Breathe

by Kristen Ashley

  His lips twitched but I wasn’t joking. Valerie bought me expensive stuff all the time. It was sweet. It was over the top. But she started to get upset when I demurred so I stopped doing that and it was now tradition.

  He moved from his end of the cart to my end of the cart, stopped in front of me, lifted a hand to slide the hair off my shoulder and curled his fingers around my neck.

  Then he dipped his face close and muttered, “Only my girl says the word ‘outlandish’.”

  “It is in the English language, Chace. I didn’t make it up. I’m sure others say it too,” I told him, going for tartly but it came out breathily because he was close, his face was still warm but his gaze was intense.

  “How embarrassed are you gonna be after I make out with you in the spot where I first saw you?”

  Oh my.

  “Um… you say that like it’s a given you’re going to do that,” I remarked.

  “It is,” he replied.

  “Chace –” I started but his hand at my neck pulled me to him and up. His other arm curled around my waist then his mouth was on mine and I had no choice (though I wouldn’t pick another one) but to neck in the grocery store aisle with Chace where he first saw me.

  When he was done, he turned me toward the handle of our cart, moved in behind me and put his arms around me, his hands beside mine on the handle. He started us forward and I wasn’t embarrassed even though other patrons were grinning at me.

  No, all I could process was thinking grocery shopping was simple. It was every day.

  But it was one of the best things you could ever do.

  * * * * *

  Chace

  Five hours later

  In his sleep, Chace sensed the light going out.

  Faye was done reading.

  Before he could hook her around the waist, he felt her shift into him.

  He knew what that meant.

  Her hand glided up his hip to his waist.

  He knew what that meant too.

  He grinned, curled his arms around her and rolled to his back, taking her with him.

  Her mouth went to his neck.

  “Done?” he whispered into her ear.

  “Kind of,” she muttered against his neck, her lips gliding down.

  His hands slid over the satin of her nightie at her back. “You wanna use me, honey, you gotta do all the work. I’m wiped.”

  Her lips slid up as her hand stopped playing with his chest hair and moved up his chest, his neck and her thumb came out to stroke his jaw.

  “That’s too bad,” she whispered in his ear. “Because, see, the hero in my book just did all this stuff to the heroine while she was naked and on her knees then –”

  She shut up because Chace’s arms closed tight around her, he sat up and cats scattered.

  The instant he was up, he growled, “On your knees.”

  “You sure?” she asked, her musical voice lilting and playful, cute and fucking hot. “If you’re tired we can sleep.”

  He lifted her off him and planted her in the bed on her knees.

  Then he shifted to his knees behind her, his hands moved to the hem of her nightie, he yanked it up and off and felt her soft, sweet gasp in his dick.

  Then his hands glided from her waist to her belly, one going up, one going down.

  “You wanna act it out or wing it?” he asked the skin of her neck.

  “Wing it,” she breathed when his hands hit two particular spots.

  He grinned then muttered, “Right, baby.”

  Then he winged it.

  Half an hour later, they came simultaneously, Faye impaled on his cock, her head twisted, forehead pressed into his neck, one of his arms wrapped around her belly, his other hand at her breast, his eyes aimed over her shoulder and down, watching her touch herself while he fucked her.

  It was sensational.

  Then again, with Faye, from the very beginning, it always was.

  * * * * *

  Months later, the night before Chace and Faye’s wedding

  “Told you, you’d make it legal,” Deck said.

  Deck was sitting beside him in a rocker on his front porch, his feet, like Chace’s, up on the railing, legs straight, ankles crossed.

  They were both staring at the dark plain, the hazy lights of Carnal the only thing that lit it. He hadn’t even turned the porch light on.

  Chace didn’t reply.

  “You didn’t waste any time, brother,” Deck continued.

  Chace disagreed. After pulling his girl out of that box, he wanted to marry her the next day. A year and six weeks’ wait was way too fucking long. Faye agreed, they’d talked about a Christmas wedding and were both all for that until Liza stuck her nose in. Then their small, intimate Christmas wedding somehow became a huge, summer wedding and that somehow, Chace reckoned, was because his Faye actually wanted that and more, she liked planning her wedding with her sister. They were having a blast. So he let it go.

