“I’ll see you soon. It was an absolute pleasure to meet you.” I smile back at her and she turns and says goodbye to my mom. “It was great to meet you, Carmel.” Mom smiles back and I turn on my side, wincing as I do. I close my eyes and try and block everything out. I can still hear my mom.
“Goodbye, Tracey. Have a safe trip back home. I hope to God I’ll see you again someday.” I hear shuffling like people moving but I don’t turn and look. I hear the door close and I know that Mom is still in the room. I mentally sigh. “Baby, I know I wasn’t the best mom in the world. But I loved you with all my heart. You were and still are the most important person in my life. I probably went about things wrong when you were growing up. I should have paid more attention to you. I’m sorry.” I hear her moving closer to me and then I feel her hand on mine. I don’t move. I don’t give her any indication whether or not her words mean anything to me or not. I feel her lips brush along my temple. When she pulls back she squeezes my hand. “I love you, baby.” With that she walks out. I sigh with relief and turn back over onto my back. As I do I hear the door opening.
“What did I tell you about moving?” My eyes fly open at Sammy’s angry tone.
“What’s wrong with you?” I ask and his eyes narrow.
“What’s wrong with me? I just found out you don’t want to get married!” He shouts at me.
“You nosy bastard! Now while you were eavesdropping did the words I don’t want to get married actually come out of my mouth?” He looks so confused, he goes to speak and I cut him off. “Or did I say what if I don’t want to get married? I’m tired I’ve had a long day and I need some rest, you need to go and have a shower and get a good night’s sleep.” I close my eyes and wish I could restart this day. I’m so hurt from both mom and Sammy. Sleep is what I need. Sleep and a start fresh tomorrow. I know I’m crying but I don’t care at this point.
“I’m not fucking going anywhere, I told you Sweets, where you are I am. I’m sorry, I did what our moms did and I jumped to conclusions. Do you want to get married?” The tears are flowing freely now as my eyes are opened and I’m staring at a pacing Sammy. He looks at me whilst pacing and stops. He walks over to the bed and climbs in beside me. He puts his arms around me. “Please don’t cry Sweets. I can’t take you crying.”
I snuggle into his embrace. “I never thought I wanted to get married. Then I met you.” My voice is sleepy. I’m tired and I’m drained.
“Sleep Sweets, we have the rest of our lives to talk about this.” He leans down and kisses the top of my head.
~*~
So, we left for Maui a week after getting out from the hospital. It’s been heaven coming back. My house overlooks the sea. My back and side doors open out onto the beach. I’ve spent my time reading and relaxing and it’s been so good. I feel happier especially with Sammy here and enjoying himself. Three things have happened since we got here. First off no sex. Sammy is still treating me like I’m fragile. I hate it. He is super attentive and holds me all the time. He kisses me to shut me up and kisses me just for the hell of it. But no sex! It’s been too long. I’m going to get Soph’s help. I need my man and I’m going to get it.
The second thing that happened shocked me. I cried when I heard it.
~*~
The phone rings and I hear Sammy say. “I got it. Don’t worry.” I’m sitting out on my back deck, it’s seven in the evening. I hear the phone stop ringing. And I hear Sammy say “Hello?” Then I hear him say “Are you shitting me? When? Do they know who?” Sammy’s voice has the hard edge to it; it does that when he’s pissed. I get up and walk into the house. I hear Sammy again. “Alright thanks, man, I’ll tell her. See you soon.” And he hangs up. He turns to me and says. “You’re free Sweets. David Masters was shanked in his cell tonight. He bled out and died from his injuries.” I look at Sammy who is smiling, I return it ,then I dissolve into tears.
“I can’t believe I’m free. He’s truly gone.” Sammy lifts me up and buries his head into my neck.
“He’s truly gone. Only happiness from here Sweets.” He continues to hold me through my happy tears. “How do you want to celebrate?” I burst out laughing.
~*~
I have my suspicions on who called the hit because it was a hit unless someone who was also in lock up knew me, but there are no names I recognize. The conversation with Ryder always springs to my mind when I think of David dying. “I will sort it. You will be safe Winter. I promise.” I haven’t said anything about my suspicions because honestly, I don’t care who killed him. I’m happy and safe, and that is all that I wanted. David Masters can’t get to me anymore, and because of that, I don’t have as many nightmares anymore.
