by Ava Ashley
“I’m sorry,” she whispered, and turned away. “I never wanted to hurt you. I didn’t want to leave you, you know.”
“But why wouldn’t you stay in touch? We could have worked something out after you graduated. We could have been together,” I said, all my hurt feelings from back then suddenly rising back up to the surface. I tried to push them back down, but with Anna right there it seemed hopeless.
“I guess I just thought it was impossible,” she said, softly.
“Are you sure that was it?” I asked.
“What do you mean?”
“Are you sure there wasn’t some other guy?”
Anna looked at me and cocked her head.
“I really don’t know what you mean, Hunter. We’ve been apart for nine years. And yeah, I’ve had a few boyfriends. But that isn’t why I didn’t want to—”
“That’s not what I mean. I mean, I went to Australia. I went after you. It took me about six months to save up—”
“What? Hunter, how did you do that? I can’t believe you went all the way there, and—” Just then, Anna stopped short. “Wait. Why didn’t I see you? What happened?”
“I tracked you down. Flew all the way to freaking Australia. I found your address and waited for you. I was going to surprise you. But then I saw you walking down the street with some guy’s arm around you.”
“Oh, God. What? I don’t understand. This is so confusing. I can’t believe you went all the way to...” She trailed off again and looked off into the distance sadly.
“What is it, Anna?”
“Nothing, I just, I was just thinking. It was six months after I left, you said?”
“Yeah, about that.”
“And what did I look like? Did I look the same?”
“Sure. Same long brown hair. Same beautiful body.”
“What about the guy I was with? What did he look like?”
“All I remember is that he was completely bald,” I told her. “But why?”
“That’s what I thought,” she answered. “That was my friend Ben. I swear to you, he’s just a friend. And at that time, he was just helping me through a rough spot.”
“Just a friend, huh?”
“Yeah. Really. He’s still a friend, and he’s always been only that,” Anna said, then paused. “And then you went all the way home after that? Without even letting me know you were there?”
I nodded, remembering that day. How awful it had been. How I’d scrimped and saved and then felt like such an idiot for hopping on a plane without even talking to her first. Now I felt like an even bigger idiot, because it was clear that she was telling the truth about this guy Ben. And as long as we were being honest, it was about time that I told her the truth about me, before we got too deep.
“Listen, Anna. There’s some other things I really need to tell you. When I got back from Australia, like I said, I was pretty messed up.”
“OK,” she said, listening intently.
“And I didn’t know what to do, I felt so lost. So—”
Just then Anna’s phone started to ring.
“Damn,” she said, looking at the screen. “I’m so sorry but I really need to take this. I already ignored this person once today.”
“It’s OK. We can talk about it later.”
“All right. Actually, I wanted to ask you, what are you doing tomorrow? I’m going to the beach with Betsy and Ted. Do you want to come?”
“Yeah, definitely,” I said, shocked that she was inviting me out with her friends. “I haven’t seen those two since high school.”
“I’m sure they’d love to see you again,” she said. “They always liked you a lot.”
“That’s good to know,” I told her.
“OK, I’ll find your number in the patient file. I’ll call you later.”
“Sounds good, Anna,” I said, not sure if I should be relieved that I was getting out of telling her everything, or dreading putting it off until later.
Oh well, I thought. At least I tried.
Chapter Eight
Anna
As much as I didn’t want to interrupt Hunter while he had something important to say, I didn’t want to put off my talk with Nate any longer either. Sooner or later I had to tell him that things weren’t going to work out between us, and now seemed as good a time as any.
“Hello?” I said as I walked up the steps into my apartment.
“Hey, pretty girl,” came Nate’s voice through the line.
“Hey,” I said, already feeling guilty about what I had to say. “How are you? Sorry I missed your call this morning.”
“Oh, that’s quite all right, sugar,” he said. “It’s a good thing you answered this time though, because otherwise I might have started to get jealous, thinking that you found some other guy.”
Something about the way he said that struck me as odd, but I decided to ignore it. I had other things I needed to talk to him about at the moment.
“Listen, Nate, we really need to talk.”
“All right, cupcake, I’m listening.”
I took a deep breath and gathered up all my nerve. We hadn’t been seeing each other for that long, but breaking it off with someone was always a difficult, nerve-wracking experience for me. And, over the past nine years, breaking it off with people seemed to be all I ever did. I could never quite find anyone who was good enough. And Nate was no exception.
“Well, as you know, I just moved to Los Angeles,” I started, thinking the long-distance factor would be an easy, believable reason to give him, less hurtful than that it just didn’t feel right.
“I know it. Pretty far away from Australia,” he agreed.
“Exactly,” I said, somewhat relieved. It seemed like he knew where I was going, and maybe he would take the news pretty easily. I just hoped he wouldn’t argue with me like last time. “And we haven’t known each other that long,” I went on.
“No, not very long at all,” he agreed again. The fact that Nate was agreeing with everything I was saying was starting to creep me out a little.
“Anyway, my point is that I don’t think we know each other well enough to maintain a long-distance relationship. So, I’m sorry but I think we should call it quits.”
