I relaxed, leaning back between his legs, wrapped in his arms as we soaked in the tub holding, kissing and caressing each other in silence. I was sleepy and sated and on the verge of falling asleep on his chest when he slowly shifted our bodies forward.
“We should go lie down in the bed before you fall asleep,” he kissed my temple. I wanted to disagree and tell him I was happy to fall asleep in the tub. The water was getting cold though, and I was too tired to argue.
He stood up, getting out of the tub first to dry himself and get me a towel. I stepped out of the tub and he wrapped me in a warm soft towel. He dried me off as I stood there, letting him rub my body, basking in his attention. He lifted me in his arms to carry me to the bed.
“I can walk, you know?” I grinned at him with a raised eyebrow.
“I like carrying you,” he smirked. I liked him carrying me, too.
He laid our naked bodies in the bed, pulling the covers over us as I snuggled close to him. I lay on his chest while he stroked my damp hair. It had become our favorite position after we had made love to each other.
Laying in his arms, I had an overpowering urge to say the words I’d said to him weeks ago. Only this time, I wanted him to hear them. I traced my fingers around his abs, trying to find the courage to say them out loud. Before I knew it, they were slipping out of my mouth in a whisper.
“I love you.”
His hand halted its movement and I felt his breathing catch. When he didn’t respond after what felt like minutes, but was probably only seconds. I started to panic. I didn’t regret saying the words. I just worried he didn’t feel the same.
He shifted underneath me, rolling us so I was on my back below his masculine body. He moved his hand to my face as I closed my eyes afraid to look at him.
“Open your eyes, Ava,” he dragged his thumb delicately across one of my closed eye lids. I took a deep breath before opening them.
He looked at me with an intensity I hadn’t seen before. He didn’t say the words back, but I could see the love in his eyes. He moved his lips to mine, kissing them with a new ferociousness. I wrapped my hands around him, pulling him closer, deepening our kiss.
He shifted his body to move inside of me without breaking our kiss. I wrapped my legs around him to help guide him. He made love to me with a new intensity and gentleness that I hadn’t felt. I fell asleep in his arms that night, feeling like nothing could break us. He was mine and I was his.
CHAPTER 20
I didn’t have a moment to slow down and relax since returning to Wellesley after the wedding. I had been so busy with trying to catch up with school that before I knew it, graduation day was here. It seemed like I was always running behind, late for everything every day. Today was no different.
I had to be at the graduation ceremony in less than forty minutes, and I was just barely getting out of the shower at my apartment. Mike had already picked up Lizzie to take her. Rhett and my family were waiting in the small living room of my apartment for me to finish getting ready.
I was hastily looking through my closet for a dress to wear when I heard a tap on my bedroom door.
“Babe, are you almost ready?” Rhett asked, cracking the door open.
“No!” I screamed a little too forcefully. “And don’t you dare come in here! You’ll just distract me,” I warned him.
He was looking entirely too sexy as always. I wouldn’t be able to get dressed and ready if he came near me. He laughed, completely aware of the affect he had on me. “I’ll tell your family to head out, so they can get some seats,” he closed the door, leaving me by myself.
I heard my family leave just as I found the dress I was looking for. I quickly put it on with the heels I had set out before rushing through my hair and make-up.
We arrived at the ceremony with only seconds to spare. Rhett gave me a peck on the lips and a slap on my butt, nudging me along as he went to join my family in the stadium seats.
The ceremony was boring, as expected, but necessary. I wanted to skip it. Much to my dismay, my family insisted I walk the stage. I agreed, mainly for my dad. He wanted to see his little girl graduate, and I wasn’t going to rob him of that moment.
When the graduation was over, we all went to Christopher’s to have a celebratory late lunch. Lizzie, Mike and her family joined us. It was odd sitting in the restaurant being waited on by friends who I usually worked along beside. Stephen was our server, which I was glad, because I knew he would be left a very generous tip….even if he wasn’t Rhett’s favorite person. Plus, he spent more time than necessary hanging about, which made it feel like he was celebrating with us versus serving us.
