AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“What, you’re not going to talk to me now?” she asks as I get up and make my way into the bathroom. Once I’m done, I come out to her sitting in the exact same position as when I left. “Come on Ash, at least give me a chance to apologize.” That gets my attention.
“Apologize?” I say with wide eyes and a sarcastic laugh, sitting back down on the bed with my back to the headboard and my feet crossed in front of me. “A few hours ago, you were dead set on not seeing me let alone apologizing to me.” She sighs, leaning back in her chair and tilting her head back to look at the ceiling.
“I know, I was angry last night. Angry that I didn’t see what was right in front of me, angry that my best friend didn’t want to tell me about something big happening in her life, and angry because I knew I had done it to myself.” I quirk an eyebrow, wondering where she’s going with this. “My brother had a very harsh one-on-one with me this morning, called me selfish, mean, and vindictive, something that’s never happened to me.” I sit up straighter, wondering what else was said between the two.
“Ash, listen. I know we’ve both done some things these past few days that we’d like to take back.” I nod, wishing I could go back to my past self and tell her what a mistake keeping this secret would be. “But I don’t want to lose you because of this.” I turn to face her before crossing my legs underneath me.
“I don’t want that either. I just don’t know how to get past this,” I whisper, avoiding her gaze and studying my fingers as they pull at the hem of my oversized t-shirt.
“I didn’t take off the bracelet because I hated you,” Kelsey says, my eyes snapping to hers as a slight smile plays on the edge of her lips. “It was breaking, and I didn’t want to lose it on the ship somewhere and not be able to find it, so I took it off in hopes of fixing it when I got back to the room.” A weight lifts off my chest at the realization that she didn’t do it on purpose. That the girl I grew up with, the one who knows me better than anyone else in the world, didn’t actively try and hurt me.
“You don’t hate me?” I whimper, the tears of relief filling my eyes as they spill over and cascade down my cheeks. Kelsey’s eyes widen as she gets up from her chair and comes to sit next to me, wrapping her arms around my shoulders.
“I could never hate you, Ash. I was just frustrated and hurt that you didn’t want to tell me you were sleeping with my brother.” I start to laugh because the way it comes out of her mouth sounds ridiculous.
“Hearing ‘sleeping with your brother’ come out of your mouth is just surreal,” I admit, pulling away and taking in her guilt-ridden gaze. “I know the way I went about it was horrible. I regret keeping it from you, and I wish I could go back and change that, but I was so scared.” Kelsey nods, taking my hand and squeezing.
“I know. I just spent the last twenty minutes having my brother explain it all to me like I was in kindergarten. But I need you to know that you will never lose me. Even if you end up hating my brother at the end of all this, I will always be your sister. And I know for a fact that Mom and Dad would not let you out of their lives because of a bad breakup with their son. Kacey should be more worried if that happens because I’m pretty sure they would pick you over him.” I smirk, laughing softly as I smack her arm.
“That is not true.” Kelsey shrugs as if it could be, and the heaviness that felt permanently attached to my chest begins to dissipate and my breathing becomes even. “So, what now?” I ask, wondering how we go on from here. I want everything to go back to normal, and I know it will over time but that doubt still lingers on the edges of my mind and I wonder if I will ever erase it completely.
“Well, you can start by telling me how you ended up with my brother in the first place when you were adamant that you wanted nothing to do with him.” I chuckle softly, the blush creeping up my cheeks as I settle into the bed and motion for her to sit beside me. And that’s how the rest of the morning goes, both of us sharing a bed, sharing details of my love life like we’re back in high school and obsessed with the new guys in class.
* * *
I step into Squid Ink with a smile on my face and a sense of calm I haven’t felt since I first saw Kacey that first day on board. Kelsey steps up behind me and looks down at my arm and back at her brother who is talking to Reggie and hasn’t seen us yet.
“I still can’t believe he created that for you,” she says, taking my arm in the palm of her hand and bringing it closer to her face. It’s healing nicely, at least that’s what Kacey keeps telling me, and when I look at it, all I can think about is the way he looked when he was creating it and it sends warmth spreading through my chest.
“He’s very talented,” I mutter, still staring at him, loving the fact that he still hasn’t realized I’m here.
“That’s not what I mean. This is incredibly personal. How did he know you loved sunflowers?” she asks, her eyes quickly landing on her brother as his eyes finally meet mine and that bright smile breaks out over his face.
“He told me he remembered me saying I loved them when we were kids.” Kelsey becomes quiet and I peer over only to see her staring at her brother with a look of disbelief on her face. I don’t get the chance to ask what the look means because both Reggie and Kacey walk over, Kacey kissing me lightly before pulling me into his chest, his nose tunneling into my hair and breathing deeply.
“I missed you,” he whispers low enough for only me to hear and I smile shyly, kissing his neck before pulling away, locking eyes with Kelsey.
“You guys are sickening,” she mutters, rolling her eyes, but I see that glimmer of hope there, something we talked about at length this morning. I know she’s excited about what this relationship means, but I asked her to keep her excitement contained because I know if there’s too much pressure on us, then it will fail.
“So, everything’s good?” Kacey asks, and I nod.
“Yeah, we’re gonna spend some time by the pool for a bit. I just wanted to see you first and let you know everything’s fine.” Kacey’s eyes soften as they flick to his sister.
“Thank you,” he mouths and shrugs before he looks back at me and then down at my arm. “If you’re gonna be by the pool let me wrap this before you go. I don’t want it to get infected right when it’s starting to heal so well.” I nod and watch as he leaves, gathering supplies, and then spends the next ten minutes wrapping it up.
“Thank you,” I say before he bends down and kisses me softly. “I’ll come by in a few hours to see if you guys want any food. I’ll go and grab it for you.”
“You don’t have to do that,” Reggie says from behind the desk but I shrug.
“It’s the least I can do since I’ve pretty much stolen your partner these last few days, leaving you to fend for yourself.” Reggie’s bright smile lights up his face and I can’t help but reciprocate. “I’ll see you in a few hours, okay?” I say to Kacey who is staring at me with a look I can’t place but before I can overthink it he bends down and kisses me lightly before Kelsey tugs at my hand to leave.
“Come on, if we don’t hurry all the chairs will be gone.” I roll my eyes, causing Kacey and Reggie to chuckle behind us as we leave. “You know if this is what my life is gonna be like from now on, you need to warn me because there’s only so much of that I can take,” Kelsey mutters. For a second I wonder if she’s serious, but then I see the sly smirk on her face and I shove her shoulder, causing her to laugh loudly, causing more than a few people to look our way.
I bask in the normalcy of this moment and hope to God I can keep this up because I might want to jump headfirst into this thing with Kacey, but the reality is fast approaching and that will be a hurdle I don’t know if either of us is ready for.
CHAPTER TWENTY
ASHLEY