The third thing that happened involved Skye, who apologized for the misunderstanding. Even though she didn’t have to. What happened with her shocked me completely. I wasn’t the only one in shock. Sammy stood at the front door with his mouth hanging open.
~*~
We are just getting ready for bed when the doorbell rings. I sigh and go to it. Sammy is right behind me. I open the door and see Skye standing there, tears streaming down her face. “I made a huge mistake.” She then bursts into tears. I look to Sammy and see his horrified face.
“Aren’t you supposed to be in Vegas?” Sammy says, edging away from the crying woman. His question makes her cry harder.
“What happened Skye?” I ask and she finally stops crying. Thank God.
“We got drunk, then I woke up this morning naked and MARRIED!” Holy shit sounds like someone had an awesome time.
“Okay, so you had drunken sex, you got married. Get it annulled.” She narrows her eyes at me.
“He won’t let us get it annulled.” Um, what?
“Who’s he?” Sammy asks the exact same question that was on my mind.
“Ryder!” Skye growls and I can’t hold back the laughter that spills out. “It’s not funny. That asshole told me we are married now and he isn’t getting an annulment, but we are not allowed to have sex again. That it was a mistake.” My head pops up and I stare at her.
“You’re shitting me. That fucking moron. Come in and get some rest.” She nods and she walks in, I bring her to the spare room and the bed is already made up. “Please tell me the sex was at least shit,” I ask her, she bites her lip and shakes her head. “Fuck, what are you going to do?”
“I’m going to London after Soph’s wedding. Hopefully I’ll be able to get some distance from the prick. I don’t understand why he’s want to stay married to me.”
“I don’t either. Get some rest. I will see you in the morning.” I give her a hug and walk into my room. Sammy is already in here; his eyes are full of laughter. “It’s not funny! She’s been in love with him for as long as I’ve known her. He’s such an asshole.” Sammy chuckles.
“Sweets, that man is head over heels for Skye, he just doesn’t want to admit it.” I shake my head. Guys say they don’t understand women. But the truth is, we don’t understand them.
~*~
Since that night Skye has kept well away from Ryder. He’s looking for her, but he has pissed everyone off by how he treated her that everyone is keeping her whereabouts hidden. It’s actually a lot of fun to watch a grown man throw a tantrum. He’ll see her in a few days, she is a bridesmaid so she will be at the wedding. Unless Soph has banned him, which she has threatened to do on numerous occasions, usually after he threatened someone if no one tells him where Skye is. He has no clue that she is booked on the first flight available after the wedding. Soph and I helped organize everything. She will leave during the reception.
I also met Katelynn, oh she is the sweetest little girl in the world. They came to Maui for the week and I swear to God, by the end of the first day Sammy wanted them gone.
~*~
I’m standing outside my house as Sammy drives up to the house, I can see Katelynn already, she’s got a massive smile on her pretty little face, looking at her you’d think she was Sammy’s, she looks just like him,
blonde hair and his big bright blue eyes. It makes me wonder what Sammy’s sister looks like, he doesn’t have any pictures of her, it’s like she doesn’t exist. The car pulls to a stop and Sammy jumps out, he walks up to Katelynn’s door and opens it, she bolts out of the car and starts running for me, hands in the air and screaming my name.
I look over at Sammy and Tracey and they are both looking on with smiles on their faces. Katelynn makes it to me and comes to a stop a few steps in front of me. “Whoa, you’re really pretty.” She actually breathes out. I roll my eyes, she’s like her Uncle.
“Nu-uh, you’re really pretty. You’re the pretty little princess.” I tell her and watch her eyes get bigger and brighter. Something that up until this very moment I didn’t think was possible. Her beautiful blue eyes are so very expressive. “What do you want to do today?” I ask as I have no idea what a four year old would want to do. I watch as her little face scrunches up in concentration.
“Um, I don’t know.” She’s still concentrating her feet shifting from side to side. Sammy and Tracey are walking up to us. “Oh I know; you can do makeup.” She starts bouncing up and down and clapping her hands. I look to Tracey who is just smiling. She sees me looking at her and nods her head.
