by Magan Vernon
"Yeah. They do," I muttered
“I met Jay through his now brother-in-law. He's always been a good guy and when I heard he was in Friendship, I had to message him."
I didn't know what else to say. What could break the awkward silence. I was about to turn to get his food again but finally he spoke.
"Lia?"
"Yeah?"
Raking his fingers through his hair, his eyes met mine. "Don't give up on Jay, okay? The internet and rumors aren't always right and maybe he's feeling as broken up about it as you are. Will you at least give the guy a chance to explain himself. For me?"
I’d literally only seen Eddie once before and barely talked to him. He didn't know anything about me, but something in his brown eyes told me that he'd seen the same heart ache that I had and not from his fiancee, who apparently cheated, but something recent. Something I couldn't quite put my finger on.
"If you can find a way to work my name in a new song," I said, forcing a weak smile.
He smiled, putting his hand out for me to shake. "Deal."
***
It was just Dana and I closing up the restaurant.
Her due date was coming up so she wasn't working as hard, which meant I was in the back cleaning tables and mopping floors.
The bell dinged over the front door literally five minutes until close. Just when I finished mopping the floors in the main dining room. I swore under my breath and prayed that Dana pushed them away.
"What do you think you're doing here?" Her snarky voice carried over the room.
"I'm just here to see Lia," a faint voice said.
Jay's voice.
I glanced around the corner. He was standing at the front podium with his now shaved head, running his hand over it constantly.
Dana stood in front of him with her hands on her hips. "Like hell you're going to see her. She's been moping around for a week because of you. Shame on you! You can't lead a girl on just to get back with your trampy ex-girlfriend."
He licked his lips and shook his head. "It's not like that at all. Please, just let me talk to her."
He went to dodge around her, but she was stealthier and moved again, waving her finger in his face. "You listen to me, Mr. Big Swimmer. You may have wined her, dined her, and taken her to California, but you can't just do all that to a girl and then break her like that. She may not be some glamorous Hollywood girl, but that little girl is the best person I've ever met in my life and if I have to break your neck so you can never swim again then so help me God, I will."
Jay opened his mouth to speak but then a gut wrenching scream came from deep in Dana's throat and she held onto her stomach, squating down to a bar stool.
I ran out of the back room and to her side. "Dana! Are you okay?"
Jay crouched to Dana's other side. "Lia! You're here. I have to..."
Dana held her hand up. "Not now, lover boy, I think my water just broke or I peed myself. FUUUUUDDDGEEEE."
She gripped onto my hand so hard I thought my fingers would fall off.
"We should probably get you to a hospital." I stared wide-eyed at Jay.
"Oh, yeah, right. Let's do that." He nodded frantically.
Dana moaned as we helped her to her feet. "Call Nicky and my mother and your mother and..."
She stopped and held her stomach, moaning again.
We waited another minute before we started walking outside.
"We can take my car," Jay said.
"It's fine. I can take her in mine."
Jay shook his head, steering me toward his Suv. "No. I'll drive and you call your family. Just tell me where we're going."
"But..."
"Just let him freaking drive so we can get there before my baby is born in the back of some swimmer’s car!" Dana screamed.
Helping Dana into the backseat, I then climbed into the front and shut the door. "It's the Memorial hospital in Rockwall," I muttered.
"Got it," he said, plugging it into his GPS and peeling out of the parking lot.
I stared down at my fingers. I wasn't expecting to see him tonight. I didn't even know he was back in town.
"So...I tried calling you after Scotty told me he saw that thing you posted on Layna's picture, but you didn't answer. I tried FaceTiming and you still didn't answer."
"A good excuse," I muttered.
"A very lame excuse!" Dana yelled before grabbing her stomach and breathing heavily.
"I need to call my brother and my parents." I reached into my pocket for my phone and stared at the broken screen.
"Well, that explains why you didn't answer," Jay said, glancing over.
Dana shoved her phone in my hand. "Just send a freaking group text and get them over there now!"
Grabbing Dana's phone, I quickly typed in everyone's number and put in the details. Hopefully they'd be there soon.
"Lia, can we please talk about this?" Jay asked.
"What is there to talk about? Layna came to Charlotte and you obviously hung out with her. There’s nothing more to say."
He sighed. "Yeah, she came to Charlotte like a psycho ex-girlfriend. I didn't expect to see her there and I didn't hang out with her. I told her, flat out, that I loved you and there was no way we were getting back together. I thought about you the whole time, it even messed up my game and I got silver instead of gold in the 200M individual medely. The one I broke a world record in at the last Olympics."
"A likely story," I muttered.
The tires squealed and Jay pulled over on the side of FM 544.
"What are you doing?" Dana screeched.
Jay put the car in park and turned to fully face me. "I'm not leaving here until you stop putting up walls, Lia. You know I'm telling the truth. I've never lied to you and I never would. I love you, Lia. I freaking love you and I know you love me too or else you wouldn't be here right now."
I clenched my fists together. "What do you want me to say, Jay? Tell you that I'm crazy in love with you? That I'm so in love that I don't even know if I can be with you because everytime something goes wrong I feel like my heart can't take it?"
