Family Ties

by Debi V. Smith

  A run of clinking fills the air as we tap glasses.

  “You kids get one glass,” Dad says, pointing to each one of us. “That’s it.”

  Arissa gives him a mock salute. “Yes, Sir!”

  “Let’s eat!” Mom calls out.

  “So, Sara,” Shelly says as we take our seats. “Will you be going back to L.A. with Jason?”

  “We’re going to discuss what would be better for both of us this week.”

  “That’s great thinking,” Alana says.

  “It was all Jason’s idea.” I smile at her.

  “I have such a smart son.” She beams and pinches his cheek.

  We rest against the backs of our chairs with our hands on our full bellies when we finish eating.

  “That was wonderful, you guys. Thank you,” I say.

  “Yes, thank you everyone,” Jason echoes.

  “We still have dessert!” Arissa exclaims with a bright smile.

  “I think I need to digest all this first.” Felix extends his stomach and rubs it with both hands.

  Shelly slaps his arm. “Have some class, Felix.”

  “That is class for him, Mom,” Damian quips.

  “What’s for dessert?” Jason asks, peeking over his shoulder at the island.

  “Chocolate cake!” Arissa answers.

  I glance at Arissa, who is grinning from ear to ear and appears ready to burst. I give her a perplexed look and she jumps out of her seat. Shelly and Alana clear the table while Mom cuts the cake and Dad makes coffee.

  “I have something for you!” She stoops behind her chair, then straightens up with a pile of magazines in her hands and approaches me. “Your first set of bridal magazines.” She holds the stack out to me.

  “Holy shit, Riss.” I set the magazines, which weigh a ton, in my lap. Hunter peeks at them.

  “Mom and Alana bought them, so they’re really from them.”

  “You suggested we pick them up, honey,” Alana says.

  My head swims with thoughts of the details that will need to be arranged. Location, dresses, flowers, food, cake, music, invitations, guest list. “I have a lot of work to do.”

  “I’ll help,” Jason says, taking the magazine on top and flipping through it.

  “You know I will too,” Arissa adds, still standing next to my chair, hands clasped in front of her.

  “Me three,” Hunter chimes in.

  I know Arissa’s waiting for the question every best friend wants to be asked, but it’s fun to see her squirm sometimes. “Riss, will you be my maid of honor?”

  “Yes!” She throws her arms around me. The magazines spill onto the floor. Damian, Felix, Hunter, and Jason shuffle around in their seats to pick them up.

  “Riss,” I yelp, tapping her shoulder. “Need air.”

  “Sorry!” She releases me and wipes her face with her fingers.

  “Did you think I wasn’t going to ask?”

  “Kind of.”

  “You’re my best friend and my sister. Who else would I ask?”

  She shrugs and returns to her seat.

  My gaze flicker to Hunter. “I want you up there with me too.”

  He grins. “You can count on me.”

  Jason sets the magazines on the table in front of him. “What are you going to do with all of these anyway?”

  “Ideas, J.”

  “Ah.”

  “And since you said you’d help, you’re going to look through them with me.”

  “No!” He presses the back of his hand to his forehead and throws himself back in the chair. “I can’t do it. It’s too much. Please, don’t make me.”

  “Man up, Waters,” Arissa says.

  He lays his hand over his heart. “You wound me, Jericho.”

  Mom and Shelly pass out plates of cake while Dad and Alana serve the coffee.

  Jason moves the magazines between us and taps the top. “Bring these over tomorrow and we’ll start looking.”

  My heart expands to fill my chest. This is what it’s like throwing caution to the wind. To make a life-altering decision without thinking.

  Goodbye, demons. Hello, life.

  CHAPTER SEVENTY-SIX

  Jason greets me at the front door with a smile and draws me in by my waist. His lips meet mine hungrily as he shuts the door and presses me against it with his body.

