Her Independence Day

by Victoria Belle

  Ashley slipped away from me and skirted around the kitchen table. As she passed Dean, she ran her fingers along his shoulders, pausing to linger beside him for only a moment, and then went into the kitchen with Lulu. “You can be a bit of a menace, Lulu, but you’re my favorite menace.”

  The two girls laughed, and the sound warmed my heart.

  After all the shit at the cabin, Ashley needed a night like this. Being surrounded by good people who only wanted to sit back and enjoy the company of one another was the natural kind of remedy that would chase away any lingering negativity of Nick’s attempt at getting her back. His very warped, fucked-up, confused way of getting her back.

  He was currently awaiting trial in a prison cell. The unfortunate side to the whole situation was that the guy had money. A lot of money. He’d been able to secure himself a pretty decent lawyer, and there would be things to be said about the fact that three Navy SEALS apprehended him with “excessive aggression”, but we could handle all that as it came. None of us had spoken a word of it to Ashley. She didn’t need to worry about something that would probably turn out to be nothing.

  Especially since we’d landed Ashley an even better lawyer than Nick Myles. Our father had good connections out in the business world, and he knew some lawyers who would walk circles around the guy Nick had hired. Her case, I could confidently say, was already won. There was too much evidence stacked up against him. The police on scene were all testifying, as were the three of us, Ashley, and Lulu. His fate was sealed.

  And thank God for that. Once he was away for good, Ashley would finally be able to let go of that little bit of stress still hanging off her shoulders. I could see it best in the morning, and I knew she dreamed about that night. About the gun going off. About being locked up alone with him with nothing but faith in us keeping her going.

  I watched her laugh in the kitchen with Lulu and Jesse. Dean moved up beside me and crossed his arms over his chest. “She seems to be adjusting well.”

  I nodded. “Yeah. Really well. She bounces back like a champ.”

  “Do you think it’s a front, or do you think she’s actually just processing things in a healthy way?”

  “Couldn’t say for sure. I talked to Jesse about it on the way here. He wants to talk to her. And as you’ve said many times, if she’s going to open up, it will be to him.” Dean nodded slowly and leaned back against the corner of the patio doors. His jaw was set, and it wasn’t hard to tell that something was still bothering him. I looked from him to Ashley. “What’s bothering you, Dean?”

  He rolled his shoulders. “I can’t get past it.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “The guilt.”

  He didn’t need to say anything else for me to understand exactly what he meant. I was struggling with the same thing. Had we just handled Ashley like one of our missions from the get-go, Nick never would have gotten his hands on her, and she never would have had to endure such torment. “Same here.”

  Dean sighed. “She doesn’t blame us, but it doesn’t make it any easier.”

  “Neither does knowing it could have been so much worse.”

  Dean clapped his hand on my shoulder. “I know. We’ll have to make it up to her somehow.”

  “Any ideas?”

  Dean shot me a crooked smile. “A few. I’ll tell you later.”

  My curiosity was piqued, but I nodded. I could be patient. Years of waiting for Ashley had been the biggest trial in my life, but it had taught me that patience was crucial.

  Dean and I joined the others in the kitchen. Ashley was pouring herself a glass of iced tea and filled glasses for everyone else. After she took her first sip, she looked around the house. “We’ve done a good job. It looks so awesome in here. What do you think, Lulu? Did we achieve your vision?”

  Lulu grinned and nodded as she looked around. “It’s better than I pictured in my head. Tacky, loud, and patriotic. Just how it should be!”

  Ashley giggled. “I’m so glad you like the same things as me.”

  Lulu popped a piece of cheese in her mouth from one of the serving platters before her. “The patio is all set up, too? I know most people will want to sit out there to watch the fireworks over at the stadium. It’s the perfect view from there.”

  Dean nodded. “I set it all up. We’ll just have to bring food out there when people start arriving.”

  “Excellent,” Lulu said.

