Chapter 24
Twenty-four
Morning crept up slowly on me as I stirred awake, blinking a hazy sleep out of my eyes.
Light filtered into the room through the blinds on the window, sending streaks of dusty sunlight onto the bed, and I needed a moment to remember where I was waking up.
I rolled over to see an empty space beside me, only an imprint where Brooklyn’s body had lain so close beside me.
The sheets still radiated with his warm scent.
I made my way out to the common area and felt a gust of cool, salty air. The doors to the balcony were open, and Brooklyn leaned on the railing, looking out at the ocean.
“Hey, you,” I said as I approached him.
“Hey, yourself.” Brooklyn snaked his arm around my waist and pulled me in close to him. It was amazing how at home I had become in his arms, letting his warmth and his fresh, clean scent consume me.
The sun hung high over the ocean, decorating the waves with glints of gold and white. A comfortable quiet consumed the space, with nothing to hear but the faint sloshing of the ocean.
“It’s so pretty out here,” I said.
“It is.” He gently kissed the top of my head. “Not as pretty as you, though.”
I nuzzled in closer to his chest, and felt a smile pull at my lips. I wondered for a moment if this was really how it was going to be. Mornings on the ocean, coffee and soft kisses, warm bodies and the fluttering sensation I got in my stomach every time he smiled at me.
Or maybe it was all an illusion. A trick my mind was playing on me to deflect me from the inevitable crash.
I tried not to give it credence, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t there—the constant threat of his relapse crept in the shadows of my mind, only exposing small bits of itself and making me wonder if he could handle another collapse, or if we’d collapse too.
I shook my head, desperate to expel it all from my mind.
It had no place here, and I wouldn’t let it stay.
A knock at the door of the suite disrupted the brief lull of peace.
“I got it!” Stella burst from her room in yoga pants and a sports bra. Brooklyn whipped his head around when he heard Alec’s voice at the door.
“Brooklyn, you need to learn to pick up your phone.” Alec strode into the common area of the suite, head up and posture rigid like a machine. He slid a bag of golf clubs off his shoulder and let them clatter to the floor. “Our tee time is in a half hour.”
“Shit,” Brooklyn hissed.
Alec’s lips twitched downward into a slight frown, which was about as much emotion as he could muster. He raked a chunk of curly hair off his forehead. “You forgot, didn’t you?”
“Give me five minutes,” Brooklyn replied hurriedly. “I swear I’ll be ready.”
Brooklyn groaned and retreated to our room, leaving me alone with Alec. I’d never actually been alone with him the few times we’d all hung out, and the tension of things unsaid was so thick it was almost physically tangible. Alec cleared his throat.
“Nice to see you again, Nat.” He nodded cordially.
“Likewise,” I replied. I looked down at my newly manicured nails and fought the urge to rip the gel right off.
“You can come to the golf course if you want,” Alec offered.
“Oh no, that’s okay.” I shook my head. “I don’t golf. I can’t golf.”
Stella reemerged from her room and slung her arm around my shoulder. “You don’t actually golf. You sit in the golf cart with me, drink Bloody Marys, and watch them golf.”
I cocked an eyebrow at her. “Really?”
Stella nodded with enthusiasm. “Would I steer you wrong?” She paused and tapped her chin. “Actually, don’t answer that.”
>> > <<
“Oh wow. That dress is insane. In a good way, of course.”
Stella had come into the bedroom to borrow a spritz of perfume when she saw me crouched in front of the mirror in the corner of the room, finishing up my makeup. I’d tied my hair into a slicked-back bun, leaving the entire open back of the dress exposed.
“Thanks,” I replied. “You don’t think it’s too much?”