Etched in Stone (Six Degrees Series Book 2)

by Statham, Mayra

  “My parents had everything,” she says and I go still. She’s letting me in. “They had what I want with you, what I could see in your house. Friends all around the place, laughter, BBQ’s. They lost it all,” her voice drifts off and I can tell she’s looking at the waves crashing on the shore.

  “I was standing in your kitchen and I remembered that last night,” she says soft, and I hold her tight. “I hadn’t thought about it in so long, but my mind went there and I was suddenly reliving the whole thing in your kitchen. He got me out, did you know that?” She glances back at me and I shake my head. “My dad, he woke me, my room was filled with smoke...,” her voice drifted off and she takes a deep staggering breath that hurts to listen to. Her pain was so raw and I was glad she was sharing it with me. When she starts to talk her voice is in that tone that I rarely hear from her, soft, vulnerable, raw. “He carried me like… like I was delicate. He always carried me around like that. We got out to the front yard, he was out safe, but then he went back in for my mom…,” her voice cracks and she burrows into me, and I can feel wetness at my chest so I hold her tighter.

  “Angel….”

  “With Jake… it hurt that he messed around and he lied, but it didn’t break me. It didn’t break me, because I never really let him in, I didn’t need him. Not like you, not like I need you.” She moves and I let her go. She straddles me, wrapping her legs around my waist, the ocean and sun are behind her, but she is still the most beautiful creature I have ever seen and is the only thing I see.

  “Parker, I love you. I love you and those three words aren’t even close to how I feel about you. There isn’t a strong enough word to express how I feel about you. So Jake’s cheating, someone I was with for three years, that didn’t hurt, not compared to when you showed up at my apartment and let me know you knew that I’d worked at Shine.” She says her voice thick with emotion.

  “Angel….”

  “It’s okay. I get that you were caught off guard. That was my fault. I should have….”

  “No. I need you to listen to me okay?” I tell her and her eyes are glassy but calm. Her arms are resting around my shoulders, the tips of her fingers playing with the hair at the back of my head. Her dark sad eyes makes my body ache, helplessness fills every pore in my body.

  “I need you to really listen to me and know this is the last time we are going to talk about this. We are going to leave this in the past and move forward. When I found out…, I was an asshole. Those couple of days apart killed me, angel and I came back, to you leaving me…,” I stroke her face, and I can breathe because she leans into my touch. She doesn’t hesitate or flinch.

  “I love you, Liz. I’m sorry I dropped the ball with how I reacted. I’m sorry about what Duke did….”

  “That wasn’t your fault.”

  “I don’t care. I’m sorry they hurt you and touched you….”

  “Baby….”

  “I can’t lose you. I get you think it’s a risk, but how shitty would our lives be if we don’t take it. What would our lives be if we don’t take the chance to have one another? Because I can tell you right now there is NO ONE else out there for me. I know it’s been a short amount of time, and I get that but….”

  “When you know, you know.” She finishes my sentence, her hands on my face a soft smile on her lips.

  “Absolutely!” I smile back at her, but get serious as I watch something, a thought drift in her eyes.

  “And you know? About me?” She asks hope shining bright in her eyes, I smile, letting my hand tangle in the softness of her hair.

  “Yes. Just like you know, I’m it for you.” Her serious face melts away giving me the biggest smile I’ve ever seen on her beautiful face.

  “Cocky much,” she asks, leaning in nuzzling my nose with hers, trying to lighten the mood. I bring her flush up against me.

  “Don’t run away from me.” I whisper in her hair, and she melts into my body. “If you need space tell me, but don’t run from me.”

  “Okay.” She says her face goes into my neck, her hands on my shoulders, “I’m so sorry.”

  “It’s okay, just no more running.”

  We settle in and sit. We people watch, we watch the waves hit the shore. The entire time, she’s in my arms. After an hour, I lean into her ear, “Let’s go home.”

  The look she gives me at my words is pure beauty.

  Chapter Forty

  Parker

  “Babe, have you seen my curling iron?” She yells from the bathroom and I look towards the two overflowing duffle bags on the floor by the window of my room, and I scratch my head, bending I take out her curling iron and walk to the bathroom.

