Restored (Shattered #2)

by Heather D'Agostino

  “Oh Will,” I leaned my forehead against his. As happy as I was at the moment that guilt I’d been feeling lately over Nick was still there trying to horn in on this moment. I pushed it back, but it was still there. I couldn’t escape it, and if I wasn’t careful…I was going to drown in it.

  Chapter 5

  Nick

  As I sat on the edge of my bed tying my running shoes, I couldn’t help but smile. It was finally Saturday, and I didn’t have to go up to campus. I’d been holding two-a-days for the last three weeks, but the team had made such an improvement that I decided to give them the weekend off. Regular season games would be starting up soon enough, so I was going to enjoy my weekends while I still could.

  Once I made my way into my living room, I grabbed my IPod off its dock, put my ear buds in, and stepped out onto my porch. It was still early, just after seven, and the beach was pretty deserted. I loved running during this time of day. I didn’t have to deal with anyone being in the way. I could zone out, and not be bothered. Most people didn’t know who I was, but there were a few that recognized me as UNCW’s football coach.

  After jogging down the stairs, I stretched a little, and began walking down closer to the water where the packed sand was. It was easier to run on the hard sand. After turning on the IPod to my favorite playlist, I took off down the beach. I’d been in the habit of running several miles, and today was no exception. I had a route. I would head down to this giant high rise hotel, the Residence Inn, and then make my way back.

  The hotel was usually where I’d run into people that wanted to talk to me. Parents of students, or fans that were in town for a game. Since it was still summer, I hadn’t had to worry about it yet, but I knew as soon as regular season started, I’d have to change my route.

  As I picked up my speed, sweat began to trickle down my chest. My breath was coming out in gasps as I approached the front of the hotel. The beach area was beginning to fill with bodies. Patrons that wanted to make sure they had the perfect spot to sun themselves.

  I slowed to a light jog as I went past the hotel to turn around, and make my way back. A few heads popped up, but none I knew. Women always seemed to take notice that I was there. It seemed like they suddenly would decide that they needed to rub baby oil on, or loosen the ties to their top. I had occasionally stopped to talk to a few that interested me, but it never amounted to anything. Until today…

  ooooooooo

  Leah

  When the alarm on my phone went off, I nearly jumped out of bed. Will had set it the night before so he wouldn’t oversleep. He had wanted to have breakfast together before he left to go to the campus, but now all I wanted to do was sleep in.

  “Wake up sleepy head,” Will whispered into my ear.

  “I don’t wanna,” I whined as I tried to slide deeper into the covers. “Can’t you eat without me?”

  “I can, but I thought we were going to get up together. You can sleep on the beach while I’m gone,” he begged as he pulled the sheet off my head.

  I lifted my head up, and pushed my hair back out of my face, “Wiiiillll, we stayed up late last night. I wanna sleep.”

  “Fine,” he released a breath. “I’ll go by myself. I’m gonna miss you today,” he stood and walked over to the dresser. “I’ll call you when I’m on my way back, and we can go out to dinner…ok?” he shoved his cell and wallet into his pocket before turning to face me.

  “Sounds great,” I smiled as I snuggled back into the covers. I yawned as I mumbled, “See you later.”

  ooooooooo

  After falling back asleep, I was woken up a few hours later to a text from Will.

  Will: Miss you…Can’t wait for tonight. Dress nice.

  I had no idea what Will had planned, but the conversation I’d had with Avery a few days ago began replaying in my mind. Will’s at that age. He’s going to want to settle down soon. I wouldn’t be surprised if he asks you to marry him. I cringed as I thought more about it. I really hoped that Will wasn’t trying to turn this weekend into something more than a scouting trip. I was not ready to make that kind of commitment to him. I wasn’t ready to make that kind of commitment to anyone.

  After glancing at the clock to see eight a.m. shining back at me, I decided I might as well get up. I rummaged through my bag looking for my red bikini, and cover up. Once I put it on, I ran a brush through my hair, piled it on top of my head, grabbed my sunglasses and towel, and made my way down to the beach.

