Making her laugh, seeing her smile, that was rapidly becoming my favorite pastime. Well, OK, of course my favorite pastime was fucking her like a ravenous beast. But that was a close second.
Third came planning my new bar. Through Liam, of course, I’d hooked up with two interested and well-funded guys wanting to go in on the joint. The way I saw it, Naugatuck needed a casual, laid-back alternative to all the wine bars and themed, upscale nightclubs. It needed a tavern, plain and simple, that served great brews and hearty food. A place to unwind and relax.
The historical society loved the concept, especially since we used the word “tavern.” That had been my idea, thank you very much. The whole island had such a historic feel, it seemed like a no-brainer. We’d do burgers and comfort food, including some local favorites like clam chowder and fish ‘n chips. I wanted the whole place to feel comfortable, like a home away from home.
“How about ‘Ye Olde Tavern’,” Ace suggested one night as I Skyped with him. A new nurse’s aide had set it up for him on his computer and he’d become a Skyping madman, ready to chat at all hours of the day and night. The time zone difference didn’t seem to register so much. I’d had to turn off the wifi connection on my phone overnight so he wouldn’t wake us up at five a.m.
“Yeah, I’ll think about it.” I cleared my throat. I wanted to get serious, tell him something I had on my mind. Only speaking my heart wasn’t always that easy.
“Spit it out, son.”
I chuckled. Ace always knew me even better than I knew myself. “With everything going so good in my life, I just want to, you know, thank you. For taking me in when I was 16. And believing in me.”
“Aw, you don’t have to thank me. I’d do it all over again.”
“I know I gave you a hard time. I was so angry.
“And I kept yapping at you about hard work, perseverance, and delayed gratification.”
I could hear him rattling all that off at me, drilling it into my head that living that way might not be that satisfying in the short term, but ultimately working hard and staying straight led to a better life. Back then, I’d rolled my eyes, but I’d listened. “I’m glad you did.”
“Well, look at you now.
“I have you to thank.”
“Be sure to call and thank me when half your wait staff quits on opening day.” He gave a hearty laugh, knowing the kinds of headaches and long hours it took to make a restaurant successful. But I loved doing it. And now I had the chance to run another place, on my own terms. “Now where is she?” he demanded.
I laughed. It wasn’t me he wanted to Skype with, anyway, it was Sky. I understood. She was much prettier to look at, and nicer to talk to, too.
“I know what we have to call Jax’s new tavern!” The woman in question entered the room, joining in the conversation. “Ace’s Place!”
“It’s got a ring to it!” Ace agreed.
“Now you’ve got to promise to come out for the grand opening.” She visited her favorite topic, trying to get Ace to come out and visit. We both wanted him to consider moving to Naugatuck. We talked up its considerable charms, but Ace always responded with a, “It snows there, doesn’t it?” So far, he wasn’t interested, but we’d keep at him.
“My friend Sophie has a new student in her senior dance class,” Sky teased him. “She’s quite the dish.” I loved how well Sky and Sophie got along. It made it so fun to hang out with Liam when the four of us could all just relax and crack up together. I’d say I missed that, but I’d never really had it. Back in Cavallo, Zeke had been my oldest friend and I knew I could trust him with my life, but he wasn’t exactly on the same path as me. Liam and Sophie? They were exactly our speed.
“Tell her to Insta-square me,” Ace teased Sky right back. “I’ll take a look and decide if I should swipe.”
“Insta-square?” Sky mouthed to me. I shook my head, letting her know she shouldn’t bother trying to sort out the nuances of social media to Ace. He was having fun mucking around with it. From what it sounded like, the man had at least heard of Tinder.
Personally, I was glad I didn’t need to bother with any of that. Not that I ever had, really. I’d never had trouble finding women to spend time with, even before I’d owned a bar.