  He also let it go because Liza could be pushy and nosy but she also loved her sister and Faye had an idea of exactly what she wanted. Which was exactly what she was going to get, Liza was making sure of that.

  Therefore, at that moment, in his backyard there was a floating deck with an arch sitting on the spot where Faye had been buried and tomorrow they’d stand on it and get married.

  Faye’s idea, her way of getting rid of that memory.

  It was a good way.

  Also tomorrow, tables, chairs, tents, a dance floor, another floating deck that would hold DJ equipment and a shit load of flowers and bunting would be delivered.

  Luckily, Silas Goodknight was a smart man who loved his daughters deeply. Therefore, he’d been saving for a good long time to give them the weddings they wanted. Not to mention, Chace’s Mom had horned in and demanded to pay for the cake, catering and booze. After a word from Faye, Silas had given in. So the hit Chace’s trust fund took to take care of Miah and Becky didn’t mean his girl wouldn’t have exactly what she wanted on her day and they’d have to worry about their kids’ educations.

  She would have what she wanted.

  Exactly.

  Everything she wanted.

  And their kids were covered.

  Now, she was at her parents’ house and he and Deck had come back from Bubba’s where they spent a number of hours with the boys having drinks. Not a bachelor party. That shit was shit and he’d made it clear to Deck he didn’t need any of it and furthermore did not intend to be hungover when he made Faye his legally, in the eyes of God, standing in front of a reverend, surrounded by friends, family and God’s country. So it was just that at Bubba’s. Drinks with the boys.

  “You aren’t gettin’ any younger, man,” Chace pointed out, his meaning not veiled.

  “Not a lotta girls like Faye,” Deck muttered and, surprised, Chace looked at him.

  “You want a girl like Faye?”

  “Nope,” Deck replied, took a drag off his beer bottle and kept his eyes on the plain. When he dropped his hand, he went on, “And yep. What she’s got inside, that sweet, that strong, can’t be beat.” Deck looked at him and Chace saw the white flash of his smile. “Though, bigger tits, shorter skirts, tighter tops and high heels on more than just special occasions wouldn’t go unappreciated. Just as long as all that comes with class.”

  Chace got him but he couldn’t miss it. Deck made an art of playing the field and it wasn’t regular, it was frequent. But Chace didn’t miss the fact that the few who had even a modicum of staying power were high maintenance and beyond ballsy. Deck, like Chace, enjoyed the simple life. But Deck, like Boyd Newman, liked the challenge of a woman who brought high-class and not a small amount of drama into his life. Unfortunately, he had yet to find one who could do her own thing and find a compromise so they could fit together in their way like Liza and Boyd had.

  Or he had. But then he lost her.

  “Think your hunting ground should be Denver, bud,” Chace murmured his advice, his eyes moving back to the p
lain.

  “Then it’s good I’ve taken a job there,” Deck murmured back.

  “Gone long?” Chace asked.

  “Leave tomorrow and gone as long as it takes,” Deck answered.

  “Try not to get arrested,” Chace muttered and Deck chuckled.

  “Like anyone could catch me,” Deck muttered back.

  This, fortunately, was true. This also, unfortunately, gave indication of the kind of “job” Deck had taken.

  Chace let that go as he always did and moved onto more important matters.

  “You know, the head’s up you gave Faye about Ma set her up to deal with that. You at my side when that shit went down with Faye and what you did with Dad –”

  “Brother, we don’t discuss that shit.”

  “We don’t. Also don’t care. In those instances, you gotta know you got my gratitude.”

  “I already know it, Chace.”

  “Well, give me somethin’, man, and accept it anyway.”

  “You’ve had my back a lot of times,” Deck reminded him.

  “Not one where someone you loved was buried alive.”

  “This is true,” Deck muttered.

  “So just give me this and accept my gratitude.”

  Deck was silent.

