7. Chapter Seven ~ Brayden
Chapter Seven ~ Brayden
I tried ignoring Mia turning my TV off, but I couldn’t let it go unnoticed. A part of me was angry about it, but the other part of me was turned on by her assertiveness. She was always an unapologetic woman, but last night, there was something different about the way she moved.
When I was able to get myself out of the bed and into my wheelchair, I wheeled into the kitchen for another beer. I had thoughts about crashing whatever it was she might’ve been doing in her room, until I saw that she was in the pool.
Her body glided on top of the water like silk. The burnt orange two piece bathing suit she wore hugged her body like a man who loved her; the way I used to hug her. I silently wished I was able to move as freely as I wanted to. Both physically and mentally. I held myself back, watching her swim laps in the pool that kept her figure nice and tight.
Each time she popped up from the water, I got a glimpse of her breasts, firmed and held up high by the fabric of her bathing suit top. They spilled over the top of her swimsuit slightly, making them look fuller and firmer. Her nipples showed through the fabric as well. They were hard and perky, gazing out like two eyes calling my name.
My mouth watered as I looked on. I thought about all the times I'd seen her naked and all the times I wanted to see her naked again. If I had the chance to roll around with her in the sheets like we used to, I was sure I could make her scream my name.
When I think back to the many times we had sex, I felt myself aroused. I was as hard as a rock, silently craving the feeling of her skin against mine. I wanted her breast pressed against my naked chest and the plumpness of her assets filling both of my hands.
I couldn’t tell her that, however. I knew she would only curse me and blame me for something new to shift the focus away from our lost chemistry. The more she shifted the blame each time it was close to being exposed, the more I saw it come to light.
I wished things were different between us when Mia visited Big Bear again. I wished I weren’t crippled, I wished we weren’t mad at each other. I wished Trent were home. I told myself that if I had the chance to go back in time and relive that night, I would listen to Mia.
She and I would have been in bed having a passionate round of sex before work the next morning, and our lives would have been peaceful. Unfortunately, life had no time machine and the choices I made were ones I had to live with moving forward.
I got so wrapped in thought about the times I shared with her, I forgot all about the boner resting at the hood of my underwear. It wasn’t until Mia made her way into the kitchen that I remembered. It was too late by then. She'd already seen the bulge.
“If I didn't know you, I would call you a pervert,” she said.
“Shit,” I quickly adjusted myself and turned my chair around. “Sorry about that. It's been a while since I've seen a woman in a bathing suit.”
“Really? That's hard to believe.”
I wasn’t sure what she meant. I didn’t ask either. With her, that could have been a compliment or an insult. I could never be so sure.
“I thought you couldn’t walk,” she said.
“It’s painful, but I can move around just enough to get myself into this chair.”
“How long is recovery supposed to take?”
“The doctor said anywhere from one to three months, depending on how much work I put in and how fast my body works with healing itself.”
Fighting and smoothing things over not long after was always a thing for Mia and me. It was easy. Our chemistry was so strong and naturally fought hard against our own thoughts of hating each other, we never even realized how easy it was for us to start talking again.
“You need to be nicer to those nurses the next time they come,” she said. “I’ve been wanting to tell you that all day. They're only here to help you. Imagine if they weren’t and you had to do everything alone.”
“Yeah.” I lowered my head in shame. “I was wrong for that. I'll be mindful the next time they’re here.”
Mia was the only person who could ever make me see my wrongdoings. It helped that she stood in front of me wearing nothing more than two pieces of thin cloth with water dripping from her body like a fountain. If we were on better terms and still madly in love with each other, I would have licked every inch of that water from her like I was a thirsty pup on a hot summer day.
“Good,” she said. “It’s not appealing to hear you cursing at women the way you were. Especially when they’re just doing their job.”
“Are you saying that I'm sexy?” I asked playfully.
She chuckled and stared at me for a moment like she was double checking to make sure that I still looked as good as she remembered. I knew she found me just as good looking as I did her. One thing neither of us could ever steer clear of was the physical attraction we shared for each other.
“We should do some catching up,” she said. “If we’re going to have to be around each other for the summer, we might as well make the best of it, right?”
She grabbed a bottle of wine from the fridge and invited me to join her near the pool. I couldn't get in and enjoy a swim because my legs were wrapped in bandages, but being in her presence was good enough for me.