  When I got there, it was already fairly crowded. Children were playing in the sand as their mothers looked on. Women of all ages were sunning themselves, and a few young men were tossing a football in the shallow surf. I couldn’t believe how busy it was this early in the day. The harsh rays on the afternoon sun had never bothered me, but I guess for these tourists they had wanted to be back inside by lunchtime.

  ooooooooo

  Once I had settled on a spot, I spread my towel out and stretched out on my stomach. There were a few women to the left of me who looked to be about my age. One was reading a magazine while the other sipped a bottle of water.

  “Ummm hottie at nine o’clock,” the one with the water bottle mumbled as she shifted on her towel.

  Magazine girl’s eyes slowly lifted as she returned, “Mmmmm hmmmm.”

  “Wonder if he’d run with me?” water bottle girl groaned as she reached for her sunglasses that had been on the towel beside her.

  “I’d rather do some indoor activities, not run,” magazine girl sighed. “He’s too perfect though, something has to be wrong with him. No guy that looks that good is unattached, and if he is then there’s something wrong with him.”

  “Well I’d still give him a chance. He looks familiar though. Do we know him?” she turned to her friend and swatted her arm. “I mean is he on TV or something? I feel as if I’ve seen him before.”

  By this point, their conversation had begun to annoy me. I was tired of hearing about this guy, but they weren’t going to give up.

  “Hey!” one of them shouted as she stood up on her towel.

  I had put my head back down at this point and closed my eyes.

  “Come over here. Yeah, I’m talking to you,” she continued to yell.

  The guy must have been unsure at first if she was talking to him by the way he took so long to do as she asked. Now it seemed as if he were going to come over.

  “Why would you do that, Allie?” her friend whisper shouted.

  “He’s hot,” Allie the magazine girl giggled back.

  “Great,” I groaned. I was right in the middle of an episode of The Bachelor.

  “Hey ladies,” a familiar voice came from beside me. “What can I do for you?”

  I knew that voice. I knew it too well. It was a voice that haunted me.

  “I’m Allison, and this is my friend Stephanie,” magazine girl giggled again.

  What was with the giggling? Did she really think that guys were turned on by that?

  “Who’s your other friend,” the guy asked.

  “Oh…we don’t know her,” Allie responded flippantly. “She just happened to sit near us.”

  By this point I didn’t care that I was getting ready to walk into the fire, I wanted to squash the fantasy that these girls were constructing in their minds. I lifted my head from the towel and turned it towards the male voice before sliding my sunglasses up on top of my head.

  As his eyes flashed wide, I offered a weak smile, “Hi Nick.”

  ooooooooo

  Nick

  Much like the last few mornings, I found the beach in front of the hotel covered in bodies sunning. It was as if everyone realized that summer was going to end soon, and they wanted to get in the last few weekends at the beach before fall made its presences known.

  When I slowed to a jog, I saw a group of women out of the corner of my eye. Two were blatantly staring at me, the third was on her stomach with her head down and turned away from the other two. She had the body of a goddess. Toned legs, perfectly ro
und ass, beautiful sun kissed skin. It was like everything I looked for, in a woman, this girl had. She didn’t seem interested like the other two though.

  I turned to head back down the beach in the direction I’d come from, when the one on the far left stood up on her towel waving her arms and shouting, “Hey! Come over here.”

  I stopped, and pointed to my bare chest as I looked back at her. Her head bounced up and down frantically as she settled back on her towel. Her friend scowled at her and shook her head like she wasn’t pleased at what was transpiring.

  “Hey ladies, what can I do for you,” I smirked as I walked up to where they were sitting.

  When I reached them, she stuck her hand out, “Hi. I’m Allison, and this is my friend Stephanie.”

  “Who’s your friend?” I jerked my head in the direction of the girl laying on the towel.

  “Oh we don’t know her,” Allison giggled. “She just happened to sit near us.”

