Laurel Cove

by Sarah Turtle

  She knelt down and drew Brynn’s attention back to her by gliding her thumb across the surface of her labia. She enjoyed watching the transition of Brynn’s body as it went from an on-guard position to a relaxed state when she leaned back in the tiled seat, allowing Willa to have complete control of her.

  Willa took her time in the details of every part of her. She played at one nipple with her tongue while twirling her fingertips around the other one, tugging at it until Brynn moaned with pleasure. She kissed her way down her stomach, into every curve of her perfect ab muscles and then dipped her tongue down further to where Brynn was already intensely sensitive to every slight touch that she offered. Despite wanting to spend some time going slowly on Brynn’s clit, Willa sensed an urgency in her, a need for Willa to give her what she had been wanting for so long. Brynn’s clit was already swollen and ready for the attention that she yearned for. Willa covered it with the width of her tongue and smiled when she heard the faint whimper escape from Brynn’s mouth. She then slid two fingers into Brynn and used the tip of her thumb to gently massage the space below her clit, while simultaneously slipping in and out of her. The sensation of all three motions at the same time had Brynn clenching around her fingers with tiny contractions within minutes.

  Brynn’s fingers spread out over the tiles on either side of her as she allowed the orgasm to take over her. When Willa’s fingers slid out of her, the length of her tongue immediately replaced them for the last few moments of pleasure to be shared in the most intimate way possible.

  When Willa felt Brynn’s body settle into a motionless state, she left one final caress with her lips and moved back far enough to take in the sight of the exquisite woman in front of her. She couldn’t help but stare in awe at the strongest woman she had ever known, reduced to a blissfully vulnerable status. Willa climbed up into the seat next to Brynn, snuggled up against her, and they entwined their bodies together, kissing until the shower water wrinkled their fingertips.

  After they were dried off and dressed, Willa stole Griffin’s oversized leather office chair from behind his desk and moved it to Brynn’s corner of the office, where she lounged with her legs up on the desk. Brynn was situated facing her with a hand caressing Willa’s leg. Every so often, her fingertips would wander high up under Willa’s dress.

  “Cut that out,” Willa scolded her. “Cass might come in here and I’ve been yelled at by her enough for one day.”

  “Again? You seriously need to let me have a talk with her.”

  “No, she’s just very protective of you and it’s understandable. She’s afraid that when I leave, I’m going to hurt you all over again.”

  Brynn’s eyes shifted to the wheel on her chair, which she prodded at with her thumb. “Laurel Cove can’t offer you the glamorous lifestyle that you’ve created for yourself and I understand that. I’m not naïve; I know you’ll have to leave eventually.”

  Willa reached for the bottom of Brynn’s shirt and filled her fist with as much of the fabric as she could bunch up, trying to hold onto something solid as her mind swirled. “Tomorrow, actually. I’m leaving tomorrow.”

  “Oh.” Brynn swallowed hard and cleared her throat. “What about your dad’s house? I thought you were putting it on the market before you leave.”

  “That was the plan, but because I ended up doing everything other than preparing it for sale, I ran out of time. Before coming here, I had an entire book tour scheduled that I thought that I might have to postpone, but as of this morning, my publisher informed me that she didn’t cancel any of the events.”

  “So, are you keeping the house?”

  “No, Aunt Beth is going to put the remaining items in storage and sell the house for me, since the process is too emotional for me to deal with. I think it’ll be easier for me this way.”

  Brynn brushed the back of her knuckles down Willa’s calf muscle. “Let Beth know that if she needs any help, I can box stuff up for her. Griff can do the heavy lifting and use his truck for the big furniture items.”

  Willa could feel a tremble in Brynn’s touch and see a lost look in her eyes.

  “At the end of summer, I’ll be done with most of my projects and I can come back.” She leaned forward, kissed the side of Brynn’s neck, and nuzzled her face into it. “I promise I’ll come back.”

