Chapter 26
TWENTY-SIX
ETHAN
Nevaeh is the same woman who kissed me in my club. The same woman I took from Logan’s home and brought to my dad’s beach house. She’s the same woman I fell in love with—said ‘I do’ to, yet she’s different. Her smile is brighter, her eyes are softer. She’s content—happy.
And so am I.
The last thing I needed was to spend more time away from the club and my business, if anything I needed to spend more time there.
But when she closed her eyes and pointed at the map, landing on Florida, I knew there was nothing that would keep me from getting in the car and driving away with her.
Luckily, my parents had offered to step in and keep an eye on the club and run things while we’re away.
I rented a comfortable SUV since I only have my sports car, we packed a couple bags, and hit the road.
“Did you know they have the museum of the Bible?” Nevaeh says, scrolling through some website on her phone.
She’s been researching everything we can stop and see along the way.
She doesn’t realize if we were to try to do everything she’s mentioned, it would take a damn year, but I don’t tell her that.
Every time she suggests another place, I nod and smile, and she adds it to her list. Yes, my wife has created a new list. Only she would throw one list away, and then turn around and create another.
It’s safe to say she has no idea what the word spontaneous means.
“So, are we stopping there too?”
“Maybe.” She shrugs. But when I glance over, I see the notepad app pulled up, telling me she’s already jotting it down.
A few minutes later, she gasps. “Have you ever been to North Carolina?”
“Nope.”
“I just came across a cabin there that’s for rent. It’s up in the mountains and it’s so pretty.”
She flashes me the screen of the two-story wood cabin with a bright green roof surrounded by trees with the back drop of several mountains.
“It looks so peaceful.” She sighs in contentment.
“So, let’s go.”
“I thought we were going to Washington DC… and Virginia, and Georgia, and Florida.” She glances down at her notepad for several seconds then hits the delete button. “Okay.” She nods, showing me the blank page. “Let’s do it.”
She taps away on her phone. “How long?”
“Do it for a week and then we can decide from there.” We can always leave early or go someplace else. She has three weeks until her surgery, so we have plenty of time.
“Can we still go to Disney after?” She looks up at me with her big brown eyes and thick fluttering lashes. “I really want to meet Mickey.”
“We can do whatever you want.”
She beams and does a little happy dance in her seat. “Yay! I’m so excited. This is so exciting!”
It’s a twelve-hour drive to Franklin, North Carolina, which is spent with Nevaeh playing deejay, belting out songs like it’s karaoke night at the local bar, and stopping along the way at the rest stops to buy coffee and food.
The last couple hours, though, Nevaeh crashes and I drive in silence.
It gives me time to think about everything.
Her upcoming surgery, what I want for our future.
With me going legit, eventually I’m going to need to supplement the income I’m losing with new money, and I’ve been thinking about opening another club somewhere.
Maybe after she’s better and healed we can discuss taking a longer road trip to check out locations.
I’ve also spoken to my dad about opening another hotel and casino.
It would be nice to get away from Atlantic City for a little while.
A couple hours later, we arrive at our destination. Nevaeh wakes up, refreshed and eager to check out the place. The home is even bigger than it looked in the pictures and has a wraparound porch overlooking the mountains.
“Let’s look at the backyard,” she insists, taking my hand in hers and sprinting around the side of the house.
“Oh my God! Ethan, look!” To the left of the house is a massive natural waterfall that leads to a stream that runs around the perimeter of the property.
Nevaeh kicks off her boots and peels off her socks, then rolls her jeans up a couple inches before she walks right into the stream.
“It’s chilly, but it feels so good. You can see right to the bottom.
” She kneels, getting her jeans soaked. Cupping her hands, she takes in a handful of water. “It’s so fresh and clean.”
We spend the next hour or so walking down the stream—of course she insists I get barefoot and join her in the water.
Nevaeh points out the fish and leaves and pebbles.
We walk behind a ranch and she stops to pet the horses.
It’s the most peaceful and calm I’ve yet to see her since I met her.
So much so, when she jokingly suggests we buy a place here, I seriously consider it.
