by Linda, R.
“Well, I’m not okay. Everything is a mess. Hard. Complicated. I never should have come, but you know, it’s my parents. I had to be here, but I really just want to go back to school and get away from…” I trailed off, stopping myself from saying the rest.
“Get away from what?”
“You!” I didn’t mean to shout, but it felt good. “This, us. Everything.”
He put his hands in his pockets and ducked his head. I’d hurt him. But I was hurting, too. Every time I saw him, I hurt. And now all I could think about was just being a hook up to him.
“Well, go, then. It’s not like you ever come home to visit, anyway. Is it because of him? Did he stop you coming back all this time?” Linc refused to look at me, choosing to focus on his foot digging into the sand.
“No, it wasn’t him. It’s never been about Jack. He’s tried to get me to come home. He’s the one who forced me here this week.” I ran my hands through my hair in frustration.
“Then, why? Why don’t you come home? Make me understand.”
“Because of you!” I was shouting again. People further down the beach turned in our direction to see what the commotion was, but I didn’t care. “It hurt too much. You hurt too much.”
“Me? How? What did I do?” He walked away and turned back. “I did nothing!”
“That’s the problem! For years, nothing! When all I’ve wanted is you…”
“What?” He stood directly in front of me and placed his hands on my arms.
“I’m in love with you, you stupid ass.” I shoved his hands away and stepped around him. It was out in the open now. My heartbeat was going crazy; I could feel it my throat. My hands were trembling as I wiped at the tears dripping down my cheeks.
“Say it again,” he said quietly. I turned to look at him, a pained expression on his face, his hands pulling at his dreadlocks.
“You stupid ass.”
“Not that bit.”
“I’m in love with you,” I whispered, my breath catching in my throat.
“Again,” he demanded, stepping closer.
“I’m in lo—”
His hands were in my hair and his mouth was on mine, cutting off the rest of my words.
Hard, demanding, urgent. Bliss.
My knees buckled, and I wrapped my arms around his waist to support myself. Stars danced behind my eyelids as he tilted my head back and slipped his tongue between my lips, exploring my mouth, massaging my tongue with his. I groaned and pulled him closer, my fingernails digging into his back. His hands still firmly planted on the side of my face, we kissed. And kissed.
He pulled back. “I’m so glad you feel that way, Princess,” he murmured against my lips and kissed me again.
“You are?” I asked stupidly when we finally came up for air.
“Yeah, I am.” He still had my face in his hands. His eyes, dark grey, a raging storm of emotions, focused entirely on me. “I have loved you forever.”
“You’re a jerk, you know that?”
“But you love me anyway.” He smirked, making my insides melt. I adored that look.
“I’ve tried really hard not to, but it seems you’re too ingrained in me. You’re like a bad habit, and I keep going back for more.”
“A bad habit you don’t want to quit, right?” He wrapped his arms around me, holding me to his chest. In his warm embrace, I felt safe, secure, and right where I should be.
“One I can’t quit.” I smiled into his shirt, breathing him in. He smelled like the ocean, a scent I would never get tired of.
“One that’s going to cause a lot of trouble,” he muttered, placing a soft kiss to the top of my head. My stomach fluttered with nerves. He was right. We had to tell my family about us. Even though I didn’t know what we were, we couldn’t…I couldn’t keep lying to them. They’d figure it out eventually, anyway.
I took a deep breath. “Do you think it will be bad?”
“I think Nate is going to weigh down my boots and dump me in the ocean.” He laughed humourlessly.
I squeezed him tighter.
“I won’t let that happen. I’ll talk to him.”
“No, I’ll do it. It needs to be me. It should be me.” His fingers twirled a strand of my hair.
“Together?”
“I’m not going to get my way on this, am I?”
“Nope.” I looked up at him and smiled when he lowered his head to kiss me again.
“Fine, but not until after your parents’ wedding. I don’t want to cause a scene.”
“Like we did tonight?” I cringed at what my parents must have thought when I took off. I hoped they weren’t upset.
“Yeah, but it was worth it.” He sat on the sand and pulled me down to sit between his legs, threading his fingers through mine.
I leaned back into his chest, a sigh escaping my lips. I was happy. Content. And terrified. I didn’t know what any of this meant. He loved me, but that didn’t mean he wanted to be with me. There were so many obstacles in our way. So many reasons not to take this further.
“I can hear you thinking,” he murmured in my ear, bringing our hands up and flipping them over. I was mesmerised by both the movement and the fact we were holding hands like it was the most natural thing in the world, as though we did it every day. “What’s up?”
“Just trying to work out what all this means.”
“What?”
“You, me. This.”
“What do you want it to mean?” He shifted behind me, his voice shaky. He was nervous about my answer.
“What do you want this to mean?” I repeated his question. I’d already admitted my feelings first, so it was only fair he told me what he felt about us. “How do you see this ending?”
“Ending?” His voice rose an octave or four. “This isn’t ending.”
“You mean that?” I tilted my face back to look at him. He smiled, bright, wide, heart-stopping.
“Happily ever after,” he said softly, capturing my lips with his.
Happily ever after. I could live with that.
“Are you ready for that?” he asked cautiously.