  Brynn raked her fingers through Willa’s hair. “I know you will,” she whispered into her ear.

  “Can we maybe have dinner together tonight?” Willa asked.

  “I’d love to, but Griffin will be back from his trip any time now. I have to meet him at the house and, as you know, we have a lot to discuss.”

  Willa sighed and wrapped her arms around Brynn. “In that case, I better hold onto you now, so that I can carry a good memory of you in my heart while I’m away.”

  Chapter Twenty-eight

  Willa was surprised to see both Shannon and Megan out on the deck of The Anchor when she arrived after leaving the fitness center.

  “I had to take the shift off so that I could have a farewell drink with you before you left the Cove,” Shannon said, pouring a glass of Willa’s favorite wine.

  Willa took a seat and placed a hand on top of each of theirs. “I can’t even thank the both of you enough for helping me through one of the most difficult times of my life. It was truly a blessing to have found a friendship with you ladies.”

  “We are only a phone call away if you need to talk, medical questions or anything else you need,” Shannon assured her.

  “Thank you, Dr. Martin,” Willa teased.

  Megan tried to fan away the moisture forming around her eyes. “Please tell me we won’t have to wait until our fortieth reunion until we see you again?”

  “Are you kidding me? Every free moment I have, I’ll be driving up the coast to decompress at the Cove. Especially after the day I just had…” Willa unsuccessfully tried to cover up the blush creeping up on her cheeks by taking a sip of her wine.

  “The talk went well then?” Shannon asked.

  “Talk? It appears as though a lot more than just talking took place,” Megan blurted out.

  Shannon’s eyes widened and Willa almost choked on her drink.

  “Well, now you know the other reason why you’ll be seeing a bit more of me around here, every opportunity I can get.”

  “I’m glad that you got everything straightened out after our conversation this morning.”

  “Yes, we overcame a huge obstacle today, although there’s still so much that I have to learn about Brynn. It’s impossible to get her to open up to me about certain things, especially medically.”

  “Like I said before, the offer is still there to mediate a conversation between the two of you. I can fill in for Brynn when she has difficulty describing the more technical terms for her injury. Maybe it’s something that I can convince Brynn into doing when she has her next appointment.”

  “That would be helpful, since she tends to hide certain things, even from herself, it seems. It hurts me to find sharps containers filled with used syringes hidden in the cabinets.”

  Shannon set her glass down and unfolded her legs. The other women watched as the doctor struggled to work through something on her mind.

  “I shouldn’t have brought that up. I know you can’t discuss patient information with us.” Willa tried to end the subject that was causing discomfort to Shannon.

  Shannon raised her hand. “No, I’m just trying to figure out if it’s safe to say when something has nothing to do with a patient.”

  Megan looked back and forth between her equally confused friends. “Kind of like the situation in which you told Willa that she wasn’t to blame for Griffin not going to college?”

  Shannon pointed to Megan in triumph. “Exactly!”

  “Okay, so what Shannon’s trying to tell us but can’t is that Brynn doesn’t need needles for a prescribed medication.”

  “But I found them at both the gym and at her house. If she’s not taking anything…”

&nb
sp; “They must belong to Griffin!” Megan concluded.

  Shannon put both her hands up in the air and shook her head. “He’s technically not my patient, but he was one at the clinic before my time. Everything I learned was through past records through the clinic. Not that I could confirm anything either way.”

  “Willa and I found out yesterday about his steroid use in high school, so that’s not a secret anymore.”

  Willa sat on the edge of her seat. “Is it possible that he might still be using steroids?”

  Shannon’s face contorted with unease. “Please don’t ask me to diagnose him on the basis of rumors. I am currently treading on very dangerous territory with my career right now.”