After our meal, we all said our goodbyes. My family needed to get back on the road to Litchfield. They wanted to make it home before dark and I could tell my dad was starting to feel the exhaustion from the day. I hugged him one more time, before he got in the backseat of Jackson’s car.
“I love you, Dad.”
“Love you too, baby girl. I’m so proud of you,” he smiled with tears in his eyes. My dad had become more emotional these days. We all had, wanting to cherish every moment we had together.
He kissed my cheek and squeezed my hand as he climbed into the car. I turned, giving the rest of my family hugs and kisses, telling them to be safe and call me when they made it home. Rhett put his arms around me as they drove off, and I waved at them until they were out of sight.
“Are you ready to go?” Rhett asked. We were headed to Boston. Rhett had planned a graduation party for Lizzie and me at his place. I nodded my head, and he took my hand, walking me to his car.
Lizzie, Mike, Stephen and Amber were the first to arrive at the party. We sat around talking, awaiting the other guests’ arrival. I was relieved to see Rhett and Stephen being cordial to each other. They mostly just avoided speaking directly to one another. But hey, it was an improvement none the less.
It didn’t take long for the house to fill with people. I only knew half of them as they had been people Lizzie and I invited. The other half were friends and acquaintances of Rhett. There was a drastic difference between our friends and it was easily distinguished who had invited who, even for an outsider.
The night was going grand until Serena and Aubrey arrived. I had been hopeful they wouldn’t be coming at all when Adam and Riley arrived without them in tow.
“Who invited her?” Lizzie huffed.
I didn’t respond. I assumed Rhett did and as much as it annoyed me, I couldn’t tell him that I didn’t want her around. I was afraid if I ever told him that, he would say the same about Stephen. It wasn’t fair to either of us. Though I knew there was a big difference between Stephen and Serena, Rhett didn’t feel the same way.
I kept my distance from her as much as possible and stayed close to Rhett for most of the night. At some point in the night, we got separated for longer than I would have liked. I tried to push my possessiveness aside as it was doing neither of us any good, and instead, I hung with my friends.
I had started to notice a little flirting between Amber and Stephen, and I got excited for the prospect. I adored Amber, and I would love to see Stephen settle down with a nice girl. I casually mentioned something to Amber and by the flushing of her cheeks, I knew she liked him. I only hoped he felt the same.
I left my friends for a moment to head into the kitchen for another drink when I spotted Adam by himself, leaning against a wall, glaring and seething. I followed his gaze across the room to see Serena and Aubrey talking with Rhett and Riley. I almost joined his brooding mood until something dawned on me.
If anyone could confirm what Serena did, it would be Adam. I decided then and there my mission for the night was to get information out of Adam. I put my jealousy aside and made a drink for myself and Adam, noticing his glass was empty.
“It looks like you could use another drink,” I handed him the glass as I approached. He looked down at me, momentarily startled by my intrusion. Then smiled, taking the glass from my hand.
I smiled and raised my glass to toast him, trying to entice him to drink. He clinked my glass with his before tipping it to his lips. He was still watching Serena over my shoulder. I glanced over to acknowledge that I was in tune with what he was looking at.
“Lover’s quarrel?” I asked, arching an eyebrow, not wasting time to broach the subject. He looked down at me confused and a little shocked by my comment. “You and Serena,” I explained further, looking back and forth between them.
He laughed a sarcastic laugh. “We aren’t together.”
“But you want to be?” I asked him, moving in closer. He shook his head as if lost in thought. I needed to get him alone. I knew it would be easier to get him to talk if we weren’t surrounded by everyone. “You want to get some air? I could really use some,” I glanced over at Rhett where Serena had her hand resting on his upper arm.
It wasn’t really a lie. Watching her put her hands on him was making me lose my focus, and I was seconds away from punching her in her stupid face. Adam looked back and forth between me and Rhett.