  What was it about girls and giggling? Did they really think that we men found it attractive? I glanced back over at the girl on the towel. I had to know whom she was. She was perfect, and since she wasn’t friends with these two, I didn’t want to waste my time with them.

  Just as I was getting ready to introduce myself, the girl raised her head and turned toward me. She pushed the white framed sunglasses she was wearing up on top of her head, and smiled weakly at me, “Hi Nick.”

  “Leah,” it came out pained. “What are you doing here?”

  “Visiting,” she snapped as she sat up, and began gathering her things.

  “Wait!” Allison grabbed at my arm. “That’s where I know you from. You’re Coach Sutter.”

  “Yeah…hi,” I called over my shoulder as I watched Leah pack her things in front of me. “Leah wait. I want to talk to you,” I reached for her arm to stop her.

  “We don’t have anything to talk about,” she narrowed her eyes at me as she flipped the sunglasses back down over her face, and stood with her towel.

  “Please,” I tried again. “I just want to talk.”

  With a defeated look on her face, she tossed her things to the ground and walked out toward the ocean. “So talk,” she called over her shoulder as she stepped into the shallow surf.

  Chapter 6

  Nick

  “So talk,” she called to me.

  I jogged up behind her, and reached to grab her elbow, but before I could wrap my fingers around it, she spun on me and glared.

  “Don’t touch me!” she growled as she stepped back and closer to the water. “You don’t have that right anymore.”

  I lifted my arms in front of me, and moved away from her, “Fine.”

  As I watched her stand there with the ocean lapping at her ankles, I began to kick at the sand. I toed off my shoes and socks and tossed them up on the beach. I wasn’t planning on letting her use the fact that I had shoes on to escape into the water. As I moved closer, I reached out to try and touch her once more, “Leah?”

  She stepped back yet again and turned on me,” What?”

  “I’m sorry,” I sighed, and turned my body to face the water. “I never meant for it to happen. I didn’t want to hurt you.”

  “Didn’t want?” She whirled around on me. “I don’t even know what to say to that.”

  “I miss you,” I tried another tactic.

  I watched her head lift, and her eyes well with tears. She bit her bottom lip and nodded. The words were so soft when they fell from her lips that I almost didn’t hear them, “I miss you too.”

  “Can we fix this? Fix us?” I took a tentative step toward her.

  “I don’t think so,” she mumbled before turning away from me. “Too much has happened Nick. All we do is fight. We say we love each other, but then we tear each other apart. We do things to hurt one another. I don’t think saying you’re sorry is enough anymore,” she glanced up at me as a tear leaked out of the corner of her eye.

  The feeling in my chest was a pain I’d never felt before. She was trying to tell me goodbye. She was ending the second chance before it could even start.

  “You don’t mean that. I know you don’t,” I shook my head as I reached up and wiped the tear away with my thumb. “Do you still love me?” I stepped closer, and this time she didn’t move away.

  “Part of me always will, Nick. You’ve been a part of my life for too long.”

  “I still love you, Leah. I want to fix this. I want a chance to show you that I can do this. I can be the man you deserve,” I leaned closer and touched my forehead to hers. “I can be the one for you,” I inched even closer as I heard a small gasp escape her lips. “I want to be the one for you,” I pressed my lips against hers in a soft kiss.

  She didn’t push me back at first, she pressed into me. When her hands began to slide up my chest, I tried to deepen the kiss. My tongue swiped across her bottom lip, but just as I moved to wrap my arm around her waist, she shoved against my chest. I stumbled back a few steps trying to get my bearings. When I looked up at her face, I saw a look of horror. She shook her head frantically and stepped back away from.

  “I can’t do this. I can’t…” she continued to back up.

  I watched the tears come, and the pain morph into anger.

  “You can’t do this to me now. I just…why Nick!” she screamed at me. “Why now?”

  Completely taken off guard, I fumbled for words, “I…Leah…”

  “I’m with somebody else! You’re too late!” she shrieked. “You’re too late,” the screams turned to sobs as she turned and ran back to her towel. “Just leave me alone,” she cried as she left me standing there.

