15. Aurora and the last time she saw Anthony
Chapter fifteen
Aurora and the last time she saw Anthony
I snatched the small basket of strawberries off the kitchen counter. Did I have plans for those berries? Yes, yes I did. Did any of those plans involve eating them like a civilized person? No! No, they did not! I smirked as I came out onto the porch in my jean shorts and a tank-top, watching my hungry gator eye me from sneaker-covered toe to the crown of my head. He spotted the strawberries and snorted. “We’re really doing this?”
“You’re really about to actually eat strawberries off my ass? Maybe?” I teased, wiggling my hips at him.
He groaned. “Could you eat them and I just eat you?”
“I could be persuaded.” I winked, sauntering past him toward the front of the porch. Yuri told me about the strawberries Tim got him and how he ended up feeding them to the hares that roamed the forest. I insinuated he didn’t give them a try. Yuri needed warming up to new things. Well, except for me. He was a creature of habit; it was one of my favorite things about him. He was predictable, reliable, and easy to talk to.
Probably why we talked non-stop—if not on the phone, then at his cabin or at the farm. It was a complete 180 from Anthony, and I soaked it up. When Yuri got to talking passionately about something, he was an overflowing waterfall of words, but when I talked about something, he was all ears.
So when he told me about the strawberries and Tim’s desire to add new fun things to his diet, I couldn’t help but buy some. Yuri probably wouldn’t eat any, but he might nibble a piece or two if it was in conjunction with me.
Yuri snatched me off the gravel by the hips, carting me to his truck. Another favorite thing about him: he carried me everywhere. I’d barely shuffled myself across the seat when Yuri tossed himself inside. I buckled the seatbelt and tucked the strawberries safely between us. A knock on the window beside me made me jump. I had to crank the window down for a long time before my mother could pop a folded-up list into my hands, plus her debit card.
“Will you two go into town too? Doesn’t have to be tonight, but I need this by tomorrow at noon. Save me a trip?”
“Absolutely,” I chuckled, shoving the notes and card into my pockets. “And don’t worry, I already placed an order for lunch tomorrow. Clemens will be by around noon with the lasagna, salad, and breadsticks. ”
“Best office manager ever. Love you!” My mom shot Yuri a smile and a wave before frolicking back into the barn. Gladys waved at us as we slowly rolled up the driveway. It took all my arm-strength to close the window.
“Should we do that now? I doubt we’ll wake up early enough to go to town, get it, and then make it here by noon?” Yuri eyed both sides of the street before peeling out onto road. “Besides, if someone does want steak and potatoes, we’ll need to see Tim. I’ve only got pork and stew meat back at the cabin.”
“We don’t have to do—” I was cut off with a huff. Right, not a bother to ask for things. “I would like your steak and roasted potatoes, yes.”
“That’s my girl,” he snickered, grabbing his phone off the dash. I glared at him playfully as the truck rumbled down the road. Yuri glanced at me once with a raised brow, and I giggled nervously, peeking away. The blush he caused burned across my entire body as he smirked. “That’s what I thought.”
“Since we’re going into town, we could stop by the library?” I cheekily suggested with a wiggle of my brows. There was an ‘of course you would’ smile curling at his lips as he rolled his eyes. I gave him my best puppy dog pout. “I’ve got some books on hold for me to pick up is all.”
He showed me the app, opening the map that had both our heart icons fluttering next to each other .
“Sure, but no wandering, my little bookworm. If I see on the GPS that you’re so much as five feet past the desk, I’m gonna drag you out by those pretty thighs. I will deathroll your ass,” he warned, shooting me a serious look.
“What if something catches my eye?” I fake scoffed, tossing my hands out.
“Push your luck, Dollface. See if I don’t hunt you down in public. We’re going to have groceries in the truck.”
“That’s why we should get groceries last,” I pouted.
“Death.” He huffed. “Roll.”
“Fine, don’t get your scales in a twist.” I peeked over my shoulder at him, smiling from ear to ear as he shook his head. There was something so peaceful and happy in his face despite his protest. He slowed to a creep at a stop sign, checking both ways before pulling onto the road. The rumble of his truck was a gentle soundtrack between us as we crawled into town. Yuri pulled his truck up behind the grocery store, parking in one of the employee spots.