He leaned over the seat and took both of my hands in his. "I can't promise that our relationship is going to be easy. That more rumors won’t get started or crazy ex-girlfriends wont get in the way. But I can promise you that I'm going to keep loving you. That even when you feel like you’re drowning in all of this craziness, that I'll be there to save you. Forever. For Always."
I bit my bottom lip. "Jay, I don't know..."
Dana groaned from the backseat. "Just freaking kiss and makeup already, okay? The guy is obviously crazy about you and I'd like to go have a baby now."
I couldn't help but laugh slightly at Dana then turned toward Jay, his blue eyes shining even in the darkness. "I guess I can try, but if you keep breaking me..."
He leaned in and kissed me lightly on the lips. "Then I'll help put you back together again."
Chapter 25
As soon as we got to the hospital, my brother Nicky was waiting and helped Dana check in.
Dana's parents and my parents were right behind him, hanging over Dana and didn’t even noticing I was standing there next to Jay.
It was the first time, in a long time, I'd felt like all eyes weren't on me and I liked it.
Jay put his hand on mine, lacing our fingers together, so I looked up at his smiling face.
"You want to get out of here for a bit?" he asked.
I raised an eyebrow. "And miss my niece being born?"
He kissed our intertwined hands. "Then I guess we're staying and I'll just have to take you out for a make-up breakfast."
"You don't have to stay. It's just going to be a lot of sitting around."
"As long as I’m with you, sitting around is just fine with me."
***
My father was snoring in the chair across from us and Dana's dad went on about his millionth coffee break. I thought that once a woman's water broke that she was supposed to deliver or something. It had been
five hours and there was still nothing.
"Rosalia?" My mother's scratchy voice croaked.
I didn't know I'd fallen asleep until I jolted forward, wiping the drool off of my chin and prayed Jay didn't see it.
"Yeah, Ma?"
She smiled slightly. "Why don't you and Jay go home for a bit? Get some sleep and then we can call you if anything changes."
I shook my head. "No. I want to stay here."
"Bambina, it's still going to be a while and Dana probably won’t feel like visitors right away. Go home, get some sleep, and come back. Okay?"
I sighed. I had to admit that I was beyond tired and I still hadn't gotten to really talk about everything with Jay, so I finally nodded. "Okay. But make sure to call me as soon as she's born!"
Ma nodded. "I will, Bambina."
Jay pulled out his phone. "Actually, Lia had a little accident with her phone. I'll give you my number and you can call me. I can hang out for a while and feed Nonna's goat."
I blinked, staring between Jay and my wide-eyed mother.
"Okay, Jay, give me your number," Mom said, pulling her cell phone out of her giant purse.
My mouth literally dropped open, watching their exchange. I thought for sure she was going to say no and give me my father's phone or something. But instead she changed pleasantries with Jay and then hugged me goodbye.
She leaned close to my ear and whispered, "Keep him around, Rosalia. The bello loves you."
I raised an eyebrow as she pulled away and she just winked in response.
"You ready?" Jay put his hand out and I took it, walking hand-in-hand to his SUV.
We were a few miles down the road before he finally spoke. "So, do you mind if we stop at my place first? I left right after my last race and I haven't showered or anything. I smell like chlorine and probably sweat."
"You left right after the meet?"
He nodded, swallowing hard. "Yeah. I ran into Layna and then Scotty pulled me aside and told me about your comment on the picture. I couldn't stand knowing you were pissed off. When you wouldn't answer, I knew I had to get back here. I was tired of all of this not knowing..."
He reached into his pocket and pulled out a few sheets of paper and set them on the console between us.
"What's this?"
"I wasn't in Charlotte the entire time like I was supposed to be. I took a day to go out to So Cal and check out a condo in downtown LA near USC's campus and the pool."
Blinking slowly, I looked through the papers. Pages and pages of some kind of contract and pictures of a beautiful loft with views of the Hollywood hills and the downtown skyline.
"I'm not saying you have to move in with me, but I want to be close to you. I already talked to Coach about staying here and training until this summer when we can move to California. We won’t have to worry about all of these stupid ass rumors and if something shows up on the internet, you can just roll over and ask me."
"Jay, I don't know what to say..."
"You don't have to say anything. You don’t have to move in. You can still have your place in the dorms and have your independce and keep your walls. I just needed to do this. For me. For us. To take that step in taking down both of our walls and making sure no stupid mistakes come between us."
"I love you, Jay Morningstar." The words just rolled off of my tongue.
It was the first time I'd said them all together. To him. For real. This was real. This was the realest thing I'd ever had.
He smiled, squeezing my hand. "I love you too, Rosalia. You would have known that if you listened to that cheesy mixtape I made you."
I laughed. "I'll just listen to it while you shower."
"Fair enough."
It was dark leading up to his house with only some solar lights lighting the path of the driveway.
Jay held my hand and turned on the lights, walking through the house and up the stairs.
"Is no one else home?" I asked, walking into his bedroom.
He shook his head. "No. Everyone else stayed after for press conferences. Like I said, I left right after the meet."
