The Road to Finding Us: A Standalone Second Chance Romance (Aftershock Series Book 2)

by Kat Singleton

  He grabs my arms, pinning them to my sides, before he starts backing me to the wall. I try to squirm out of his grip, but his grip becomes even tighter on me. My back hits the wall, my body continuing to try and move away from his grasp, but I don’t get far with his firm hold.

  “I won’t apologize for loving you. So if that’s what you’re looking for, I won’t give it to you,” he says. “I fucked up, okay? Before you, sex was just sex. After you, I wanted to sleep with only you for the rest of my life. But despite all this, I can tell you still feel something for me, even after all the bullshit. You wouldn’t be so hurt right now if you didn’t.”

  I feel the tears slide down my cheek and his gaze follows their descent. I speak through my teeth when I stammer, “I. Don’t. Feel. Anything. For. You.” I force as much conviction and venom in my words as I can muster.

  The words are barely out of my mouth before his lips crash against mine in a wild frenzy. His large hands grab my face, his fingers tangling in my hair. Aspen’s lips are strong and quick against mine.

  “I don’t fucking believe you,” he growls against my mouth, diving against my lips once again.

  His tongue coaxes my mouth open, and I don’t hesitate to let him in. His chest pushes against mine, my legs wrapping around him so I can access his lips easier. He pushes me deeper into the wall, pinning me with his hips, making it almost painful.

  I feel his hands everywhere at once, untangling from my hair, grabbing my neck, in my hair again. One hand squeezes my upper thigh, pulling me even closer against him. I can feel his fingertips searing my skin straight through my thin pair of leggings.

  Pulling away from his lips, I gasp for air while they find my neck. I revel in the feeling. His lips aren’t tender, and I don’t want them to be. I want to feel the punishing branding of them. I want to feel them everywhere, no matter how gentle they aren’t. He nips at my collarbone as my fingers fist his hair. When I open my eyes, I find his on me, his green eyes speaking so many words he’s never said.

  We stare at each other for a moment before he slowly inches his face closer to mine.

  I open my lips in anticipation but his lips don’t reach mine. Instead, they kiss my tear-stained cheeks, making me realize I haven’t stopped crying. He kisses every tear away until each and every one is gone. His lips find mine again, tasting salty against my own. Where our last kiss was full of passion, this one is so tender it almost hurts.

  Aspen pulls away then, resting his forehead against mine as we both try to calm our erratic breaths.

  I don’t know how long we spend gazing at each other, getting our bodies under control, but I realize something. After this kiss, I could be doing the most ordinary of things and no matter what, I will still feel this heat, of his lips against mine. Of his mark on my life. My lips have been forever burned by his, and there’s no forgetting this moment in time.

  Not like I’ve ever forgotten the feel of his lips against mine.

  Not when he kissed me at twenty-one.

  Not when he broke me at twenty-two.

  And not now, when our rekindled flame is bound to burn out.

  He pulls away, looking me straight in the eyes. “Be careful how you kiss me, Lily. You might lead me to believe you actually have feelings for me.”

  He pulls his hips away, letting me slowly roll down the wall. Once my feet are planted on the floor, he takes all the heat from his body away. He strolls into the bathroom as if he doesn’t have a care in the world, winking once over his shoulder and then slamming the door.

  Throwing my head against the wall, I let out an audible groan.

  What the hell just happened?

  34

  Aspen

  Present

  “You know I’m still here, right?” I ask Lily, walking out of the hotel bathroom with only the white towel wrapped around my hips.

  She stands in the middle of the room in nothing but a bra and a new pair of jean shorts. Her clothes from last night are now sitting folded on the counter in the bathroom, after being taken down off the shower rod.

  Lily looks over her shoulder, her hand moving around in her duffel bag as her hips sway to the music playing from her phone.

  I lift my hand in an inviting gesture. “You can keep going if you’d like, don’t stop on my account.”