  I drop my tote with the bridal magazines and slip my arms over his shoulders. His hips grind into me and I exhale heavily into his kiss. This is what I’ve craved when I need every inch of him touching me. He grabs my thighs and hauls me up. I hook my legs around him and he grinds into me again. Static shock flows through me. He draws his head back with a solitary question in his eyes.

  My breath is ragged as I speak, “Yes.”

  His hands move to my face and his mouth crashes into mine with a ferocity threatening to devour me. My body heat rises as the years and reasons spent waiting fall away.

  He drags his mouth from mine. “Are you sure?”

  I answer between forceful breaths. “Yes.”

  He hooks his hands around my thighs and steps back from the door. He carries me to his room and closes the door behind us. Just in case Alana comes home. But I’m not really thinking about Alana.

  He lays me down on his bed and crawls over me, covering my neck with soft kisses. He stops at the spot right above my collar bone and lingers.

  “Oh,” I moan. The prickling nerve endings return and intensify, spiking through me. I wrap myself around him, pulling him closer. I need his body touching mine.

  His kisses trail downward with each button he frees on my blouse. He slides his palm across my exposed belly, my stomach quivering under his touch. I want what I’ve denied myself. What I’ve denied us. I want to reclaim what is mine and drive out the demons.

  He peels off his shirt and I flatten my hands against his chest. I trace the edges of the muscles on his chest and arms while he remains still for me. I love how each muscle curves into the next, full of strength and power that he only uses on the court or to defend me.

  Simon imposed his will through bluster to dominate with the power he never really possessed. I get that now. He took what he wanted, when he wanted. Jason waited to be offered what he wanted. Just as he waits now while my hands explore.

  He works the button on his cargo shorts, then tugs the zipper. I wince at the grating of the teeth, still like fingernails on a chalkboard to me. My breath catches in my throat.

  Some demons refuse to leave.

  He stops and hovers over me with our faces close enough to kiss. His fingers trail over my cheek. “It’s me. Breathe, Parker.”

  I’m not breathing? I attempt to inhale, but the breath is still stuck and my eyes widen.

  His mouth parts mine and his tongue slips in, searching for life in every crevice. He awakens the need for oxygen. I break away, twisting my head to the side with a wheezing inhale.

  How sexy.

  “That’s it,” he murmurs, stroking my hair. He kisses along my jaw, then returns to my mouth when my breathing evens out. He sucks in my bottom lip, sending currents of lightning through me, stoking the fire.

  “Oh, God. Jason,” I let out in a gasp.

  He places my hands on his zipper. Giving me the power. Allowing me to exorcise my demons.

  “You know you have nothing to fear from me. I’ll stop if and when you tell me to,” he assures me.

  He’s my rushing river, washing away pieces of my grim past, bit by bit, for the last few years. Carrying me off with him, clean and whole.

  We are a tangled mess of arms and legs in the end. He props his head up on one hand and runs the other hand over my bare arm and shoulder.

  I feel light. Free. Serene.

  “Are you okay?” he asks, caressing my face.

  I roll on my side and mirror him. “I believe people call this feeling, ecstasy.” Rose’s sex talk finally makes sense to me.

  A carefree smile appears across his face. “I would think with all the reading
you do, you would know.”

  “Reading and experiencing it first-hand are two different things.” And my skewed reality always made me believe my beloved books never had the potential to be real.

  “I’ll give you that,” he says, drawing me in by my hip and kissing me briefly. He pulls back and gazes at me. “We should probably eat. One of us has to work tomorrow.” He winks.

  We dress and I comb my hair with my fingers before leaving his room.

  “What’s for dinner,” I ask, following Jason to the kitchen.

  “Uhm…”

  I laugh. “You didn’t plan dinner?”

  “No. I’ll order pizza.” He takes his phone out and dials.

  I grab my bag and head for the TV room, placing the magazines on the end table.

  Jason enters the room and sits with me, interlacing our fingers. “I’m leaning towards staying, but part of me still wants to go back and at least finish out the year.”

  “Because you want to or because you feel you need to?”

