Chapter 48
Chapter Forty-Eight
Sailor
Three years later…
“Congratulations, Sailor.”
I shake the hand of Dean Voss, who has been exceptionally nice to me ever since he found out Jaxon and I are dating. I don’t know if he’s doing it because he’s afraid, or if he’s just trying to make up for being a crappy father to Jaxon all his life.
We don’t do dinner on Sundays, or any meals together at all, but he will call Jaxon now and then to check in. Jaxon only answers half the time. Maybe less.
The last three years have been amazing. The best of my life. It’s hard to believe how much my life has changed, all because I lost my journal—the one thing I thought was keeping me going.
“Thank you, Dean Voss,” I say before crossing the stage, smiling as the small crowd of people clap.
School is finished. I have a degree in graphic design, which I’m not sure I will ever use, but I did it.
My parents and grandparents would be so proud of this accomplishment, not only for doing it but for doing everything else just to get here.
It was a lot. They’d be proud, and I hate that they aren’t here to see it.
Sometimes I wanted to quit. But with Jaxon and Amelia at my side, how could I?
I carefully walk down the stairs, where Jaxon is waiting for me with a grin.
He’s long since been finished with school, but of course, kept supporting me. The nights I didn’t feel like going any longer, he always found creative ways to coax me into doing my work. Most of them sexual, but hey, it worked.
He opens his arms and I go right to him, breathing a sigh of relief. He’s still my safe place, still the person who makes me feel the most calm. Which is funny considering he’s also the person who can get my heart racing the most.
“Congratulations, baby,” he whispers, kissing my head.
“Ah, you did it!”
Laughing, I turn to see Amelia bouncing toward me, her face split into a smile. She practically tackles me to the ground, squeezing me so hard I can’t breathe. “You did it, you did it, you did it!”
I laugh while also trying to catch my breath because she’s holding on so tightly.
“Amelia, I can’t breathe,” I wheeze.
“I’m so proud of you, Sailor!” she squeals, letting me go but holding onto my upper arms and shaking me.
“Thank you,” I say with a laugh.
“Congrats, Sails.”
I look up at the man standing behind Amelia.
“Thanks, Sam.”
Jaxon comes over to me and with a growl, he grabs me possessively, pulling me to his side.
He is not a fan of Sam, and mostly they keep their distance from one another. It kind of reminds me of Jacob and Edward, only Sam isn’t in love with me the way Jacob was with Bella. Especially since Sam has wrangled Amelia into monogamy… I know, it’s hard to believe.
Many nights I was woken up to Amelia crying about how much she likes Sam, but can’t stand to think of turning into her parents or missing out on fun…
They’ve been together now for a solid six months, and I haven’t seen either of them happier.
Jaxon, on the other hand, could do without either of them, but tolerates them for me. And yes, he did apologize to Sam. A gruff “sorry” was all that was needed, even after Sam told me it wasn’t necessary, that he was over it, and even though he doesn’t understand, he trusts me.
“Okay, Tarzan,” Amelia mutters, hooking her arm in mine and tugging me away. “I know we’re supposed to stay for the rest of the ceremony and stuff, but I vote we get out of here and get food.”
I look at Jaxon over my shoulder. He shrugs.
“Fine by me,” I say, holding out my hand for him to take.
Our fingers link together, and he comes up on the side of me, Amelia still holding onto my other side. Sam is there too, just beside Amelia, and we walk to the parking lot that is full of cars, but not of people.
“Beating the traffic,” Sam comments.
“The best part!” Amelia announces. “We’ll meet you there?” she asks before letting go of my arm and splitting from me to go with Sam.
“Same place, right?” I call out.
“Obviously!” She laughs loud enough it echoes through the lot.
We get into Jaxon’s car, and he drives us to the diner. I think this is the first meal we’ve all had together where Jaxon doesn’t look like he’s going to murder Sam the whole time. This time, it’s only about half.
The air leaves my lungs when my back hits the wall. Jaxon’s body crushes mine, stopping me from pulling in a breath. He eases back a little, his mouth going to my neck. He sucks hard, and I cry out, my nails digging into his back.