But Sky was so much more than someone to spend time with. She was as amazing to wake up to in the morning as she was to take to bed at night. The last time Liam and I had grabbed a beer, just the two of us, he’d elbowed me.
“She’s the one, you know that, right?” he’d asked, looking at me expectantly.
I didn’t even try to play it cool. “She’s the one.” I’d known it for a long time, way before it had been anywhere near appropriate to feel that way. There had been a connection between us right from the start, with physical attraction, of course, but something so much deeper than that as well.
“So? Want to make it a double wedding?”
I nearly spit the beer out of my mouth. He and Sophie were getting married around the holidays. “Sky just got out of a really bad marriage. I don’t think now’s exactly the time to pop the question.”
“Don’t you want her to know how you feel?”
Huh. Liam had a point. I didn’t answer him then, though. We got to talking about other things, conversation turning as it often did to Ian, wondering what he was up to, what we could do to help him. I hadn’t talked to Ian in almost two years, even though I thought about him almost every day. He’d stopped answering texts, never picked up calls, and it wasn’t just with me, it was with all of us. Even if he was holed up in that crumbling castle in Scotland, I hoped he wasn’t completely alone.
Because now I knew, you couldn’t lone-wolf it through all of life. You might need to do it to get through a tough time, but, ultimately, it would never make you happy. People weren’t meant to live in isolation. Now that I’d found Sky and felt what it was like to have a true partner, I knew I never wanted to let her go. Liam’s question stayed with me—didn’t I want to tell her how I felt? I didn’t want to rush her into anything. But I wondered if I could talk about the future, tell her what I hoped for between us, while also letting her know that I’d wait as long as it took.
A couple days before Liam’s huge Fourth of July party, I took Sky out for a nice dinner. Again, Liam knew a guy who worked at a swanky waterfront place where it was damn hard to get a table. But drop Liam’s name and suddenly we had ourselves a seven o’clock reservation and—look—no charge for the second entrée!
We took a stroll afterward, hand in hand. She had on a pretty little colorful sundress, her hair curling in the ocean air. Undeniably, she had more bounce in her step, more pink in her cheeks day after day.
“You like it on Naugatuck?” I asked, wrapping my hand around her waist.
“It’s like a theme park, it’s so pretty!” She laughed, gesturing around the picturesque street. “Does anyone even litter on this island?”
“I think if they do they’re immediately air-lifted off,” I joked, but then asked, more seriously, “So, you can see yourself living here? For a while?”
“Absolutely.” She reached up and kissed me. “And maybe take over for Maple when she retires.” Fingers crossed, she looked up, excited. The woman who owned my favorite bakery on the island had taken a liking not just to Sky’s baking, but to Sky, herself. Sky had started working for her and, more and more as the days passed, she’d picked up on Maple’s desire to pass the baton on the entire business.
But instead of wanting to discuss that exciting development, Sky turned her attention back to me, concerned about how I was doing. She was as unselfish as people came. “Is it ever strange for you? Being back here where you all nearly died out on that boat? I don’t mean to bring up such a bad memory. But every now and then, I wonder.”
“You know, that was the worst night of my life, don’t get me wrong. But that night didn’t happen because this is a bad place. It happened because I was a stupid 14-year-old.”
“And the other guys, too.
” She stuck up for me, like she always did. I didn’t mind having her in my corner.
“Sure, all of us were stupid, no question. Heading out right before it got dark, not knowing how to operate the boat, no idea about the forecast. I still can’t believe we did it.”
“But you’re wiser now.” She returned me to the present, wrapping her hand around my bicep, smiling up at me.
“A little,” I grudgingly agreed.
“And it’s not strange for you, being back?”
“Not at all. I could see myself settling down here. Having a family. Could you?”
She pinked up, closing her eyes, pressing herself against my chest in a hug. “Yes,” she exhaled, seeming to feel the answer through her whole body.