He turned on the light to his bedroom and then quickly ripped off his shirt, exposing all of his tanned and toned flesh. "I'll be right out then I'll take you home."
Kissing me softly, he threw his shirt in the hamper and then sauntered off to the bathroom, closing the door behind him.
I eyed his computer, sitting on the bed.
I wondered what he meant by me knowing he loved me if I listened to the mixtape.
Slowly I sat down on his bed and opened the laptop. On the background was a picture of the two of us in California and I found my heart doing a little skip.
I searched through his icons until I found a folder marked "Lia”.
There were dozens of pictures of us from some of the first moments we hung out, all the way up to California. Then there was a music file. I turned up the volume and opened it.
Jay's voice crooned through the speakers. "Hey, Lia. It's me. Um. Wow. I'm never nervous. I also never do things like this, but I know your love of music, and I figured what I had to tell you would be better in song. I LU, Lia."
“I love You” by the Johnny Thunders and The Heartbreakers played through the speakers.
Every emotion ran through me. Excitement. Terror. Love.
This man did love me.
This man I had dreamed about for so long.
I wasn't drowning anymore.
I didn't need my walls.
He was going to save me.
Once the song ended, Jay's voice came back through the speakers.
"And here's another one for you. The first song I thought of when I met you and even learned on bass. Eddie still gives me shit for that one. Hopefully you don't hate me after that first cheesy little number and you'll stay with me."
"Stay With Me" by the Dictators played through the speakers and I found myself smiling and tapping my fingers on the bed to the beat of the music.
When the side of the bed shfited I gasped, looking up to see Jay with just a towel wrapped around his waist, leaning over me. My eyes couldn’t help but roam over his body where droplets of water still clung to his skin. The towel was barely covering anything, slung low enough that I got a full view of the tribal shark tattoo, dipping just below his hip bones and a faint tan line from his speedo.
"Decide to find the playlist, finally?" he asked, knocking me out of my daze
I looked up to meet his beautiful blue eyes. This was quite possibly the nicest and sweetest and most loving thing anyone had ever done for me. After everything we’d been through, he was still there, sitting beside of me half naked, and talking about a mixtape.
"This is really great. I wish I would have thought of something to give you for Valentine's Day."
He leaned in, licking his lips. I’d been around Jay when he was half naked dozens of times. The man never liked to wear clothes. But this was different. There was a new electricity in the air between us, one that was awakening new parts of me. Parts that were definitely below the belt.
"Just having you around is enough for me,” he murmured, pushing a stray strand of hair behind my ear.
A thought crossed my mind and at first my brain wanted to shut it away, but my heart knew better. That it was time to give my heart, my everything, to this guy.
"I do know something I can give you.” My hands shook as I slowly leaned back and peeled off my shirt before tossing it on the ground next to the bed. He’d seen me like this just a little over a week ago, but there was something new. Something that had me very aware where we were going.
I reached around my back and unhooked my bra, letting it slide down to the ground with my shirt. Now I just had to wait for his next move and hope I didn’t do something else to mess up this perfect moment.
Jay's eyes roamed over my chest and then back to my face. He chewed on his bottom lip before he adjusted the towel over his growing bulge. "Lia, you don't have to do this..." He breathed, his voice comi
ng out huskier than I’ve ever heard it.
I put my hand on his cheek, meeting his eyes again. All this time I’d wondered if there would be a future with us, now looking at his hooded eyes, so full of longing, I knew that I wanted to give this man everything. To connect with him. To break down my walls and really be together. "I want to."
Then he kissed me, taking my breath away as I let out one little gasp into his mouth that caused a growl deep within his throat. Slowly he leaned over, ever so gently putting one hand on the back of my head as he lowered us down to the bed and only broke the kiss to hover over me.
His chest rose and fall as I reached forward, running my fingers down the hard lines of his stomach until I stopped at his towel. Slowly I peeled off the scratchy cotton, revealing the entirety of his tattoo and that tan line, but gulped when I saw his hard length.
I’d felt it in the pool and admitted to fantasizing about it more than once, but this was the first time I’d seen all of this man. And I had no idea what the hell I was going to do with...that...
He smirked, looking where my eyes roamed. “Are you staring at my dick right now?”
My mouth dropped open. “I...um...”
He grinned before leaning over and pressing his lips to my cheek then up my jawline until he was whispering in my ear. “I was busy staring at you too. You’re so beautiful, Lia.”
His lips continued to trail down to my neck, going between soft sucking and kissing down to my chest. I arched my back into him as he circled each nipple with his tongue before gently nipping at the soft skin then kissing down to my stomach.
Moaning, I grabbed onto his hard back, gripping my fingers into his skin. This man was perfect. This man was mine. And I was ready to give all of myself to him.
I wanted him to move faster, to cure the ache for him between my legs, but at the same time I relished in the feel of his touch.
He stopped kissing only to move to the edge of the bed and peel off my jeans and underwear like they were delicate tissue paper and then looked down at me, his lips hovering just above my bellly button before he ran his thumb down my center. He kissed a line from my knees up my thighs to the soft edges of my mound. My breathing quickened with anticipation of his every touch.
