27. CHAPTER 27
CHAPTER 27
ETHAN
A n hour isn’t enough time to come to terms with all that I’ve learned this afternoon, but it’s enough to let me get rid of some energy. I beat the hell out of the bag for a good forty-five minutes before finally getting in the shower, then dragging on my jeans, T-shirt, and Army boots.
Giving my armpit a sniff as I pull into a parking spot, I can’t even remember if I put deodorant on. I was in such a hurry, just wanting to get here. No, not here. To her . I don’t want to be away from Ari anymore. That’s the decision I came to while pummeling my fists into the bag to the point that the skin on my knuckles nearly tore open. I’m in it to win it now. It’s Ari and me. Always has been, always will be.
No one will touch her again.
Fonz pulls in right next to me as I exit the Jeep at our favorite bar. We drove separately so I can take Ari home tonight.
I open the door and Fonz passes in front of me before I enter. We immediately see the bartender, Matt, behind the pine, and he gives us a nod and a smile as we wave and make our way to the back corner where our group congregates. Ari has her back to me. She’s sitting next to Sophie and across from Knox, who is sandwiched between Lizzie and Dee. His face fills with relief when he sees us approach. “Oh, thank God, some more testosterone.”
I give Lizzie, Dee, and Knox a salute since they’re on the far side of the table. Fonz plops down next to Sophie, who I greet with a kiss on the cheek before making my way behind Ari. Sliding in next to her, I lean in to kiss her temple. “Hey, baby.” My lips move against her skin.
“H— Hi.” She looks at me questioningly.
Yeah, I’m gonna call you baby now. Get used to it.
Before sitting, I grab the seat of the tall stool next to Ari and drag it closer. She scrunches her eyes at me.
“I couldn’t reach you from all the way over there.” I put one boot on her footrest, drape my arm across the back of her stool, and stare at her. Memorizing her profile as she chats across the table with Lizzie, I let my gaze caress her perfect features. A cute, button nose. Big, bright eyes. Pouty lips. Those freckles speckled across her nose and forehead. Red hair spills over her shoulders, and I can’t help myself from twirling it between my fingers with the hand that rests behind her. She must feel it because I see her eyes dart to the side as she continues talking.
She nervously tucks a piece of that hair behind her ear as she keeps talking animatedly, and I see she’s wearing dangling earrings. Reaching up and gently grasping the silver loopy jewelry, I then drag my fingertips down Ari’s neck. From the corner of my eye, I see Lizzie glance over at me and make wide eyes at Ari, but they still don’t stop talking.
I can feel the pulse in Ari’s neck as I trail my fingers over her collarbone and across her exposed shoulder. She’s wearing a cream-colored sweater that hangs off one shoulder, and I’m dying to just kiss all that smooth, exposed skin. To replace every harmful touch she’s ever had with tender ones.
And what the hell does it mean if I don’t see a bra strap? Does it mean she’s not wearing a bra? Or she’s got one of those ones with no straps? The kind that just hooks in the back. How does it stay up?
I’d love to find out …
My hand trails down her covered arm and, just like I suspected, the sweater she’s wearing is soft as shit and I just want to wrap myself around her wearing it and die that way.
Feeling watched, I freeze, and look up to find Ari’s eyes boring into mine. She tilts her head to the side, ever so slightly, and I look in that direction and see the whole table is staring at me. “Uh, everything OK, there, big guy?” Ari asks.
“Everything is great. Why do you ask?”
She clears her throat, looks at the rest of the table, then back at me. “Well, I’m kind of feeling like a circus freak with you pawing at me in front of everyone.”
“Do you not like it?” My hand finds hers and I entwine our fingers, pulling her hand into my lap.
She blushes and smiles. “Um, I mean, I don’t hate it. But it’s just, kinda new, I guess.”
We stare at each other for what could be eternity for all I know before Knox clears his throat and blurts out, “Anybody seen the latest episode of Yellowstone ?”
“ Ohmygod I would totally mount Casey and his dad, tag-team style,” Dee gushes, and the table erupts into discussion.
