My hands lightly touched up and down her thighs.
Her eyes were different, yet I had seen them like that before.
We gazed into each other’s eyes as I claimed her mouth the way I wanted to. Her breathing labored and I waited for the words that never came. I leaned away from her, putting some space between us. Her eyes dilated, knowing what I was going to do next. I moved my hand tortuously slow down to her soft bare folds, feeling her wetness seep through her panties onto my fingers. I proceeded to make circles around her clit, my techniques continued to become more persistent and demanding. Her legs started shaking, her eyes closed, and her head fell back against the wall.
“Don’t close your eyes,” I ordered.
She watched through a hooded gaze as I manipulated her bundle of nerves.
“What, darlin’? I teased, rubbing faster and harder.
She moaned so loud that it shook her entire body. She came with such force. I had never experienced that before.
“That long, huh?”
She laughed still trembling. “Asshole.”
“I want to fuck you against this wall.”
Her eyes widened, listening to my filthy words that always did things to her.
“After I’m done coming so fuckin’ deep inside you, there will be no chance in hell that we didn’t make a baby on another wall,” I growled, biting her bottom lip. “Then… I’ll take you into our bedroom and make love to you all night long, because, suga’, I haven’t had sex in almost eight goddamn years. I will have no mercy on making you mine all over again.”
“You’re lying,” I stated.
He his eyes gleamed, and I knew he was telling me the truth. When the shaft of his cock slid up and down my slit, I came once again, lathering up our sacred parts with more of my wetness.
“Jesus, Dylan. Just fuck me already,” I begged, wanting to feel his hard cock deep inside me.
“Ahhh…” he captured my mouth with his as he forcefully thrust into me. Giving me exactly what I just asked for. My back arched off the wall and he put his arms under mine, holding me close. My legs curled around his waist and my arms around his neck. He stayed inside me, just holding me and kissing me.
I rocked my hips, trying to get him to move because I was growing anxious and impatient with all the emotions and sensations he was causing. With each kiss and caress, he made his way deeper into my heart.
He grabbed the sides of my face and looked deep into my eyes. He was searching for something, I knew only I had the answers he was looking for. I kept his gaze as raptly as he looked into mine. It was as if we were absorbing our way back into each other’s blood streams, where neither of us could function without the other.
Never taking his eyes off mine, he started to move, it was slow, loving, and passionate. His hand reached for my neck and he softy pressed down on it. It was a move that I was familiar with. He always wanted to feel my pulse against his fingertips. I did what came naturally and placed my hand over his heart, making him groan upon contact.
I moaned and my pussy pulsated. He started to pump faster into me and the nerves in my lower abdomen throbbed for release.
“Fuck, suga’… do you have any idea what you do to me? Tell me… tell me what you’re thinking. Tell me what’s going on in that beautiful mind of yours?”
“I’m going to come,” I breathed out, thinking he wanted me to talk dirty to him.
He kept hitting the same spot, more aggressively than before.
“Do you feel me inside of you?”
“Yes,” I panted.
“Give me what I want, Bree,” he rasped. “Tell me what I want to hear.”
I moaned, closing my eyes as I arched my back.
“Let me see your eyes.”
I opened them and looked intently into his. I could feel he was close to losing it, because his thrusts were becoming faster.
“I fucking love you,” he groaned, taking me over the edge just as he was.
It was then I screamed out.
“I love you, too.”
He took me back to my bed and made good on his promise. Deep down in my heart, I knew it would always be that way.