Chapter Thirty-One
GAVIN
I watched her sleep right beside me. I couldn’t believe how close I was to letting her go because of some foolishness in her past. That would have been a decision that I regretted for the rest of my life. I stroked my hand through her hair, softly, until she rustled beneath the covers and turned towards me. She woke up just as beautiful as she looked in the middle of any given day. “Hey, sweetheart. I didn’t mean to wake you up.”
We were both buried beneath the thick blanket on top of her bed. “It’s alright. What time is it?”
I grabbed my watch, “8:27 am.”
Startled, she lifted herself up on the mattress, “My God, I am late for work!”
I laughed as she tried to get out of bed. On any other day, I would’ve let herself get fully dressed, and right before she walked out the door, I would’ve reminded her that it was Sunday. I grabbed her arm and held her in place. “Babe? Um, I don’t know how things work at the school, but I am pretty sure nobody there has to work on a Sunday.”
She exhaled. “Sunday? It is Sunday?”
“Yes.”
“My days just run together sometimes.” She laid back down on the pillow. “Well, thanks for stopping me before I started to run around here like a headless chicken.”
I held her closer to me, “The thought crossed my mind, but I wanted to relax in bed with you for a little longer. At least until I have to go pick up Vinny from Mike’s. I kind of threw him over there while I came out here to deal with your ex.”
She exhaled. “Yeah. I am sorry about that. I am so sorry. I just–”
“Sssh, don’t apologize for that. Listen, if I learned anything, it is that sometimes, your past just creeps up on you from time to time, and there is nothing you can do about it. I was just happy that I was able to get here with the police before that fool was able to do anything to you.”
“Yeah. He is just… I don’t know, he is relentless. I thought I shook him out of my life for good, but it looks like I was wrong.”
“Yeah. Well, hopefully he’ll be put away long enough so that by the time he gets out, he will need a cane to help him chase after you.”
“I don’t know if he will be gone for that long, but we will see. What time do you have to pick up Vinny?”
I grabbed my phone and scrolled through the texts. Mike reached out to me a couple times just to see when I would be back today. He said that he had a few things to do when the evening rolled around. “I guess I am going to get ready and pick him up now. Mike was cool enough to watch him for me, so I don’t want to annoy my best sitter. It could come back to bite me in the end.”
“Or,” she leaned forward and grabbed a hold of my bottom lip with her teeth, softly clenching it in her mouth. She released it, “Or, you could let me bite you. I promise it won’t hurt.”
I could feel myself stiffening as I glared down at her breasts. I leaned forward, but the thought of Vinny snapped me out of my lustful desires, “Man, I um.” She kissed me again, and with that, we rolled back under the covers, and I climbed on top of her. I just need to feel her one more time before we went on with the rest of our day. After we finished, I got out of the bed.
“So, I guess I don’t need coffee anymore,” she said, smiling. “But, if you don’t mind, I want to go with you to pick up Vinny. Maybe we can hang out a little bit today, especially since my crazy ex is not lurking around anymore. To be honest, I was a little afraid for all of us to go out together when I felt that he was following me. That’s why I didn’t suggest it as much, but now that everything is okay, I think we should pick that up again.”
“Yeah,” I said with a smile as I grabbed my shirt, “I think we would both like that. Me and Vinny that is.”
“Well, add me to that list as well.” She climbed out of bed, “Just let me get in the shower and I’ll be ready to go.”
“Okay.”
I smacked her behind as she walked by me, then went into the front room to wait for her to get ready. I glanced at the spot the police shot her ex-boyfriend. I didn’t know what I would have done if I came here alone, or even worse, I didn’t know what would have happened. I didn’t have access to guns or anything like that, so I am sure I would’ve gotten shot or something. But even with that, I was still willing to do whatever I had to do to make sure Bethany didn’t get hurt. It was something I wouldn’t have given a second thought to, and as long as I’d been alive, I had never felt that way about any other woman. I was never that selfless, not even with Karen. It was something to marvel at, and it was the only thing I needed to show how I truly felt about her.
I grabbed my phone and pulled up a local jewelry website. We hadn’t been dating for too long, but I didn’t need any more time to know that she was the one. The only thing that I was worried about that Bethany may not feel the same way. I did not handle rejection well, and the thought of her saying no, or not right now, was enough to cause a little push back. As I scrolled through the phone, I heard her walking down the hallway, so I quickly shoved it into my pocket. “Okay,” she said as she tied her hair into a ponytail, “are you ready?”
“That was quick.”
“Yeah. I know I slowed us down in the bedroom, and like you said, it is not good to annoy your go-to sitter, so I just wanted to get there as quickly as possible.”
I stood up, “Okay. Well, let’s go.”
