Chapter 28
NATE (SENIOR YEAR, HIGH SCHOOL)
Sunday mornings are my favorite mornings…
Especially when I wake up to a certain green-eyed beauty grinding her ass against me.
That’s how my Sunday started, and it’s how I plan on finishing it too. Nathaniel and my mom will be home later this evening, but I’m going to enjoy the last few hours of peace I have left. Ellie will leave before they get here and sneak back over later tonight.
Then I’ll be doing a hell of a lot more than just grinding against her.
I stare out of my bedroom window and watch the neighbor’s barbecue in their backyard.
Mr. Richards is teaching his youngest son how to catch a ball, while his daughter splashes in the pool with his wife.
I watch with a yearning I haven’t felt in a long time.
Only now, I don’t want to be the kid. I want to be the dad showing his son how to play ball.
I want to have a wife that braids our daughter’s hair as she giggles at the faces I make at her.
I know most eighteen-year-olds don’t think about things like this, but I’ve lived a life most would never dream of.
I am far older than the years on a calendar tell me.
When you spend nearly every day fighting for survival, you start to think about all the things you’ll likely never have.
But those are thoughts I haven’t had since meeting Ellie.
It all feels possible. Something I thought I’d never have feels like it’s suddenly within reach.
I didn’t think I would be alive long enough to consider a family of my own.
Even if I made it out of this house, I never wanted to bring kids into this world if there was a chance I’d end up like Nathaniel.
But I’m not him, and I’d never lay a hand on someone I love.
I walk away from my bedroom window, back toward my bed where my beautiful girlfriend is lounging. I could stare at her for hours and never get bored. The thought of hurting her makes my stomach churn. No. I’ll never become that monster.
Not when she has become my entire reason.
My reason for putting up with Nathaniel. My reason for maintaining my scholarship. My reason for trashing those pills that belong to my mother. The thoughts that used to plague me are a distant memory. I’d never consider leaving Ellie on this earth without me.
She is the reason for all of my smiles. The reason my heart beats faster when she’s in the room. She is the reason I feel unconditionally loved for the first time in my life.
She is my person.
The person I can be myself around. Not the popular, fake, asshole of a quarterback I portray at school.
She’s the person that accepts my flaws, the person I can break in front of.
The one who will put me back together instead of kick me when I’m down.
I don’t have to be strong when I am with her. I want to be. That’s the difference.
I take a hit from the joint in my hand and pass it to Ellie.
She giggles as she watches a man on TV run nude down a beach.
I watch her cheeks flame, the blush painting her skin so perfectly.
Her ability to hold on to her innocence, after everything she’s been through, is one of my favorite things about her.
I’ve kissed every inch of her skin. I’ve touched the parts of her no one has ever touched. I’ve licked her in places she didn’t know could be licked. Even after all that, her sweet innocence remains.
It’s just Ellie.
She’s lying on her stomach, elbows bent with her cheeks cradled in her palms, feet kicking the headboard behind her.
Her hair is a chaotic mess from the countless hours in my bed, countless hours being fucked senseless.
With my mouth. With my fingers. With my cock.
She’s just as insatiable as I am. Every part of her was created just for me.
This has become a tradition every time my parents leave for their weekend campaign tour. Ellie stays over, and we hardly leave my bed as I show her all the ways I love her. We’ve been bingeing our favorite show since school let out on Friday.
Watching Naked and Afraid while getting high has also become our tradition. Ellie is convinced we are going to do this one day, but I’ll be damned if people see my girl naked on national television. That’s just for me to see.
“I’m still going to love you, even when your ass starts sagging like that.” She cackles, pointing to the screen. That joint is definitely doing its thing for my lightweight girlfriend.
“Brave of you to talk about my future ass when your tits will be hanging down to your knees after the number of babies I put in your belly.”
“Oh yeah? What are we going to name these babies?”
“If we have a girl, let’s name her Luna.”
She snorts. “I am not allowing your obsession with Luna Lovegood to be responsible for the name of our future daughter!”
“It’s a good name!” I toss back, knowing full well she’ll never agree to it. “For a boy, I want to name him Michael.”
“Like after my sister’s bio dad?” she asks with a confused expression.
I hide my grimace with a cough. “Yeah, sure. Why not? He was a really good guy, right?” I plop down on the bed next to her.