  “Here.”

  “Oh my god! Thank you, baby!” She says leaning over to me. Her makeup is done, her skin looks flawless. Her natural tan is back. She kisses my cheek. I lean against the door as I watch her connect the curling iron, then she puts some goop on her hands, and runs her hands all over her hair.

  “What?” She asks looking at my reflection. She didn’t miss my serious expression, not that Liz ever missed anything.

  “You should unpack.” I tell her. I’ve been meaning to say it, but didn’t want to scare her or rush her. It’s been a week since the beach thing and my angel’s getting ready for a wedding.

  “Umm…,” her hands working the goop into her silky hair, only now it’s with less enthusiasm, a look of surprise on her face.

  “And you need to let go of that apartment. We can hire movers.” At this she stops, her hands frozen in place.

  “Let go of my apartment?” She asks, her hands still in her hair.

  “We can live here, you can redecorate. Or if you want, we can find a whole new place.” I say, seriously trying not to smile at her reaction.

  Her pretty mouth opens and her hands are now down, holding onto the vanity in front of her. Her dark eyes on me, an expression I can’t completely read. She turns slowly, her hands going to my chest. My angel loves touching my chest, and I love her touching it.

  “What?” She whispers softly, her expression still not readable.

  “You’re moving in. You need to unpack. You decide if you want to stay here or we can start at a new place.” Her eyes go suspiciously wet.

  “You want me to move in?” She asks, her eyes close slowly and I don’t shy away, I take a chance.

  “Angel, you kind of already are. We’ve only gone once to your apartment to load up on more clothes and paints and canvas….”

  “I want to stay here,” she says opening her eyes, “I mean we would have to redo the living room. Not much, just brighten it up a little, it’s too grey for me, but I want to stay here.” She says quickly and I smile. My heart is feeling fuller than it ever has.

  “Okay angel, we’ll stay here.”

  “Maybe get a dog?” She says, surprising me so much I smile.

  “Okay.” I agree and her eyes go wider.

  “Okay? Just like that?” She asks, her voice slightly breathy.

  “I like dogs.” I tell her and decide to push my luck, starting a conversation that we hadn’t had, but I have a feeling, we’re on the same page about. “I like kids too...maybe we can have a couple of those too... eventually?” I tell her and her eyes go wider and rounder, no longer glassy because tears are rolling down her face, ruining the perfect make-up she’d just spent twenty minutes doing, but I don’t care. She’s beautiful and she just agreed to give me a hell of a lot.

  “Okay.” She whispers, smiling through the tears. The look she’s giving me, full of love, no walls or doubt, and it’s a fucking beautiful sight to see. Most beautiful thing I have ever seen and I can’t help myself, I pull her in and kiss her, hard.

  She was already going to have to redo her eye make-up, why not mess up her lipstick too?

  ***

  Liz

  Watching Sabrina and her groom, Mike Crown, cut their beautiful six tier wedding cake is great.

  I was surprised when Jake told me that Sabrina was
his older sister. Somehow, even though the jerk won’t admit it, I think he had something to do with Sabrina finding Izzy Tizzy’s in the first place. The festivities are almost all finished and her handsome groom is starting to look anxious about starting their honeymoon, his ice blue eyes on her. I smile as I look at them. Sabrina simply glows with happiness and pregnancy as she feeds Mike a piece of cake, and he feeds her back. Tears are stinging behind my lashes as I snap pictures of them on my phone.

  Parker and I dance, slowly and close to one another on the makeshift dance floor in John Davenport’s backyard, where the ceremony and reception took place. Up in the hills, the stars shine bright above us. His home is a monstrosity of an old Hollywood mansion on one side of us, a smaller guest house on the other, and nothing but trees all around. Close in Parker’s arms, I breathe in his scent my face in his neck, his cologne and him in my head. I’d bought him a bottle of his cologne. I wasn’t going to let Duke take anything from us.

  “Do you want to do this?” Parker asks in my ear, I tip my head to look at him.

