“Let’s head back out, Bates. Ember can handle things in here.”
Dalton offers me a smile and as he turns to leave, he notices the tattoo sleeve on my arm. He glances toward Austin who is already outside and in deep conversation with a group of guys, before turning his gaze back to me. “What happened to your arm?”
I shifted my weight back and forth between my legs while I tried to remember what story Austin came up with. “Oh, it’s silly. I dropped a pot of boiling water and my arm paid the price, no big deal.” I offered him my most sincere smile and he raised an eyebrow as he studied the bruise on my face. Before he could put two and two together, I added, “When I dropped the pot I slipped and hit my face on the counter. It was a bad luck day for me.”
He looked back toward where Austin stood; his eyes were focused and angry.
I needed to defuse the situation, and fast. “Dalton, I heard that you love chocolate cherry cheesecake. I baked one especially for you.”
His eyes snapped to mine, his anger leaving quickly as he smiled at me. I gave him a big piece and he savored the first bite. He began moaning against the fork and I felt heat tingle between my legs.
“This is amazing. Seriously. This is the best dessert I have ever tasted.”
He offered me a bite and I slipped my lips around his fork before I quickly came to my senses yet again. I looked away as I chewed, “You’re right, this is amazing. I’m going to just pat myself on the back real quick.”
We both laughed until the voice of Satan rang through the house, “Bates! Come meet these guys.”
Dalton turned toward Austin who was motioning him over. He picked up his plate and stopped in front of me, brushing his thumb gently over my bruised face, “If you need anything, and I mean anything, you come to me.”
As he walked outside, I ran to the bathroom to ward off the tears that were threatening to spill from my eyes. My body was trembling and I felt nauseated. I cannot begin to describe the emotion consuming me right now; fear maybe, guilt, lust, I don’t know. I just need to collect myself and get back out there before Austin comes looking for me.
I’m standing in a circle with Austin and three other dudes. All of them are introducing themselves and I’m too busy thinking about the beautiful woman I just met, to even pretend like I give a shit who these guys are.
Austin jabs an elbow into my side, “Yeah, Dalton is going to keep all you fuckers in line.” I hadn’t even noticed they were talking about me, so instead of replying to Austin’s comment, I offered a smug smile and extended my arm to shake each of their hands.
Ember walked out of the house and smiled at me. Her smile is beautiful, but I can see the sadness behind it. When I heard her bullshit story about spilling boiling water on her arm and smacking her face on the counter, it was all I could do not to run outside and shove my fist into Austin’s pretty boy face. I know that nothing good would come out of my outburst, so I’m going to play it cool, for now.
When I picked up SGT First Class and transferred here a month ago, Austin was one of the first people I was introduced to when I was placed into his Battalion. He talks about Ember often, as if he is head over heels in love with this girl, and then I see the bruise on her face and I can only imagine what is under that sleeve. Besides that, there is something about her I can’t shake. She is fucking gorgeous, but it’s not that, it’s something deeper.
I hear a sweet voice and turn to see everyone gathered around Ember.
“I just want to thank you all for coming. We look forward to our ‘kick off to summer’ party every year and we are so glad that all of you are here with us today. I have a ton of food in the kitchen, so make sure you eat up.” I think she felt my eyes on her, because her head slowly rose in my direction and she smiled as her arm, holding a beer, extended toward the crowd. When she yelled, ‘To friends!’ everyone repeated her words and took a swig of their drinks.
The cookout was turning out to be a lot more fun than I had anticipated. I have met a lot of cool people and enjoyed every bite of the amazing food that Ember had prepared. I haven’t been able to take my eyes off her. I am fully aware of the shit storm I may cause by being too friendly with her, but I can’t help it. I need to get to know her.
As I head to the cooler to grab another beer, I see Austin making his way toward me. “Hey Bates, are you having a good time?”
I take the top off my beer and nod, “Yeah, it’s nice to get to know these guys outside of work and your wife made some damn good food.”
