Tell me to Fight

by Charlotte Byrd

  “So, you’re not staying here?” I ask.

  “I can’t,” he says, shrugging his shoulders. Not understanding, I furrow my brows.

  “You know where it is,” Nicholas says in his intense voice without missing a beat. “Once you leave, it won’t be safe for me to stay here.”

  33

  Olive

  When we go see him…

  Once I leave. His words reverberate in my mind over and over again. There’s a finality to them.

  An end point.

  I catch myself fighting back tears. I didn’t come here to get back together with him but I never came here knowing for sure that this would be it.

  Him saying that out loud is like a nail in the coffin of our relationship.

  Nicholas pours me a cup of tea and we sit down at the dinette, directly across from one another.

  “I like it here,” I say, taking a sip of the mint tea.

  “Me, too.”

  “I’m surprised.”

  “Me, too.” He laughs.

  “Why did you come here of all places?”

  He inhales slowly and then exhales even slower. Then he looks out of the window. “It could be that being out here in the middle of nowhere makes me hard to find,” he says. “But the truth is that I needed to get away. After all of that extravagance, I needed to reconnect with nature just a bit.”

  “Well, you’re definitely doing that.”

  “I needed to feel like a person again. There have been a few people camping up here but everyone really sticks to themselves. It’s nice.”

  I ask him more about what happened after he left and he fills me in on the details.

  “When we talked about running away, this was definitely not what I had in mind,” I say with a smile.

  “Yeah, no five-star hotels or luxury restaurants and resorts for me. At least, not for a while.”

  “You think that will ever change?” I ask and he just shrugs.

  When we get hungry, he toasts some garlic bread over the fire.

  I make a salad and we dig in. He asks about how everything has been for me and this time I tell him the whole truth and nothing but the truth.

  I don’t spare any details.

  What would be the point? I’m probably never going to see him again so I might as well leave nothing out.

  We continue to talk as the sun dips below the pine trees out west and disappears to another place in the world.

  When I get cold, he offers me a sweatshirt to put on.

  When Solly rubs himself on his leg, he picks him up and cradles him in his arms.

  “I’ve never seen this part of you,” I say, smiling.

  “I love animals,” he says. “They don’t lie. They don’t cheat. They only want one thing, love and that's the only thing that any of us have to give.”

  I nod, petting Solly on the head, too.

  He closes his eyes in pleasure.

  “Besides, this one is kind of special. He loves someone I happen to as well.”

  What did he just say? I look up at him.

  “I should’ve said this a long time ago, Olive. I knew that I did after just a few days of being with you. And yet, I couldn’t bring myself to say it. It was so stupid. I just never heard anyone say it growing up and I guess that rubbed off on me.”

  “What are you talking about?” I ask quietly.

  “I love you, Olive. I’ve loved you ever since we met and I will always love you.”

  I swallow hard.

  I stare into his deep eyes, not knowing exactly what to say back to him. No, that’s not true. I know exactly what I should say. I need to tell him I love him, too. I need to throw my arms around him and press my lips to his. But something holds me back.

  “You don’t have to say anything back.” Nicholas puts his finger on my lips when I open my mouth. “It’s not about that. I just needed you to know this. This was one of my biggest regrets from our time together.”

  After saying the words that I have been waiting to hear this whole time, Nicholas gets up and clears the table.

  He washes the dishes in the sink and offers me something else to drink.

  I glance at the time and see that somehow it got to be almost nine.

  I had promised myself that I would leave before it got dark, but that was ages ago.

  “It’s getting really late, I think I better be going.”

  “Are you driving back now?”

  “No, I was going to stay at a motel in town.”

  He nods, his shoulders slope down.

  “What? What is it?” I ask.

  “Why don’t you stay here?” he suggests.

  I look him up and down. The way his shirt clings to him, I can see practically every outline of his six pack.

  His shoulders are wide and strong and his forearms have clearly outlined veins. He licks his lips and I feel a flutter in my core.

  When he leans on the counter, his hair falls into his face. My knees start to feel weak.

  “No, that’s not a good idea,” I mumble.

  I don’t trust myself with him.

  “Listen, I’m not making any moves here. It’s just a long way back to town in pitch blackness. I have a tent with me. Why don’t you stay in the RV and I’ll sleep outside?”

  “A tent?”

  “Yeah, it’s perfectly comfortable. I’ve used it a number of times when I went on overnight hikes.”

  I’ve been hiking, too, I think to myself. Did you think about me as much as I thought about you?

  “Yeah, maybe I’ll do that. Don’t want to disturb Solly again,” I say, pointing to the little ball of fur in the corner of the dinette.

  Half an hour later, I am lying down in Nicholas’ bed, burying myself in his scent.

  He didn’t have a change of sheets but I wouldn't have it any other way.

  I inhale him deeply and lose myself in his aroma. I don’t realize how much I’ve missed him until this very moment.

