Chapter Eleven #2
As soon as she sits down, Erin slips her fingers under Ryan’s chin and forces his eyes to hers. “Hi, my name’s Erin Connelly and yes, I have amazing tits, but if you keep staring at them, I’ll never let you see them with my clothes off.”
Ryan nearly spits his beer out as Beck and I laugh out loud. That’s Erin for you.
“Dude, I think you met your match,” Beck laughs out and Ryan glares back at him.
We order some appetizers and the conversation begins to flow.
Ryan and Beck fill us in on how they met and have been friends since their days in the Academy.
Each one trying to one-up the other with stupid stories of all the dumb things they’ve both done.
It makes Erin and me laugh and we egg them on as each story gets funnier.
It all feels very natural and something about it makes me feel guilty, like I should have just left Rockport and gone with Beck in the first place. He has a life there and friends that don’t include me, but it could have, if I hadn’t been so stubborn.
I shake off the thoughts and order us another round of beers as Erin begins to give Ryan the cold shoulder after some conversation about gun control.
I was too busy talking with Beck about the quote I got to fix a hole in the hull of one of the charter boats at The Rockport Beach Inn to hear their full conversation.
Erin is a heated debater and judging by what just went down, so is Ryan. I don’t think it’s just Ryan who’s met his match; Erin better watch herself.
After letting out a loud huff, Erin gives Ryan the death stare and then looks at me across the table and shouts over the music that has just picked up, “Let’s do some shots and then dance, okay?”
“Sure,” I answer back, kissing Beck on the cheek and leaving him with his friend.
After a couple of shots of tequila and a car bomb, Erin and I are dancing in the middle of the bar with a bunch of drunken tourists.
Erin has found herself a guy who appears to be at least twice her age and probably has a frigid wife asleep at home in their million-dollar beach cottage.
She’s grinding up against him and he has his hands on her ass.
Everything about it is inappropriate, but then I catch her glance over at Ryan.
I see the fury in his eyes and I know exactly what she’s doing.
I pull her away from the oldie, shaking my head at her. “No,” is all I say and she laughs.
“No, to what?” she shouts over the bar noise and the music while giving me an innocent look.
Before I can answer her, she locks her mouth with mine in a kiss that is designed to draw attention and then she swats me on the ass.
“I gotta go pee,” she says and bails off to the bathroom leaving me with an entire bar of horny men staring at me.
I make my way back to the table where Beck and Ryan are sitting. Pulling my hair off my sweaty neck, I sit down and realize Ryan is missing.
“Where’s Ryan?” I ask, not even thinking about Erin until Beck speaks.
“He went to the bathroom,” Beck says, his eyes focusing only on my heaving chest.
Oh, shit. I can only imagine what’s going down right now. My only thoughts are that Erin has that poor boy cornered in the men’s restroom of O’Loughlin’s.
I take a long drink of my beer and fan myself with my hand.
“It’s hot as hell in here,” I yell to Beck as I hike my skirt up a little trying to cool off, but it just distracts him and his eyes are now glued to my sticky thighs.
“You having fun?” he asks, his hand sliding up my leg.
“Yeah. How about you?”
“I am. It’s been fun catching up with Ryan. We usually spend every day together and don’t tell him I said this, but I kinda miss him.”
I laugh just as Ryan walks up to the table in a hurry. His face is flushed and his hair is messy.
“What happened?” Beck asks as he takes in Ryan’s appearance.
“Nothing,” he quips. “That girl is fucking infuriating.”
“Where’s Erin?” I ask, knowing exactly what has just gone down.
“She left. That fucking girl,” Ryan says as he runs his fingers through his hair, the frustration written all over his face.
Beck stares him down, obviously knowing his friend far too well; without the two of them speaking another word, he gives Ryan Erin’s address and tells him to go fix it.
“Don’t blame him,” I say after Ryan has left the bar. “Erin is a piece of work.”
“Trust me, I remember her from all those summers she spent here with her family, but Ryan’s not innocent either.”
Beck and I finish our beers and as I stand up, I realize those shots I did with Erin early on are starting to kick in. Beck slips his arm around my waist as we both yell a good night to Pop.
“Come on my drunk girl, let’s get you home,” Beck says, planting a kiss on the top of my head.
“You know I’ll always be your girl,” I tell him and I don’t know where it comes from. Why did I say that out loud?
“You’ve been my girl since the day I watched you catch that thirty pound bass on your dad’s boat,” Beck jokes.
“Oh, god, don’t remind me.”
“You were screaming like a girl because you were so scared you hurt it. Your dad and I were jumping up and down. That fucker was huge.”
“But I made you get the hook out and throw it back,” I say, remembering exactly what Beck looked like then. Boyish, but still so incredible and I wanted him before I had ever spoken a word to him.
“I couldn’t say no to you and neither could your dad,” Beck adds and it makes me smile. Beck continues and what he says next surprises me. “But that wasn’t actually the day I realized I wanted you to be mine. I knew I wanted you long before I ever even met you.”
He looks down at me and his eyes are full of love. I can see it in his face and hear it in his voice as he talks about our past. It makes my heart swell in my chest, but it also makes me want to cry.
Beck unlocks the front door, scooping me up in his arms; he carries me to the bedroom, setting me down on the bed as he kisses me slowly.
His lips brush over mine as his tongue slips into my mouth. Everything about it is perfect. Slow and sweet.
He pulls my skirt down and my shirt over my head and unhooks my bra tossing everything off to the side as he does the same with his clothes.
Beck climbs in bed next to me, pulling me into his arms, I settle myself against him, fitting perfectly. I want this night and everything about us to stay this way forever. I need Beck; I can’t lose him a second time.
“Tell me something else you remember about me,” I whisper as the sound of the waves fill the room; a lulled silence with only the sounds of the ocean and our breathing cutting through the night.
I feel Beck smile and I wait.