by Aubrey Irons
I stop.
He hoots out a laugh behind me. ““Yeah, that got your attention.”
I turn. “No, it didn’t.” I shake my head at him. “I’m just remembering why I had to find a family somewhere else.”
He snorts. “I know you the need the money.”
“You don’t know shit about me.”
“Believe me, kid. I do. I know about your little project, for instance.”
I freeze, and he chuckles.
“Yeah, that little nest egg idea of yours? Oh yeah, I know all about that shit. ‘Cept you’ve got a cash problem, and we both know it.”
“We’re done here.”
I try and make my voice level, like he didn’t just strike the nerve we both know he did.
Declan chuckles and waves his hand. “Alright, run off to your fake family.”
“Stay away from my boat, Declan.” I stride out of the kitchen towards the front door.
“You were just a pet to them, kid,” he calls after me, still chuckling.
“Remember that.”
Chapter 28
Ivy
Stella, Carter, and I wave to Sierra through the window of the train as it pulls away.
“It’s totally a boy.”
I laugh, perking my brows up at my older sister. “You think?”
She snorts. “Oh, the friend she’s going to see in Boston? The one she spent an hour doing her hair and trying on clothes for?” Still giving me a look as she covers her four-year-old’s ears. “She’s wearing lingerie, Ivy,” she whispers with a scandalized look on her face. “Black.”
I roll my eyes. “Well, good for her.”
Stella tut-tuts as we walk back to the car. “Very out of character for her to be so mysterious, I’m just pointing that out.”
“I’m sure she’s got her reasons.” I give Stella a meaningful look across Carter’s car seat as we both buckle him in. “I mean, this family being so understanding about relationships that don’t fit the plan.”
She smirks. “Touché.” She coughs as we get into the front seats. “Still not going to tell me where you went the other night though, huh?”
“Nope.”
She groans as she puts the car into drive and takes us out onto the road. “You know you’re supposed to share stuff with your sisters. How did you and Si-Si not get that memo?”
I laugh, turning to look out the window as we drive back through town to our parents’ house.
I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t still dwelling on the other night with Silas, and what that all means. But I’ve decided I’m okay with it - with whatever I end up deciding to call it. A final farewell, the closing of a book.
A new chapter?
No.
I watch the town pass us by. What happened happened, and maybe it shouldn’t have, but I can’t dwell on that. After all, he’s the one that taught me years ago that dwelling on things that happened with him is a fruitless venture. And I can’t lament on what’s happening now either - with him, with work, with Blaine.
For now, and for better or for worse, I’m home. I’m surrounded by family, and here at home, I’m safe.
“Who’s car is that?”
Stella stops her car short of our parents’ driveway, and I frown at the black Audi SUV parked behind our dad’s old Jeep.
“I have no idea?”
We park at the curb and get Carter out of his seat before heading up the walkway to the front door.
My mom meets us at the door.
“Oh, honey! Good, you’re back. He’s in the living room talking to you father.”
I frown again. “Who’s in the living room?”
She smiles. “Blaine, sweetheart.
Oh you’ve got to be fucking kidding me.
“He’s here?” I hiss, panic rising in my chest. “Mom, you know what he did-”
“Oh, no, Ivy,” Mom waves her hand, beaming at me. “It was all a big misunderstanding! He’s already explained the whole silly mix up to us.”
What.
I push past her into the living room in a daze, and there he is.
Blaine.
Blaine with the long flowing blond hair, those twinkling eyes. That face only plastic surgery could produce, even though he’d never admit it.
He looks up a me from the pair of skis he’s showing my dad.
“Hey there, beautiful.”
I freeze, my jaw dropping and my blood boiling in my veins.
“What are you doing here.”
My dad clears his throat, shooting me a look.
“Ivy, Blaine was just-”
“I was just telling your dad about these new alpines I’ve been testing out.” He grins at me, that unnaturally white flashing smile dazzling. Dazzlingly, of course, from the custom crowns he’s had put in.
How did I ever even LIKE this man?
“Yeah, I got him a pair, since I know how much fun we had skiing last winter up at Sugarloaf.”
“Get out.” I spit the words out, feeling the heat flood into my face.
My dad steps forward, shaking his head. “Now, hang on, Ivy, Blaine just explained the whole thing to us.”
“Dad he left me for another woman!”
“Sir? May I?” Blaine beams at my dad, utterly charming him before stepping forward towards me. I take a step back.
“Ivy, I was confused when I called you. I just-” He shakes his head. “You work so darn hard all the time, and I was worried that I was just going to be holding you back.”
They’re not actually buying this shit, are they?
But they are. Even Stella can’t help but smile at the stupidly charming man standing center stage in this ridiculous living room drama production of “Blaine lies through his fucking teeth.”
“You’re joking, right? You posted pictures with her, you ass-”
“Ivy,” my dad’s booming voice cuts through. “Let him explain, honey.”
“Ivy,” Blaine reaches out for my hand, but I yank them back. “It was a shoot, Ivy. It was all a staged shoot to push that new casual city-wear line they’ve been pushing on me.”
