The Bond That Built Us

by KK Bauer

  I can’t tell if I’ve said enough, so I continue. “I first laid eyes on you one hundred and seven days ago. I realized I loved you at day fifty six. I’ve lived without you for the last thirty two. I can’t take one more day of that. I want to go back to day fifty six and relive that day over and over again because we were so happy. I know, however many more days we have ahead of us, I can make you happy. You just have to trust me.”

  She sits quiet for a while, and every second that goes by in silence I feel my heart squeeze smaller and smaller. She sniffs and touches her hand to my cheek. I’m not sure if that is a loving gesture or an apologetic one. The feeling in the pit of my stomach isn’t subsiding, and I can’t stand another second of this torture. If she turns me down again… I can’t think about if that happens. I don’t want to know what I will do, it won’t be pretty that’s for damn sure. I look into her eyes, which are so full of different emotions I can’t read them.

  “I don’t cry every time I see those commercials,” she jokes. Her smile that I love so much spreads across her face and we both laugh to lighten the mood.

  Her other hand comes up and cups my other cheek. She bites down on her bottom lip briefly and sighs. “Just promise me you won’t ever leave me,” she whispers.

  “Never,” I gulp.

  She smiles brightly and leans down to kiss me. I crawl up and cradle her in my arms, lying on the bed side by side. I pull away to look at her. The sadness is gone now.

  “I love you so much, Aubrey,” I whisper and kiss her again.

  “I love you, too,” she says against my lips. Life, right now, is perfect.

  25

  Aubrey

  Over a year later

  I see MJ coming toward me in the enormous coliseum. I fidget and sway back and forth in my heels. I haven’t talked to my cousin since Thanksgiving Day, almost six months ago. Josh proposed to her that morning and I congratulated her over turkey and stuffing. They set a date in October and even though we aren’t close, I am extremely happy for her. We got the closure I needed years ago and now I don’t harbor any hard feelings over what she did to me. Her best friend on the other hand…

  Cara pops up beside her and instantly my fucking day is ruined. The tassel dangling in my face suddenly becomes more annoying than before so I snatch off my cap and hold it in front of me. The edges are pretty sharp, I could use it as a weapon if Cara tries anything. I imagine her lurching toward me and me flinging the cap like a Chinese throwing star and imbedding the thing into her thigh so she collapses and skids across the slick floor.

  “Hey, AJ. Congratulations,” MJ says politely. She reaches in and gives me an awkward hug.

  “Thanks,” I say, equally polite. I smile at her and it drops as I turn my attention to Cara.

  “You’re stupid to graduate in four years, but good job,” she says. She laced her compliment with an insult, why am I not surprised? Her comment deserves no rebuttal. I found out a while back that Cara was sleeping with Corey and conjured up the whole ‘get me back’ scheme. Turns out he really did cheat on me… with her and one of her sisters. He’s been a drooling dog for her ever since. I guess she wanted Kellan and used Corey to try and break us up. Poor Corey didn’t see it coming.

  Once she realized I wasn’t going to fall for Corey again, she dropped him to the curb and ventured on to the next hot shot.

  “So what now?” MJ asks inquisitively.

  I shrug. I seriously don’t know. I have no plans for the near future. I threw around some resumes but truthfully, I don’t want a big girl job. I want to be free and enjoy my life while I’m young, so why not now?

  I see MJ’s glare zip from my eyes to over my shoulder and back. Cara is visibly scowling and I even hear her scoff before I feel arms enclose around me. The smell of his cologne engulfs me and Cara’s ugly ass face evaporates in my peripheral as I focus on Kellan behind me.

  He leans down and his lips are on my ear. “Hi.”

  I giggle at his simple yet effective greeting. “Hi,” I say back.

  “Excuse me, ladies,” he says as he pulls me away from them. “My girlfriend here is late for her photo shoot.”