“I don’t think that’s a good idea, Ava.”
“Come on,” I encouraged. “It’ll be quick. You wouldn’t want me out there alone would you?” I asked, grabbing his arm, pulling him towards the patio door. I wasn’t giving him much of a choice, and though he was strong enough to stop me in my tracks, he didn’t.
As we walked outside on the patio, I closed the door behind us, releasing my grasp on Adam. He walked to the railing, leaning forward to rest his forearms. I slowly moved beside him. “So Serena, huh?” I asked after a few moments of standing together in silence.
“What about her?” He asked, giving up nothing.
“You like her.”
“It wouldn’t matter, if I did. I learned a long time ago that she would never belong to me.” He looked at me. “You’d probably benefit learning from my mistakes.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” I asked.
He stood there silently staring at his glass, twirling the alcohol around not bothering to respond to my question.
“I know about the pregnancy.” I leaned forward with him, looking straight ahead. I wanted him to feel like he could say what he needed to and that he wasn’t telling me anything I didn’t already know. “I know there was a good chance it was yours, too.”
He turned to look at me, anger boiling in his eyes. “There wasn’t just a chance, Ava. It was mine,” he narrowed his eyes. He growled, turning angrily, throwing his glass against the brick wall where it shattered to pieces.
I flinched at the sound of the crashing glass. I didn’t know Adam that well, and I didn’t know if he was unstable. But my curiosity overtook my fear. I wasn’t going to give up now. I gave him a minute to calm down before pushing him any further.
“How do you know? Did she tell you that?”
“She didn’t have to. I knew enough from Rhett that they always used condoms…and me and her…,” he paused. “We never did…she told me she was on birth control.”
“I don’t understand. Why didn’t you tell Rhett?”
“I tried. I wanted to. I begged her to let me take care of her and the baby, but she denied that the baby was mine.”
I could see the pain in his eyes and hear the anguish in his voice. He was just as hurt by Serena’s lies as Rhett. I moved out of instinct to comfort him by rubbing his arm. Just as my hand went to him, the patio door opened. Rhett stopped in the opening, his eyes taking in the scene. I instantly pulled my hand away, back to my side.
Rhett’s body went rigid with anger, his eyes filled with rage. “What the fuck is going on?” he growled.
Adam started laughing, shaking his head. His laughter only fueled Rhett more, and I wanted to scream at Adam to shut up. Adam, sensing he was moments from being beaten to oblivion by his friend, threw his hands up in surrender, still smirking.
“Nothing, man. I didn’t touch her.” He put his hands down to his sides, looking over at me. “I told you this was a bad idea.” He moved forward, pushing past Rhett’s body to leave. Rhett’s eyes followed him as he disappeared before he turned his daggers back on me.
“What the hell were you doing out here with him, Ava?” The way his words sounded so accusatory had my own anger and defiance surfacing.
“Nothing. We were just talking.”
“It sure as fuck didn’t look like nothing. You had your hands on him.”
“Give me a break, Rhett. He was upset. I was trying to make him feel better.”
“How? By fucking him?”
Before I knew what I was doing, my hand pulled back, slapping Rhett in the face. “How dare you! You fucking bastard!” I screamed, tears starting to surface. My hand stung from the pain of the slap. I barely registered it. “I was out here trying to protect you!”
He moved towards me, and I stepped back away from him, bumping into the railing. “What are you talking about?”
“Serena. She’s a lying manipulative bitch. Can’t you see that?” He stood there, shaking his head confused and the anger still ever present. “It wasn’t your baby, Rhett,” I whimpered, the tears now spilling over, streaming down my heated cheeks. “She lied to you. She’s been lying to you all these years.”
“No,” he shook his head defiantly. “She wouldn’t do that. She would never do that. Why would you say that?”
His words were my own slap to the face. He didn’t believe me and he wouldn’t believe me. Before I could respond, Serena came to the doorway. “Rhett?” she called in a soft, concerned voice.