We arrived at Mike’s house twenty minutes later. “Heeey, look who the fuck decided to show up,” he said with a smile on his face and a beer in his hand.
“Jesus, Mike, it’s fuckin’ 9:30 am, and you’re already drinking a beer?”
“What? Some people drink coffee in the morning. I drink beers.” He looked past me, “Heeey, Bethany. Tell this fucker that there is nothing wrong with a little brewski in the morning.”
She nudged me, “Um, Gavin? There is nothing wrong with a little brewski in the morning.”
“Yeah, that’s it!” he said, reaching his arm around her shoulder. A few drops of beer splashed onto my shirt in the process, “After a second thought, you getting married might not be a bad thing. I mean, that is, if you are marrying her.”
“Married?” Bethany asked with one eyebrow raised above the other.
I shook my head. “He is just talking. He CLEARLY must be drunk. Right, Mike?”
“Huh?” He searched for clarity, and when it hit him like a bag of bricks, he spoke up again, “Oh, right! Yeah. I mean, I wasn’t saying that he was going to propose to you or anything. I mean, he doesn’t even talk about that shit with me. We’re not a couple of chicks, you know? Blabbing on and on about this and that. I was just saying though. I was just, um…” he was at a loss for words. “Vinny! Your father is here!” he said, trying to change the subject.
I smiled at Bethany as she walked ahead of us into the front room. Once she cleared the area, I punched Mike in the chest. “Man, what is wrong with you?”
“I’m sorry, Gavin. That shit slipped out.”
“Damn it. The last thing I need is to scare her away with thoughts of marriage. I know how I feel about her, but we are still early in this relationship, and if I start talkin’ about marriage now, she might think I am fuckin’ insane.”
He took a swig of his beer. “Or, she could be feeling the same way you do. I am willing to bet that both of you fuckers feel the same way. That’s my guess, though.”
Just then, Vinny ran up to me and threw his arms around my waist. “What’s up, Dad? I missed you last night.”
I embraced him, “Yeah, I had to take care of some business last night, but thanks for lookin’ after your Uncle Mike. He was on his best behavior, right?”
“I mean, he was drinking a little bit, but that’s it.”
“So, nothing out of the ordinary?”
He laughed. “Nope.”
“Hey, you all come on here and get some breakfast. I knew you were coming over here, so I made enough shit for all of us. Bacon, eggs, and biscuits.”
“What? You cooking for everyone? Are you sure this stuff isn’t poisoned?”
He smiled. “Not this time.”
We walked into the kitchen and sat down at the table. Mike started to fix our plates, but Bethany waved him off and took over the task. She did it effortlessly. She didn’t mind stepping in and taking control of things like that, and it’s not that I wanted her to do it, but it let me know that I could count on her to help me out in areas that I needed it most. She smiled and put the plates on the table, then sat down. “Shoot,” she said, “I forgot to get the drinks.”
I grabbed her hand, “No, sweetheart, I got it. You relax a little.”
I got up and fixed our drinks as Mike spoke to her. “So, you ever been married before?”
“Mike,” I said sternly as I took the orange juice out of the refrigerator.
“No,” Bethany responded, “it’s fine.” She turned to Mike, “No, I’ve never been married. I’ve been in a couple of relationships before, but that’s it. That’s all in the past, and I moved out here to get away from the past.” She cleared her throat, “But sometimes, things have a way of finding you.”
I put two glasses on the table in front of Mike and Bethany, then fixed the last two drinks for me and Vinny. Mike responded, “Yeah, I hear you on that. I’ve been married before. The worst fucking years of my life and ever since the honeymoon ended, the nightmare started. She used to do all kinds of freaky shit in the bedroom and after that–”
“Mike!” I yelled, glaring at him. I nodded my head towards Vinny.
He chuckled. “Shit, I forgot he was right there. Sorry, buddy,” he said, rubbing his hand through his hair, “Don’t listen to Uncle Mike, especially when Uncle Mike has had a few brews.”
I sat down at the table, shaking my head. As we ate breakfast, I caught Vinny smiling at Bethany a few times when he thought I wasn’t looking. It seemed that he was happier than me at the fact that she was back with us again. I could tell that he was worried when he didn’t see her around for the past few days, and I talked to him a few times about it, so I knew it bothered him. “So, what do you think about us getting our revenge on Bethany today at the bowling alley?”
A wide grin escaped his face, “Yes! Can we? Please?”
“Yeah, please?” Bethany added.
“Yeah. Absolutely. I don’t see why not.”
As we sat at Mike’s table, I couldn’t shake off the fact that things just seemed to fit together perfectly between the three of us. It fit in a way that it never would have between me and Karen, and for that reason alone, I was completely happy with my decision to stick it out with Bethany.