  “Because when I’m not with you, I have a hard time keeping it together.”

  I shift towards him abruptly. “Why didn’t you tell me before?”

  He shrugs. “Didn’t want to bother you with it, I guess.”

  I pull my hand away and weave my fingers through his hair. “You promised to tell me these things, J. It’s not a bother.”

  “It’s just harder than I expected.”

  “I know.” Deep sorrow wells inside. The house feels empty without Mike in it. “I don’t want you to stay for me, then regret it later.”

  “If I can’t keep it together right now, then staying would be best. UCLA isn’t going anywhere.” He pauses and plays with my fingers. “I know I said I wouldn’t ask again, but would you please consider coming with me? If I’m still miserable and you hate it up there, we can come back. I really don’t want to let the team down.”

  If he keeps sacrificing for everyone else, someone needs to do the same for him. “How about I go back with you this weekend and we can look at apartments? It’s time for me to give more in our relationship.”

  “All I need is you.”

  “You have me.” I smile. “Next question. Wedding date?”

  “Tomorrow.”

  “Be serious.” I snicker and bump his shoulder with mine.

  “I am serious.”

  “Our families would like that. At. All. In fact, I think your mom would kill us.”

  He sighs. “When do you want it? You’re the bride.”

  “Spring.”

  “March twenty-second. There we go.”

  “Wait. Where’d you come up with that date?”

  “First day of spring. Any objection?” he asks.

  “No.” I chuckle. “But March Madness might have something to say about that if you’re going to stay at UCLA and on the team.”

  “Silly basketball tournament getting in the way of what I want,” he quips.

  “We’ll figure out a date later.”

  “Where do you want to have it?”

  “I have two ideas. Hotel Del or our house.” I fell in love with the hotel at prom and it would be perfect for a wedding.

  “We don’t have our own house yet, Parker,” he says with a serious face.

  I groan, knowing he’s deliberately messing with me. “My house.”

  The pizza arrives and we flip through some magazines as we eat, dog earing anything that catches our eye. One of the magazines has a large spread on new wedding gowns.

  “Oooh,” he coos. “Do I get to go dress shopping with you?”

  “You want to go dress shopping with me?” I ask.

  “Why not?”

  “Isn’t the tradition to not see the bride in the dress before the ceremony?”

  “When have we ever been traditional? More importantly, if we’re not supposed to measure our relationship against others, why bother with tradition?”

  “If you really want to,” I answer.

  “Oh, I really want to. I want to see you in every dress you try on.” He grins and his eyes gleam, then averts them and sighs. “I should get you home. Time flies when you’re looking at bridal magazines and making decisions,” he says, taking the magazine from me and adding it to the stack.

  He walks me to my front door and cradles my face in his hands. “Thank you for tonight.” He moves in for a long, gentle kiss, winding his arms around my neck and bringing me closer.

  I circle my arms around his waist as the front door flies open. We break off the kiss and turn towards the doorway, startled.

  Arissa grabs my arm. “She’s mine now, Waters,” she says, tearing me away from Jason and yanking me inside.

  “I’ll pick you up from work tomorrow,” he says.

  I’m barely able to nod in response before Arissa closes the door. She drags me up the stairs behind her.

  “Riss! What are you doing?” I ask.

  “It’s my turn!” she answers without explanation.

  “Manhandling me through the house isn’t necessary.”

  “Sorry.” She releases me and closes her bedroom door behind us. “I’m just excited.” She stops in her tracks, staring at me. “What is with you? You’re glowing.”

  “I’m a bride. Brides are supposed to glow.”

  Her mouth forms an O. “You! You finally had sex with Jason!” She raises her voice.

  “Shhh! Keep it down!” I whisper.

  “You did, didn’t you?” she asks, her volume unchanged. Her eyes glimmer and a smile spreads across her face.

  I plop down on her bed. “Yes.” A smile creeps across my face too.

  “I knew it!”

  “Riss!”

  She sits on her bed cross-legged, facing me. “Well?”

