by Aubrey Irons
“Look, you being back here in Shelter Harbor isn’t easy either.”
Yeah, no shit.
“Lot’s changed, Silas.”
“I know.”
He looks at me sharply. “Do you? Look, what you did for me is enough for me to even look past what you did to my sister.”
We lock eyes for a moment, the unspoken staying that way. He doesn’t know about the marriage, obviously. But he knows what we meant to each other, and he knows that I hurt her when I left. The whole damn Hammond family knows that.
“You might be back, and I might have asked you to come back.” He levels his eyes at me. “Make sure stealing beers from the cooler here is the only habit you pick back up.”
“Jesus, Rowan,” I growl. “I don’t do shit like that anymore.” I square my jaw at my friend. “Like you said, a lot’s changed.”
“I know, buddy, but you need to know that I stuck my neck out vouching for you to come here for this.” He points at me. “Stay away from Declan and all that shit, alright?”
I narrow my eyes at him and he put his hands up as he grins. “Hey, that’s it. Had to say it, but that’s the last I’ll say on that.”
I nod. “So we’re good?”
“Yeah,” he grins. “We’re good.”
I turn to head back inside the bar when he stops me.
“Oh, and Silas?”
“Yeah?”
His eyes narrow slightly. “It’d probably be best if you stayed the fuck away from my sister, too.”
Oops.
Chapter 21
Ivy
The house is utterly silent and sleeping when I wake up abruptly a few nights later.
I frown as I glance at the greenish-blue light of my old alarm clock, still sitting on my bedside table. I’m about to close my eyes again, when there’s a sharp knocking sound against my bedroom window.
I blink, sitting up a little more in bed. I’m awake now, but it’s not like I was really sleeping all that peacefully before anyways.
Because I’m still thinking of the night before.
I’m still reeling from that kiss that brought me right back to where I’d been years before. The one that turned back the clock and dragged me right back to the girl I was back then. And suddenly, for the first time in forever, a night like that had been perfect.
Until the reality of what I’d just allowed to happen knocked the wind from me. It was hearing Silas and Rowan talking about that night from where I was still hiding up on the roof. It was remembering and suddenly reliving that night that lifted the veil of the now away from it all.
And that’s when I realized I was making the same stumbling, stupid decisions I’d made years ago, as if nothing had changed.
Because that’s what Silas Hart does to me, apparently. He kisses the sense right out of me.
By the time he made it back to that roof, I was pushing past him - shaking my head and offering no words as I ran down the steps from the roof and then all the way back home.
And now I’m back to where I was. Bitter, confused, angry.
Ready to fall into his arms.
Or hit him.
Or kiss him.
I don’t actually know.
The sound comes again a moment later, a small clacking sound against the pane.
I frown, stepping out of bed and moving to the dark window. Hesitantly, I open it and glance down.
Of course.
It’s Silas. Silas standing there with a smug look on his face and a handful of pebbles in his hand.
“Are you kidding me?” I hiss.
Jesus this is just like high school. This is exactly what he used to do.
He grins up at me. “What are you doing?”
“I’m sleeping.”
“Doesn’t look like it.”
I roll my eyes. “You’re going to wake my dad.”
He grins. “Never did before,” he whispers. “And I think we were way louder back then.”
I blush bright red.
Back then, when Silas would literally scale the drainpipe to the porch roof under my other window so he could sneak inside.
He’s right, we were way louder, however hushed we tried to be,
“Go away!” I hiss.
He makes a face.
“Come down.”
“No, Si-”
“Shhh!” he shushes me with an exaggerated gesture. “You’re going to wake your par-”
“Oh shut up,” I mutter. “Hang on I need to get dressed.”
“You’ll have zero complaints here if you don’t.”
I can feel the rush again, thinking of the roof of O’Donnell’s from the other night. I duck back into my room, and I can feel my heart beating as I check my hair in the mirror, opting to let it down as I slip on a pair of shorts and a t-shirt.
I frown, peeling the t-shirt off in favor of a much sexier tank top. And part of me feels ridiculous trying to preen like this for Silas, but you know what they say about old habits.
A minute later, I’m closing the kitchen door quietly behind me as I tiptoe barefoot around the side of the house.
“Hey.”
He looks up at me and grins. “You’re still good at that, you know.”
“At what?”
“Making sneaking out look good.”
My cheeks redden in the darkness.
“C’mon.”
“Where are we going exactly?”
“A drive.”
I raise a brow, and he grins almost sheepishly.
Yeah, we both know what that used to mean.
“I literally just mean a drive,” he says with a small chuckle. “I think I actually missed this town.”
I furrow my brow. “I’m barefoot.”
“Look, I’m not taking you on a date or anything.” He winks at me. “Come on, Slimy.”
“Where’s your truck?”
“Parked around the corner.”
I smirk. “Guess I’m not the only one who remembers how to sneak out of the Hammond castle.”
The truck is familiar when I climb in, the same vintage-y leather smell, the same cracked radio, the same choking engine sound as he cranks it on. We drive through the neighborhoods, saying nothing as the street lights wash over us and the houses slip past.
