“But this guy…he’s…”
“I know. But this is their fight. We can’t get involved. Hal may have been my uncle, but he was their father, and we need to let them decide how to handle this guy.”
He’s right. I nod, letting Colton know he can let me go. He does but keeps one arm securely around me just as Jasalie and Sky slide in on my other side and Jasalie takes my hand.
Someone’s finally gotten the attention of security, and they begin to escort Nate out of the building.
Michael relaxes his hold on Ayden and they lock eyes. After a silent moment, they turn in unison and both reach out to stop Nate from leaving.
Michael leans in close to Nate and says something to him in a low voice. Then Ayden does the same. Nate’s eyes water, and he puts one arm around Michael’s neck and the other around Ayden’s.
Nate whispers something to both of them and then produces a card from his pocket and hands it to Ayden. Then he pats Ayden on the cheek and leaves the building.
Ayden
If someone’s hurting, don’t make it worse. Make it better.
That was my father’s motto.
But when that guy swings at me, I want to hurt him back. I want to destroy him. Why did he get to live when my father, the best man I knew, drowned?
Nate’s not taking advantage of his gift of life; he’s a drunk and a mean one at that.
But Michael and I lock eyes, and I know he’s remembering our father’s motto at the same time I do. And I know we need to make this right. Michael tells Nate that he’s happy he survived to share the story and I lean in and tell him that living the life our father would have wanted him to is the best way to honor my dad.
“You’re good boys,” Nate mutters as he wraps his arms around us. “Hal would be so proud. I know he is.” He hands me his business card. “We’ll talk again when I’m not being a drunk asshole.”
Once Nate leaves, I turn around. My mother’s smiling at Michael and me proudly and with unmistakable relief. My cousins and Jenson are there, along with Tari and Peter, all of them having my back like they always do. And a crowd of people has gathered, wanting to know what just happened to cause such a scene.
But my gaze keeps moving until I find her.
Bella.
My constant bright light in a sea of dark, the person who was with me after my father passed, who held me up when I felt like drowning, who stopped by my house every day after school the rest of the year to make sure I was okay.
My best friend, my angel, and the woman I never want to be without.
Her hazel eyes widen as I stalk toward her standing next to Colton, Sky and Jasalie. When I reach her, I bury my face in her neck, trying to block out the rest of the room, wishing we didn’t have an audience. I wrap one arm around her waist and lift her up off the ground. I lock eyes with her, never wanting to let her go again.
Without putting her down, I start walking through the crowd and down the hallway. I don’t stop until I’ve pushed open the private bathroom and locked the door behind us.
I lift Bella onto the counter by the sink and lean my hands on either side of her. Then I drop my head as I gasp for air.
“Ayden.” Her tone is laced with concern.
“Shhh.” I ghost her lips with mine. “No talking. Please.”
Except that I have to tell her one thing first. “You’re the only one, Bella. You’ll always be the only one.”
My kiss is sudden and unexpected, and she moans in surprise. I part her lips with my tongue and pick her up off the sink. Her long skirt’s ridden up her legs, and I help her pull the fabric all the way up so she can wrap her legs around my waist. I back her up against the door, my hand dipping into the top of her dress so I can touch the swell of her breast. I want to be inside her right now, right this minute.
But I know that can’t happen. We’d miss the video tribute, and I would never do that to my mom. So I settle for kissing Bella from her lips to her neck and then down to her breasts. My hand has just snaked underneath her skirt and is heading for the part of her I’m completely obsessed with when—
Bang, bang!
“Ayden!” Colton’s amused tone comes through the door. “Whatever you and Bella are up to, the video starts in less than two minutes. Aunt Anna was searching all over for you, but I told her I’d handle it. Thank me later, by the way.”
I reluctantly lift my head and call out to Colton, “Be right there.”
I let Bella down to the ground and help her adjust her dress. I grab her ass before she can open the door and kiss the back of her neck. “You ready?”
She slaps at my hand and laughs. “Let go of my ass, Ayd, and then I will be.”
I let her go, and we walk back into the party.
CHAPTER TWENTY
Bella
The video tributes leave everyone smiling through tears, and the memorial party ends quietly and without any more drama.
Ayden and I change into casual clothes in the banquet hall bathroom. Then, after helping Ayden’s mom carry all her stuff to her car, Ayden and I drive out of the parking lot.
The ride is quiet. By that I mean Ayden’s quiet. I drive because Ayden seemed like he needed a little time to process the evening. I ask him what he wants to do now, and he doesn’t really give me a straight answer. Assuming that means he wants to go to the beach to hang out with his cousins, I drive us to the docks. Ayden grabs his baseball hat from the back seat, and we make our way to the beach.
Peter produces a football from somewhere and coerces Dylan into throwing with him. Colton and Jenson join in, and soon all the guys are shirtless and sweating as they run all over the sand, tossing the ball back and forth and tackling each other.
“Sweet Lord.” Sky pretends to fan herself as she watches the scene in front of us.
“It’s like watching a birthday present and Christmas all rolled into one,” Tari says.