  I groan as he leads me toward my family, perched and waiting for the million photos I’m about to endure. My mother beams her motherly glow and when I see the DSLR camera clutched in her hands my feet refuse to make forward progress. As Kellan drags me the heel of my shoe catches on the grout of the tile floor beneath me and I fly forward.

  Luckily Kellan has quick reflexes and catches me, inches from face planting. I pick up the cap off the floor and blow the hair out of my face with one huge puff. I see everyone trying not to laugh so I curtsy, showing them that it’s okay to laugh. They should all know me by now and how hurting myself is an everyday occurrence.

  Once my cheeks hurt from smiling way too long and the flash spots have disappeared from my sight, Kellan drives me to my house. My parents have to go to the grocery store and pick up the catering so when we step into the living room, I know we have about twenty minutes alone before they come in.

  I literally jump him. I don’t know if it’s the realization that I am a college graduate or the way he looks in his slacks and dress shirt but even if my parents showed up I’d still attack him.

  He picks me up from my butt and carries me into the bedroom, in case they really do come back earlier than we expect. He throws me on my mattress roughly and slips his hand up my dress. His fingers find me immediately and it doesn’t take me long at all to come. If I was a dude it would be embarrassing.

  I grab his belt and whip it out of the loops and toss it on the floor. The rest of his clothes soon follow.

  As he hovers over me, his eyes suddenly soften and his thumb caresses my lips before he kisses me lightly. Where just seconds ago we were ravenous, now he is looking at me so sweetly the feeling of crying comes to me. I choke it back and swallow it deep down.

  With his lips barely touching mine, he whispers, “I love you,” and slowly enters me.

  I end up crying anyway.

  My orgasm is so mind blowing I couldn’t have been quiet if I tried. I clutch at his back and legs and any skin I can get a hold of. I can never get enough of him. I roll over on top and move in the pace I know he loves and within a minute his fingernails are biting into my hips and I can feel him throbbing between my legs.

  “Oh, shit,” he sighs and struggles to slow his breath.

  I want to lie with him in bed for a couple hours and prepare for round two but I can faintly hear the front door click shut.

  “Oh, shit,” he repeats, only this time more urgent as he jumps up and grabs his clothes then scampers into the bathroom.

  I rush after him, the wetness on my inner thighs preventing me from walking correctly and a fast enough speed. He slams the door behind him before I can make it in. I reach for the handle but the bastard locked it. My mother knocks twice before opening my door. I quickly wheel around in front of my bathroom and clear my throat. I thank the sex gods that we just did it with my dress on. I smooth it over my thighs and pray that my appearance isn’t completely obvious. I run my fingers through my hair anyway, though that could possibly be a dead giveaway. I bet I look like a hot mess.

  “Oh, honey there you are. Listen, the food is ready to go. The cake is so adorable! Your little face is on it, you know, those edible pictures?” I clench my legs together as I feel a drip slowly work its way down to my knee. I need her to leave, now. “Anyway, once you are done… cleaning up, come on out. We’re starving. And tell Kellan he forgot his boxers on the floor.” She smiles at me knowingly and winks.

  She turns and shuts the door behind her, leaving me completely mortified.

  I pick up his boxers and when I make it to the bathroom he opens the door for me.I throw them at his face and I notice he is bright red in embarrassment.

  “Do you know how fucking lucky I am that wasn’t your father who came in? I’d be fired for sure.”

  I give him a pointed look. �
��Very lucky. I’m positive he is convinced his Sweet Pea is still a virgin, and I don’t want to enlighten him today so let’s hurry.”

  He waits for me at the door before we walk out into the living room together. But instead of my family there is a bright green luggage set sitting on the floor. I look at it, confused, as he comes up beside me.

  He is convulsing in excitement. I grab his hand to get it to stop shaking.

  “What is that?”

  “Luggage.”

  “No shit. What’s it doing there? Is it my present?” Not even a second after he nods I prance over to it and open up all the compartments and suddenly feel giddy. Kellan’s presents are always significant. They always have a meaning behind them.

  “Are we going somewhere?” I ask him as I look up from my new gift.