  A light rap comes from her door.

  “Come in,” she calls.

  Rose pokes her head in. “You’re getting too loud. Your dad’s trying to sleep.”

  I hook my thumb at Arissa. “Her fault.”

  Arissa’s jaw drops, “Thanks for throwing me under the bus.”

  “I had to know how it feels just once.” I let out a giggle.

  A pillow whacks me in the face and stops my laugh. I snatch it from her and hit her back.

  “How’s Jason?” Mom asks, before a full-on pillow fight ensues.

  “He’s okay.”

  Arissa shoves me with a wide grin and arched eyebrow.

  “Ugh. Fine,” I say in mock exasperation. My gaze flickers to Mom. “We finally had sex tonight.”

  A smile is pressed on her face as she closes the door.

  “How was it?” Arissa asks.

  I drop my head back as I search for the words. “The best thing since the adoption,” I answer.

  She grins. “That’s all?”

  “It’s not like I lost my virginity. Simon took that long ago, so this is different.”

  “I’m sorry,” she says, deflated. “I was just excited for you and Jason. And that we might be able to talk more about sex now.”

  “You’ve talked to me about it before.”

  “But you and Jason weren’t sexually active, so I didn’t always talk about what I wanted.”

  I lie back on her bed and place my hands on my stomach.

  “Where are you two going tomorrow?” she asks.

  “To the jeweler to get the ring resized.”

  I tell her the decisions we made about looking for an apartment and the wedding date. I dig out the magazines we went through and show her the dog eared pages.

  “Can I look at the ones you’ve already looked through?”

  “Sure. Oh, he wants to go dress shopping with us.”

  “What?”

  “He says he wants to see me in every dress I try on.”

  She rolls her eyes. “Pervert.”

  “Desire isn’t such a bad thing.” I giggle. “Besides, I see so much less of him now, it’ll be nice to spend whatever time we can together.”

  “We’ll make him hold our p
urses and carry our bags.” She laughs.

  We talk for a few minutes and then I call Hunter from my room. “What’s shakin’?” he asks.

  I grin. “Sex with Jason.”

  “Get out of here!”

  “Seriously.”

  “I’m happy for you, chica. You deserve all the happiness in the world.”

  “Thanks. We’re discussing a spring wedding.” I pause for a deep breath. “And I’m moving to L.A.”

  He’s silent, but his uneven breathing comes through the phone.

  “Hunter?”

  “Yeah, I heard you.” His voice is soft. “Sorry. It just hit me hard, even though I knew it might happen.”

  My heart weighs down with sadness. I know I made the right decision, but right now I feel like I made the wrong one. “We won’t lose touch. You’re one of the only friends I have in this world.”

  “The same goes for you.”

  CHAPTER SEVENTY-SEVEN

  “Can I help with something?” I ask, joining him in the kitchen.

  “Nope. I can’t call it ‘slaving over the stove’ if you help me.”

  I lean against the counter and watch him turn the burner on under a large skillet. He opens the fridge and takes out eggs, bacon, parsley, and a block of hard cheese.

  “Breakfast for dinner?”

  “Nope.” He snickers and turns on the burner under a large stockpot of water. He adds bacon to the skillet and steps over to the sink to wash his hands.

  “You’re not going to tell me?”

  He dries his hands on a towel. “Nope.”

  He steps in front of me and lifts me onto the counter by my waist. He steps between my legs and moves in for a kiss as his arms encircle me. I wind my arms around his neck and bring him in closer.

  “Mmmm,” he intones. “Counters. I like this.” He slides a hand under my blouse and up my back as he places light kisses across my cheek to behind my ear. His tongue lingers right behind my earlobe.

  My body shudders and melts into him. “Ah, J.” I run my fingers through his hair.

  He whispers, “I would love to take you right here.”

  The idea of it sends waves of pleasure through me.

  He breaks away and steps back. I am near forming a pout until he turns off the burners. He sweeps me off the counter and carries me to his room.