  “You’re disgusting!” she says, with a shake of her head and a hint of a smile. Then she grabs her bag and stomps toward the bathroom.

  I spin to face the bathroom, pleasantly surprised—and hard—after noticing her eyes trail over my shirtless body, her heated gaze still sending tingles down my spine. “You know, Lily, it didn’t seem like you thought I was disgusting about thirty minutes ago when your lips were pressed against mine and your legs were wrapped around me.”

  “It was a weak moment. I’ve been lonely. Don’t flatter yourself,” she replies from the bathroom doorway.

  I grin, then walk across the room to my bag. “We’re leaving in five minutes,” I tell her, as I pull out a fresh pair of boxer briefs.

  “We’ll leave whenever the hell I’m ready,” her voice echoes from behind the closed door to the bathroom.

  “Five minutes, Lily,” I singsong, stepping into a pair of pants.

  “Go fuck yourself, Aspen,” she teases.

  After pulling on a shirt, I step closer to the door to ensure she hears my next words. “Why would I do that when I could fuck you?”

  Even though she’s on the other side of the door, I hear her gasp, followed shortly after by a slap to the door.

  There’s that feistiness.

  The shower head turns on a few moments later, and I busy myself with cleaning up the room, finally ready to complete our road trip to South Carolina today.

  “You’re here!” Veronica shoots out of the front door so fast, the screen door slaps against the siding. As soon as she gets remotely close to Lily, she throws her arms around her and pulls her into a hug.

  “Oh my god, V, are you hugging me?” Lily asks with a laugh, dropping the bags she’s holding before wrapping her arms around Veronica.

  “Shut up,” Veronica says, pulling away. “I rarely give out hugs. Soak it in while you can.” Veronica’s blue eyes find mine, causing her to smile even wider. “There’s my favorite douchebag!” She steps in front of me, the toes of her combat boots brushing up against my boat shoes. The pair of shoes I packed just for her after finding out how much she hated them.

  “There’s my favorite preppy goth girl,” I fire back, pulling her small body to mine.

  Maverick steps out the front door and says, “Holy shit, did the two of you survive a road trip together?” Clapping his hands together in excitement, he adds, “I bet Veronica that one of you would end up in jail by the end of it.”

  Veronica and I share a look. She gives me a noncommittal shrug.

  “Har, har. So funny, Mav,” Lily says, reaching up to fuck with his hair before wrapping him in a hug.

  “I missed you, sis,” he says to her.

  “I guess the feeling is mutual,” she responds, avoiding eye contact with me.

  She’s barely looked at me today. It turns out the heated moment we shared did nothing but piss her off—or confuse her—even more. We spoke minimal words during the last leg of our trip to Beaufort.

  “How the hell are you?” I ask Maverick when he comes to a stop in front of me. We shake hands, pulling each other in for a bro hug.

  “Doing great, man,” he answers.

  I pull away and grab the bags I have piled at the side of Gladys.

  “We’re happy to have you,” Veronica declares with more enthusiasm than she typically shows.

  All four of us grab at least one bag, walking up the red brick sidewalk leading to their front porch.

  “This is beautiful,” Lily whispers in awe, her eyes scanning over the house.

  She isn’t wrong. The house has southern charm written all over it. The sidewalk paves the way to a perfectly white house. There are two columns at
either side of the steps that lead up to a wraparound porch. Their front doors and shutters are painted a matte black, making the home look like it belongs on TV.

  “Did you plant flowers?” I question Veronica. I never pegged her as the kind of girl to get her hands dirty.

  Maverick chuckles behind me, pulling my suitcase up the stairs with him. “Veronica bought the flowers. She told me she was going to plant them. I’ll let y’all place bets on whether that happened or not.”

  I bump my shoulder against a scowling Veronica. “It’s okay, V. None of us would expect that out of you.”

