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"Baby, I didn't know I needed to hear those words until you said them. You have no idea how much that means to me."
She reaches up and runs her fingers through my five o'clock shadow, which I'm sure is almost a beard since I haven't shaved in six days before saying, "This is new."
The way she's smiling at me tells me she likes it. Then she places her hands on my chest and pushes me back to take in my entire ensemble.
"What are you wearing, and where are your shoes?"
I'm wearing a pair of grey joggers and a navy-blue soccer hoodie that belongs to Mason. There was no way I was wearing his underwear, and our feet aren't the same size. As soon as I knew where Gianna was, I made zero detours. I needed to get to my girl. There was no way I would waste another minute without her by my side.
"I like this look on you. I've never seen you so casual." She gives me a sexy smile before lowering her hands from my chest to the waistband of my sweats. The next thing I know, she's dipping her hand inside and grabbing my cock. "I really, really like this look." She strokes it once, twice, and I can’t help but groan before I grab her wrist and still her hand. As much as I want to let her continue, we are standing out in the open on the beach, and this seems very out of character for her.
"Gianna, what are you doing? How much have you had to drink?"
She steals her arm back like a child that's just been scolded. "I didn't realize you were the only one that got to take what they wanted."
Is she fucking serious right now? She thinks I don't want her to touch me. I stare back at her, amused. "Baby, you can touch me whenever you want. I fucking love it, but the girl I was with a week ago wouldn't have made that move."
Her face heats with embarrassment before she turns to walk away. Grabbing her wrist to keep her from leaving, I spin her back around.
"Gianna, you don't get to do that. You don't get to walk away because you think you understand something you don't. A lot has happened over the past week, and we need to talk, but know this: I have never been more sure that you are my forever, my happily ever after, my whole world, so don't ever walk away from me thinking you're not my everything."
I watch as her lower lip trembles, and she lowers her face, no doubt hiding unshed tears. Putting my hand under her chin to bring her gaze to mine, I'm met with glassy eyes. "Don't cry for me." Then, wrapping her arms around my middle, she buries her face into my chest and hugs me tight.
That's when I notice Vivian approaching with the asshole I punched from the club in tow, and just like that, I'm pissed again.
"Gianna, what is that shitbag doing here?"
Raising her head from my chest, she looks over her shoulder before releasing me from her bear hug only to tuck herself into my side, and fuck if that action doesn't make me melt. My girl doesn't want to stop touching me, and I'm basking in that awareness. "Oh, that's Aiden. He is Bryce's roommate."
Grinding my teeth and clenching my fists, I try to reign in my fury. "Mason and I are going to have words. He really sent you to live with biker boy and this fucker?"
She swats my chest and then playfully says, "Someone's jealous."
I grab her ass hard, and she gasps before I say, "No, baby, I'm greedy and selfish. I don't share what's mine." Her lips are parted, and I can see that she's turned on. All I want to do is suck that bottom lip into my mouth, but we have company.
"Gigi, I thought you were bringing back drinks. When you didn't come back, we decided to come and see what was taking so long. Now I know." Vivian quirks her eyebrow mischievously while openly checking me out.
"Vivian, this is August, August, this is Vivian and Aiden. I don't think you've all formally met." Aiden gives me a head nod before heading back toward the fire, which is ideal. I have nothing to say to him, and I don't care to have him around Gianna.
"Well, August, it's nice to put a face and a body to the man I've heard so much about." Again, she's openly checking me out from head to toe, and I know Gianna must notice, but she doesn't seem phased in the least. I've been so drunk on reuniting with Gianna that I forgot we need to get going. The plane is waiting for us. I told the pilots I'd only be an hour or so, and now that Carson's body has been discovered, we really need to get back.
Clearing my throat to snap Vivian out of her obvious gawking, I say, "We'll have to catch up once everything calms down, but unfortunately, Gianna and I have to get going."
Gianna looks up at me with a furrowed brow. "Wait, we're leaving right now. I don't even have my things. What about Vivi? She came with me."
"Don't worry about anything, Gigi. I'll get all our stuff and bring it back with me. I'm going to stay down here a little longer. I'll come back when everything settles back home."
A smile takes over my face when I watch the girls hug and do some secret handshake. That's what a true friendship looks like, not the ones I've grown up having. A friendship forged out of true love and affection rather than necessity or coercion. Vivian may have been checking me out, but she wasn't trying to hide it from Gianna, and I think Gianna shrugged it off because she knows the true colors of her friend. Just because she's looking doesn't mean she'll try to touch. Vivian is a true friend who has her back through thick and thin, and it's evident Gianna trusts her immensely.
Once they've finished their goodbye, I take Gianna's hand, and we head back to the car, both wearing goofy smiles on our faces. There could be any number of reasons for our relentless smiles. Maybe it's because this is the first time we've walked together holding hands, or perhaps it's because we're officially a couple in the eyes of the people that matter. Whatever the reason, I'm fucking hooked.
Gianna
Five
Thisafternoon,lyingonthe beach with my best friend, I did a lot of soul searching. For years I've put myself and my needs on the backburner. I buried the person I wanted to be because I was scared she would be rejected. I'm not shy, but I stayed in the shadows for fear that people wouldn't see me for who I was. Instead, they would just see where I came from and dismiss me based on my circumstances alone rather than my merit. Drug addicts that couldn’t get their shit together couldn’t possibly raise a child that would rise above. No, I would lie, cheat, and steal just like my parents.
Being here, away from my family and the stigma that has followed me around my entire life, I've been able to breathe for the first time in years. Yes, the people I'm with still know my past, but my past doesn't have to define me. I can still be the free spirit I've always hoped to be, I can still make mistakes, I don't have to fit into any specific box because there is a vast world out there, and I am but one tiny little spec, barely making a ripple. We get one life to live, and I don't want to live mine with any regrets. In ten years, when I look back on this moment in my life, I don't want to sayI wish I would have let him in, I wish I would have let him see all of me, I wish I would have let him love me.