My jaw drops as I look around to see my family smiling and nodding, just eating this shit up.
“She’s a model, Ivy,” Blaine laughs, like it’s just hilarious that I’ve misconstrued the situation somehow.
“The management company hired her for the day, that’s all.”
I haven’t misconstrued anything, I know that. Because I can remember that phone call.
“Is there another girl.”
“I don’t know how you want me to answer that.”
And a hundred other times and examples come flowing through my head. The dinners he was an hour late for with bizarre “work” excuses and a wave of his hand. The anniversaries he missed entirely. The unwillingness to commit to anything.
“No.”
I shake my head, taking another step back from him as the color leaves my face. “No.”
“Ivy-”
“No, we’re done here.”
“Honey,” my mom rubs my back. “Maybe you and Blaine should talk just the two of you?”
It suddenly feels like the walls and the ceiling are closing in - the room growing smaller and the air slowly getting thinner.
I have to get out of here.
I whirl and run from the room, and it’s not until I get to the front door that I feel a hand on my arm.
Stella.
“Hey,” she gives me a meaningful look. “You okay?”
“No,” I say quietly. “He’s completely full of shit.”
She chews on her lip, nodding. “Okay, get out of here, I’ll cover.”
“Thank you.”
“What else are sisters for besides helping each other escape horrible and awkward family encounters, right?”
Chapter 29
Silas
“Hi.”
I grin at the sound of her voice as I down the pier, even before I look up to see her sitting there.
“Hi yourself.”
She’s sitting on the edge of the roof of my boat, perched by the ladder with her feet hooked onto the top rung.
“You lost, Hammond?”
She shakes her head, her teeth raking over her bottom lip in a way that makes me want to grab her and claim those lips right here and now.
“Blaine’s here. In Shelter Harbor.”
I frown, my jaw clenching at the sound of that fucking douchebag’s name.
“Oh?”
I’m old enough to understand that what happened with us the other night doesn’t mean anything more than whatever it was that night. And I’m not stupid enough to think one night with her changes any of the other shit going on in her life - with her family, with work.
With Blaine, even if they were officially split before I even touched her the other day.
We’ll look past the part where she’s legally my fucking wife.
But I’m also realizing how tenuous my newfound existence in her life is. Sure, she and I have a lifetime of history, but that history was a lifetime ago. We’ve both been out in the world, and as much as I want to bury that smug little shit Blaine at the bottom of the Harbor, I’m aware that he and her have their own history.
She must notice the look on my face, because she smiles slowly and shakes her head.
“Not what you think.”
“I don’t think anything.” I shrug as casually as I can.
“He just,” she scowls, glaring down at her feet. “The whole thing is just so stupid. I mean he cheated on me, and he left me for this other girl. And now he’s fucking at my parents’ house lying through his teeth about the whole thing being a misunderstanding, and bribing them with fucking skis!”
She’s shouting now, her face red and her eyes furious as she looks up at me wildly. “My dad doesn’t even like skiing! He just went last year because he wanted Blaine to feel like he was fucking family, and- and-”
She trails off, her shoulders heaving and her chest rising and falling as she sucks in air.
She looks up at me after a second, a crooked smile on her face.
“Can we…” She looks down at her feet before dragging those big green eyes up to my face. “Can we go somewhere?”
I fold my arms over my chest, a grin on my lips. God, she sounds just like the girl I knew right now, sitting there like that in torn cut-offs and an old t-shirt.
“Got somewhere in mind?”
She shakes her head. “Just out of this fucking town.”
I chuckle as I step onto the boat. “Gorgeous, you came to the right place.” She smiles when I offer her my hands to help her down.
“Yeah, we can definitely do that.”
The light fades over the town as we drive into the sunset, literally.
The old red and white Ford 150 bumps and creaks as we take the back roads out of town, and I know she remembers this thing. This was our escape - our ticket to do what we wanted the second I got my license.
We climb up past the promenade on Turner Hill, with the whole harbor and the port disappearing behind us. We don’t speak, but we don’t have to. We’re comfortable in this silence. At one point I see her phone light up on her lap, and I grin when I watch her ignore it.
This is just us up here.
She doesn’t ask where we’re going, but I know she knows. And I haven’t been there myself in eight years, but it’s basically on autopilot in my head. Ivy turns and smiles at me in the dim light of the cab as she sees where I’m turning off the main, knowing where we’re going.
The overlook by the falls.
Yeah, this place. This was a place of firsts. And I love that I know that even being here with me again has her flushed. I also know she’s hurt, and wounded from this Blaine asshole, and I know that means I should keep my distance.
But I’m fairly certain I’m not going to be able to. Not ever again, and certainly not now.
I grab the blanket tucked behind the driver’s seat as we step out of the cab. The trickling rushing sound of the waterfall - quieter in the summer - filling the silence across the glacial pool from where I’ve parked.