  “You still love me,” I called to her retreating form. “As long as you still love me, I have a chance,” I yelled.

  ooooooooo

  Leah

  “What had I done? I can’t believe I let him kiss me,” I mumbled to myself as I paced our hotel room. Our room, I was here with Will. Will was going to be back soon, and I needed to get it together. What if he noticed that something was bothering me? I wiped at my lips again. Would he be able to tell I kissed another man?

  Before I could continue, there was a soft knock at the door. When I peered through the peephole, I saw Will standing there.

  “What are knocking for?” I opened the door.

  “I forgot my keycard this morning,” he grumbled as he stepped into the room, and peeled of his sweat covered shirt.

  “What’s wrong?” I could sense something was up by the way he was acting.

  “Well…let’s see,” he narrowed his eyes at me. “I spent most of the afternoon outside in the hot sun. The girl I came here for has decided that she’s not interested. The girl I really wanted to spend my day with didn’t want to spend time with me…not even for breakfast. Now here I am ready to go out…and you’re still in a swimsuit,” he barked

  My mouth dropped open at his honesty, “You’re mad at me? What did I do to you?”

  “Nothing,” he muttered. “Just get ready…ok?”

  “I don’t know if I want to go out with you now,” I placed my hands on my hips and glared at him. “I haven’t had the best day either. I want to take a shower, and relax. Let’s just order room service.”

  “No, Leah, I’m tired of you blowing me off. I want to go out,” he gestured wildly around the room. “I don’t want to spend the entire evening in here.”

  My eyes bugged out, “You have the chance to be in a room with me all alone all night, and you don’t want to?”

  “Not particularly, no,” he tossed his head back at the ceiling.

  “I’m not doing this with you right now Will,” I huffed as I grabbed my cover-up and pulled it over my head.

  “Do what?” he growled.

  “Fight!” I spun on him. “I’m not going to fight with you. Whatever happened today that put you in this mood…it wasn’t me. I don’t deserve this. Whatever’s bothering you…fix it. I’m going down to the beach.”

  “Leah no!” he called halting
me at the door. “I’m sorry. I had a rough day. I don’t mean to take it out on you. If you want to stay in, why don’t we just eat at the hotel restaurant downstairs? Is that ok?”

  “Fine,” I turned back to face him. “Let me put some shorts on, and we’ll go.”

  He nodded as he reached for a clean t-shirt, and tugged it over his head, “Let’s go.”

  ooooooooo

  By the time we reached the lobby, all was forgiven. Will could never hold a grudge, I think that’s why we worked so well together. It wasn’t like when I was with Nick. Nick and I would fight, and stay mad at each other for days. Will couldn’t stand the silent treatment, which was my signature move. He would beg me to forgive him, and we’d move on. Tonight was no different. We were laughing at one another as we stepped through the door to the restaurant.

  When the hostess told us it would be thirty minutes for a table, Will grumbled something about how he was starving. I smiled at him and tugged him toward the bar.

  “We can order an appetizer while we wait,” I grinned as I climbed up onto a stool.

  Sports highlights were playing on the TV, and a small group of men were gathered at the end of the bar. Will glanced over at me as he climbed up beside me.

  “I’m surprised they’re this busy,” he lifted his hand to get the bartender’s attention.

  “It’s the last weekend before all the colleges go back to school. It’s always busy this time of year,” I cocked my head to the side and grinned.

  “I guess,” he muttered.

  “What’s going on with you?” I placed my hand on his thigh, and began rubbing it.

  Will blew out a long breath, “You seem distracted…like you don’t want me around.”

  My head jerked back as I bit my lower lip, “What are you talking about?”

  “I’ve been gone for two weeks, Leah. You act as if it’s no big deal,” he lifted a shoulder and turned his head to face me.

  “You’re mad because I’m not all over you? Seriously?” I narrowed my eyes on him and retracted my hand.