Austin clanks his beer against mine and turns his mouth into a cocky grin, “A woman isn’t worth two shits if she can’t cook.”
I’m just about to put him in his place or smack the shit out of him, I haven’t decided yet, when he adds, “Hey, why don’t you ask Ember to dance. She loves that crap and I refuse to dance with her.” Well I sure as hell can’t say anything now, otherwise I’ll miss the chance to get closer to Ember. “Yeah, sure man. I’ll go ask her.”
Austin nods and walks to the beer pong table.
Ember is talking to a group of wives. I love the way she interacts with everyone here. Her smile is genuine and her laugh is music to my ears. I could listen to her laugh all day. I walk up behind her, unnoticed, and tap on her shoulder. When she turns around, she looks surprised to see that it’s me, but she instantly smiles and I feel like I could turn into a puddle at her feet. “Ember, will you dance with me?”
Her smile quickly fades as she glances toward Austin who turns his eyes toward her and nods. “Y…yes. I would love to dance.”
I grabbed her hand and walked toward the makeshift dance floor where other couples were dancing. I grabbed her other hand and draped her arms around my neck. She instantly tensed up and her face grew concerned.
I wrapped my arms around her waist and put my lips by her ear, “Austin told me to ask you to dance, but for the record, I was going to ask you with or without his permission.” I felt her hands intertwine behind my neck and she closed the space between us. As we swayed back and forth, she rested her head on my chest and I felt her let out a long sigh. Her scent is a mixture of sunflowers and pink lemonade. I wish I could keep my arms around her forever and spend every moment breathing in that amazing mixture of scents.
When the song ended, neither of us pulled away. “You are so incredibly beautiful, Ember.” I pulled her closer to me and felt a drop of water fall onto my arm. I try to look at her face, but she buries her face into my chest.
“Hey, Ember, what’s the matter?”
She didn’t say a word as silent tears streamed from her eyes.
I released my hands from her waist and cupped her face, “Please look at me, Ember.” Her eyes met mine as the tears continued to fall.
I wiped them away with my thumbs as she parted her lips to speak, “I… I have to go.”
Before I could say anything, she moved away from my hands and bolted toward the house. I looked around to make sure no one, mainly Austin, had noticed. When I was satisfied that no one was paying attention to us, I made my way toward the house.
I surveyed the kitchen, but there was no sign of her anywhere. As I made my way through the house, I hear a small cry come from the bathroom. My heart instantly constricts. I want to soothe her, but I’m afraid I have already overstepped my bounds. I knock lightly on the bathroom door, but she doesn’t answer. “Ember, please talk to me. Please.”
I hear her sniffle and the bathroom door moves lightly, leading me to assume she is sitting on the floor with her back against the door. “I can’t do this, Dalton. Please go away.” Her voice is shaky and drenched in sadness.
“I’m not leaving you like this. I hate that you’re hurting, please open the door.”
I hear shuffling and then the bathroom door opens. Her eyes are bloodshot and puffy, and I want nothing more than to kiss her tears away. What effect is this girl having on me? I have never felt like this toward a woman. I pushed my way into the bathroom and locked the door behind us.
Grabbing a tissue from the counter, I gently wiped the tears from her cheeks. “I’m so sorry, Dalton. I don’t know what came over me.”
I smiled and put my arms around her, hugging her tightly to my chest. “Don’t apologize, Ember. You’ve done nothing wrong.” Apparently that was the wrong thing to say because the crying started all over again. Her knees gave way as if she was too defeated to stand and I moved to the floor with her, never letting her out of my embrace. I ran my hands through her hair over and over again, hoping to offer her some sort of comfort. “Shh, baby, it’s okay. Everything is okay.”
She gripped my shirt and snuggled in closer to me, “Nothing is okay. Nothing about this is okay, Dalton.”
Thirty minutes had passed. Ember was still snuggled against me and neither of us had said another word. All of a sudden, there was a knock at the door. Her body became ridged and the look of fear overtook her soft features.