  Then he whispered, “Do anything for you, man.”

  “I know,” Chace whispered back.

  “You know why.”

  “I do.”

  “Losin’ her was the worst thing to happen to me.”

  Chace pulled in breath. Deck didn’t bring her up. Ever. She wasn’t a ghost. She wasn’t a memory. As far as Deck was concerned, she didn’t exist.

  Then, still whispering, he said, “I know.”

  “Your ending was a fuckuva lot better than mine.”

  “I know, Deck.”

  “You kept me from flyin’ apart.”

  Chace didn’t reply.

  “Do anything for you,” Deck whispered.

  “Then give me this,” Chace pushed. “Move past her. She’s gone. Quit dickin’ around. Find what I got, Deck. You know how it feels. Find it again.”

  Deck was silent.

  Then he muttered, “We’ll see what Denver brings.”

  Chace knew that was as good as it was going to get so he let it alone.

  Chace took a drag from his beer and Deck did the same.

  They stared at the plain in silence.

  Deck broke it. “Happy for you, brother.”

  “Not as happy as me.”

  “No,” Deck agreed. “And that’s precisely why I’m happy.”

  Chace grinned at his beer bottle before he took another drag.

  Then he sat with his best friend in silence, contemplating what the next day would bring and beyond that, the island adventure that his soon-to-be wife didn’t know she was getting for her honeymoon.

  Which meant he sat beside his best friend in silence and he did it still grinning.

  * * * * *

  Faye

  The next afternoon, Chace and Faye’s wedding reception

  It was a moment alone.

  A moment after dinner, my first dance with Chace, dancing to (of course) Ella Mae singing “Holding out for a Hero”. A moment after my dance with my Dad and Chace’s with Valerie. A moment after we cut the enormous, ornate but awesome cake, that moment not being one where we shoved it in each other’s faces but we did lick the frosting off each other’s fingers to hoots and catcalls we barely heard. After that moment Chace kissed me and he’d done it deeply. And after that moment he’d whispered, “Cake. Better than bubblemint.” Which made me all melty as well as slightly turned on.

  I was sitting by myself and watching Ty and Lexie dancing, Ty having one arm around his again pregnant wife, his other arm holding his daughter and they were close, grinning at each other and whispering while sweet, pretty Ella pulled at her Mom’s hair.

  My eyes moved to Bubba dancing close with Krystal. Then they moved to Tate doing the same with Laurie, then they moved to my sister doing the same with Boyd and Max doing the same with Nina. And then they moved to Twyla doing the same with her partner Cindy. Not done, my eyes glided through Mom and Dad, Valerie and Trane, Sunny and Shambles, Wood and Maggie and Sam Sterling and his woman Jada all doing the same thing.

  Last, they moved to Chace who was holding both of Becky’s hands and her feet were on top of his feet, she was arched back, grinning up at him and he had his neck bent and he was grinning down at her in her little bridesmaid gown.

  Yeah, Chace needed a princess.

  Or, another one.

  My gaze shifted from my husband…

  My husband.

  At that thought, I smiled a small smile to myself as my eyes took in friends and family including my brother Jude chatting up Amber, one of the waitresses at Bubba’s and Deck, laughing with Jim-Billy, Stoney and Wings. Finally, they lighted on Miah looking like he was getting into trouble with Robbie and Jarot. Robbie was crawling under a table, Miah stooping to do the same while Jarot appeared to be playing look out.

  All was well in my world.

  Very well.

  Fraking brilliant.

  My body started when two chairs were dragged up to either side of me. I looked up and to my right to see Ally moving in to sit on that side then I looked to the left to see the short man with narrow shoulders, a big belly, thinning light brown hair and a sweet smile taking the seat there.

  Benji.

  The second he settled, my body drooped to the side, hit his and his arm slid around me.

  “So glad you came,” I muttered and looked to Ally. “Both of you.”

  “Wouldn’t miss it,” Ally muttered.

  “Me either,” Benji also muttered.

  My eyes went to Benji. “It was a long way for you.”