  Willa took a hold of Shannon’s wrist and looked her in the eyes. “You told me not to believe the rumors about him because you knew about his history of steroid use. As a doctor, you must know the signs and symptoms of current use. Do you suspect in any way that he might still be using?” Willa clenched her jaw and raised her hand up to stop Shannon from needing to respond. “I know, you can’t answer that, but for Brynn’s sake, please tell me if he could possibly be a danger to his sister if she were to provoke him in some way to make him very angry.”

  Shannon nodded and Willa stood up, nearly knocking her chair over behind her. Both Megan and Shannon yelled out her name after her, but she was already rounding the corner of the building and she did not intend to use up vital time to go back and explain to them that she had to check on Brynn.

  Willa parked her car behind Griffin’s truck and raced up the walkway to the front porch. For the first time since she had been back, she didn’t hesitate to knock on the door. After a couple of polite knocks without a response, she resorted to a pounding of her fist against the thick storm door. When that got her no results, she took a deep breath and turned the handle.

  The entryway, living room, and kitchen were all vacant and even a quick scan of the back patio showed no signs of either of the Reed twins. Willa paused for a moment and listened as she heard the muffled sound of angry voices coming from down the hall. She made her way towards the sound, but slower and more cautiously than she had been moving around before.

  Brynn’s bedroom and the bathroom were both empty so Willa continued on to the next bedroom, which she assumed belonged to Griffin. She angled her head enough to see what was happening without catching the attention of either one of them. A large opened suitcase was spread out on the bed; a mess of clothes was overflowing out of it. Brynn had somehow cornered her brother in the space between his bed, nightstand, and the wall. She glared at him while yelling out accusations of lying to her about both the time she was in the hospital and about college.

  Willa couldn’t help but to be reminded of when they were young and she witnessed them getting into screaming matches with one another over random sibling problems. Many of the arguments that Mrs. Reed didn’t intercept resulted in a physical match of strength as they wrestled it out, until exhaustion or injury left one of them victorious. There had been many times when Brynn wouldn’t back down no matter how intensely Griffin would push her to the limit of what her body could handle. She would take every jab that he had to offer with a smile on her face and go back for more, often times pummeling him to the ground to end it. It was afterwards that Willa would catch Brynn nursing a wound or bruise in private where no one would see her in pain. Sometimes Willa would let Brynn have her moment alone to compose herself and join them again to return to their fun. There were other times, though, when Willa felt the need to comfort her with a hug to show that she understood that the true strength Brynn had was not to show weakness in front of her brother.

  There was no sign of that weakness even now, as Brynn berated Griffin with verbal blows. She threw insults at him one after another, leaving no time in between for him to answer for himself.

  Griffin’s broad shoulders were hunched forward and his glassy eyes never left the view of the floor as he absorbed every claim that Brynn made about his past. It was clear that Brynn wouldn’t allow him the opportunity to speak until she had spilled out every thought that she had trapped in her mind. Afterwards, a silence filled the room, but he either didn’t notice, or didn’t know if he should speak.

  Brynn’s body was stiff and shaking with rage as her chest puffed out as high as she could sit, angled up towards Griffin. Willa knew that if Brynn could, she would be right up in his face, antagonizing him until he acknowledged her.

  “So, is it fucking true or not?” Brynn demanded to know.

  “Who told you these things?”

  “It doesn’t matter how I found out; what matters is whether you did them or not.”

  “It was Willa. She came back here and filled your head with a bunch of bullshit and you believe everything she says.”

  Willa silently gasped at the sound of Griffin spitting out her name as if she was the source of all their problems. The pit of her stomach shook with fear and anxiety but she kept her feet planted to the spot, not wanting to flee from Brynn when a hidden danger lurked within Griffin’s body, ready to explode at any time.

  “Don’t blame anyone else for your actions, especially Willa. She’s as much a victim of your lies as I am.”

  Griffin’s eyes narrowed as he scrutinized Brynn. “The only reason you would defend Willa is that you’ve been with her.”

  “Does it still make you jealous that she would choose me over you?”

  “If she wants you now, it’s only because she feels sorry for what she did to you.”

