The Storm Inside (14 page)

As long as he didn’t break my heart.

***

“We should go boating more often. This is hot, darlin’,” he murmured in my ear.

I couldn’t help the sly grin that crept up on my lips. “You never called me that before. I like it.”

He squeezed me close and I could feel every inch of his body. “Good. It just came out when I saw you and I can’t seem to stop saying it.”

For some reason, Jake having a new, special pet name for me was hot. I think it was helping me separate our past from our present.

“Then don’t stop,” I murmured.

By the time the rain ended and we managed to get our asses home, Jennie and Andrew were anxiously waiting for us on the dock. I could tell Jennie was hopeful that the time alone had done us some good.

“I see you guys managed to survive…” she drawled.

“Mmmmm. We did. We holed up in one of the shacks.”

“Oh….”

Jake started tossing bags and coolers up onto the dock and Andrew started hauling them back up to the house. Jake was watching me out of the corner of his eye, probably waiting to see what I told Jennie.

She suddenly had a mischievous glint in her eye and she smiled. One of those smiles that scared the pants off me because she knew something I didn’t. “Did you have fun?” she asked.

“Yes...”

She nodded, “I can tell.” Then she reached down and pulled paint chips out of my hair, crumbling them between her fingers and letting them fall into the water below. She cocked her eyebrow and waited for me to explain.

“Fine, we had a
lot
of fun. Happy?”

She nodded vigorously, “What does this mean?”

I knew she wanted me to say Jake and I were back together. She wanted us to live happily ever after and for the four of us to be the best of friends. But Jennie had the privilege of living in a world where magical things like that happened. Jake and I did not. Happily ever after had to wait, if it was ever coming at all.

“It means I have a date tonight with this hot new guy I just met. And we’ll see what happens.”

To my complete surprise she yelped and started jumping up and down doing some sort of silly girly dance. “I’m so happy!”

I rolled my eyes. Jennie was seeing wedding bells. I was seeing the possibility of getting laid again.

Andrew came back for the next load, “Uh oh, what’s with the girly dance?”

Jennie rushed right over to him and whispered in his ear. I don’t know why she whispered; it wasn’t like it was a secret. Or maybe what she was telling her boyfriend was a secret Jake and I weren’t privy to.

He smiled and winked at me.

I glared back at Andrew, “This is your fault, I’ll have you know.”

His eyebrows shot up and he pointed at himself, “Who? Me?” The grin that followed told me we were still on the same page. He knew I was serious and scared and happy.

“Yes, you. I’m blaming you for all of it, as a matter of fact.”

He pulled away from Jennie and gave me a brotherly hug as soon as I hauled myself up onto the dock, “Then I also get all the credit when this works out spectacularly well.”

I pulled back and looked at him carefully, “Deal.” I had a feeling Andrew was going to be around for a very long time. Maybe even forever. He and I were too much alike for him not to be perfect for Jennie. He fit in with us like he’d always been part of our group, almost like we had been missing him all of this time.

I immediately disappeared into my room to freshen up and change. Shack sex was hot and amazing, but it was hardly clean. We’d had unprotected sex, but I was on the pill and I knew Jake well enough to know he wouldn’t have done that if he had anything I could contract. We certainly needed to have some sort of a conversation at some point if we were going to do that again… but for now I needed to get clean.

I felt disgusting, actually, with all that salt water dried on my skin. So the cool shower was a little slice of heaven for my body, but my brain went on overdrive. I felt like I was going on a first date with all the butterflies wiggling around inside me. I think I was even feeling shy.

Why hadn’t I packed something nice? I could hear my grandmother’s quiet admonishment in my head, “Always pack for a special occasion, dear, you never what is going to happen next.”

Right then I wished I’d taken her advice.

I pulled out a sundress, dried my hair, twisted most of it back off of my face, I even went so far as to put on a little makeup even though it was ten thousand degrees outside and pure humidity. But I was going on a ‘date’ and I wanted to look nice.

When I opened the door, Jake was leaned up against the side of the house with his foot propped up. He immediately hopped up and smiled. He’d showered and changed too and was wearing a nice t-shirt and board shorts. He was just as simply dressed as I was, but it was an effort toward looking nice.

“You look lovely,” he murmured.

God, it was stupid how much that pleased me. “You look very nice yourself.”

He leaned in and kissed me lightly on the lips. Just one simple kiss, but it was enough to take the air right out of me.

The cookout was in full swing. Shrimp was boiling, burgers were grilling, and foil packets of fish were going on next. A game of bocce was rolling on one side of the beach, a game of corn hole with bean bags flying through the air was on the other, and a circle of talkers were around the fire pit.

I felt every eye on me the whole night. Well, except for Max, his eyes were still glued to Jennie.

And Jennie’s eyes were only on me when she could peel them away from Andrew.

But I felt like the show of the night to everyone else. They were carefully watching us, how Jake and I were together, how we were separately. I felt like a science experiment. Especially with Stephen. I was refilling my cocktail when he cornered me.

“Is it that easy?” he asked.

Stephen was six feet tall, solidly built, a little rough around the edges but a generally good guy. He wasn’t as smooth and polished as Andrew or clever as Jake though. He was that generally likeable good guy every group seemed to have.

“No. Nothing about this is easy.”

He watched me intently, “It’s been a month, Eve. Seems pretty easy to me.”

I had the distinct impression Stephen’s anger at Jake was going to keep him from hearing anything other than what he expected, but I spoke anyway. “Are you suggesting he needs to be punished before I am allowed to forgive him? Because I assure you Stephen, punishment has already been sufficiently doled out.”