  34

  Olive

  When I wake up…

  I sleep soundly for a few hours but then the sound of yelping wakes me up. It startles Solly, too, because he jumps on top of me and forces me to hold him tightly. One yelp follows another and another.

  “It’s okay,” I whisper into his ear. “It’s okay. That’s just some coyotes but they are very far away from here.”

  Before the yelping disappears over the hills, I hear the door open slightly. My heart jumps into my chest.

  Who is that?

  I hear the footsteps on the stairs before the door creaks and closes shut. Still holding onto Solly, I scoot to the edge of the bed and look out.

  “Oh my God, you scared the shit out of me,” I say, letting out a sigh.

  “You’re awake! I’m so sorry. I just got really thirsty and I forgot to bring some water with me.”

  “It’s okay, no worries,” I say, putting Solly on the bed and walking into the living room.

  I watch him pour himself a glass and take a few big gulps.

  Nicholas isn’t wearing a shirt and his body glistens under the moonlight. His pants sit low on his hips, exposing that perfect v-shaped muscle group that leads down to his groin.

  I lick my lips and pour myself a glass of water as well.

  “I’m really sorry I woke you up,” he says.

  “You didn’t. I actually woke up because of the coyotes.”

  “Yeah, they like to sing their songs late at night.”

  After finishing my water, I put the glass back on the table, next to his.

  “How’s the bed?” he asks, perhaps trying to buy some time to stay here a little bit longer.

  “It’s a lot more comfortable than that motel bed I slept in last night.”

  “Good, I’m glad to hear that. You should get some rest.”

  I should turn around and head back there but I can’t seem to move my feet. He should turn and walk out of the door but he doesn’t make a move either. Instead, we continue standing here, next
to each other, and staring into each other’s eyes.

  When I move my head, a strand of hair falls into my face. I tuck it behind my ear but it frees itself once again.

  This time, Nicholas reaches over.

  He carefully brushes his hand across my cheek and sweeps the hair back in place. When I look up at him, his hand remains there, cradling my face.

  Shivers run down my back and my nipples get hard pressing against my shirt. I resist the urge to shift my weight from one foot to another out of fear or pulling my face away from his palm.

  When I look up into his eyes, the man I used to know disappears.

  When we first met, he was standoffish and cold, confident yet unreachable.

  And now, standing here in this room in the middle of nowhere, I suddenly see the man that he really is. Without the suits, the money, or the lies, this is the man that I am in love with.

  Nicholas’ lips open slightly as he moves his head closer. He blinks and unlocks our eyes from each other’s before tilting my head up and pushing his lips onto mine.

  My mouth opens and our tongues touch. Our kiss is soft at first as we feel each other out but then we remember that old familiar dance and suddenly we are waltzing as one.

  “I love you,” I whisper through the kiss.

  He pulls away only slightly to look at me again.

  “I love you,” I repeat myself again and again. “I’ve loved you for a long time but I could never say it out loud either. That’s the main reason I came here. I couldn’t live not telling you something so important face-to-face.”

  In my mind, my words flow smoothly and eloquently as if they are spoken by Meryl Streep, but in reality, they come out jumbled and out of control.

  “I love you, too,” he whispers and grabs my arm.

  His fingers braid with mine and we kiss again.

  He pushes me against the counter, his strong body pressing hard against my soft one.

  When I let go of his hand, I run my fingers up to his neck and then into his hair. His hands make their way into my hair, pulling my chin upward with each tug.

  His breaths fill my mouth until he turns my head and starts to nibble on my earlobe. With each little bite, the outline of his dick pushes harder against my pelvic bone.

  His hands run up and down my body feeling every curve and contour. Snaking up my shirt, he finds my breasts and gently cups one and then the other as he continues to devour my mouth.

  The passion I feel is difficult to describe. It overwhelms my senses and makes it hard to breathe. And when I’m in the throes of it, it feels like it will never end, as if it were a waterfall filling and overfilling a small glass of water.

  With one smooth motion, Nicholas pulls the shirt over my head and suddenly my breasts are exposed to the nip of the cold night. Seeing them get covered with goose bumps, he kneels down and takes one nipple into his mouth while covering the other with his hand.

  “We’ll have to do something to warm you up,” he mumbles.

  My skin may be cold but I’m not cold on the inside. In fact, my body feels like it’s a furnace.

  He grabs my leg and wraps it around his torso. There are still layers of clothes separating our bodies as he starts to move his hips back and forth. He watches my reaction, teasing me.

  “You like that?” he asks.

  All I can do is moan.

  He leads me to the bedroom even though I can barely walk. I want to climb on top of him and push him deep inside of me but first things first, we’re still dressed.

  I tug at his drawstring and when his pants fall down, he steps out of them. Then he picks me up and tosses me onto the bed. Before I realize what is happening, he climbs on top of me, but with his head away from mine.

  My legs open on their own as his lips make their way up my legs. My hands and mouth find his dick. It tastes just as good as I remember. His tongue teases my clit as his fingers swirl inside of me. Our bodies start to move as one and a feeling of euphoria overwhelms me.