  She uses her free hand to slap me on the stomach. “If you keep being an ass, you’ll be sleeping outside! It’s mosquito season here in the south.” She throws a pointed glare my way before opening the screen door and stepping inside.

  The inside is decorated just as perfectly as the outside. There’s even an art piece in the front entryway that I’m sure Veronica painted.

  The artist herself interrupts me when she points to the staircase in front of us and says, “Your rooms are both upstairs. Ours is down here, but be careful, the walls are thin.” V turns around and waggles her eyebrows at Lily, who turns a shade of pink and then stomps up the stairs.

  “Stop embarrassing my sister,” Maverick scolds from behind me, his effort futile as we follow Lily up.

  We all know Veronica will do whatever the hell she wants. That’s probably why he fell in love with her.

  “Okay, Lily, this one is yours.” Veronica opens the first door to our left, revealing a nicely decorated guest bedroom.

  Lily follows Veronica inside and throws her bag on the bed. Maverick steps around me in the hallway to enter the room, putting the rest of her bags in there as well.

  “And your room is right down here,” Mav tells me when he steps out of the room, directing me two doors down on the right.

  Once in there, I place my bags on the armchair in the corner of the room and take a look around. It’s odd to have friends who are so domesticated. We’re all in our mid-twenties, but it still feels weird to know Veronica and Maverick own this house. I think about the house I’m currently having renovated for myself, wishing I had somebody to share it with.

  Maverick and I shoot the shit in my room as I get situated, the girls doing the same in Lily’s borrowed room down the hall.

  Once we’re all settled, Veronica’s bossy voice booms through the hallway. “Get your asses downstairs. Maverick and I have news.”

  Maverick shares a look with me, his balls obviously firmly in her grasp by the way he pulls himself off the bed and out the door. Not trying to get assaulted by Veronica myself—again—I follow him out. The girls are carrying on a conversation while they walk down the stairs.

  The hosts guide us to their large kitchen. Smack dab in the middle sits a giant island, big enough to fit five chairs in front of it.

  “Holy shit, guys. This house is unreal.” Lily admires the space, her eyes unable to take in our surroundings fast enough.

  “Glad ya think so,” Maverick replies with a smile, pulling Veronica into his side before he wraps an arm around her.

  “News?” I ask, leaning against the island.

  Veronica beams up at Maverick, pulling her hand from her pocket. It’s then that I notice the giant rock sitting on her left hand.

  “We’re engaged!” they both exclaim, smiling from ear to ear.

  “Freaking finally!” Lily jumps up from her spot at the counter, rounding it so fast and then pulling them both in for a hug.

  “Well, after I heard you spilled the beans that I was looking at rings a year ago, I had to wait for a new moment. We all know how much my fiancée hates surprises, so naturally I had to surprise her,” Mav says.

  Veronica sticks her tongue out at him, and he responds by leaning down to give her a kiss.

  “I’m so happy right now,” Lily says through tears. She pulls Veronica’s hand closer to her, inspecting the rock on our friend’s finger. Lily looks up from her examination, looking right at Maverick. “Damn, bro. This thing is massive.”

  He shakes his head, looking over at me as I step closer to him.

  “Congrats, man. I’m so happy for the two of you,” I tell him.

  We hug once again, but this time I hold onto him a longer. I’m so fucking happy for him. The man has been my best friend for so many years, the fact that he’s so happy pulls me out of my own shitty mood from the previous day.

  “Thanks, Aspen. Probably wouldn’t be marrying the love of my life if it wasn’t for your pep talk telling me to pull my head out of my ass,” he says.

  I laugh, dusting off my shoulder dramatically as I think back to that memory. “I’m basically the reason the two of you are together.”

  “That’s great, because you’re going to be both our best man,” Veronica announces, letting me hug her in congratulations.

  “And Lily,” Maverick says, facing his sister, “you’re going to be our maid of honor. If you want.”

  “Hell yeah, I want!” Lily exclaims.