Tim, the tall, goofy, smiling grocery store manager, popped out soon after with a bag in his hands. I moved to crank down my window, only to have Yuri lean over and wheel it down in two twists like a fucking strongman. Show off. I stuck my tongue out at him but immediately put it back in my mouth so as not to tempt him. Yuri shot me a look that said I was pushing my non-spanked luck.
As if he has ever spanked me, but… the day was still young .
Tim leaned in the window, setting the bags on the floorboard by my feet. “Hey, Aurora, Yuri! How’s it going? Having a date night?”
“Chores,” Yuri grumbled.
“Mom sent me into town with a laundry list, so we’re treating ourselves to a steak dinner after,” I divulged, grinning at Tim.
“Sounds like fun. You kids don’t get into trouble now.” Tim winked at us.
“We’re the same age, Tim.” Yuri’s snark was ignored as Tim waved happily at us, ducking back into the store. Yuri reached over me a second time to roll the window back up with more incoherent grumbles to himself. I snuck a kiss to his cheek, enjoying how he froze. Yuri shifted closer, one arm still across my lap on the window lever, cheek close to my lips. Then, he turned to look at me, his yellow eyes studying my face. I brushed our lips together, feeling him melt into the touch.
His seat belt slowly unbuckled as he slid across the leather seat. One clawed hand cupped the side of my face, pulling me into a heart-stopping kiss. A soft, tender vibration, not like the kind he used in sex but almost like a whine, escaped him. He kissed me hard for a moment before pulling back from my lips.
“Aurora Murphy, I did… wish for you .”
I sputtered, watermelon-sized tears welling in my eyes damn near instantly as I slapped at his chest. “Yuri! Don’t you dare make me cry behind a Piggly Wiggly! ”
He snickered, kissing both my cheeks. “It’s not a Piggly Wiggly…”
“I know!” I wailed, cupping his face and pulling him in for another needy kiss. “I’ve been hanging around my mother too much.”
“And me,” he murmured, but I didn’t correct him. When I hung around him too much, I didn’t call every grocery store a Piggly Wiggly, or make goat sounds when I stubbed my toe, or any of the other wacky things my mother inspired. When I was around him, I was loud, bubbly, fiery—me again. Not that I didn’t feel like myself around my mother, but it’s different. When I was around Yuri, I was the person I threw away when I was with Anthony. I was Aurora Murphy again.
We made out like horny teenagers in that grocery store parking lot, kissing and panting and grabbing onto every inch of each other we could. It took an eternity before I broke for air and panted, “Now who’s getting distracted? Huh?”
He nipped at my bottom lip and slid back into his seat. “Let’s get your books and your mother’s supplies before I show Tim more of my anatomy than he has ever seen before.”
I snickered but let him tear us away from the parking lot. The last thing I needed was to encourage Yuri to undress in public. Freddie Carter was still deputy, and he was always itching for a reason to get us in trouble. One of these days, I’d get him back… but not today. Today, I was eating strawberries and steak with my gator in the woods .
We stopped by the post office and the supply store, where I made my mother’s orders, grabbed more stock for the office, and generally got a lot done in a short amount of time. Yuri stayed in the truck, glasses on, parked behind buildings. No one seemed bothered, and it made me relax to know he’d blended into the surroundings like a gator in the swamp. Near invisible .
However, it was as I walked back to the truck to load up the ream of paper I got for the printer, plus the ink and other supplies, that I felt someone fall into step behind me. I stopped a good ten feet from the cracked parking lot behind the supply store and spun around.
“Anthony?” I blurted out. When the hell did he get here? Emotions I thought I was immune from returned with a vengeance. Betrayal, guilt, disgust, pain, heartache; all of it bubbled up in my belly as I stumbled back a step on the sidewalk. I could just run. I could get to his truck before Anthony could say another word. But there was my ex-husband, in all his pretty glory, slicked back hair, angular face, big blue eyes, and the pressed clothes that didn’t look a day old.
Anthony stepped toward me, hands out like I was some kind of scared deer caught in his headlights. “Rory, baby, it’s me.”
“I fuckin’ know it’s you!” I spat, tossing the ream of paper to the ground by my ankle. Who the fuck did he think he was? Rage unlike anything I’d felt before rushed through my veins. Anthony blinked rapidly, sputtering in bewilderment as I dropped my bag of supplies on top of the paper for safe keeping. “What in the hell are you doin’ here?”
“I came to take you home,” he laughed with confusion, as if that was the only answer to a very silly question.
“I. Am. Home.” I put my hands to my hips, staring him down like a bull does its target.