Except for Ari and me. We are still staring at each other. “What’s all this?” Ari looks at our joined hands and gives a little squeeze.
“Honestly?”
“Honesty would be nice.”
I hold her gaze. “You are the most beautiful creature I’ve ever laid eyes on.” Ari’s eyes widen, and I continue. “You are the strongest person I’ve ever known. And that’s beautiful. And despite all the fucked up shit you’ve been through, you still treat everyone with kindness, and you always look for the good. And that, too, is beautiful.” This time it’s me who squeezes our hands. “I just can’t take my eyes off of you, Red.”
Ari’s eyes narrow slightly as she takes in my words and what they mean, and then likely the reason I’ve had this revelation. “You saw the scars.” It’s not a question.
“Yeah, baby. I saw the scars.” With my other hand I reach up and tuck her hair behind her ear again. “And you and I are going to talk about that soon. But right now, I just want to be here with you. Now. Tomorrow. The next day … I don’t want to think about the bad stuff in our past right now. Is that OK with you?”
Ari nods and smiles.
We stay like that for a short while, sitting next to each other, holding hands, stealing glances at each other as we make polite small talk with the others. And I can feel the energy between us buzzing.
“I need another margarita,” Sophie declares, draining the last of her drink.
“Girl, same,” Dee cheers as she hops off her seat and slides behind Knox and Lizzie.
“Anyone else thirsty?” Sophie looks around the table. She knows Ari doesn’t drink, and since I’ve learned that, I don’t either. Last week she realized Knox doesn’t drink, and Lizzie is one of those spouses of an addict who either doesn’t drink, or drinks to oblivion.
“Make mine a double!” Lizzie yells as she makes finger guns in Sophie’s direction.
Tonight, it’s the latter.
“I’m good,” Fonz says, looking at his phone and smiling.
Sophie stands there for a minute, looking around the table. “Is it weird that we are now meeting regularly ‘for drinks’”—she makes air quotes—“and yet half the people in our group don’t drink?”
“Not at all.” Dee loops her arm through Sophie’s. “It just means the rest of us get to drink more.”
As Dee drags Sophie away, I say to Ari, “She’s a good friend.”
“She sure is.” We turn our heads to watch as the two make their way to the bar. Sophie is hard to miss. Sure, she’s a big girl, but she also has an air about her. Long, silky dark hair hangs wavy down her back, and she’s got some kind of gloss on her lips and, I assume, some kind of makeup on her eyelashes to make them look longer than normal. She’s ditched her glasses tonight and is wearing a black-and-white polka dot dress that goes to her knees that I would almost call retro, which makes her look kind of spunky—which she totally is.
Looking back to Ari, I realize I don’t see her crutches resting anywhere. “Where’s your sticks?”
“Left em at home,” she answers like it’s no big deal. “Sophie helped me walk in, and she’s going to have to help me out. But I knew I’d be sitting while we’re here, so, I figured I’d risk it.”
My smile could probably blind everyone in the bar. “I’ll help you on the way out, Red. I’m taking you home anyway.”
Just as Ari quirks a brow at me, Knox nods his head over my shoulder and shouts a greeting. We turn and see two guys in Mitchell & Sons hoodies come over. One’s a skinny blond guy with a man bun, and the other is an Italian guy with dark hair and bronze skin.
“Hey, guys, glad you could make it.” Knox stands and shakes their hands over the table. “Everyone, this is Tommy.” Knox gestures to the blond guy. “And this is Gino.” He motions to the Italian. “I used to work with them at my dad’s company.”
“Yeah, before he spread his wings and flew the coop,” Tommy says. That gets him a middle finger from Knox.
“Guys, this Ethan, Ari, and Fonz,” Knox introduces us. “And coming back with drinks are Dee and Sophie.”
The guys shuffle around as the girls approach with their drinks, and Fonz jumps up to help Tommy and Gino pull another table over to butt against the one we’re already at. As soon as Fonz sits back down, he swivels slowly to face Ari and me, waits a beat, and says, “ We’re going to need a bigger boat.”
“ Jaws !” Ari and I yell at the same time.
“That was me!” she shrieks and throws her hands in the air.