“I agree,” I said. “I never wanted us to end up on such bad terms. Life just took a turn for the worse after the accident.”
I followed her through the sliding glass doors in the kitchen and out to the turf where the pool sat. It was a large space, decorated with all sorts of outside furniture and gym equipment. There was a bar and grill too. Neither one of us were grilling that night, but we used to all the time when we were younger.
Being around Mia made me miss those days. We had nothing but fun times and fun memories up until Trent was sentenced. After that day, it was as if the world stopped spinning and Mia and I became complete strangers.
"So, tell me about life, Brayden. What makes you the man you are today? How's work, aside from the injury? Love life, children, family. What?”
Mia took a seat on one of the loungers, popped her cork, and filled up her wine glass. I popped the top on my beer bottle and parked my chair not too far from hers, preparing myself to tell her about my life. There hadn’t been much to happen in my life since our trio broke apart. She and Trent were the ones who had the most interesting stories to tell.
“I haven’t done much,” I said. “As sad as it sounds, I haven’t had much excitement in life over the years. My mom's still the same. Uncle Joe’s still the same. I've won a few awards for my job, but nothing as exciting as traveling the world as a romance writer.”
I was happy and proud of all of Mia’s success, but I realized it didn’t sound like I was. I sounded like I was jealous or complaining that my life hadn’t taken the road hers did. I could have followed different opportunities or continued my education to become something greater than a firefighter, but I didn't. I got stuck in the loop of time and settled.
“Being a firefighter is a big deal,” she said. “From what I hear, you're one of the best in the town. That's something to be proud of. Trent would have loved to see you doing this.”
My triggers wanted me to take her comment as a stab, but when I looked into her eyes, I saw that she was genuine. I also knew that Trent dreamed of getting onto the fire squad before he was sent away. That was part of the reason I joined in the first place.
“What about your love life?” she asked. “Any special lady occupying space in your heart?”
“No,” I chuckled. “It’s been a long time since that’s happened. I haven’t been interested in a relationship in a long time. What about you? Seems like it from your books.”
“You’ve read my books?”
I read one of her books. The first book she wrote after she left. I felt like it was about our love and how it faded, but I never asked questions to clarify.
“One or two,” I said. “I’m not much of a romance guy but from what I read, you’re good.”
“Wow, I didn’t think you could read at all at one point,” she joked.
It felt nice to sit outside under the stars with her and laugh again. We hadn’t done that in years. We hadn’t done much of anything in years. I often thought about how things would be if we ever crossed paths again and my thoughts were nothing like the way it went.
Sure, I knew it would be rocky after all those years and after so much damage was done, but I didn’t think we’d be able to pick up and laugh so easily. I certainly didn’t think she’d ever agree to stay under the same roof with me again.
“What about you?” I asked. “Boyfriend? Children? Any special guy taking up space in your heart?”
“Hell no,” she said. “You were the last guy I entertained on an intimate level, and I haven’t thought about doing it with anyone new. Relationships are too much work for me. I spend enough time writing about them anyway.”
I thought it was ironic; a romance writer who hated the thought of a relationship. But, in a way I was pleased to know that I was her first and her last. I don’t think I would have taken it lightly had she told me she was involved with someone new. I always thought it’d be me and her.
“I guess your view on love is just as tainted as mine then, huh?” I teased.
“Yeah, well, if my boyfriend at the time would have paid more attention to the things I said, maybe mine wouldn’t be so tainted.”
Her playful smile let me know there were no hard feelings. She was simply stating her opinion without wanting to cause any real damage. I respected her way of going about things. Afterall, I was uptight and a grumpy man those days, so I was looking for any little thing to use as banter for an argument.
We spent the rest of that evening talking about our accomplishments and the things we wished we would have accomplished sooner. We didn’t talk about Trent much because it was a touchy subject, but there were instances where I knew we both wanted to bring him up. Until we got our feet on solid ground, it was best we didn’t. Otherwise, we would have argued nonstop.
“I think I'm going to call it a night for now,” Mia said. “It’s been a long day. Maybe we’ll run into each other tomorrow.”
“We’re in the same house so I don’t see why we wouldn’t,” I said. “I’m going to call it a night too. I'm not sure if Olga will pop up on me tomorrow.”