  “This?” I ask looking into his eyes that are clearly happy and amused.

  “Get married?” His voice is confident and I look at him.

  “What do you mean?” nerves radiating through me.

  “Like one day… do you want to get married?” He asks as Justin Timberlake’s Not a Bad Thing is playing in the background.

  “Is this hypothetical or like an actual proposal?” I ask laughing and his eyes warm.

  “Hypothetical, when I propose you won’t have any doubts about it being a proposal,” his voice rumbles as he pulls me close, we sway back and forth. His body fits perfectly against mine.

  “Oh…umm… I think so, yes. I do.” I tell him. Music playing, Timberlake is singing lyrics that stick to me.

  When someone cuts your heart open with a knife, now you’re bleeding

  Don’t you know that I could be that guy to heal it over time

  And I won’t stop until you believe it

  ‘Cause baby you’re worth it”

  The lyrics of the song are perfect. Exactly what Parker had done for me. He didn’t stop, he didn’t give up, and I wasn’t going to give up either. Not ever.

  “Big or small?” He asks, bringing me in closer snapping me out of my thoughts.

  “What?” I ask and he smiles at me, moving back close, his lips at my ear.

  “Big or small wedding?”

  “Simple.” I answer, his nose moves to my temple, nuzzling my skin as we dance.

  “On the beach?” He guesses.

  “Yeah,” I contently sigh against his cheek.

  “Simple I can do…,” he says and I look at him. “Small is tough, with my family alone.” He says his eyes wide in humor and I laugh. Not scared or terrified at the fact that I think we just planned our wedding. I’m moving in with Parker, letting go of my apartment, we’re getting a dog, one day having kids and one day we’re going to have a simple beach wedding.

  “What about you?” I ask looking into his smiling eyes. He stays quiet for a moment then leans his head in. His lips nuzzling my temple, making my body react to his.

  “Right before I saw you for the first time, I had been thinking about how I never wanted to get married or have a wedding. I always thought it was an antiquated tradition that only gave you unnecessary stress….” I moved my head back to look at him. This surprised me coming from him and I guess my shock was written on my face because I can feel his quiet laughter roll through his body. He pulls me back in close as we sway to the soft rhythm of the music. “Then I met you.” His voice low and so sexy I shiver against him and I know he feels it as his fingertips trace my bare skin at my shoulders.

  “So you've changed your mind?” I ask slightly breathless. His body so close to mine, I can feel him harden against my belly, his nose nuzzling my neck. Every sensation making everyone and everything around us fade away.

  “Oh yeah,” his voice deep and rich, “You’ve brought out a part of me I didn’t even know existed.” He licks the shell of my ear and a soft moan escapes as moisture pools at my center. “It’s this primal need to mark you. To make sure everyone around us knows you’re mine. I want my ring on your finger angel, and I sure as fuck want to watch you walk down the aisle right to me. I want to promise vows that have been promised between couples over the ages, and I want to hear you say them to me.”,” he almost growls and I can't help but kiss his now stubble covered jaw.

  A week ago, when I had my freak out, the moment we left the beach, I left something behind. Something I didn’t need to carry with me anymore, because Parker would care for me, like I would care for him.

  I left the fear behind and embraced the love. His love!

  “Let’s go home, Park.” I whisper against his now smiling mouth.

  ***

  Opening my eyes slowly, I look at Park’s sexy thick throat. He’s on his back, I’m nestled into his left side, my face at his neck. We’d come home after Sabrina’s wedding and he immediately took me against the wall the moment we closed the front door. He’d been demanding and so damn sexy. I loved that we hadn’t lost that. I loved that my nightmares had stopped too. But at this moment, in the light of a new morning, I couldn’t help but let my hands skim the skin from his collarbone down the center of his chest, watching my tanned fingers against his creamy skin, graze down to the flat muscular stomach till they find the hard bulge. We’re both naked and I look down at his long thickness and my mouth waters. I move down his body, bending at the waist as I kiss his muscular thighs. I feel his body shift a little but I don’t look up. I lick the base of him, moving up to the tip, and sliding my mouth down the tip. Moving my mouth up and down slowly, teasingly till I hear him groan sexily and I feel his hands move, landing on the base of my lower back and slowly working into my folds, until he finds the spot that makes me moan, in turn only to take him in deeper.