I took her hand and we walked back to the truck, lost in our own thoughts which I had a feeling were traveling along the same tracks. I could see the future stretching out before us in a way I never could before. I wanted to rush into it, leap and grab it while it stood out so clear. But that wasn’t the way time worked. You had to wait for it to unfold. And with Sky, I had to trust that time together was always a good thing.
Opening the truck, I welcomed her into the back seat. “After you.”
She gave me a questioning look, but climbed into the back. She probably knew I was up to no good. But what she’d also learned by now was how much she liked it when I was.
“I haven’t had dessert yet.” I grinned wickedly, laying her down on the seat and sliding off her panties.
“Jax, here?” We were in a parking lot, but our windows were tinted. If she didn’t scream, we could probably get away with it.
“You’re going to have to keep quiet.” I grinned again, knowing how hard it was for her to do that when I went down on her. I liked making it as difficult as possible. Having her panting and writhing beneath me, I wanted to drag it out, make her squirm and beg. There was nothing I liked more than seeing her crazed with desire, her eyes closed, her lips open with pants and moans, fingers digging into whatever she could find.
She got so wet for me and tasted so good, I took my time feasting on her. Stopping with my mouth inches away, I looked up so I could see her face as I played with her with my fingers.
“Jax, please,” she begged, having drawn so close yet again to cumming. But I’d stopped before I let her.
“I’ll let you cum,” I promised, coating my fingers in her slick arousal.
She moaned, biting her lip, trying to stifle it and keep things quiet. Watching her face, I slid a finger to the tight ring of her asshole. Her eyes flew open wide and she picked up her head to look at me. “I want to finger fuck your ass,” I whispered, sliding my thick digit past her entrance.
Tilting her head back again, she cried out, panting and quivering as she took me in. Slowly thrusting, working my finger into her, I saw how much she liked it. Squirming, bucking her hips in rhythm with my movements, I could tell she wasn’t going to be able to last much longer.
I dipped my mouth yet again to her clit, giving it a long, slow lick as I fucked her ass. “Yes!” She pushed her hips down into my face, into my finger. I sucked and bit, licking and wanting to devour every last shudder of her orgasm.
Holding her there in my truck, I realized that with Sky, I wasn’t any good at waiting. I hadn’t even been able to wait to get her back to the house. She made me crazy, impatient, and I’d had to wait far too long before I had her as my own. Someday soon, I wasn’t going to wait any more to tell her how deeply I felt about her, and what I hoped for our future together.
Epilogue—Sky
Fourth of July! I had the day off. Jax’s bar wasn’t open yet, so both of us were free. He and his partners had picked a location right in the center of downtown, but the place needed some updating which would take a couple of months.
That night, Liam was holding his legendary Fourth of July party. Jax warned me that I should prepare myself for seeing celebrities. I’d almost gotten used to it, turning my head and spotting some famous actress or another. Naugatuck tended to attract an older crowd, not the twenty-somethings ready to club all night. But I was right smack in the middle of my twenties and had no interest in that myself, so the island suited me just fine.
Even as I settled into domestic tranquility with Jax, I felt younger than ever. My heart felt so light. I could still remember the sadness I’d felt when I’d turned 25, and the promise I’d made myself. In a few months I’d be 26 and it looked like I was well set up to make good on that promise. I had more love in my life than I knew what to do with.
I was even dressing more fun. Goodbye scrubs and sneakers, hello sundresses and heels. It felt fun to play around. Jax made me feel so sexy, and I found myself wearing pinks and polka dots or silly prints that made me smile.
When I’d Skyped with my mom, she’d been shocked. “Is that you, Sky?” she’d asked, pretending to squint and shield herself from all my bright colors.
I didn’t get into all the details, I just told her that I’d left Griller.
“Thank God,” she’d said, and I had to agree. I urged her to come out and visit. She said she might. She’d always had a soft spot for Naugatuck.