“I see,” Nate said slowly. “So, it’s only because of the long-distance thing?”
“Well, mostly,” I started, not sure if I should add more.
“If that’s the only problem, then I think I have the solution,” he said.
“What? What do you mean—”
Before the question was out of my mouth, I heard a knock at the front door. I froze in place.
What the hell?
Something about the way he was talking was unnerving me. And then, suddenly, there was this knock on the door. Surely...
“Um, Nate?”
“Don’t you think you’d better answer the door?”
“Oh boy,” I muttered to myself, as I looked through the peephole and saw Nate’s smiling face on the other side. I hung up the phone and took a second to collect my breath.
I guess I shouldn’t have used distance as an excuse, I thought to myself before opening the door.
“Hey, sugar!” Nate said with a huge grin. “Mind if I come in?”
Before I could answer, he barged his way in, taking me by the hand and forcing me to follow him to the living room and onto the couch.
“Glad to see me?” he asked.
“Um, a little surprised,” I confessed.
“I decided to come back to California after all,” he told me. “Isn’t that great? Now we can be together, since distance isn’t a problem.”
“Nate, I—”
Before I could say anything more, Nate grabbed my wrist and pressed his mouth against mine. This was going too far, and he was starting to scare me.
“Nate, stop,” I said, pushing him away from me.
“What? What is it? I thought you liked me.”
“I do like you. But I don’t want to be with you. You can’t ju
st come in here and—”
“And what? What can’t I do?” he said, rising onto his knee and pressing himself against me, pushing me back against the couch. My heart started to race. This was all happening so fast. I was still trying to wrap my head around the fact that Nate was here in L.A. and not thousands of miles away. And not only that, but he was being creepy as hell. I was in the house all alone. What was he going to do? I looked around for my phone, but I had left it on the stand by the door, out of reach.
“Stop!” I finally yelled, panic rising in my chest and tears springing to my eyes.
“All right, all right. I’ll stop,” he said. “But I don’t like liars. Remember that,” he said, pointing directly into my face.
“I’m not a liar,” I said, my voice trembling.
“Like hell you aren’t,” he hissed. “I saw you out there with that other guy. And then you get on the phone with me and tell me you don’t want to see me because of some distance? Bullshit.”
“Nate, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to deceive you, I’m just confused,” I said. I wasn’t sorry, but I was terrified of what he might do, so I tried my best to placate him.
“Well, don’t worry about it, little lady. I got what I came here for,” he said, then reached over to put his hand up my shirt.
“Stop it!” I screamed, my fear mixing with fury so quickly that I grew dizzy.
Nate just laughed. “Yeah, I’ll stop. But only because I want to,” he snarled, then got up and walked out the door.
I sat on the couch, staring after him in shock and disbelief. What should I do? Should I call the police? Should I call Hunter? No, Hunter would just be furious and go looking for him, and that could only make things worse. My hands were shaking uncontrollably. I took a deep breath. I had to calm down.
First, I got up and made sure the door was locked, and all of the windows. Then I got out my phone and called Betsy. She answered after only a few rings.
“Hey, girl!” she said cheerfully. “What’s up?”
“Hey, Betsy. Something really weird just happened. Can you come pick me up?”
“Oh my God, yes, of course,” she exclaimed, her tone instantly changing. “Are you all right? Do you need anything?”
“No no, I’m OK. But if you could just come as quickly as you can that would help.”
“Of course. I’ll be right there.”
Betsy hung up, and I sat on the couch, staring straight ahead of me, trying to wrap my mind around what just happened. Nate came all the way here just to act like that? To scare me? Looking back, I guessed he had seemed a little controlling now and again, and I knew he wasn’t happy about my moving away. But this was all very sudden and too weird to understand. And what could he have meant about getting what he came for?
I shook my head, unable to comprehend the whole situation. I knew I wouldn’t figure it out, either, just by sitting there and thinking about it. The only thing I could do was to go to Betsy’s and make sure I was safe. I went upstairs and packed a bag, hoping she would arrive soon.
Chapter Nine
Hunter
The next day Anna called me bright and early to see if I still wanted to go to the beach. I told her of course I still wanted to go. Miss an opportunity to see her in a skimpy bathing suit? I don’t think so.
I was a little put off that I hadn’t been able to talk to her about the things that had happened in my life since she was gone, but I figured I’d be able to soon enough. I was just going to have to find the right way to tell her, so that she wouldn’t be freaked out by it. Of course, there wasn’t going to be any easy way to say what I needed to say. And even if it all went perfectly, it still might be enough to make her ditch any idea she may have gotten about us getting back together. And I definitely didn’t want that. Still, though, I was going to have to tell her.
By the time I got to the beach, Anna, Betsy, and Ted were already there. Not only that, but to my surprise Anna had wrapped up in her arms what looked like a sweet, darling baby girl.
“Who is this little bundle of joy?” I cooed, bending over to smile at the baby. “Who is this lovely girl?”
From the corner of my eye I could see both Betsy and Ted beaming like proud parents.
“That’s Avery June,” Betsy told me.