  He pushes me as close to the edge as possible before pulling me away.

  A few moments later, he flips around and finds my mouth with his. We kiss again as he pushes his body against mine.

  I love the feeling of being under him. I watch as his strong powerful shoulders move up and down with each thrust.

  Our lips continue to be locked on each other’s separating only when absolutely necessary. At one point, I even gasp for air, having forgotten to breathe.

  When his thrusts get faster and more powerful, my body opens up for him like a flower in the morning dew.

  With each move, I take him further and further inside of me never to let him go.

  Suddenly, a fire is ignited. I let out a whimper and then a long moan.

  He presses his body against mine and thrusts in and out of me at an even pace until a warm soothing sensation builds within me and eventually courses throughout my veins.

  A few moments later, he moves in and out of me one last time before collapsing onto the bed entirely spent.

  35

  Nicholas

  When I wake up…

  We lie in each other’s arms for a long time that night first sleeping and then talking about everything and anything that we had missed during our time apart.

  The one thing we do not talk about is the breakup. I hope we can pretend that it never happened, but I don’t dare bring it up.

  When she tells me about Owen turning me in, I want to punch him.

  But when I learn that he tried to attack her and even rape her, I want to kill him. People say that all the time without really meaning it, but I never have. So when I say I want him dead, that’s exactly what I mean.

  In the morning, I make a breakfast of pancakes and eggs and we eat at the picnic table overlooking the lake. Birds fly over our heads and a few squirrels prance near the trees. I have been in many five-star hotels but I have never been anywhere this beautiful.

  When I first found this spot, I thought that I had found paradise. But when she got here, I knew that this was heaven.

  “So, what do we do now?” Olive asks, taking a bite of her pancake.

  “We can go on a hike together. There’s a really beautiful spot about three miles out that I know you’ll love.”

  “That sounds perfect,” she says, leaning over the table and giving me a wet, maple-syrup infused kiss.

  “I love you, Olive,” I say when we finally pull away from each other.

  “I love you, too,” she whispers back. “Why haven't we said that before?”

  “Because we were stupid and immature?” I suggest and she laughs.

  I’m only half joking though. Not everyone gets a second chance to right a wrong and I know that I am very lucky to be in that category.

  Otherwise, I would’ve spent my whole life regretting never having told the woman I love that I love her.

  “I have to tell you something,” she says, her face suddenly getting very serious.

  “Tell me anything.”

  She shakes her head as her cheeks get flushed from embarrassment.

  “Remember the Monet you gave me?” she asks. I nod, but she doesn’t continue.

  “It’s okay, whatever it is just tell me,” I push her.

  “I’m so stupid,” Olive says, shaking her head. “I trusted Owen to put it in a safe place. That was before any of that happened. Before I knew who he really was.”

  Her body starts to shake but I just put my arm around her. “It’s okay. Whatever it is, we’ll figure it out.”

  “It’s gone.”

  “Gone?”

  “Well, I don’t know if it’s gone but Owen is arrested and I doubt he’ll ever tell me where it is now.”

  “It’s okay,” I say without missing a beat. “I'm sure we’ll find it and if we don’t then…it’s just money. It doesn’t matter as much as this.”

  She puts her head on my shoulder looking relieved. I guess she really thought I would be angry at her for that.

&n
bsp; But I wasn’t lying. Money used to be the only thing that mattered to me.

  But with her on my arm, I realize how poor I was when I had millions to my name and how rich I am now.

  I take the plates back inside and wash them in the sink. Olive dries them and puts them back on the shelf. Once the last plate is put away, I take her into my arms and kiss her again.

  “What do you think about having some more fun in bed before going on that hike?” I ask.

  Her eyes light up and she grabs my arms and pulls me onto the bed.

  A few moments later, there’s a loud thundering sound on the front door. It swings open and two men dressed in bulletproof gear rush in, pointing their guns in our faces.

  “FBI! You’re surrounded. Get off her slowly and put your hands up!” one of them yells.

  With my heart thumping in my chest, I do as he says.

  Through the window, I see four unmarked cars and at least fifteen men with FBI field jackets. The ones on the front line are using the doors to their vehicles as shields and are positioned with their guns drawn.

  “Nicholas Crawford,” someone says, twisting my arm behind my back. "You have the right to remain silent and refuse to answer questions. Anything you say may be used against you in a court of law.”

  Everything moves in slow motion.

  I glance at Olive.

  She is half holding her hands in the air and half trying to hold up a sheet in front of her bare breasts.

  “You have the right to consult an attorney before speaking to the police and to have an attorney present during questioning now or in the future.”

  My eyes search for Olive’s but she keeps looking away.

  None of them put down their weapons until they pull me out of the RV, handcuffed and stark naked.

  When they put me into the back of a car, I look back hoping to see her again.

  Did she do this? Did she turn me in?

  ***

  Thank you for reading TELL ME TO FIGHT!