“More than ready.”
“I don’t want to rush you. I mean you and Jack-ass just broke up, and I don’t want—”
I pinched his lips closed to shut him up. “Jack and I were never together,” I admitted. It was as though a weight had been lifted from my shoulders. The relief I felt from being unburdened by that lie was refreshing. I felt lighter.
“What?” His eyebrows pulled together in confusion.
“Jack is gay. He’s my best friend, other than Bailey.”
“Gay! Jack is gay?” He couldn’t disguise the shock in his voice if he tried.
“Yep.” I watched with amusement as he processed what I’d told him.
“So the kisses and the touchy-feely?”
“Meant nothing. To either of us.” Though I had a feeling Jack enjoyed himself just a bit.
“And you and he have never—” He cleared his throat. “Never shared a bed?”
“Oh, we’ve totally done that. A lot, actually.” I couldn’t help it; I liked making him squirm.
His face paled, and his mouth set in a firm line. “Just to sleep, right? Please tell me you’ve only ever slept beside and not with him,” he pleaded with fear reflected in his eyes.
“Only to sleep. In fact, I build a pillow wall between us, so he stays on his side of the bed.”
“Good, but you know this stops. Now.”
“Of course.”
“But…” I could see the wheels turning in his brain while he tried to figure everything out. “He said you were…he still kissed you, groped you, treated you like shit.”
“He did.” I nodded.
“Why?”
“His plan was to make you so crazy jealous that you stepped in and swept me off my feet, declaring your love for me in some big, grand gesture. He has a flair for the dramatic.”
“Well, he was right. I’ve been going crazy these last
few days watching you two together. They were going to put you and Jack in the adjoining rooms, but I convinced Nate and the desk clerk to put me and you together. I wanted to keep as much distance between you two as possible.” He chuckled, bringing one hand up and tracing the curve of my neck. His fingers left a trail of goose bumps on my overheated flesh.
“Really? Why?”
“I was jealous from the moment he introduced himself as your boyfriend and wanted you all to myself as often as possible.”
“Good. I’m glad.”
“Glad about what?” His hands drifted over my shoulders and down my arms, making me shiver.
“About you being jealous. Now you know how I felt. An eye for an eye, and all that.”
“How you felt?”
“Do you think I enjoyed coming home for Cole’s birthday, only to find out you were engaged? Why do you think I haven’t been home since?” As much as it hurt at the time, it was good to admit all this to him. I felt like telling him everything would give us a clean slate.
“That…that was the biggest mistake I’d ever made and a story for another time.” He pressed a kiss to my lips. “Do you want to go back to the dinner? It’s only early.”
“I guess we should.” I nodded and pushed myself up to stand.
“Wait.” Linc’s hands dusted the sand of the back of my skirt. “This is nice. I can do this whenever I want now without looking like a creep.” He laughed and jumped to his feet.
“We better go back and do some damage control.” I slid my hand into his, smiling when he brought it up to place a kiss on my knuckles.
Chapter Twenty
Linc
It was a night of confessions, and I couldn’t have been more thrilled with the way things went. I was glad for whatever fight Indie and Jack had that forced her to admit her feelings, because I couldn’t keep going the way I had been. It was driving me crazy watching her with Jack and not being able to tell her all the things I wanted to or hold her the way I was right then.
We were in the elevator, and Indie had her arms wrapped around my waist, head pressed to my chest. I was sure she could hear my heart beating a million times a minute. It had been since she called me a stupid ass and told me she was in love with me. It was something I had hoped would happen, but nothing could have prepared me for how I felt when she said those words.
The elevator doors opened, and she reluctantly pulled out of my arms with a sad smile and walked toward the ballroom. I liked that she was as disappointed as I was that we had to go back to acting like nothing was different once we went back into the rehearsal dinner. But we weren’t through those heavy oak doors yet.
I reached for Indie’s hand and pulled her to the corner of the hallway.
“Linc,” she shrieked when I pushed her up against the wall. If anyone was to come out, I hoped the potted plant beside us provided enough cover.
“Shh.” I brushed a strand of hair out of her face and traced her lips with a finger, watching as her mouth pulled into a smile.
“What are you doing?” Her chest was rising and falling rapidly, and there was slight pink tinge to her cheeks.
“This.” My voice was low and quiet, grazing my mouth against hers and trailing kisses along her jaw. Her lips parted, and a small sigh escaped.
“Linc,” she breathed, her tongue darting out to wet her lips, and I couldn’t resist. I slanted my mouth over hers. I wanted to devour her. I didn’t think I’d ever get sick of kissing Indie. Everything about her was perfect. The way her hands ran up my back and into my hair, pulling on my dreadlocks. The way she moaned when I pulled her bottom lip into my mouth. The way she smiled at me like I was the only person on the planet she wanted see.
“As much as I want to continue this, we’d better go.” I pulled away with a frown.
“You’re right.” Indie nodded before stepping forward and wrapping her hands around my neck, pulling me in for another kiss.
“Like kissing me, huh?” I smiled playfully.
“You have no idea.” She sighed dreamily and pushed me away, then strode toward the door. “Are you coming, stupid ass?” She shot a wink at me over her shoulder.
