Total pages in book: 66
Estimated words: 65683 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 328(@200wpm)___ 263(@250wpm)___ 219(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 65683 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 328(@200wpm)___ 263(@250wpm)___ 219(@300wpm)
I smiled down at my feet. “Yeah, feels like it. Wouldn’t be us if something crazy didn’t happen.”
We started walking down the boardwalk toward the restaurant.
Vaughan reached for my hand and didn’t let go. “Remember the beach tent incident?”
“Sand everywhere.” I sighed. “And Sandy going crazy.”
“Yeah, Sandy. Still crazy?” he asked.
“Yup.”
“Just like my dad. At least we can agree on that. Think they’re still screwing?” he asked. “Not that I want details.”
“I think…” He squeezed my hand and pulled me closer to him. Butterflies exploded in my stomach. “That they’re still together. Otherwise, she’d be even harder to deal with. Plus, you know Mark, her husband, he has his own side piece. Apparently, it works, and love is dead.”
“Maybe to them,” Vaughan said. “But they’re entitled idiots with too much free time, no offense.”
“None taken.”
“Am I entitled still, you think?”
I smirked up at him. “The fact that you have to ask that says enough.”
His face fell.
“But,” I added, “the fact that you’re aware of it means that you don’t want to be. You just can’t help it, and that’s good because it means you're self-aware.”
“I think you just gave me a compliment.”
“The beach makes me sappy.”
“Ah, I see.” We were almost at the little dock with all the restaurants. “Maybe that was the key all along, getting tutored on the beach so you don’t build a shank and or cut my dick off.”
“You can build shanks anywhere. I’d find a shell.”
“Part of me feels like that would hurt worse than a knife.”
“Shells are very sharp. Imagine the bacteria.”
“Whoa, okay, Dateline, settle down.” He released my hand, then wrapped an arm around me. It was so casual, so normal that I didn’t even realize we were walking like that until we passed a store and I looked at our reflection. To anyone on the outside, we looked like a couple. And not just any couple but a happy couple.
I swallowed the lump in my throat.
If only we could go back to the past and communicate or tell each other to put down the very firearms given to us by our parents and weaponized by them at the same time.
“Two,” Vaughan called out to the server. “And can we be on the water?”
“One table left.” She grinned. “You guys out celebrating anything?”
My heart sank to my feet.
“Actually, yes,” Vaughan said. “You see, I forgot her birthday last week and treated her like shit, so I’m trying to make up for it starting with hamburgers, followed by drinks, some fries, more drinks, and most likely ice cream. You think you guys can come sing later too?”
“Of course.” She looked ready to swoon. “That’s just, wow, what a self-aware man. Keep him.” She winked at me. I felt hot all over when I sat down. I expected him to sit across from me. Instead, he sat right next to me.
“What are you doing?”
He just shrugged and said, “Staying by your side since I failed to do that last week. Is that okay?”
Staying by my side.
Not in front of me.
Not behind me.
Next to me.
A partner.
A friend.
A lover.
Equal.
My dream.
“Y-yeah,” I finally croaked out. “Should we order some drinks?”
With a nod, he looked down at the menu and grinned. “Will you build a shank out of that fork if I joke and say Sex on the Beach?”
There went the butterflies again. “Take your chances. They also have steak knives here, and the tables have shells. I could maybe come up with a new prototype. Imagine the possibilities.”
“Whiskey and Coke it is.” He tossed the menu onto the table. “But know, if you want to order a Slippery Nipple, nobody is stopping you.”
I turned to him. “I’m more of a Duck Fart sort of girl.”
“It’s the coffee liqueur in that for me, slaps every time, but you always have to follow it with something the opposite, like… Ass Juice.”
I was just taking a sip of water and nearly spilled it all over my lap. Setting my glass down, I put my hand on his thigh. “I think blue balls follow Ass Juice. Right?”
“Yeah, but only if you add in the blow job between the ass and balls.”
“Ah yes, to prepare for Liquid Cocaine.”
He made a face.
"I forgot about that one. I think the first time I had that mixture, I puked in my hands and tried to hand it to Brady.”
“Aw, you tried to give him a gift!”
“Right? And he didn’t even say thank you.”
“What a dick.” I laughed.
Our server cleared her throat.
“Oh, sorry,” I said. How long had she been standing there?
“So,” She stared down at the iPad screen. “Is it going to be the Ass Juice, Liquid Cocaine, or did you want to go with strict Duck Farts and move on from there?”
Vaughan, dead serious, looked up at her and said, “Ma’am, we’d like the Duck Farts on the rocks. Though, I gotta take it slow tonight, don’t want to end with the blue balls if you get my meaning.”