“No way, I totally beat you to it!” I shout over her as I try to pin down her flailing arms.
“Fonz. Tell him it was me!”
“Nu-uh. No way. Come on, man. Just give me this one!”
Fonz just shakes his head. “I don’t know, guys. It was really close.”
The rest of the table is looking at us like we’re lunatics. Gino leans down toward Sophie and points at us. “What’s happening over there?”
“Oh, that’s just some really weird game they play where they toss out random movie quotes and try to stump each other.” She waves her hand in the air in dismissal. “Don’t try to understand it, and whatever you do, don’t try and join in. They take it very seriously.”
“Yes, we do.” Ari pipes up then turns her attention back to Fonz. “So, who was it?”
“Oh, man. Can’t we just call it a tie?”
“No!” Ari and I both yell.
He blows out a breath. “Fine. It was Ari by a millisecond.”
“Boo-ya!” she cheers at the same time I cry out, “Bullshit!”
Ari puts her face right in mine and blows a raspberry, and spit flies all over my face. I laugh as I push her away with my palm on her forehead, croaking out, “I demand an instant replay!”
Fonz just shakes his head as Ari and I try to recover from our fit of laughter.
“You weren’t kidding,” I hear Gino say to Sophie.
“Oh, no. I wouldn’t kid about that.”
Gino smiles at her. “I’m sorry, I’m not sure I caught your name. Dee, is it?” He turns to face Soph full-on. Ari overhears their interaction and goes quiet. She darts her eyes to me, then down to the table, and I know she’s eavesdropping.
“No, I’m Sophie.”
“Sophie,” he repeats. “I’m Gino.” He sticks his hand out and she takes it. “You work with Lizzie?”
“No.” She shakes her head. “I’m friends with Ari. Who is, uh, with Ethan, and he works with Lizzie.”
“Oh, that’s simple.”
“Totally.”
“We just came from a job site, so that’s why we’re a bit of a mess. We were hanging drywall today, hence the dust.” Gino awkwardly runs a hand through his dark, messy hair, which has some gray dust in it.
Sophie doesn’t miss a beat. “Oh, so it’s not a severe case of dandruff?”
Gino barks out a laugh. “Alright, you got me!”
The two blush at one another.
Ari turns her head toward me slightly and gives me wide eyes.
“So, you guys are coming to the party, right?” Lizzie gets my attention, looking between Ari and me.
It takes a minute for Ari to realize Lizzie is talking to us, and she has to pull herself away from the conversation happening next to her. “Um … I’m sorry, could you repeat that?”
Lizzie laughs, knowing she caught Ari being nosy. “I asked if you and Ethan are coming to our party next weekend?”
“Yes,” I answer, and Ari looks at me in question. “I completely forgot to mention it,” I say to Ari. “Knox and Lizzie are having a … a what? A vow renewal?”
“Eh, I’m not really sure what to call it. We were never really divorced.”
“Actually, we were never legally separated,” Knox cuts in as he drapes an arm around Lizzie. “I mean, I guess we were separate, but we were never truly apart.” They lock eyes and communicate something between themselves.
“I guess we just want all our friends and family to come over and help us celebrate the fact that we found our way back to each other,” Lizzie says.
Knox cups her face in his hand. “There was never any other option, baby.” He leans in and kisses her so sweetly that the rest of us have to look away.
“So, anyway,” I say to Ari, “Lizzie asked me the other day and I totally forgot. Are you free next Saturday? I want you to be my date.”
“You have to come,” Lizzie says, done sucking face with her husband. “We’re having it outdoors at our house and I know it’s supposed to be cold, but we’re renting some of those big outdoor heater things and we’re going to have bonfires and lights and music and it’s going to be awesome.”
“Yeah, totally,” Knox says as he rubs his thumb and fingers together—the international sign for money. I cough to hide my laugh, and Lizzie elbows him in the ribs.
“Yeah, I should be free,” Ari says, and her eyes linger on mine.
“What?” I ask.
She grins. “So, a date, huh?”
I smile widely back at her. “Well, I figure it’s about time.”