  I pressed my hip to the counter and watched Ashley as she took another sip of iced tea. Lulu nudged her with her hip and asked, “When do you want to start getting ready?”

  Ashley shrugged. “Whenever. An hour, maybe?”

  “That gives us time to have some drinks,” Lulu said. “Who’s in?”

  “Me.” I raised my hand.

  My brothers were also up for a couple drinks, so we spent the next hour nursing a couple of beers, cracking jokes, and doing whatever it took to keep Ashley laughing. It was all I wanted to hear for the rest of the night. Making sure she had a good time was my absolute top priority, and things were going according to plan so far.

  At the one-hour mark, the two girls slipped away to their bedrooms to get ready together. We could hear them giggling down the hall as they cranked their music and dolled up.

  The three of us sat at the kitchen table and listened to the sounds of happiness for a little while. I leaned back in my chair as I was filled with contentment. “Things feel like they are getting back to normal.”

  Jesse nodded. “Yeah. It’s good.”

  “Are you still going to try to talk to her later?” I asked Jesse.

  “Yes. I’ll steal her away for a bit when I get the chance.”

  I was glad to hear it. After something as fucked up as what Nick did, it would be important for Ashley to talk through it. “Dean, what was this idea of yours you had about making it up to her?”

  Jesse looked from me to Dean as our older brother shifted in his chair. He took a mouthful of beer and put it down. “There’s an open studio suite above Rosette’s Bakery. It needs some work, but it’s pretty nice. Big windows, hardwood floors, and all the piping to add a bathroom and small kitchen area.”

  I felt my eyebrows draw together on my forehead. “I don’t know if Ash is going to be ready to move out on her own after all this.”

  Dean shook his head. “It’s not for her to live in.”

  “Oh?”

  He smiled. “You boys ready to put in some work for our girl?”

  32

  Jesse

  Lulu’s party was in full swing by nine o’clock that evening. Moving from room to room was a tricky task because one had to squeeze between dancing bodies without spilling their drink on someone.

  I’d partaken in several games going on in different sections of the house. I dominated at beer pong. Not even Dean could come close to beating me. A group of young women were playing a messy game of flip cup that made me understand why Lulu had been so adamant about us putting down table cloths on every surface. There was an intense game of darts happening outside on the patio, which had entertained me for a little while, but I wandered off shortly after Ashley did.

  I found her in the middle of the living room. Her hips were swaying in beat to the music, and she was chatting with two young women, both of whom I knew to be Lulu’s friends. I stationed myself against the wall behind her, so she didn’t know I was standing watch like a hawk. I didn’t want to take away from her evening, but I also didn’t want to leave her alone in case someone started asking probing questions about what happened to her in that cabin in the woods.

  It was no secret in town that Nick Myles, the fiancé of local girl Ashley Rowe, had blown a fuse and kidnapped her. It was also no secret that the Thomas brothers had beat the police there. The whole thing was making our security agency business boom, but it wasn’t worth the cost. I was stopped on the street before coming to help set up by someone who wanted more details about what happened. I had not too kindly told them to take a hike. T
he events of that night were not up for public discussion.

  I’d worn a long-sleeved shirt to the party for a reason. I didn’t want people asking me about my shoulder. I didn’t need their curiosity or their pity. Mostly, I didn’t want the reminder of everything that Ashley had gone through.

  Luckily, there hadn’t been a single person at the party who bothered to ask. They were all really laidback people who seemed to want the same things we did: to have a good time. There was plenty of excited chitchat about the fireworks that would start around ten-thirty and go straight through to midnight, and that was a much-preferred subject than Ashley’s horror movie experience with her ex.

  I smiled to myself as Ashley giggled and snorted at something one of the girls said. That sound was one of my favorites. She covered her mouth and turned away from them in embarrassment as they all giggled, and then she spotted me.

  I gave her a little wave, and she waved back. After giving me a quick smile, she turned back to the two girls she was talking to and excused herself. Then she walked around the coffee table, her long bare legs catching my eye, and came over to me.