  “Ride me,” he orders and I am only happy to follow. I move around, swing my leg over his waist, his hands go directly to my hips and he pulls me down hard and I gasp as he curses.

  Parker

  I look up at her, quickly squeezing my eyes tight, I can feel her warmth and wetness around me driving me fucking crazy.

  “Angel…,” her hands move so that they are flat on my pecs as she starts to ride me. Up and down as her head goes back slightly, arching her lithe neck, her long dark hair cascades down her back. I let one of my hands roam from her hip up to her head reaching till my fingers tangle with the base of her neck into the silkiness of her dark tresses and pull her down to me to kiss her hard.

  We both move together, our bodies in sync.

  “Baby” she whimpers against my mouth and I kiss her harder, working my hips up to meet hers as they move down.

  I can feel her body start to tighten, her nails digging into my pecs, my own body almost there. I bring both hands up, pulling her into me holding her tight as I thrust up like an animal, she moves so that her shoulder is right by my mouth her mouth at my neck. I can feel her breathe on my skin, her scent wrapped around me just as we both go over the top in pleasure almost simultaneously her moans making me thrust hard once again as I bite her shoulder, licking it quickly after to help soothe the pain away.

  Our bodies still connected, my grip around her body loosening enough to play with her long hair as her sated body lies on top of mine the only thing you can hear in the room is us trying to catch our breath.

  “Good Morning,” she whispers and I can’t hold the laughter that erupts from me.

  It sure as hell was good fucking morning!

  Chapter Forty-One

  Liz

  “So I walk in and I see bare MAN ASS right on the couch!” Tess says and we all laugh. Lucy turning a bright shade of red as Tess continues her merciless teasing. “I didn’t know the pompous jerk had it in him, but man oh man our Lucy took it like a champ.” Tess, Lucy, Carrie and I, all of us fall in a fit of giggles as we hear Tess’s recount walking in on
Lucy and Jake.

  Yup, Lucy and Jake!

  I’d noticed something from the first time I’d seen them together, but now they’re official. Most women would have an issue with their bestie and douche of an ex hooking up. But it didn’t bother me. Smiling, I think about a week after Sabrina’s wedding, Parker in Massachusetts with Robert Montgomery on set of one of their movies, Jake called and asked me to go over for dinner and for some odd reason I’d agreed.

  Maybe it was the fact that Parker had told me, how Jake had worked at keeping the girls safe and helping anyway he could when we went through our Duke ordeal. I didn’t think about it. He’d been over to watch the game with Parker and they were friends, he’d been there for me when I needed him to be, so I was okay with him.

  ***

  “Jake, what are you doing?” I asked as I took his hand. I’d arrived at his penthouse.

  “Do you remember the first thing I ever made you eat?” He asks, looking at me and I want to roll my eyes but I don't.

  “Yeah we were at the beach and you made sandwiches in the wind. There was tons of sand in each one.”

  A slow grin falls over his handsome face.

  “You remember.”

  “Jake.” I warn, not sure where this little trip down memory lane was heading.

  “I thought you had forgotten about the good,” he says and I go solid. I look at him his bright eyes on me.

  “I remember all of it, Jake.” I admit, surprising myself at how vulnerable I’d just made myself. Trying to lighten the mood I ask, “So is that what we are eating? Sandwiches filled with dirt?”

  He laughs his face bright, cute laugh lines at his eyes and he shakes his head.

  “No, but I made one to be the centerpiece of the table as a joke, hoping you’d remember. Come on.”

  Catching me off guard he leads me into the dining room and I stop in my tracks and look at him.

  Jake Thompson

  Her dark eyes go wide when she sees the table I’d set up. Then I felt her gaze on me and my eyes hit hers. They’ve gone warm, like sweet, melted chocolate. Unfortunately, it’s only for a small moment, but I would take the win. Even if her face moves into a frown and she starts to give me a death glare.