He snorted, “I highly doubt that. He disappeared, Eve. Vanished into thin air and didn’t give any of us the courtesy of a note saying he was alive and well.” He over emphasized the word ‘well’.

Stephen’s eyes shot up over my shoulder and I knew Jake was behind me. I could feel the change in the vibration of the air. What was it Andrew had said? Jake and I vibrate on the same frequency? I certainly couldn’t argue that.

“Hello Stephen,” he said. His voice had that deep, authoritative rumble to it I liked so much.

“Jake.”

He moved between us, physically separating Stephen from me while he refilled his own cup. Jake glanced up at me, his eyes questioning. He could tell our conversation wasn’t light and friendly. “So, how have you been?”

Stephen didn’t even attempt polite conversation; it was at that point that I finally realized he was pretty drunk—the alcohol making him angry and stupid. “Fuck off, Jake.”

Jake stood up tall, emphasizing the size difference between the two of them, and glowered at his former best friend, “Excuse me?”

“Enquiring minds want to know… did you trade in your friends and your girl for a boatload of cash?” If I had any doubts how Stephen felt about Jake’s sudden reappearance, I didn’t anymore. Stephen was practically oozing contempt.

“I think that is a gross oversimplification of the situation, Stephen.” Jake’s eyes locked onto mine and I could feel his mood shift. He was keeping his anger in check, but just barely.

“Bullshit. You think you can come and go as you please? Just walk back into your life and pick up like you never left?”

Jake leaned in close to Stephen, “No, I don’t. Because you’re drunk I’m not going to hold this ridiculous conversation against you. But for your information, I don’t expect any of you to forgive me. I don’t expect anything from anyone. But I
am
back and I
am
asking for your forgiveness. What you do with that is your business.”

Stephen glared up at Jake for several long moments, “Fine.” he spat.

But Jake put a hand out and stopped Stephen from storming off. “One more thing. Just so we’re clear, if you
ever
suggest I traded Eve for money, I will beat you to a bloody pulp.”

The deep seething anger in Jake’s voice was terrifying and Stephen took a step back, the surprise obvious on his face, “Shit man, sorry.”

Jake straightened back up and glared at Stephen, “Get out of here, go sleep it off.”

We were alone for several moments before Jake turned around. The silence between us felt like an eternity. I couldn’t tell what he was feeling so I let him be.

“Is that how you feel? That I traded you for my new life?” he finally said.

I froze as I carefully considered his question. “No, Jake. Even if I did, I don’t anymore. I know you had to leave and it was as much for me as it was for you.”

His shoulders relaxed, “Come here. Please.”

I went right into his arms and let him hold me.

The music cranked up and Jake pulled me into the shadows, “Let’s dance,” he whispered. I relaxed into him, resting my head on his shoulder and shutting out the world. Our dance turned into three or four. When it started to drizzle with a second evening rain storm most of the gang called it a night, retreating to their designated rooms. I heard something about a poker game in one guesthouse and a movie in another.

But Jake didn’t let me go and I didn’t ask him to. I liked the way the rain dancing on our skin felt. I liked the way it was washing over me. Yes, my hair was wet and dangling in a mass of knots down my back, knots Jake kept lovingly brushing away with his fingers. And yes, our clothes were wet and clinging to our bodies; but it was cleansing. I felt like it was metaphorically washing our past away.

I wanted it to wash everything away except the moment we were standing in.

Chapter 9

The music faded away and all I could see was Jake. All I could feel were his hands as he cupped my face and studied me. All I could feel was him. He was everywhere, inside and around me. His scent was in my lungs.

I was in love with Jake.

Or still in love.

Or falling in love with someone I really didn’t know yet.

Damn.
I was so confused. And I needed to allow myself to work through all of that; I needed to feel what I was feeling and not what I thought I should be feeling.

“This was a pretty fantastic first date, Eve,” he said grasping my chin and pulling my face up for a kiss.

He was intoxicating. “Definitely one for the record books.”

He smiled. He was gazing into my eyes with millions of questions. I couldn’t possibly answer them all. “We should get out of the rain before we get sick. It’s cold, darlin’.”

The mention of cold made me shiver. But what to do next made me nervous. You don’t take men home on the first date. You just don’t. Not even men you’ve known for as long as I’d known Jake.

But I wasn’t ready for our date to end, either.

“Want to watch a movie in my room?” I asked.

“I’ll meet you there in five minutes,” he winked and disappeared.

By the time I’d dried off,
again
, and changed…
again
, Jake was back. He had on a pair of black basketball shorts and a white t-shirt splattered with a few raindrops. Plus that ridiculous smile of his.

For some reason I got nervous all over again. Being alone with Jake was still a rush.

I pointed to the big screen TV on the wall and the built-in shelf of DVD’s beside it. “Your choice. I’ll get the popcorn and chocolate.”

The little guest house had a kitchenette with every tiny appliance I could think of. The cabinets were always stocked and I found the popcorn right where it should be. I grabbed two bottles of water and located the bars of chocolate while the kernels popped in the microwave.

Then I heard the TV roar to life. I wondered what Jake had picked, knowing somewhere in the back of my mind it was going to have meaning. Sure enough when I poked my head out of the kitchenette with our goodies I found
The Princess Bride
paused at the very beginning.

“You’ve got to be kidding me? Of all the movies to pick from, really?”

He shrugged, “It’s our favorite.”