  His eyes caught mine. “Better than a TV show. Better than a book. Because it’s real. Once in a lifetime. So no way I’d miss it. I’d beam to the moon to see you this happy.”

  “Totally,” Ally muttered and I felt her hand find mine, wrap around and squeeze.

  I squeezed back.

  Then my gaze went to the dance floor again and I sighed.

  “Coming back for Comic-Con. Now that the seal has been broken and we all know each other as in know each other, expect you and Chace to meet me there,” Benji told me and my mind filled with thoughts of Chace at a Comic-Con.

  Because it did, I burst out laughing.

  Chace’s eyes came right to me and seeing the look on his face, openly happy, I sighed again but this time on the inside.

  I grinned at him but murmured, “I’m not sure that’ll ever happen.”

  “I am,” Ally replied and I tore my eyes away from my husband…

  My husband.

  I looked to her. “No way.”

  Ally looked to me. “That man would do anything for you. Even commune with a bunch of geeks.”

  Well, I figured she would know. Since she had one like mine.

  I grinned at her.

  The song changed to Norah Jones’s “Come Away with Me” and I watched Dad claim Becky and Chace’s gaze come to me.

  Then he lifted a hand and crooked a finger.

  “Hot,” Ally muttered then, “Righteous.”

  “I’m being summoned,” I told them something they couldn’t miss.

  “Go, darling,” Benji encouraged, his arm giving me a squeeze.

  I tossed them both a smile, got up and walked across the grass to the dance floor. I was two feet away when Chace leaned down, grabbed my hand, guided me up and pulled me immediately into his arms. Close. Tight. My arms wrapped around his shoulders and he started us swaying.

  I didn’t even hear the song. I just felt Chace.

  My husband.

  “Havin’ a good day?” he murmured into the hair on the side of my head where his jaw was resting.

  “The best. You?”

  His arms gave me a squeeze. “Yeah, baby.”

  He meant that.

  He
meant it deeply.

  I pressed closer.

  “Have I told you I love you today?” I asked.

  “Fifteen times,” he answered and my head went slightly back so his tipped down so he could look at me.

  “You counted?”

  “Never miss you sayin’ those words, Faye.”

  My heart melted.

  Then I whispered, “Here’s sixteen. I love you Detective Keaton.”

  He grinned and his grinning lips came to mine before he whispered back, “Love you too, Mrs. Keaton.”

  I smiled against his mouth but didn’t finish that action since my husband… my husband… kissed me.

  * * * * *

  Six years later

  “I’m supposed to talk about my class’s future. I’m supposed to reminisce about our past. I’m not going to do either. I know no one is going to remember this speech except me. So I’m going to use it as the opportunity to say what I’ve needed to say for a long time.”

  My shoulder in Chace’s armpit, his arm around me, our eldest son in his seat at my side, our second eldest boy fidgeting in his seat at Chace’s, our toddler daughter sleeping curled up in her Daddy’s lap, my eyes were trained across the auditorium to Miah giving his Valedictorian speech.

  “Most everyone here knows what happened to me and my sister. A lot of you even know a number of good people in a town called Carnal that’s a state away looked out for us. What you don’t know is that when I was alone and scared and hungry and cold, two of those people went out of their way to save me.”

  Chace’s back went straight at the same time as mine.

  Miah kept talking.

  “They didn’t know a thing about me. They didn’t know what happened to me or just how bad it was. They didn’t know what happened to my sister. But they didn’t care. They just knew something was wrong so they did something about it. They bought me food and a sleeping bag and books to read and wrote me notes, telling me about them, the only human connection I had for three years that was good and pure and right. After they started doing that, for the first time in three years, even though I was sleeping in a shed in the forest in the winter cold, I went to sleep not scared. I went to sleep knowing someone was looking out for me. I went to sleep for the first time in a long time knowing that there was good in the world. Weeks later, after I’d again tried to save my sister, I was injured and alone, I lay in that shed in that sleeping bag, but even as the days passed, I knew they wouldn’t give up. I knew they would find me. And they did.”