  She looked smoking hot, like she always did. Her legs were on display in the short blue skirt she was wearing. It was tight around the small of her waist and then flowed outward to cut off dangerously high. High enough where all I had to do was lift the hem a couple inches and then I would be able to see all of her. Her flat stomach flashed a good couple inches beneath her tied-up white blouse with red polka dots. She looked like a true patriot.

  “Are you having a good time?” Ashley asked as she leaned up against the wall beside me. She was drinking something out of a red solo cup. Wine, perhaps.

  “I am. Are you?”

  She nodded as she looked around the room. “There’s a lot more people than I was expecting. But it’s good. Fun. A distraction. I think it’s exactly what I needed.”

  I ran my thumb along the neck of my beer bottle. So, she was still thinking about it. How could she not? “Lulu sure puts on a good party.”

  “We all put this on. You deserve some of the credit, too. Especially with that bad shoulder.”

  I rolled my shoulder and shook my head at her. “It’s fine. It’s all of you that stop me from doing things, not my shoulder.”

  “You’re the most stubborn man I’ve ever met.”

  I laughed and took a sip of my beer. Ashley’s eyes roamed over the crowd. People in the living room were all grooving to the new song that had come on. People were laughing, drinking, and talking. Some of them were kissing. It was good vibes all around.

  Lulu came in off the back patio and waved at us as she went into the kitchen and pulled more bottles of white wine out of the fridge. She disappeared back outside with the refreshments.

  I glanced over at Ashley. Her eyes had kind of glazed over, like she was lost in thought, and she was chewing the inside of her cheek. I pushed myself off the wall and grabbed her hand. “Do you think Lulu would mind if we slipped away to the rooftop deck? I know she said it was off limits to guests, but…”

  “She won’t mind,” Ashley said.

  I guided her down the hall and up the stairs to the roof. We emerged, and I closed the door behind us. We could still hear the people down on the patio laughing and partying. The sounds of other house parties also reached our ears as we went to the edge of the roof and sank down on two loungers that were side by side and facing in the direction of the fireworks. It was almost like someone had expected to come up here tonight.

  Ashley was looking up at the stars, and I was looking at her. She was so beautiful. Mindbogglingly so.

  “Ash,” I said slowly. She tore her gaze from the night sky and looked into my eyes. “I know you might not want to talk about it, but I need to ask. Are you okay?”

  Her face remained expressionless. She didn’t break eye contact. “I think so.”

  “Is there anything I can do to help?”

  “You’re already doing it. Being with you helps. And Ethan and Dean. I just can’t be by myself yet. But I know it will get easier, and I know I don’t have to worry about him anymore. I think I just feel kind of… I don’t know… stuck.”

  “How do you mean?”

  Ashley’s hazel eyes slid back to the sky, and she sighed softly. “I don’t know how to explain it. It’s like everything that happened was just the universe slamming the door on all the bad decisions I’ve made over the last couple years and giving me a clean slate. Does that sound crazy?”

  “Only a little.” I shrugged.

  She smiled, which was all I wanted. “I guess what I’m trying to say is, I feel like I need to make changes now. Real ones. I don’t have any excuse not to. There’s nothing holding me back.”

  “What sort of changes?”

  “Art. I need to paint again. I need to do something I love. Substitution is crushing my soul one day at a time, and all of this stuff with Nick just made it clear that I can’t settle. I can’t let someone or something else make my decisions for me. I want to paint. So, I’m going to paint.”

  “Is this what you’ve been lost in thought, thinking about the last two days? I thought you were thinking about Nick and the cabin and shit.”

  Ashley shook her head. “I think about it sometimes. But not a lot. Mostly, I’m daydreaming about handing in my resignation. I’m thinking about how on earth I’ll start my business and how I’ll make money. And where I’ll live while I’m trying to get all my ducks in a row.”