I laugh because she’s right. All the guys are crazy hot, but my gaze is only focused on one of them. Ayden’s bare chest is glistening with sweat, and his muscles are rippling as he throws a perfect spiral to Colton. His jeans are hanging low on his hips, and when he bends over to pick up an errant pass thrown his way, I have to hold myself back from stepping closer and grabbing his ass.
Jasalie and I turn away from the group to do more catching up. Her straight blond hair hangs past her shoulders, and her model figure hasn’t changed in the five plus years I’ve known her.
“I like Lucky Bay,” she says to me. “You always made it sound awful.”
I laugh. “I wasn’t expecting to land back here the way I did. But my hometown has always been a touchstone for me.”
“That part sounds wonderful. I can’t even imagine,” Jasalie says, her gray eyes revealing a hint of that sadness I’ve always seen in them.
We’ve just started chatting about Jasalie and Dylan’s wedding plans when Sky joins us.
“Do you know what you’re doing yet?” she asks Jasalie.
“I’m not into the whole public thing, and neither is Dylan. So we may do a private ceremony somewhere, just the two of us. Then we’ll have a renewal and reception for family and friends in the fall sometime; we think in Montana. My mom may even come.”
“Wow,” I say. “Has she met Dylan?”
“Yes, she loved him.”
“Anyone with a vagina loves Dylan Wild,” Sky says with a laugh. “And a lot of people with penises as well.”
Jasalie blushes. “I can’t believe how lucky I got. But God’s plan is often a surprise, I guess.”
Sky nods. “I’d say that’s the world’s biggest understatement.”
My thoughts flash to Ayden. The way he kissed me like he’d been waiting for that moment his whole life…a shiver runs through me at the memory.
Jasalie’s studying me. “Why do I get feeling we’ve walked right into the middle of something big?”
I smile.
Colton stalks over to us with a sexy grin. “Hey, Sparky,” h
e says to Sky.
He drops his arm around me affectionately. “I’m sorry about your mom,” he says in a low tone. “How are you?”
I force a smile I know he doesn’t buy for a second. So I go for the truth instead. “You know, I’m honestly counting my blessings things turned out as well as they did.”
His expression is kind but holds no pity. “If you need anything, you know all you have to do is ask. You have my number, right?”
I nod at him gratefully. “I do. Thanks, Colt.”
The thing about Colton, and all of Ayden’s cousins and Jenson too, is they never say anything they don’t mean. I’ve known them my whole life, and while we grew up thousands of miles apart from each other, they’ve always been like brothers to me.
He picks Sky up over his shoulder and brings her out to join in the game. She complains the whole way, but Colton gets her laughing, and she stays and lets him teach her how to catch a spiral.
I catch Ayden’s eyes on me more than once. I want to offer him comfort, but I don’t want to intrude on him and his time with his cousins.
Jenson steps away from the game and nods at me.
“Want to walk to the water?” he asks.
“Sure.” I lead him down the shore.
“I was sorry to hear about your mom, Bella. I hope everything works out.”
“Thanks Jenson.” I look at his face. He has gorgeous green eyes, but they look troubled tonight.
“Is something wrong?” I ask him.
He stuffs his hands in his shorts pockets, his bare chest glistening with sweat. “I have a strange question for you—how did you handle moving back to your hometown after being away for a while?”
“Not well.” I let out a laugh, and Jenson does too. “You know it was hard. But a lot of that was because I felt forced back. That wasn’t really true, but that’s how it felt to me at the time.”
He nods. “I’m planning to return to where I grew up. It’s just…things are so different now than when I left. I’m a single dad with two kids…”
Something about his tone of voice—it sounds like regret. “Did you leave someone behind?” I ask him. “I don’t mean to be nosy. You just…you sound like you might have.”
“I did,” he says, rocking back on his heels. His blond hair is windblown from the Maine air, and his green eyes flash with pain. “I thought maybe you’d understand what that felt like and give me a little insight on how you fixed it.”
“Because of Ayden,” I say immediately.
Jenson doesn’t say anything; he just looks at me with those green eyes that look like they see everything.
I nod slowly. “The thing is, Ayden and I stayed just friends for a reason. So we couldn’t screw up what we have. Crossing that line makes everything more dangerous.”
The green in his eyes turns a few shades deeper. “True. But I don’t want you to end up with the same regret as me, Bella. When Ayden’s three thousand miles away and you’re still here, letting him go without giving it a real shot will haunt you. Trust me.”
Ayden
Bella thinks I want time alone with the guys.
But I don’t. What I need is to be with her.
Turns out my cousins know that.
“What the hell are you doing?” Brayden says as our spontaneous game of football dies down and we start putting up the tents.
“I’m camping here tonight,” I say. “Last I checked.”
“He means, why aren’t you with Bella?” Cam asks with a head tilt toward where she’s laughing with Tari over something. “You two look like you’ve got some things to work out.”
I don’t answer him while I concentrate on putting the last pole in the ground and making sure it’s secure. I drop my bag into the tent, along with the gift I bought for Bella.
Then I walk over to where Dylan’s finishing up his and Jasalie’s tent.
“Ayd, she’s three feet away from you. And in a few weeks, she’ll be three thousand miles from you. Don’t worry about spending time with us.”