I started dancing, too, at Sophie’s studio. She had a hip-hop class that a friend of hers taught. I could not have been worse. I wasn’t being modest, I really did not know what I was doing. Twerking did not come naturally to me. But I was having a blast, every Tuesday night, shaking my booty and laughing with a whole group of women in their twenties, thirties and forties.
At the party tonight Jax was excited for me to meet Chase and Emma. He wanted me to be able to put another piece into the puzzle, getting to know another of his oldest friends. Apparently Chase had been the first of them to go. “The first domino to fall,” I think he’d put it. Then Liam, then Jax had coupled up. What was the world coming to? Before long, Ian would be happily married, too, and then what would any of them do with any residual angst? They’d have to donate it to a charity, maybe one that provided surplus angst to emo bands in need.
But as much as I did look around and feel like I had to pinch myself my life was turning out so rosy, some nights I still woke up frightened, heart pounding with anxiety over some dream about Mike. Every now and then a loud noise would startle me more than it should have, and I’d realize, I was still remembering how he used to smash and crash around. Living with someone explosive and violent had shaken me to the core. I guessed it was some sort of PTSD.
One afternoon last week, on a whim, I’d called up the Cavallo Canyon Retirement Community and asked for Maria.
“It’s Sky,” I told her, “Sky Cabrillo.”
“Sky! How are you? Are you all right? It’s been months!”
“Hi, yes, I’m good.”
“I was so worried, when you just quit and never came back. You didn’t answer the couple times I called you.”
“I’m so sorry. I was in a bad spot. But I wanted to call and let you know—I got away.”
“You got away?” Her voice dropped down lower. “From your husband?”
“I got away from him.” My eyes filled with tears, my hand shaking as I remembered all my fears, that impossibly trapped feeling I’d had for so long. “And I never let you know, but I wanted to thank you. For being my friend. And encouraging me even when I didn’t want to hear it.”
“Oh, honey.” Now I could tell she was crying, too. “Oh, sweetie. You’re safe?”
“I’m safe,” I assured her, really feeling it in my bones.
“I’m so happy for you. Are you still living in Cavallo?”
“No, not even close. So I won’t be around. But I wanted to call and say thank you.”
“You don’t have to thank me. But I’m so happy to hear from you. You enjoy your life, Sky, you hear me?”
I promised her I would. Every day, I could feel my confidence growing, my voice getting stronger. Just last Monday, I’d presented Maple with my ideas for the future of the bakery. A business plan, as Jax called it. He
’d helped me put it together and listened while I practiced talking about it, but the ideas were all mine. And they were good ones.
“All fresh local ingredients,” I’d told her, knowing how attached she was to her frozen fruits. And we could still freeze our perishable berries, but we should source them from local farms, first. “It’ll cost more, but the people on Naugatuck will pay.” I’d done the math, too, again with Jax’s help, but I understood it well enough. We’d spend more per pie, but charge more, too, making it up in the end.
Maple had pushed back some and said she needed some time to think things through, but ultimately she’d loved my ideas. She’d agreed to apprentice me in the business over the next year. Then, she wanted to sell the whole shop to me. She’d been running it for 25 years and she wanted to retire, but she’d hesitated to do it because she didn’t want to see all her hard work go away. She’d built up an amazing reputation for her baked goods. But it turned out that in me she saw a way to transition instead of end her legacy.
I couldn’t believe my dreams were coming true. I’d always wanted to own and operate my own bakery, and here one was being handed to me. Only Jax was always quick to remind me, it hadn’t just landed on my head.
“You’ve worked hard to create this opportunity,” he told me. It still felt like a gift, but I was more than happy to take it.
I felt more confident with Jax, too. I’d always felt attraction with him, seen how he’d looked at me, but I’d felt so crappy I hadn’t fully believed he wanted me. I’d assumed my feelings for him were stronger than his for me. He’d loomed larger than life; how could simple, wallflower me rock his world?
All of You: Jax & Sky (All In Book 3) Page 24