“We’re going to have a chat about this newfound nickname one of these days, Princess.” I scowled and pushed the door open for her.
“Whatever. You love it.” She patted me on the chest and breezed into the room as though everything was great, which I guessed it was.
For now, everything was perfect. It was when we had to sit down and tell her family we were…what were we? We hadn’t discussed it, exactly, only that it was a forever thing. So did that mean she was my girlfriend? I watched as Indie strolled over to the table where everyone was sitting. Bailey jumped up immediately and pulled her into the chair beside her, smoothing out the kinks in hair her from where my fingers were tangled only two minutes earlier. Bailey appeared to be asking a lot of questions, constantly shooting glances at me, but Indie continued to shake her head, refusing to say anything.
Nate walked over to me. “She good?”
Yeah, man, she was exquisite. “Yeah, she’s fine.”
“Good. I don’t know what happened earlier, but whatever you said, she looks happy again.”
“She and Jack broke up.” I tried to hide my elation. I didn’t know why I told him that. Maybe to gauge his reaction.
“Good. They weren’t right for each other, anyway.” He nodded and walked off.
Joining the table, I noticed Indie was talking with her parents, so I interrupted briefly to apologise for the scene we caused earlier, but they reassured me everything was fine—they were used to our outbursts. We did tend to fight a lot, but in hindsight, it was most likely more out of frustration at bottling up our feelings. At least, on my part it was.
I pulled out a chair and sat with Ryder and Brody, pouring myself a drink. Jack was sitting across from me with a curious expression on his face. His eyes kept drifting from me to Indie and back again. I knew he caught me staring at her more than once because, frankly, I couldn’t take my eyes off her now. And I didn’t want to.
“Dance with me?” Bailey suddenly asked Ryder.
“You know I don’t dance, baby.” He shook his head, eyes narrowed and lip ring pulled into his mouth. I’d come to realise that was pretty much his look all the time. Happy. Pissed off. It was always the same.
“Come on, Jones. Practice for tomorrow night.” Bailey pouted and fluttered her eyelids. Damn, she was good. I was about to offer to dance with her.
Ryder groaned. “You know I can’t say no to that face.”
“I know.” She jumped up and grabbed his hands and pulled him onto the empty dance floor.
I couldn’t help but laugh, because I knew I’d be the exact same with Indie as Ryder was with Bailey.
Whipped.
But I didn’t care, and I had a feeling he didn’t care in the slightest, either.
“Kenz, another practice run?” Nate asked, leaning on the back of my chair.
“Got nothing better to do. Just keep your hands off my ass.” She tapped his ass and followed him to the middle of the room.
“Ahh jeez. It’s my turn, isn’t it?” Brody sighed and tilted his head back to look at the ceiling.
“Looks like it.” I laughed and leaned back in my chair.
“Indie—” Brody called.
“Indie is dancing with me.” I cut him off, earning a chuckle from him and Jack. “We need to practice for tomorrow,” I said, hoping they’d believe it, but I knew they wouldn’t. Brody had figured out my feelings for Indie somewhere along the way. Hell, even Jack had figured it out, and that was before I’d met him, so I had no doubt they knew something was going on with Indie and me now. I could only hope neither of them was stupid enough to tell anyone yet.
“In?” I called down the table.
“Sure.” She kissed her parents on the cheeks and headed my way. “Keep it classy, yeah?”
“Of course. I am nothing but class.” I took her ha
nd and led her onto the dance floor. I knew I’d be trying to find any excuse to touch her in some way from now on. But that was okay; I liked a challenge.
It was only a matter of minutes before Brody and Harper joined us, and that only left Jack sitting at the table alone. I felt bad for him. He looked bored and maybe a little down. It was hard to tell. He’d been so loud and annoying these last few days that I couldn’t tell what was really good acting or what was him.
“You should go and talk to him,” I said softly in Indie’s ear, nodding in Jack’s direction.
“Yeah, I know, but…”
“But?”
“I kind of want to stay here with you.”
My heart swelled, filling my chest. I smiled and turned her away before leaning in and whispering I’d be back in the room waiting for her. I wasn’t going to sit awkwardly and watch everyone else. I was going back to the room alone to wait for her to join me. “Go.” I gave her a gentle shove then went to say goodnight to Leanne and Steve, who said they were leaving as well.
Shouting a goodbye to everyone else, I left the ballroom and took the lift to the eighth floor.
I had a shower to freshen up and make sure I smelled good when Indie returned. I wanted to impress her.
She called me “stupid ass.”
I ordered a bottle of wine because my nerves were getting the best of me, and I didn’t know how to handle that. I’d never been nervous around her before.
She loved me.
I sat on the balcony, the fresh air calming me down a little and clearing my mind. There was nothing to be nervous about.
I was in love with her.
I paced the room restlessly. I didn’t like waiting. What if she was having second thoughts?
No, she was in love with me.
I checked Indie’s room.
Where was she?
I lay on the bed.
She was coming back, right?
I went back into her room, grabbed her suitcase and all the things from her bathroom, and brought them back into my room.
She had to come back.
And then there was a knock at the door.
She was back.