“Avery June, that’s a pretty name you’ve got there,” I said to the baby, giving her my finger and playing with her a little. When I looked up, I noticed that Anna had a dreamy, almost sad, smile on her face.
“What is it?” I asked.
“Oh, it’s nothing,” she answered, changing her expression. “I was just remembering how much you always liked children. It’s nice to see that hasn’t changed.”
“Nope. I still like the little rugrats. If anything, I like them even more,” I said, hoping that maybe Anna would ask me why, and that could help lead to the conversation we needed to have. She didn’t ask, though.
“You look like a natural, holding her,” I told her. “You’ll make a great mother someday.”
Again, Anna didn’t say anything. She just turned away from me and smiled, and I thought again that she seemed a little bit sad.
I didn’t know what that might be about, but I figured it was probably for the best that Anna didn’t ask me to explain myself. I didn’t exactly want to tell her everything in front of Ted and Betsy. So for now, I was just going to have to sit back, relax, and enjoy our day at the beach. And hopefully I could make Anna feel better about whatever it was that was bothering her, too.
She didn’t stay staring off into the distance for very long, however. Anna was an emotional girl, with deep feelings, but she bounced back quick. I always liked that about her. Soon she stood up and started taking off her clothes, one item at a time.
“Who wants to go for a swim?” she asked brightly.
For a moment, I was too dumbfounded by the sight of her, peeling off her clothes and exposing more and more of her golden skin, to answer. When she lifted her arms to take off her tank top, I just about lost it. She was wearing a simple, plain black bikini that showed off her curves in all the right places.
“Sure, I’ll go,” I said finally, after what seemed like an hour-long striptease. I would pretty much be forced to go for a swim with her, if only to hide my hard-on from Ted and Betsy.
“We’ll stay here with Avery,” Ted told us.
I got up to follow Anna to the water, keeping my back strategically turned toward Betsy and Ted. I watched Anna strut her stuff across the sand and down toward the water, until at last her toes were in the ocean and she stopped. At that point, I couldn’t stop myself. I came up behind her and wrapped my arms around her, squeezing her tight and at the same time letting her feel exactly how turned on she got me. I leaned over her shoulder to catch her smiling with delight.
“You look amazing, Anna,” I told her. “I wish there wasn’t anyone on this beach, so I could just lay you down right here.”
I kissed the smooth, warm skin on her shoulder, then gathered up her long, brown hair so that I could kiss her neck. She closed her eyes and tipped her head back in pleasure.
“You really shouldn’t be doing this here,” she whispered.
“I know,” I said. “But I can’t help it. Do you have any idea what I want to do to you right now?”
“I think I can guess,” she said, opening her eyes and smiling. When she looked me right in the eyes and smiled that mischievous grin, I was overcome with gratitude. I couldn’t believe that I’d found this wonderful woman again, and that she was here, in my arms. It was almost too much to handle.
“God, Anna,” I whispered. “It’s so good to have you back.”
“I’m glad to be back too, Hunter,” she said. “But I think you’d better cool off before we get arrested.”
With that, she broke away from me and dove head first into the frigid water. Laughing, she poked her head up above the waves.
“Come on in!” she yelled. “The water’s fine!”
I didn’t was
te any more time standing there alone like an idiot. I gave a triumphant yell and ran after her, enjoying the pure shock of the cold water on my system. Anna was right. I definitely needed to cool off. If I didn’t get her in bed soon though, no amount of icy water was going to cool my jets.
I caught up with Anna underwater and wrapped my arms around her legs. I didn’t have to hear her to know that she squealed in surprise, then started laughing. Anna was always such a good sport. I came up to the surface and there she was, still laughing.
I tried to simply enjoy the time I got to spend with her. I tried not to worry about what I had to tell her, and how it might ruin everything between us. The thought of losing Anna again for a second time was almost too much to bear. So I splashed her instead. And picked her up and threw her, screaming and giggling, into the water.
Soon we went back to the beach blanket with Ted and Betsy, and of course little Avery. She really was such a cute kid. Anna and I took a turn watching her while Ted and Betsy went for a swim, and I thought maybe that would be a good time to tell Anna about my past. It felt wrong, sitting there with her and Avery, feeling practically like a family already. With Anna, I always felt right at home. At the same time, although it felt wrong to keep something so important from her, I didn’t want to ruin the moment. I just wanted to pretend everything was perfect, for a little while. I knew it was wrong, but I couldn’t help it. I just wanted to keep feeling good.
“So, Anna, I’m having a great time. But I have to go. I have to go back to San Diego tonight. I need to train in the morning, and then I’ve got that tournament semi-final in the evening.”
“Oh,” Anna said. “OK.”
“Oh, are you disappointed?” I asked, nudging her.
“Well, I thought maybe you’d want to come over to my place later,” she admitted, somewhat shyly.
“Is that right?” I said, leaning closer. “Well, not tonight, honey. You’re going to have to wait. I’m going to make you beg for it.”
Anna’s jaw dropped open, as she sat there speechlessly looking at me, trying to figure out if I was serious.