He turned to her. “Damn it, Serena! Give us a minute,” he yelled at her, turning back to me. But I was done. I was done with this conversation, and I was done with thinking I could compete with her.
“No, Serena. You stay,” I glared at her. “We’re finished,” my voice hardened, turning my eyes back on Rhett before I started to walk away.
“Ava,” Rhett grabbed my arm as I passed him.
“Let me go, Rhett,” I pleaded, not looking at him. I lightly pulled my arm and he released it. The moment he let my arm out of his hand is the moment I knew we were done. I moved quickly, pushing my way through the crowd of people.
I found my friends. As soon as Lizzie saw my face, I burst into a fit of tears as my body started crumbling in on itself. She started to run to me, but Stephen cut her off, getting to me first. He caught me just before I fell to the floor. He lifted me in his arms as I buried my face into his chest, letting the painful sobbing spill out.
“Get her things. Meet us at the car,” he yelled at Lizzie. She and Mike rushed to grab our stuff while Amber followed us out.
“It’s going to be okay, pumpkin,” Stephen whispered into my hair, trying his best to console me. But it wasn’t going to be okay.
Stephen placed me in the backseat of Lizzie’s car, sliding in behind me. Amber ran around to the other side, getting in, wrapping her arms around me over Stephen’s. I cried as they both held me.
I don’t even know when Lizzie and Mike got in the car and started driving. I just felt the car moving. I could hear my phone blowing up with calls and texts. I assumed it was Rhett, so I ignored it. When it went on for ten minutes, Lizzie, I assumed annoyed by the constant ringing, grabbed it from my purse to turn it to silent, but she looked at it, and instead, answered it.
“Hello.”
“Don’t!” I yelled at her through my sobs. “I don’t want to talk to him.” I tried grabbing the phone from her to hang it up. She swatted at my hand, deflecting it from the phone as she listened.
“Okay, we’re on our way,” she said before hanging up the phone.
“Hell, no! You cannot take me back there!” I screamed at her angrily.
“Ava, shut up! It wasn’t Rhett. It was your sister,” she yelled back at me. I silen
ced myself. New emotions taking over my body. “It’s your dad, Ava, we need to go home,” she said softly. I could see the sadness and concern in her eyes.
The tears started pouring out again as Stephen held me closer. I cried for hours it felt like until I was too dehydrated and exhausted to cry anymore. I fell asleep in Stephen’s arms as we all drove home to Litchfield.
It was still dark when we arrived at the local area hospital. Since they didn’t life flight him to New Haven again, I was hoping that he was okay, and it was just a small scare. I walked through the halls of the hospital lifeless. I had Lizzie’s and Stephen’s hands in mine as they walked on each side of me.
The door to my dad’s room was cracked open, and I could hear the hushed whispers of my family inside. I opened it further and walked in, leaving my friends at the entry. I looked back at Lizzie.
“We’re going to go get some coffee. We’ll be in the waiting room, if you need us.”
I barely felt my head nod my understanding as I turned back to my family. My mom came to my side. My dad was awake. He sat up smiling, and for a moment, I felt hopeful. He was okay.
“Ava! Come! Come! Sit with me!” he beamed like a five year old.
I could tell he wasn’t himself. He seemed loopy. I looked at my mom for an explanation as I walked to hug my dad. “He’s on a lot of drugs.”
I moved to sit on his bed where he pulled me in for a big bear hug. I laughed through the tears that were falling. He was acting so goofy from being drugged up that his enthusiasm was almost contagious. After he released me, I stood up moving towards my sister and Jackson to hug them.
“Let’s go in the hall,” Mom looked over at dad who had instantly fallen asleep.
“What’s happened? Is everything okay? Are they releasing him soon?” I asked desperate for some answers and good news.
“Ava,” Mom spoke carefully, tears starting to fall down her cheeks. “I’m afraid he may not make it through the night,” she struggled to get the words out.
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