“Okay little princess, we will do makeup but since you’re already pretty you don’t need very much, how about we make your nails look extra pretty?”
“Yes!” She screams and takes my hand and pulls me into the house and I can hear Sammy laughing behind me. I leave her in the living room and walk down to my bedroom and get the pink nail polish and the glitter one. As I walk back into the living room, I see she has already taken off her flip-flops and is waiting on me. I sit on the floor beside her and start painting her tiny little toes, she giggles every time I move my hand, “Winter, that tickles.” I can’t help but laugh at her giddiness. I do her fingers next and she can’t stop staring at them. “They are so pretty.”
“Pretty nails for a pretty Princess,” I tell her and she smiles at me. “You ready for the glitter?” She nods and I can tell that she never gets this treatment at home. I put the glitter over the nail polish and wait for it to dry and then do what I’ve wanted to do since she giggled when I touched her feet. I tickle her, and she starts squealing.
“Stop it, Winter. Stop it.” She’s laughing so hard now. I feel someone behind me and I know that it’s Sammy. I watch as he starts to tickle her too. “No, stop, please Uncle Sammy.” She’s laughing so hard she has tears streaming down her face. Sammy stops and she sits up. “No fair, you two are bigger than me.” She pouts as she says it.
I laugh and I lean over and whisper “We should tickle Uncle Sammy.” She gets a serious look on her face and nods. Sammy hasn’t noticed as he is lying on his back. Katelynn jumps on him and starts tickling him. He doesn’t laugh but she does. He just smiles at her.
“Uncle Sammy, why aren’t you laughing?” She says as she tickles his stomach. Still, he just smiles up at her. I, however, tickle his neck and watch as he tries to move away from my hand Katelynn spots this and starts tickling his neck, making Sammy squirm.
“Mercy.” He says making me laugh and Katelynn does a fist pump.
“I win.” Her whole face lights up.
~*~
I pull back from remembering that day and call out to Sammy. “Sammy, are you packed? You haven’t forgotten anything?” He laughs since this is the fifth time of me asking him the exact same questions. I hate being unprepared and I have to make sure I have everything.
“Yes, now come on, the taxi will be here any second. We’ve quadrupled checked everything. We are not forgetting anything. Take a deep breath. Now, are you ready?” I walk up to him and he opens his arms to me.
“I’m ready. I love you, Sammy.” I say as I snuggle into him.
He kisses the top of my head. “I love you too. We’re getting married next. Just giving you the heads-up.”
I laugh. “Yeah, okay Sammy. Whatever you say. You ask me and we have it on the beach in front of our house, and I’ll marry you.”
“You got it Sweets.” I lift my head up and he captures my lips. I forget everything except him. He pulls away and I’m left looking at him. He chuckles. “The taxi’s here Sweets, it’s time to go.” The cab’s here? I didn’t hear it.
We arrive in New York and I already miss Maui. Nathan meets us at the airport and takes us to the hotel we are all staying in, Nathan’s parents have the kids. Giving them time to get everything organized. Once we are checked in, I have a shower and get dressed, we are going out for dinner with Nathan and Soph. I don’t get too dressed up, just a pair of skinny jeans, heels, and a dressy top. I leave my hair down. Just as I finish putting on my makeup Sammy walks up behind me I can see him through the mirror. His hands go around my waist, and he pulls me to him. “You look gorgeous Sweets.” I turn in his arms and I do a full body sweep of him. He’s in jeans that look amazing on him. He’s in a tight fitted shirt that clings to his muscles. “Keep looking at me like that and dinner will be canceled.” I blink and swallow. I shake my head and move away from his arms. As much as I’d love to have sex. My best friend is waiting on me.
We make it to the restaurant and I see Soph walking to me. I meet her half way and hug her. She still isn’t showing but everyone now knows. “I’ve missed you so much.” I tell her and she squeezes me.