Silas takes us into town, driving down Main Street, which is actually empty and devoid of tourists this time of night. We turn down Commercial Street by the pier, past the empty tourist shops, the whale-watching stand shuttered for the evening.
We follow the street down until it starts to leave the downtown area, the buildings thinner as it gives way to trees and then tall grass as we pull around to the shore road. After another minute, Silas starts to pull over and off the road into a parking lot.
I frown. “Where are we-”
But then I get it, knowing exactly where we are.
Willow Sands - the tourist-choked beach by day, and apparently totally empty at night.
I actually haven’t been here in years.
We step out of the car, breathing in the warm, salty Atlantic summer air blowing off the ocean up the beach. Silas grabs a six-pack and a handful of blankets from the back of the truck before we head down the trail through the tall grass down to the dark beach.
It’s like clockwork.
It’s like habit, coming back here.
We find a spot by one of the old driftwood logs that doesn’t look like it’s changed at all since high school. Silas tosses the blankets down before we settle onto them, cross-legged and leaning back against the wood.
He hands me a beer.
“Kinda crazy how nothing’s changed, isn’t it?”
I shoot him a look, and he raises a single brow.
“The town, I mean.” He shrugs. “I don’t know, I guess I figured I’d find strip malls and a fucking Walmart when I got back here for some reason.”
“There’s a Starbucks now, apparently. Out on Reed Road.”
He makes a face.
“Yeah, seriously.
Watch out, this town’s on the up.”
He laughs as he raises his beer. “Well, cheers to Shelter Harbor finally getting itself on the fucking chain coffee-retail map.”
I snort a laugh as I clink my bottle to his before taking a sip.
This is easy. It’s easy to lapse into this sort of rapport with him. So easy that the first beer goes easy, but I hesitate when he passes me a second.
He shrugs as he starts to pull it away. “No problem.”
“You know what, sure.”
What am I doing?
I’m alone, on a deserted beach, with Silas Hart.
And I’m drinking.
What good do I possibly think could happen from this?
“Remember those bonfires we used to have down here?”
I roll my eyes. “Yeah, stupid high school parties. Someone always ended up puking or naked.”
He laughs.
“God, or truth or dare.”
He grins. “Hey, I loved playing that.”
I give him a look. “Yeah, because you always took the dare.”
“Yep,” he winks at me.
I shrug. “Well, we could play now.”
Silas eyes me. “Well, well, well, Hammond.”
“What?”
He grins. “Nothing, you’re just not really a truth or dare type girl.”
I shrug casually. “You don’t know that.”
“I thought I did.”
“Well maybe I’ve changed.”
He eyes me for a second, half-smirking, before he nods. “Fine. Truth or dare.”
“No fair!” I push his arm, grinning. “I’m going first.”
He laughs. “Be my guest.”
“Truth or dare?”
“Truth.”
I blink, surprised, and he grins. “Weren’t expecting that, were you.”
I wasn’t.
But I shrug it off as casually as I can.
“Did you ever kill anyone while you were way?”
My eyes go wide, taken aback at my own words, and I bring my hand to my mouth.
“Ohmygod, I’m so sorry! That-”
“Wow, Ivy,” he chuckles. “You got deep on the first round there.”
I shake my head still covering my mouth. “That’s none of my business, God, I’m sorry that was a stupid-”
“No,” he laughs. “Jesus Christ, no.” He shrugs. “Got in some fights, but no, Ivy. I’ve never killed anyone.”
He gives me a look as he grins and sips his beer, shaking his head.
“Truth or dare, Debbie Downer.”
I poke at the sand by my feet with a finger.
“Truth.”
“Ever thought of me while you were masturbating?”
My face goes bright red as I jerk my head up to stare at him.
“Are you kidding me?”
“Well shit! You asked me if I committed fucking murder!”
My face goes red.
“Ivy…” he teases, grinning wickedly at me as he wags his eyebrows.
“I…I don’t know,” I mutter.
“It’s truth or dare, Ivy.”
I look away sipping at my beer.
“Maybe.”
He chuckles. “Ivy-”
“Okay fine, yes.”
He’s silent, and when I turn back, he’s smirking at me smugly, his hand pushing through his hair.
“Oh yeah?”
I scowl at him. “Yeah, and it was awful.”
He laughs, his eyes dipping over me as his brows shoot up again.
“Oh shut up.” I stick my tongue out at him. “Truth or dare?”
“Truth.”
“Again?”
“I’m full of surprises.”
“Fine. Have you?”
“Have I what.”
I blush, almost not believing that I’m actually asking him this.
“Ever, you know, thought of me when you…” I trail off as he meets my eye.
“All the time.”
I look away, my face hot. But when I turn back, he’s still right there, looking right at me.
“Well then…” I mumble, swallowing thickly.
Silas smiles. “Truth or dare.”
I don’t think I can take what he tosses my way next in the truths department.
“Ugh, fine. Dare.”
His lips curl devilishly. “You sure about that?”
No.
“Yep,” I say defiantly.