  Willa caught the change in Brynn’s expression, which first swept over with an undeniable sadness. She wanted then to pull Brynn aside, kiss her, embrace her, and tell her repeatedly that pity was not the reason why she made love to her.

  Willa’s chest tightened with an ache that yearned to console Brynn for the wedge that Griffin was attempting to place between them. Thankfully, it didn’t take long for Brynn to recognize his deceit and she shifted back into an agitated state.

  “Tell me, Griff, what hurts you more? That you can’t scam me out of every cent I earn anymore, that your best friend leaked to the entire town that you have a steroid addiction, or that I’m sleeping with the only woman that you ever really cared about?”

  “Oh no,” Willa whispered inaudibly under her breath. She wanted Brynn to stand up for herself and not to fall for his deceptions, but it was another thing for her to taunt him.

  The list of accusations was the trigger that flipped the internal switch of Griffin’s mood from seething to irate. With absolutely no indication that he was about to attack, Griffin lunged at Brynn, pushing hard against her chest with one hand while wrapping his other around her throat to choke her.

  It was one thing for them to have fighting matches as children, but for Griffin to brutally attack his adult sister was an entirely different situation, and Willa would not allow the abuse to continue.

  Griffin yelled a streaming flow of obscenities at the top of his lungs. The bellowing noise provided enough cover for her to make an entrance into the room unnoticed. She didn’t hesitate to bound across the bed and fling her upper body so that she was creating a wall across Griffin’s outstretched arms and Brynn’s face.

  The abrupt approach startled Griffin enough that his hand slipped down from Brynn’s neck, but he maintained a hold of the fabric on the collar of her T-shirt. Willa found her face a mere few inches from Griffin’s. He grinned a malicious smile and a sickening wave shot through Willa. She realized that because she wasn’t any real threat to him physically, he didn’t care about backing down.

  Willa should have been afraid. When she saw the lack of emotion in his eyes, she should have backed away. When she noticed the void of humanity in the low growl he emitted as he bellowed her name, she should have run for her life. None of those things mattered, though, because she was taking his focus away from Brynn and any amount of protection she could offer was her only goal.

  She hadn’t planned on her next move, let alon
e what to possibly say to him, but she didn’t have to, because before she could recognize what was happening to her, Willa was being raised up into the air. Two other arms tried their best to keep Willa grounded, but strength and height won out and the safety of the anchor below her became untethered. She had no control of her own body as Griffin easily tossed her aside like a toddler throwing a doll.

  The room seemed to spin until Willa figured out that she was spinning as she plummeted down into the narrow space between the wall and Brynn’s wheelchair. She recognized the loud crack as her head hit the windowsill on the way down. For a split second, she felt the uncomfortable sensation of being trapped with her face wedged against the metal rim of the large wheel, but it didn’t last long because the darkness set in quickly.

  Chapter Twenty-nine

  Willa awoke into the same familiar setting. She was once again at the graduation party by the pool, with Brynn standing in front of her. The repetitive scenario played itself out the same exact way that it always had, except this time, Willa allowed herself to be more present in the recollection of the moments.

  When Brynn’s lips pressed up against hers, she granted herself permission to embrace the emotions of her past. What she found hidden within the recesses of her mind was the sensation of pure love for her friend, newly emerged with the first fleeting kiss between them.

  After the revelation of how she truly felt, everything in the dream changed, as if Willa was experiencing it for the first time.

  When the kiss ended, and she opened her eyes, she saw that look of pure rage on Griffin’s face. Willa had always believed that he meant his rage for her, that he was so angry with her for her betrayal of their relationship. What she noticed this time was that his focus was on Brynn. That same malicious grin that he had shown to Willa had been directed towards his own sister all those years ago.

  Willa watched, as if trapped in a sickening playback, as Griffin wound back his arm with perfect pitcher’s form and aimed the baseball that he had been tossing in the air directly at the back of Brynn’s head.