  I nod, agreeing with Lily’s enthusiasm.

  Veronica looks to me with a smile. “Aspen, it’ll work out perfectly that we’ll be wedding planning with you so close.”

  My gaze anxiously darts to Lily. When I told her I was in the process of building a new house, I didn’t tell her it was in the same neighborhood as her brother’s.

  Lily looks puzzled as she looks between Veronica and me. “Wait, what?”

  The look on Veronica’s face can only be described as awkward as she looks to me before glancing back at Lil. “Aspen hasn’t told you?”

  I sigh. “We hadn’t really talked about it yet.” I scratch the top of my head nervously and look at Lily. “Surprise? The house I told you about, the one I’m having built, is actually in this neighborhood. Like, right back there.” I point to the back door, to the lot with a house undergoing renovation. My house.

  I didn’t think I’d completely gut the place and start over, but I fell in love with the lot and the bones of the house weren’t what they used to be. After many talks with my contractor, we decided to start from the ground up.

  “You’re moving to Beaufort?” Lily asks, biting her lip. With Veronica and Maverick so close by, I fight the urge to pull it from between her teeth.

  “Hell yeah, he is. He missed me that much,” Veronica jokes.

  I appreciate her trying to ease the awkwardness in the room right now. I didn’t think it was a big deal to tell Lily I was moving out here, but judging by the look on her face, it just might be.

  Everything with her is a big fucking deal these days. I wish she’d just stop overanalyzing everything already.

  “We have one more surprise for the two of you…” Maverick begins hesitantly, looking down at his fiancée.

  “Yay, more surprises,” Lily cheers with mock enthusiasm.

  “We’re having an engagement party. Tonight, at my parents’ house! I can’t wait for you guys to meet them,” Veronica rattles on. “Oh, and I forgot. Lily, your mom and dad are already here. They’re staying with my parents. Selma’s flight lands soon too, so she’ll be there as well.”

  Lily’s eyes flick to me briefly as she plasters a smile on her face. “Looks like we’re getting the gang back together. It’ll be like old times.”

  I don’t try to hide my annoyed sigh.

  If it’s just like old times, I know what I can expect from her—hate.

  35

  Lily

  Present

  Sighing in frustration, I look around the room to see if there’s anything that might help me with my current debacle. The zipper of my dress is caught on something at my lower back, and no matter how many positions I contort my body into, I can’t pull it the rest of the way up.

  I contemplate going down to Maverick and Veronica’s room to see if either one of them can help me out, but I’m already running late. My hair and makeup both already complete for the engagement party, all I need to do is f
ind a pair of shoes—and zip this freaking dress.

  A knock on my door startles me. I turn around, met with a grinning Aspen.

  A grinning Aspen in a fucking suit.

  He allows me to check him out, the cocky smile never once leaving his face. Finally, when I feel like I drank in the sight enough, my gaze meets his.

  Aspen nods his head to where I stand in front of the full-length mirror before shutting the door behind him. “Can I help you?”

  “Uh, yeah, I need a favor.” I sigh out of frustration, turning to show him my exposed back. “I can’t reach the zipper.”

  His only response is a quick nod, his dress shoes slapping against the hardwood floor of the bedroom as he makes his way over to me.

  I turn and face the mirror, sweeping my hair to the front. I feel Aspen’s body get closer, sucking in a breath when I feel his breath against my neck. He lightly brushes a stray hair away while I try my best to steady my breathing.

  Why must the smallest touch by him send my body into overdrive? Ugh.

  His hand holds one side of the dress lightly while the other begins to pull up the zipper. As he slowly zips, I can feel the brush of his knuckles against my bare skin. I hope he doesn’t notice the trail of goosebumps left in its wake. My eyes find him in the mirror, and he’s staring at my reflection. The emotion in his eyes is too much for me so I resume looking at the floor.

  Once the zipper is pulled all the way up, I turn around, letting my hair fall back into place.