It wouldn’t be the ideal place to open a club or hotel, but maybe I can look into the surrounding areas. Tennessee isn’t too far…
When we return to the cabin, we head to the back to grab our shoes and socks. “I’ll grab the luggage while you get the key from where they left it.”
“Actually…” She takes my shoes from my fingers and drops them. “I was thinking we could spend a little more time out here.” She waggles her brows playfully then undoes the button to my jeans.
As she pulls the zipper down, I glance around, already knowing there’s nobody anywhere near us, but still wanting to double-check.
Then, following her lead, I lift her shirt off her body and unclasp her bra.
Her breasts drop slightly, her nipples pebbling from the cool breeze.
I pinch the hardened peaks between my thumbs and forefingers and she moans loudly, the sound of pleasure echoing in the trees.
My touch spurs her on and, much like the first night in the club, she attacks me. Her arms go around my nape and her legs wrap around my torso. I hold her tightly, walking us over to the back patio that’s ready and set up for an outdoor barbeque.
Setting her on the tiled counter, I peel her jeans off her, taking her underwear with them. Completely naked and exposed to the cold air, she shivers slightly. For a brief moment I worry maybe we should go inside. She might be all smiles, but she still has a brain tumor.
But before I can voice my concern, as if she knows exactly what I’m thinking, she says, “I’m okay, Ethan.” Taking my face in her hands, she brushes a teasing kiss to my lips. “Please, just be in the moment with me.”
“There’s nowhere else I’d rather be,” I tell her before I press my mouth against hers. Her lips are cold and soft and plump. I run my tongue across her bottom lip then bite down on it, sucking it into my mouth.
Gripping her hips, I drag her to the edge and, spreading her thighs, bury myself as deep as I can go in her warmth. Her ass lifts and she meets me thrust for thrust. Her fingers stroke my hair while mine stroke her clit.
The only sounds that can be heard are from our bodies meeting and our skin slapping against each other.
I find the slender column of her neck, sucking and kissing her overheated flesh.
She tastes sweet, and I inhale deeply, needing her like I need oxygen.
She exhales a soft moan, and then her walls tighten around me, milking my dick of every drop of cum in me.
We stay like this for several minutes, our bodies staying connected in the most intimate way, while we come down from our high. She’s so quiet, I would think if we weren’t outside in the cool weather, she fell asleep.
That is until I hear a sniffle.
Pulling back, I look into her eyes and find fat tears rolling down her cheeks.
“What’s wrong, Angel?” I swipe the falling tear.
“Nothing,” she says, her voice cracking and several more tears falling.
“Everything is absolutely perfect.” She snakes her arms around me and nuzzles her face into my neck.
“I love you so much, Ethan. I’m trying to be strong.
I’m trying to live for right now, in the moment, but I’m scared. I’m so damn scared I’m going to die.”
I close my eyes and take deep breaths, trying like hell to remain strong for my girl. My heart is constricting and my stomach feels like a two-ton weight has been dropped in it.
Nevaeh pulls back and sniffles. Her nose and cheeks are tinted pink.
“When I made that list I didn’t know how to put into words what I wanted, what I craved.
I had just found out about my tumor and I freaked out, scared I was going to die before I lived.
So I went online and looked up the most popular bucket list items and that’s how my list was formed.
But no matter which items I checked off, it still didn’t feel like I was living.
I thought it was because I wasn’t doing the fun ones. ”
She hiccups through a sob and I want to shush her. Tell her it’s okay, and I get it. But she has thoughts swirling in her head that she needs to get out, so I keep quiet and let her say what she needs to say.
“I didn’t know it at the time, but it wasn’t about the items. It was about the moments, the memories.
When I’m with you, my body feels alive. My heart beats harder, faster.
Electricity flows through my veins. It doesn’t matter what we’re doing, where we are.
As long as I’m with you, I’m living and loving. ”
Her mouth tips into a watery smile and, framing my cheeks with her cold palms, she says, “I used to be scared I was going to die before I lived. But now that I’m finally living, I’m scared I’m going to lose everything I have.”
And while I want to argue with her, I can’t, because I’m feeling her every word she’s saying down to my very core.