I hop into the back of the truck and kick the tailgate down, putting the blanket down before I reach out with my hand, grinning as I help her up.
It’s like second nature, being here and doing this. Hell, we did this before we were a thing, too. When I first got my license, I drove her up here so we could watch for falling stars.
It was later when we came up here for other reasons.
Other reasons like the night she gave herself to me for the first time. It was furtive and stuttered, but damn was it perfect - like a dream now, wrapped in gauze.
She blushes as we lay back, the night going dark as the sun goes down over the cliffs of the falls.
“Been awhile, huh?”
She rolls her eyes in the semi-darkness. “You brought me here just to make me blush, didn’t you.”
I laugh. “No, but I can keep going with that if you want.”
“Okay.”
I freeze, turning to look at her as she does the same. We’re face to face, breath to breath lying there in the back of my pickup. Her eyes glimmer in the light of the rising moon.
Fuck it.
I know I should keep my distance. I know she’s got a mountain of other things going on in her life right now, and I know historically, I’m the worst thing that’s ever happened to her.
And absolutely none of that stops me from kissing her, right there and then.
It’s small at first, just lip to lip. But she opens them and it grows hungrier. Her lips press hotly into mine, her tongue moving to meet mine. My hand slides to her cheek, cupping her jaw and drawing her even tighter to me before sliding into her hair.
We’re moving closer together, writhing against the other. I roll on top of her, never breaking that kiss until I can feel her hands tugging at my shirt.
Our clothes come off in a blur, her hands pulling at mine as I slip hers away. She wraps her legs around my waist and rolls us over, her mouth dropping to my chest. She kisses my skin, lingering over every tattooed line and every raised scar. I groan as she moves lower, and when those perfect wet lips of hers wrap around my cock, I’m fucking putty for her. Her mouth is warm, so insistent as she moves it up and down, stroking me with one hand while the other cups my balls.
I sit up, reaching over her to slide my palm over the supple skin of her ass. I slide it between her legs, finding her wet and ready for me while she hums around my cock.
She shrieks, the sound muffled, as I drag her around, bringing one of her legs over my head and pulling her towards my mouth.
She pulls away from sucking me as I slide my tongue deep inside her slit, her moans soft and high in the moonlight as I taste her. I work my tongue in and out of her, using my hands to pull her back and forth on my mouth. I drag my tongue to her clit, lightly playing it across the little nub while I slide a finger inside of her.
Her mouth drops back to my cock, inhaling me making me groan into her sweet pussy.
I tease her higher and higher, loving that even after all these years, I know what makes her tick and what drives her crazy.
I know what makes her come like I very much doubt she has since me.
She explodes above me when I push her over that edge, my tongue swirling around and around her clit as my fingers stroke that place just inside. Her legs tighten around my head before her body goes limp, sprawled across mine.
“Holy shit,” she mumbles out, idly stroking my throbbing cock as she looks back at me with nothing short of hunger on her face.
She raises off of me, sliding down my torso until she’s hovering above my hips. I reach into my pants pocket for a condom, which she takes from me with an impish look. She pulls the foil apart and rolls it down my length, stroking and teasing me as she does so.
And then she’s rising up, centering herself above me, and slowing sinking down onto me.
We both moan when I’m she
athed entirely inside, and I rise up, wrapping my arms around her. My hands cup her breasts as she slowly starts to move up and down, rolling her hips as she rides me.
I move my own hips to meet her, sinking deep on every thrust, groaning as her muscles grip and milk me. She moves slowly and purposefully, taking her pleasure as the stars move above and the water cascades across the rocks of the falls beside us.
I move a hand to where we join, letting my fingers roll across her clit and making her cry out.
“Lay back,” she whispers, turning over her shoulder at me, kissing me.
I do, and flat on my back with her perched on me like that, I watch in awe as she starts to ride me like that. Her hair tossed back, her peach of an ass rising and falling in front of my eyes, swallowing my cock again and again.
My hands guide her, reaching up to pull on her long hair just tight enough to make her cry out. We move faster, our breaths and her high, sweet moans drifting across me like honeysuckle.
When she comes, I sit up again, wrapping her in my arms and rocking her through her orgasm before I go crashing over with her. I roar as I push in deep, seeing stars and feeling the world drop away from both of us as we collapse in a tangle into the blankets.
We go again later, this time face to face. I pin her hands above her head this time, like I know damn well drives her wild. And we never break eye contact as I fuck her slow and deep, her legs wrapped around my waist.
We lie there after until it gets late, and I know it has to end even though I hate that it does.
We drive back to town with her right against me on the bench seat of the truck, her head on my shoulder and the briny sea air drifting through the open windows.
I stop a block before her parents’ house, and she grins as she looks up at me.
“Just like highschool, huh?”
She laughs. “Yeah.”
I don’t want this to end. I don’t want whatever this night was and what we keep finding again and again to expire. Not ever. I just don’t know how the fuck to tell her that. Or how the hell I expect her to hear that after what happened before.
“Ivy-“
She shakes her head, silencing me with a soft kiss.