“That’s what I hear,” she says, taking another hit before passing it back to me. I’ve heard all the stories. War hero. Good family. A friend to everyone. He was the type of dad Ellie deserved. The man who should have been her father. The man she still doesn’t know is her biological father.
A small knock at the door brings me out of my thoughts.
“Hey Ems! Want to watch Naked and Afraid with us?” Ellie asks, always happy to include Emmy in our time together.
God, I love her.
“Ewe, no. Old naked men? I’ll pass.” She makes an exaggerated gagging noise.
“I’d prefer if you said ‘naked men’ in general,” I reply, not wanting to think of my baby sister and naked men in the same sentence.
Ellie rolls her eyes. “Ignore him. What do you need, Emmy?”
“Just letting you know that I’m going over to Cam’s house. Her dad just called and invited me over.”
I think it’s strange the way Cam’s dad is always inviting Emmy over, never Cam. I get a weird feeling every time I’m around the man, but I’ve never seen him act inappropriately.
“Okay, take your phone. And make sure it’s charged.”
“Yes sir,” she salutes, before running back down the hall. Cam lives four houses over, so it’s not usually a big deal for her to walk over.
Ellie reaches for the remote when a commercial comes on screen, bringing my attention back to the TV. She flips through a few channels before I recognize a familiar scene.
“Oh, stop here,” I request.
“What is this?” she asks as Tom Cruise grabs a microphone, dressed in his white Navy uniform.
“What is this? What is this!?” I practically shout. “Only one of the greatest movies of all time.” She screeches when I tickle her sides in retribution. I jump out of my bed and grab my hairbrush just as the entire cast joins Tom in one of the most epic cinema scenes of all time.
Bringing my brush to my mouth, I use it as a microphone and serenade Ellie the way Maverick serenades Charlie. “But baby, believe me, I know it!” I carry on through the rest of the scene, singing along obnoxiously with Tom Cruise.
Ellie is cracking up, tears streaming down her face as I grab her hand and pull her from the bed, forcing her to dance with me.
She grabs the joint from between my fingers.
“I think you’ve had enough of this, sir.
” She giggles, setting it in an ashtray on my bedside table.
She goes to grab the remote and flip back to Naked and Afraid, but I wrestle it from her.
“No way. You, baby, need to be educated. Educated on the need for speed.”
We spend the rest of the afternoon watching Top Gun. Ellie is less than impressed, but enjoyed our little slow dance to “Take My Breath Away.” A weekend with Ellie always leaves me feeling content. She makes me look forward to life, to my future.
By the end of the movie, she starts to doze off, but I wake her so that she’s not too sleepy on her drive home. If something happened to her, it would end me.
“What are you doing?” she asks as I rummage through my desk drawer.
“Close your eyes.”
She giggles at my request, but closes them tight, occasionally opening one eye to peek at what I’m doing. I hid it well, worried Nathaniel would find it and ask questions I’m not ready to answer.
“How much longer?” she whines, getting impatient with this game.
“How long would you wait for me?” I tease.
“Forever,” she answers without hesitation.
“Good, that’s what I was hoping. Turn around and lift your hair.” She twists around in my bed, presenting me with her back, while lifting her beautiful, auburn hair from her neck. I take the necklace out of the box and bring it around her neck, clasping it in the back. She looks down and gasps.
“The heart of the ocean.” She gasps, staring at the blue heart diamond laying against her chest. It’s a lot smaller than the necklace from her favorite movie, but the diamonds are real, and gold is the highest quality I could find.
“That’s a promise, Pip.”
“What kind of promise?” she whispers, her eyes flooding as she looks down at her gift in awe.
I sit down next to her on the bed. “You wanted a titanic moment. This is my promise that I’ll come for you. No matter how long I have to wait, I’ll be waiting for you on the other side. I’ll take your hand and walk with you into our next life together.”
She’s crying in earnest, but she can’t help but make a joke. “Will you be in a black tux?”
“Now you’re pushing it, Pip.” I laugh, tickling her sides as she squirms. She jumps into my lap, effectively halting my tickles. This is my favorite place to have her.
“Thank you, Nate. I love it so much. I’m going to wear it forever.”
“Good, because I’m going to love you forever.”