He shrugs, leaning back against the log behind him.
“I dare you strip down and go skinny dipping.”
My jaw drops. “I will not!”
“Hey, you said dare.”
“Yeah, but it’s dark!”
“I’ll go with you if you want.”
The smirk on his face says he’s only half kidding.
Actually, I don’t think he’s kidding at all.
“No way.”
“Ivy-”
I can feel my whole face go red.
“Okay, okay. Fine.”
I stand and start to reach for the button of my shorts when I glare at him. “Turn away.”
“Nothing I haven’t seen before, you know.”
“Watch it.”
He grins. “Fine.”
He turns his head as I slip my shorts down and pull the tank-top over my head. I toss my bra down before covering my breasts with my arm.
“Finished?”
“Yeah.”
He stands, reaching for his belt.
“What are you doing?”
“I told you, going with you.” He turns, and I can feel the heat from his eyes as they dip over my basically nude body.
I swallow.
“Fine.”
He drops his pants and yanks his shirt off.
God.
Even in the darkness, I can see how hard and how chiseled his body is; how much of a man he’s turned into since before.
He turns away from me and drops his briefs.
“Your turn,” he says with a chuckle.
I tear my eyes away from his perfectly sculpted ass and turn, dropping my panties and covering myself with a hand as I turn back, even though it’s dark.
And then I’m standing, naked, five feet from a very similarly naked Silas Hart.
A terrible, terrible idea.
“Race you down there?”
I can see that grin of his sparkling in the moonlight.
I make a face. “Oh, I don’t know,” I say hesitantly.
But suddenly I’m bolting down the beach, laughing as he shouts and gives chase.
I shriek as I hit the water, the ocean so cold it shocks me and takes my breath away. I can feel the Atlantic chill shiver through me as I go under, making me feel alive as it tickles and teases across my bare body.
Silas hits the waves next to me, diving in before coming up for air and gasping.
“Fuck, that’s cold.”
“It’s always cold!” I giggle.
My skin is like ice, my nipples hard as two little pebbles atop my breasts, even with the hot summer night air. I’m not covering anymore, either. I’m standing waist high in the low waves, my breasts definitely on display for him, but I don’t care.
He’s right, after all. He has seen it all before.
“Okay,” he nods after another second of us standing there shivering.
“This was a shit idea.”
I laugh. “It really was.”
“As tempting as it is to stay here seeing as I’m getting an eyeful of your perfect tits, it’s fucking freezing.”
I grin, blushing, but still not covering myself even when I feel his eyes on me.
“Race you back up?”
We go crashing out of the waves, running up the sand to the blankets by the driftwood logs. We stop, standing there dripping and covering ourselves for a second as we eye the two not-exactly large blankets.
“Uhh…”
“Look, just-” Silas frowns. “We’ll sit on the one, and cover with the other.�
��
I give him a look.
“Body warmth,” he says with a shrug.
My brow arches.
“Nothing I haven’t seen, gorgeous, remember?”
I know this is a terrible idea. I know I should just throw on my clothes, wet or not, and have him take me home.
But that’s the last thing I want right now.
“Nothing I haven’t seen either,” I say with a shrug, forcing myself not to look down his toned torso to the one hand he’s only haphazardly covering his cock with.
“That’s the spirit.”
We sit.
His skin is warm against mine - warmer than it should be after our freezing-cold dip.
And I know it’s over the second I touch his skin with mine. We’re shoulder-to-shoulder, thigh-to-thigh under the blanket.
This doesn’t lead anywhere we should follow, and we both know it.
I turn to him. “This is a bad idea,” I say quietly, my eyes darting across his.
“Horrible,” he murmurs.
“The worst.”
And then I’m kissing him.
So much for that idea.
I’m falling, tumbling into him as my lips part hungrily for his tongue. His hands slide up my arms, drawing me into him, growling as he kisses me fiercely. I moan into his lips, and then he’s pulling me into him, and I’m powerless to stop myself.
My leg swings over his lap, and then we’re face-to-face, skin-to-skin, kissing heavily, and moaning into the other. His hand slides to my hair, tangling in my locks as he holds me tight and kisses me hard enough for my toes to curl. My nipples drag against his chest, and I can feel his thick cock pulsing so hard between us.
I reach down, curling my fingers around his length before slowly giving it a stroke.
“Fuck, Ivy.” He groans into my mouth and I stroke him faster, feeling him pulse and respond to my touch.
His fingers dip down between us, finding me soaking wet. I moan into his mouth when he slides them across my opening, and when he curls a finger inside, I break the kiss for a moment to gasp.
His thumb finds my clit, rubbing it in slow, lazy circles as he pushes a second finger inside my slick pussy. I whimper as I start to move, rocking on his fingers like I’m fucking his hand, stroking his cock in the same rhythm.
His mouth drops from my mouth, kissing and biting it’s way down my neck to my nipples. He wraps his lips around one, his tongue batting across it and sending shivers through my body.
I start to rock harder, losing myself in this moment, losing myself in him as we grind together, our hands doing the talking.