  He smiles and shrugs. I roll my eyes and open up the smallest suitcase and squeal. Inside is a map of Europe, with multiple towns circled. I’ve only been overseas once, to London. I see cities circled in Ireland, Italy, Spain, Germany, pretty much any country I’ve ever dreamed of going to.

  “Oh, my God, Kellan!” Now I know why he is so excited. We will be traveling Europe! I’m shaking now too. He comes up behind me and kisses my neck. He grabs my left hand and suddenly I feel something hard and kind of cold against my fingers.

  “Will you go to Europe with me… and be my fiancé during the whole thing?”

  My heart stops. My knees buckle. My head swims. My stomach just fucking drops to my toes.

  I glance down and see a gorgeous engagement ring poised and ready to slide on my finger. A tear falls down my cheek, and many more follow.

  “Well? Will you marry me, Aubrey?”

  I think I choke out a yes. Based on his smile and the fact that he is kissing me and I can feel the ring on my finger now, I’m guessing I did. Of course I did. An idiot I am not. Well, not anymore.

  Epilogue

  Kellan

  We are standing on a terrace in Greece, the ocean behind us, the many little white houses with blue roofs in front of us. I stare at the man beside me, listening to every word he says. I’ve heard them many times before but this time is different. It’s me who is promising to do all these things. And Aubrey. I am holding her hands in mine, rubbing little circles on the top of her hand to calm her nerves. She is so nervous I’m afraid she might throw up.

  I glance over and see my parents and hers standing off to the side. Both our mothers are a blubbering mess, wiping snot off of their faces with tissues. Aubrey’s father is gleaming and proud, while my father is as unattached as ever. Our short engagement really threw him off and he was not happy. Especially since we didn’t want to do it at home so he could invite all the right people and schmooze all night.

  And I guess it was an inconvenience for him to fly out here to see his son fucking get married. I fight the urge to roll my eyes and return my attention where it belongs.

  Aubrey smiles up at me. All the fear and turmoil of what happened in Mexico is gone. Now it is just the two of us. As I slip the ring on her finger and vow to love and honor her forever, I think back at how much of a roller coaster our relationship was in the beginning. I can’t say I truly regret anything because I never know if we’d be here today if one tiny detail was different.

  As we settle into our small hotel room after drinks and cake, I watch as Aubrey seductively slips her white slip dress off of her shoulders with her back to me. It falls to the floor and she peers at me from over her shoulder. I am at her side within the second.

  She is mine. Forever. My beautiful, clumsy, caring wife. I still can’t get over it. It seems all so surreal, considering what happened to us. The men that took us were sentenced earlier this year. They will be in prison for a really long time. Luckily we didn’t have to go to Mexico, supposedly it was very quick. We found out then that it was just a random kidnapping. They’d done it twice before, but those women never made it out alive. They were sentenced for those accounts, too. I take pride in thinking that Aubrey made it out because of me. If I hadn’t followed her that night, I wouldn’t be standing here in Europe with the love of my life on our wedding night. She’d be long gone and I’d be alone, always wondering what if.

  “What are you thinking about?” Aubrey asks me. I wrap my arms around her entirely and bury my face in her neck.

  “How lucky I am.” I know she is rolling her eyes right now. She just doesn’t realize how true it really is. “Day five hundred and seventy nine is my new fifty six, and my new one hundred and seven.” She laughs out loud and grabs my hand to pull me into the small shower.

  Thanks and whatnots

  To everyone that took the dive and read my very first book, thank you. I kept this little thing a secret and didn’t even have anyone read it or know about it before publishing. Dumb move, I know, but hopefully it was as much fun and heartbreaking to read than it was to write.

  Did you like Aubrey and Kellan? I would like to know what you thought (nothing too awful, please- I am a newbie!) so I can learn and adapt to my readers in any upcoming stories I might come up with. I already have one or two simmering in my head just waiting to be put to “paper.”

  Again, thank you.

  Lots of love, KK

  kstate.kk@gmail.com