“I’ve missed you too. I tried to convince Nathan of honeymooning in Maui. But he didn’t go for it. We’re only going for two nights and Luke is looking after the kids. He and Morgan have moved in together. Poor Scott is all alone.” I laugh, and we walk to the table. Sammy pulls out my chair for me and I lean up and give him a kiss and take my seat. The waitress comes around taking drink orders. Soph and I just order water, and the guys order beers.
I feel someone at the table and see a woman, she is pretty, blonde hair and big tits, she is really petite which make her tits stand out. They look fake. She’s looking directly at Sammy and touching his arm. I stiffen and watch as he pulls her hand off his arm. She pouts. “Aww, Sam. It’s been a while. When can I see you again.” I feel Sammy’s hand search for mine under the table.
“Never. Diane, this is my girlfriend Winter.”
The bitch actually looks me up and down and laughs. “Okay, seriously, though. I haven’t seen you in a while.” My body stiffens even more and I feel Sammy try and soothe me.
“He’s just told you he has a girlfriend. Are you deaf or just blind?” I look to my right and see Kat, Nathan’s sister standing there with her arms folded staring daggers at the bitch.
“Please, Sammy doesn’t do relationships. He always comes back to me. I’m the only woman he comes back to.” I pull my hand away from Sammy.
“Bitch, I fucked you twice, in the same week, two fucking years ago. Don’t act like you are special.” Her face twists with anger and she looks deranged.
“You’re a piece of shit. I can’t believe you!” She screams making a scene.
“Listen, bitch. He doesn’t want you! You were just an easy lay. He does do relationships since he’s in one and has been for a while. Now take your fake tits and your fake lips and get the fuck away from them.” Damn, Kat does not like this bitch. I wonder what she did to her?
“Fuck you Kat. Still can’t get over the fact that your fiancé wanted me?” I watch as Kat’s face gets red.
This time it’s Soph who stands up. “Listen here you fucking slut. You have three seconds to get the fuck away from our table before I make you.”
“What are you going to do?” This bitch has no clue.
“I’m going to drag you outside and beat the shit out of you. You have insulted my best friend and my sister in law.” The bitch finally scampers off.
I turn to Kat. “Are you okay?” I ask.
“Yeah. I saw her over here, and I knew it couldn’t have been good. I’m sorry that you had to listen to her.”
“You want to join us for dinner?” I turn my gaze to Soph and wonder if I stumbled
into a different universe.
“Thank you, but I’m in the middle of a date.” She turns her head and I see the guy she’s with. He gets up from their table and walks over to ours.
“Holy shit. He is hot. How long have you been together?” I say, and I hear Sammy’s growl.
“I’ll say. He’s so fucking hot. Tell us quick before he gets over here.” I laugh at the look on Nathan’s face when Soph says that.
“His name is Nick and we’ve been together six months today.” She has a big smile on her face.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” Nathan sounds hurt.
“Honestly, it was so new, then everything happened, and it didn’t feel right telling you when so much was happening,” Kat says just as Nick reaches the table.
I stand up and introduce myself. “Hi, Nick. I’m Winter. It’s so great to meet you.” Soph and Kat start giggling.
“Winter. It’s great to finally meet you.” Holy fuck. His voice is hot. He’s British. I think I heard Soph let out a strangled moan. I look to Kat who’s trying her best not to laugh at our antics. I wink at her, and she comes over to me. Just as we hear Nathan pipe up.
“Hey, I’m Nathan. Kat’s brother and this is my soon to be wife Sophia.” He puts the emphasis on the wife, and I let out a giggle.
Kat puts her arms around me and whispers in my ear. “I’m so glad you're okay. I’ve been worried about you. But you look happy.” I pull her into a hug.
“Nick, this is Sam, Winter’s boyfriend,” Sophia says, and I hear a growl and I look at Sammy and raise my eyebrow.
“Need to get a ring on your finger Sweets.” Is what he whispers in my ear then acts like he didn’t say anything. I narrow my eyes at him, he has the cheek to wink at me. Ugh.
“Have a wonderful evening. I will see you at the wedding as Kat invited me as her plus one. Come on love, let’s go back to our seats.” Kat just smiles at him and I don’t blame her. Nick calling her love is better than Nathan’s baby to Soph, but not as good as Sammy’s Sweets for me. We say goodbye to them, just in time for us to order dinner.
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