  I studied her. She had never looked so confident and serious before. She was a woman who was committed to her convictions, and I knew that this time, she was going to succeed. And this time, she would have me, Dean, and Ethan behind her. Not Nick. She would have the support she needed to make her dreams come true. And Dean already had something in the works to start her off on the right foot.

  I just couldn’t say anything about that yet.

  “I’m happy to hear you say all this,” I told her.

  “I’m happy to finally be able to say it out loud and mean it. It feels really good. Goodbye old me, hello new, I’m-going-after-what-I-want me.”

  “Just don’t change too much,” I said. “I like this you. I’ve liked every version of you I’ve ever been lucky enough to know.”

  “Liked?” she asked, cocking her head to one side. Her eyes were fixed on me again. They were so big and gold I thought I might slide off my chair and kneel at her feet to tell her how beautiful I thought she was. “Just liked?”

  I caught myself grinning like an idiot. “Is that not enough?”

  She shook her head.

  “You know I’ve always loved you, Ashley. And I’d love to show you just how much. If you’ll let me.”

  Ashley leaned over and pressed a soft, sweet kiss to my lips. “I’ve always loved you, too.”

  Getting shot in the shoulder was all at once completely worth it. Ashley leaned back in her chair, smiling like a devilish little angel, and sipped from her red solo cup.

  We sat together quietly for a little bit, and I reached over to hold her hand. “How is your mom handling everything? Is she better?”

  When Ashley’s mother had first heard about Nick kidnapping Ashley, she’d nearly fallen to pieces. She suffered from a lot of guilt from the conversation Ashley had told me about, the one where her mother suggested Ashley should stick it out with Nick for his money so that she would have a more comfortable lifestyle.

  “She’s better now. She knows you guys are with me at all times, and that’s helping. I think it was a good wakeup call for her, though. She understands how damaging what she said could have been. She keeps saying to me, ‘imagine if you’d listened to me and gone back to him.’ It scares her.”

  “It should.”

  Ashley pursed her lips. “I know.” She shifted in her chair. This was always a more sensitive subject for her. Things with her mother had always been tense. She changed the topic to pin it on me. “How are things between you and your dad?”


  I chuckled. “Not good. I’m going to talk to him once I cool off. Then I think I’ll be able to decide if it’s a relationship I should even bother working to save. If I’m only doing it for my brothers…” I broke off.

  “You shouldn’t do it for them. They can handle it. You need to do what’s best for you.”

  “Where would I be without you?”

  Ashley shrugged, and her smile broadened. “Probably with some other girl and without a bullet hole in your shoulder.”

  “This is my new favorite scar, I’ll have you know.”

  Ashley kicked her heels against the end of the lounge chair as she laughed. “You are so strange, Jesse Thomas. In the best way.”

  The door behind us opened, and we both looked over our shoulders as Dean and Ethan arrived on the roof. Ethan was smiling like an idiot as he ran his fingers through his hair to rake it back off his forehead. “We were wondering where the two of you wandered off to. Lulu told us to come check up here. Apparently, she figured you’d disappear at some point.”

  “That makes sense why it’s so clean up here,” Ashley mumbled, looking around the patio.

  There were two other chairs folded up against the railing. Dean and Ethan both grabbed one and sat with us. Dean stretched his legs out and clasped his hands behind his head. “The fireworks should start any minute.”

  Ashley turned her gaze back to the starry sky.

  I was staring at her, as I knew my brothers were. She was so much more compelling than the twinkling stars in the endless night. She lifted her knees up to rest her forearms across them, and her skirt slid down her thighs to gather at the top of her legs. I caught a flash of hot pink panties, and my cock twitched.

  “Ash,” I said, and I glanced at her panties to tell her they were showing.

  Ashley looked down and saw the lace strap on her hip. Then she looked back up at me, her full lips curling in a devious smile before she looked back up at the sky and took a sip of her drink. “There’s only one other thing that pairs better with fireworks than wine,” she said.