“Em? Honey are you in there?”
Ember instantly relaxed, “Yes, Harper. I’m in here.” She stood up and turned toward me. “Thank you.” I smiled as she opened the door. Harper came barreling in the door and wrapped her arms around Ember. Her eyes grew wide when she caught sight of me.
“I was trying to comfort Ember and…” Harper raised her hand to silence me. “Thank you, Dalton. You had better get out there before Austin gets suspicious. If he asks, just say that Ember is helping me with something.”
I smiled at Harper and turned toward Ember, running my thumb gently over her bruise I said, “Remember what I told you earlier. If you need anything, and I mean anything, you come to me.” She smiled and I left the bathroom.
Luckily, I was able to sneak back outside without anyone noticing. I’m grateful that Harper is here. I wouldn’t have been able to leave her alone and if I stayed, shit would have hit the fan once Austin realized what was happening.
“Bates! You’re not drunk enough dude. I’m going to kick your ass in beer pong.”
Thank God that Austin is too damn drunk to realize I had been in the house for a half hour, holding his wife as she cried into my chest. He may kick my ass at beer pong, but I’m going to kick his ass for real.
Harper handed me a tissue and I wiped the remaining tears from my cheeks. “Talk to me, Em. What the hell happened? Did Austin do something tonight?”
Pulling away from her, I pressed my back against the wall, “Austin told Dalton to ask me to dance. He said he was going to ask me regardless. It felt so good to be in his arms and when he told me how incredibly beautiful he thinks I am, I just lost it. I fucking lost it, Harp. I ran inside and locked myself in the bathroom and Dalton followed me. He begged me to open the door and when I did, he wrapped his arms around me and let me cry into his chest.” Tears threatened to take over again; the burning in my eyes was too much.
Harper grabbed my hand and gave it a light squeeze. “Are you crying because you feel guilty or because you miss being appreciated?”
“I don’t feel guilty, Harp. For the first time in a long time, I felt safe and wanted, but it was so overwhelming and the tears came out of nowhere.”
Harper stood up and helped me off the floor, “I’m so sorry. You deserve so much more, Em. We need to get you away from Austin.” She wiped the smudges that had formed under my eyes from my mascara and pulled concealer from her purse to cover my bruise. “It’s dark outside now, honey. I need to cover this black eye and then we need to get back out there before Austin notices you’re missing.”
We make our way outside. Austin is busy playing beer pong and doesn’t seem to notice me. I catch Dalton out of the corner of my eye. He smiles sheepishly and mouths, “Are you okay?” All I can do is nod and give him a half smile, but I cannot seem to break eye contact.
“Ember! Come make s’mores with us!” I quickly break away from Daltons gaze and make my way toward Sarah and a bunch of other people.
“I would love a s’more, Sarah. Is everyone having a good time?”
Sarah smiles and hands me a poker as I make my way to the bag of marshmallows. Everyone smiles and tells me how much fun they are having. One of the wives, Connie, is laughing hysterically. I’m not sure what is so funny. “Em! We are having the besssst time! I totes needed a night out to get sloshed.” Oh my. Everyone is shitfaced, but at least they are all having fun.
I set out my graham crackers and chocolate, and when I reached into the bag of marshmallows, a voice whispers in my ear and scares me half to death. “Let me.” I turn to the side to see Dalton. He takes the poker from me and sticks two marshmallows on the end. We sit next to each other on one of the logs by the fire pit and listen to everyone tell their drunken stories.
Dalton bumps his shoulder into me and smiles, our eyes fixed on each other. “Your shit is burning, Bates.” We turn to Brad who is laughing along with everyone. Dalton blows out the fire that has taken over our marshmallows and we both start laughing. I laughed so hard that I snorted and in turn, everyone cackled louder. I jammed my elbow into Dalton’s side, “Hey now, don’t laugh at me.” Dalton tilted his head back a laughed louder, “Sorry beautiful, I just can’t resist your snort.”