“I’m going. I’ll catch up with you in a bit.”
Dylan chuckles. “I think we can handle it. Go see your girl.”
I turn to Colton, who’s gathering driftwood for the bonfire. “You were right, by the way.”
“Since I’m always right,” he says with a smug lift of an eyebrow, “you’ll have to clarify that statement.”
“What you said in L.A.” I nod at him. “You all coming here and being there for me tonight? It was what I needed. I didn’t know how much.”
He claps my back and pulls me in for a hug.
Bella
“When Ayden carried you off at the party, it was like something out of a movie,” Tari says dreamily. “I was seriously turned on.”
Jasalie and Sky break into laughter.
We’re all still laughing when Ayden and Cam come and join us. Their t-shirts are back on, and I already miss shirtless Ayden.
“Good to see you, Bella.” Cam tilts his head toward Ayden. “Status change yet, or are you and my stubborn cousin both still single?”
I swat at his dark head of hair and he ducks and laughs.
Tari points from Ayden to me. “Seriously, are you two ready to fess up and tell us what’s going on?”
Every set of eyes turns to us as silence hits our circle.
Ayden glances at my expression and puts his arm around me. “Not before Bella and I talk.”
I mouth, “Thank you” to him.
Tari makes a sad face. “That’s no fun. Just remember we’re all dying over here!”
“Noted,” Ayden says. He brings his mouth to my ear and reaches out his hand to me. “Come with me, B.”
As Tari fans her face teasingly, I wave goodbye and follow Ayden down the dark beach. We’ve only taken a few steps when Ayden, still holding my hand, veers off toward the lighthouse.
I stop short before our feet hit the pier. “What are you doing?”
“You coming?” he says.
I still don’t move. “Ayden.” He never goes this way. Not once since his father drowned. The pier represents everything painful from that day. Ayden and his mom and brother practically lived on the pier while they waited for news. News that was only bad in the end.
He looks at me with such intensity I swallow. “Bella, are you going to come with me?”
“Um…” I don’t want to ask him why now after all these years. It’s really not my business, and I don’t want to push him like that. “Of course.” I keep his hand close in mine, and we walk slowly out to the pier together.
We keep going until we reach the lighthouse, and Ayden stops to look up at it. “The light never goes out.” He says it flatly, but I can hear the meaning behind his words.
“Never. Not even when…” I trail off.
“Not even when there’s no longer any way to call the sailors home.”
I squeeze his hand. “The lighthouse is the first thing I think of when I need hope in this world.”
“It’s funny. Same for me.” He sits down on the dock, and I join him, our feet dangling over the water. “You’d think it would only remind me of bad things, but it’s the opposite. It reminds me of my dad, maybe because it’s probably the last thing he saw before they hit the open ocean. I kind of wish I’d come out here before now rather than avoiding it all these years.”
We lapse into a comfortable silence broken only by the sounds of the waves hitting the craggy outcropping of rocks at the edge of the docks.
“You know what I remember most from that day?” Ayden says suddenly, interrupting my thoughts.
I keep my gaze on the water.
“Besides him dying,” he says. “I remember your face when I told you.”
I lift my head to look over at him.
“It was so sad,” he says. “So scared. And it was…love.”
I choke back a sob.
“I knew then that I could never let go of you, Bella,” he says. “Not unless you wanted me to.”
He looks down at me. Underneath the lighthouse, his dark lashes cast deep shadows over his cheeks, and his eyes burn into me. His blue eyes nearly turn green with some kind of intense emotion, but I can’t get a read on what it is.
“Bella, all I’ve wanted since we got to the party tonight was to be alone with you.”
I tilt my head. “I thought you wanted to hang out with your cousins.”
“No. I love them, but I want to be with you. I always want to be with you.” He sucks in a deep breath. “No one’s ever had my back like you do, Bella. The way you shouted down that asshole…”
“Colton told me to leave it alone,” I say quietly. “He was right too. It wasn’t my place.”
Ayden shakes his head. “I liked that you made it your place. I needed you there. And all I can say is thank you.”
I run my hand down the front of his t-shirt, fingering the raised Lucky Bay lettering. “First of all, I think you did thank me when you spirited me off to the bathroom and gave me that ridiculously hot kiss.”
His mouth turns up on one corner.
“Besides that, though, you’ve saved me, stood up for me, and fought for me more times than I can count,” I say. “I know your father was your hero, but you’ve always been mine.”
Ayden’s jaw is working again like he’s trying not to lose it.
“It’s okay to cry over him you know,” I say. “It doesn’t make you weak.”
“It’s not the right time,” he says. “It’s never been the right time.”
“Because you’ve always had to stay strong for your mother,” I say. “But she’s not here right now, Ayd. It’s just me. You don’t have to be strong for me all the time. Sometimes you help me the most when you’re weak.”
For the next couple of minutes, we don’t speak. I hold Ayden as a few tears slip down his face, and he lets go of the night, maybe finally getting to release the pain he’s been holding for the last fifteen years.
“I don’t know why I decided to come here,” Ayden says as he sits up straight and gestures to the lighthouse. “Maybe to say good-bye.”
Ayden Page 17