He eyed me, the same twitch of disgust and concern pinching his nose. “Baby, what are you wearing?”
“Clothes,” I spat, feeling my temper rise. “I asked you what you were doin’ here, Anthony. What do you want?”
“I want my wife back,” he scoffed.
“Why?” I barked out a laugh, throwing my hands out. “Was Heather not enough for you? Was she not a good enough charity case to brag about to your friends? Was it because she comes from money like you? Because she’s got other options? Because she’s got a support system and a family and the means to take care of herself, so she doesn’t have to rely on you? Please tell me she used you like you used me; it would make my fuckin’ day! I hope she got all the fun she wanted out of you then went on her merry way and you felt even an iota of the same amount of rejection and pain I felt! Because you might want your wife back, but I don’t want my husband back.”
Anthony paled, hands falling to his sides. “Who are you? What happened to my sweet Rory? ”
“You broke her heart!” I roared, cheeks burning red as my heart raced. “You broke her , Anthony! With your snide remarks and your belittling attitude. I loved you. I followed you out of my home, gave you every part of me. I poured out my heart and soul and trusted you with myself and you squandered it. You used me up like one of your things, and when you were done, you tossed me in the trash. Because people aren’t people to you, Anthony. They’re things! But I’m not a thing! Look, I’m sorry your daddy raised you that way. I’m sorry you try to fill that hole in your chest with stuff because you never feel like you’re enough. I’m sorry you feel like you have to buy love because that’s all you know, but you can’t treat people like this and expect them to be sitting on the shelf still when you’re ready to play with them again.”
My voice cracked as the words poured from my mouth. Anthony’s mouth flopped open, as if he might react, but he said nothing. He had nothing, because just like what he did to me, I did to him. I used his confession against him. Long ago, back when I still loved him, Anthony told me some truth about his upbringing. All the fancy cars and townhomes and nannies he didn’t know the names of…he wasn’t raised; he was bought. I thought about it often, using it as an excuse for the reasons he was cruel at times.
Anthony took a strangled breath in. “I told…I told you that in confidence.”
“Just like I told you about my daddy.” I bent down and snatched up my paper and things. When I stood, he wasn’t looking at me. His pretty eyes bore holes into the broken sidewalk. My lips quivered with fury as I spoke. “I’m not a project to fix, Anthony. I’m an experience. Now, go the fuck home. I never want to see your face again.”
I whirled on my heel and stomped toward the parking lot. Yuri must have realized something was up, because he was out of the car, heading toward me.
“Rory,” Anthony croaked. I didn’t listen for him, didn’t stop. I stomped my way toward my gator, arms full and chest lighter. There was a scrambling of loafers behind me, like Anthony was trying to catch up with me, but as I passed by Yuri, he didn’t walk back to the truck with me. I kept my eyes glued to the pick-up. Hot tears, angry and stinging, welled in my eyes as I tossed my items into the truck bed chest.
Only when I turned to climb into the truck did I see Yuri headed back my way. He was wiping his hands on his jeans, Anthony nowhere to be seen.
“You didn’t eat him , did you?” I sniffled as my large gator clambered into his truck. Yuri snickered, evil glee on his face as he cranked the truck. “Yuri?”
“No, but I thought about it. Or at least death-rolling him.” He shot me a soft expression. “You okay, Dollface?”
I nodded, the tears already subsiding. “Thank you for going to bat for me.”
He smirked. “Of course, Dollface. You’re mine now; gotta protect my girl from greasy haired city folk. Besides, you’d do the same for me. ”
“No,” I laughed shaking my head.
“ No ?” He scoffed, staring at me directly.
“I wouldn’t have let whoever your ex was walk away. You really are a softie.” I was ripped across the seat and into his arms, squealing and laughing as he kissed me hard all over my face. “Yuri! We’ve got groceries!”
“Fuck the groceries,” he growled, tugging me into his lap. The strawberries fell to the floor, scattering everywhere as I straddled him. His large arms wrapped around me and held me close. Guess we’ll have to try them some other time.
If I’m being honest, I still don’t know what I said or wished for in those woods that night. Whatever I drunkenly proclaimed to the trees, it took my wish and gave me everything I ever needed. Like the app said, it knew what I wanted. It showed me what I needed. I just had to go out and find him deep in the woods without shoes on. Best not to ask too many questions or think on it too hard; it’s a part of the magic.
I’m still… a mess… but I’m a messy experience, and I like it that way.