The group of us spent the next few hours sharing tales and getting completely inebriated. Since Austin is a psychopath when he is a drunk, I figure it will be easier to handle his rampage if I am equally as drunk as he is.
“Emmmmber! Waz up with your arm?” Connie’s drunken question causes everyone to turn in my direction and stare at the flesh colored tattoo sleeve covering my battle wounds.
“Oh um… I fell. No big deal.”
Dalton gave me a strange look, one that I couldn’t quite place. “I thought you spilled boiling water on your arm?”
Oh, shit! Think Ember, think! “Right, no I totally spilled boiling water and then I fell.” Smooth, real damn smooth.
Dalton leans into me, his breathe on my ear, “Are you going to tell me what really happened, or do I need to beat the shit out of Austin until he tells me?”
“Please let it go, Dalton. I really did…”
“No! I will not let it go, Ember. I will not just let him use you as…” Before he could finish, Austin came up behind me.
“Ember, everyone is shitfaced. Go grab pillows and blankets for everyone to crash here. I’m not getting blamed for people driving drunk. Bates! Dude, come chill with us.”
I turned to Dalton, begging him with my eyes to keep his mouth shut. He lowered his chin to his chest and shook his head in defeat before walking away with Austin.
I head to the hallway closet and pull out pillows and stacks of blankets. I have no idea how many people are staying, but hopefully this is enough. We have a guest bedroom, so two people can sleep in there, and our living room is huge. I have never been so grateful to have houseguests in my life. If people stay over, Austin will not take his drunken rage out on me. I wouldn’t be able to handle his crap tonight.
A few people start to make their way inside, obviously too intoxicated to party any longer. I hand them pillows and blankets, and get them set up in the living room. I decide it’s probably best to get a head count of who is staying, so I make my way back outside.
As I make my way around, asking everyone if they are staying or taking a cab home, SGT Bowman taps me on the shoulder.
“Em, umm, does… I mean… Is Harper seeing anyone?”
My heart is soaring. I have been trying to hook these two up for a long time and neither of them would make a move. We have all hung out a hundred times over the past few years and they have flirted each time, but it just never amounted to anything.
“Was it seriously that difficult to ask me, Trent?” I couldn’t contain my laughter, but I felt bad when he looked down at his shoes, clearly avoiding eye contact. “Trent, she isn’t seeing anyone. Ask her out. You two would be perfect together.”
His eyes met mine and he grinned the biggest, cheesiest grin I have ever seen, “Thanks, Em. I’ll go talk to her.” I winked at Trent and he made his way over to Harp
er.
I had one more person to ask about staying over, fifteen people confirmed they were and the rest were planning to call a cab. Dalton was eyeing me from his position next to Austin and a few other guys. He never broken eye contact as I slowly walked over to them.
“Hey Dalton, are you planning on staying tonight?”
He swiped a hand through his hair, clearly contemplating if it was smart to stay or not. Before he could answer, Austin took it upon himself to answer for him, “Yeah Sweets, Bates is staying. He’s fucking hammered.”
I nodded and half smiled at his response, then turned to see Dalton shaking his head and mouthing, “I am not that drunk.” I shrugged and smiled at him, “Umm, okay, great! I will set you up in the spare bed…”
“No ma’am, Trent and I will be taking the spare bedroom.” I turn around to see Harper, brimming with excitement, as Trent stood next to her, his face flushed with embarrassment.
“Well then, it’s about damn time you two get together.” Harper winked at me, grabbed Trent’s hand, and led him toward the house.
I turned to Dalton, “Well, I was not expecting that. I’ll make you a bed elsewhere.”
“Oh, no Ember, it’s alright. I shouldn’t stay. I’ll take a cab home.” I let out a sigh as I nodded, and then turned to walk toward the snack table.
As I gathered snacks to put away inside, Dalton loaded up his arms and followed me to the kitchen. “Did… Did you want me to stay? I’m not trying to be presumptuous, but you sighed and then walked away…”
Ember Skies Page 2