Tearing at my clothes, he moves down to his knees, giving up when there is nowhere to grab onto the satin fabric, and instead pushes the skirt of my dress up and pushes my panties aside. He hikes my leg over his shoulder and feasts on me.
My head bangs against the wall with a thud.
I find his head, grasping onto his hair.
He keeps it longer now because he says he likes when I pull on it.
I like it, but I do miss seeing the tattoos hidden underneath there.
The leg holding most of my weight starts to shake as I get close to coming.
It never takes long with him, even after he makes me come multiple times a day.
“Jaxon!” I call his name as I come, my body convulsing. If it weren’t for him, I’d fall to the floor, but he holds me up while working me through my orgasm.
He sets me down and gets to his feet, his mouth shining with my release.
“You have thirty seconds.”
“Wh-what?” I say through trying to catch my breath.
He raises a brow. “Twenty-eight… twenty-seven.”
My heart pounds a little harder.
“Like this? Jaxon, I’m in heels!”
“Twenty-five—you’re wasting time, little dove.”
I shove off the wall, hurry down the hall and out the back door of our cabin.
I sold my house, and now that Jaxon sublets his apartment, we bought this cabin… in the woods, on the outskirts of Seattle.
I slip on the wooden porch, but catch myself without falling. I kick off my heels, hearing them thud to the ground somewhere, then move down the steps as quickly as I can, and hurry across the wet dirt of our yard.
It’s breezy and rainy, as it usually is, and it’s getting dark—but we have a few lights set up in the woods. Our woods. We own a good portion of them.
I hurry through the trees, knowing I can’t have much time left before he comes after me. With the ground wet as it is, he’ll find me in no time with my feet leaving marks in the mud.
Once I get so deep that I can hardly see, the first light makes its appearance. It goes on only when it senses movement, but it’s a very low wattage. Just enough so I know where I am and where I’m going.
There is a little tag hanging from it, just a wooden number 1. We mapped them out so I wouldn’t get lost. It gives us more freedom to run and do what we want without worrying about getting lost or carrying our phones.
My throat burns as I pump my arms, hoping to get as far away as possible. But before I know it, I already hear him calling out after me. I stop and move around a tree, pressing my back to it so I can catch my breath so I’m not making so much noise.
No matter how many times we do this, it still excites me as much as it did the first time.
My blood pulses through my ears as I wait and listen. The trees rustle, animals move around… but Jaxon always yells for me, to let me know where he is. It builds the anticipation, letting me know how close he is or how much time I have to get away.
“Little dove!” he calls, his voice not far away at all.
I look around, but it’s dark and hard to see. Still, I have to make a run for it, otherwise I’m a sitting duck.
I push off the tree and run to my left.
There’s a growl, human, off in the distance and then heavy thumping. He heard me. Now he’s coming after me.
I smile as I move through the trees, my feet sinking into the dirt, stepping on twigs and leaves.
This is so freeing. Nothing has ever felt like this.
His footsteps get louder. Closer.
Then my body is on the ground, his on top of me. The ground is cold, damp, wet.
“You ran from me,” he says, his hand traveling up my thigh and under my skirt.
“You wanted… me to,” I manage to say.
He chuckles, his nose running along my cheek.
He shoves my panties down and slams inside me so quickly I scream.
“Fuck yes,” he says as he fucks me into the dirt. “So fucking tight. So wet. So perfect for me, Sailor.”
I moan, my fingers looking for purchase in the mud, but my fingers just sink in further. So I lie there and take is as my boyfriend fucks me until he comes.
He rests his head against mine, breathing heavily.
“I’m so proud of you, baby.”
Getting to his feet, he fixes his pants, then lifts me up, carrying me bridal style all the way back to the house where he runs me a bath. While that fills, I go into the stand-up shower to rinse off the mud and dirt, so I can enjoy my bath and it won’t turn into a mudbath.
Jaxon washes the dirt off me until I’m clean, then helps me into the freestanding tub. He kneels by the tub and washes me with a gentleness no one would think he’s capable of by the looks of him.
I think that’s my favorite part. That I get to see all these parts of him that the rest of the world doesn’t. That I know him, the real him.
He kisses my head, then gets to his feet.
“I’m going to make dinner. I’ll be back shortly.”
He leaves the room, and my eyes fall closed.
What a perfect life I have.