Chapter 13
It feels like I'm supposed to be here, she said last night, and watching her out on the small ice practicing with her friends, I knew it was true.
She belonged here, on this ship.
I focused on my coffee for a second, trying to squelch my emotions, because watching her laugh with her friends was making my heart plummet into my ass, which I knew wasn’t fair. I should be ecstatic that she found her happiness and her place in this world.
I just wish that place included me.
My mind drifted back to home, back to what Kappy said that night in Colt’s backyard. He said Ali seemed lost, but that wasn’t true at all.
She had friends here, good ones. She wasn’t lonely. And that guy…Brandon. I grit my teeth as I watched him skate with her. He really liked her. When she talked, his eyes were glued to her. It was obvious. Just as obvious as the fact that he belonged here, and I did not.
This week was a dream, but the heartbreaking reality of the situation was about to come crashing in.
This precious, beautiful thing between us…it wasn’t for forever.
She basically told me the very first night that we couldn’t get our happy ending. It was just hard to actually see the reasons why right in front of my face like this.
But I needed to shove all this down.
We weren’t over just yet… We still had tonight, and I wanted to enjoy the rest of the little time I had left with her.
_________
“How about we leave off the way we started?” she asked, watching me closely as I racked up the pool balls.
“Yeah?” I grinned at her holding a pool stick in one hand, a margarita in the other. “I’m down. Dare.”
“Okay…” she drawled. “I dare the loser of this game to get a tattoo of the other person’s choosing.” She shot me a wicked grin while sauntering up to me. “What do you say, Jameson Patrick?”
Damn. The way she said my full name had desire shooting straight to my groin, and she fully knew it. I took a sip of my beer. “That’s a high stake, sure you wanna do that?”
She gave a nod toward the pool table for me to take the first shot. “Let’s go, big guy.”
I let out a small chuckle. I loved seeing her confidence. “All right, but let it be known that I gave you an out.” I lined up my stick.
“Confident there, bud,” she teased.
“Always.” I shot and two striped balls found their pockets. I gave her a wink. “Good luck.”
She gave a shrug as she waltzed around the table. Her tongue poked out a tiny bit as she studied the angles before taking her shot. With one hit, she knocked in two of her solid balls to tie it up. When she stood to her full height, she gave me a cocky smirk. “Not gonna need it.”
Wandering over to her side of the pool table, I inconspicuously squeezed her ass. “Did you just hustle me?”
She laughed as she smoothed away from me. “Take your shot.”
After her next two turns, it was painfully obvious I was going to lose this game. While I was decent at pool from playing here and there with the guys, Ali played like someone who practiced every night.
“Ooh, maybe you should get a Flounder tattoo,” she teased. “Right on your booty.”
I shook my head ruefully at her, making her cackle evilly. “Not over ‘til it’s over, baby girl. Eight ball is still in play.” I cocked an eyebrow at her.
She just smirked as she lined up to shoot.
“Shit,” I said right as the ball made a thud noise from being sunk.
“Aww,” she cooed, saddling up to me. She used two of her fingers to playfully walk up my chest, making goosebumps erupt under my shirt. “Is your ego bruised because you’re losing or because you’ll be stamped with a reminder of the loss?”
“Careful, Ali,” I whispered down to her.
She struggled to tamper down her grin. “Why? What’re you gonna do about it?”
I leaned down to kiss her hard and deeply, making her let out a breathy little moan. My body went rock solid while hers immediately melted to mine. Wanting to push her to the limit, I shoved my thigh between her legs, making her gasp. I grinned into the kiss, not letting up.
“JP,” she whispered.
“Yes?” I answered innocently. Without breaking the kiss, I bent and scooped her up under her butt with my left arm. She was now angled above me, holding my cheek. Turning, I set her on the edge of the pool table and—
“Get a room!”
She gasped. “That sounded like…” Pushing me away, she searched around and immediately set her eyes on a group of skaters all gathered across the pool deck.
The whole group was joking and laughing, but one guy didn’t look pleased.
With his hands in his pockets, Brandon stared at me with a blank look.
After making a “shoo” motion to her friends, she focused back on me. “Time to finish the game?”
I braced my hands on either side of her and I dropped my head to her shoulder. “We’re gonna have to wait here a second.”
Her eyes widened before dropping down. A second later, she dropped her head back, laughing freely.
I couldn’t help but grin. “Yeah, yeah. Get it out of your system.”
She covered her mouth, trying to control her laugh. “See, I think you were trying to knock me off my game, but you just hurt yours.” She tapped my chin. “Okay, time to put you out of your misery,” she snickered.
I shook my head ruefully, struggling against my own laughter.
She pointed to the right corner slot, then took aim for the eight ball.
It looked like an impossible shot, but I knew better than to second guess her at this point.
She used a bizarre angle, hitting it off the edge of the table to smack the ball right into the pocket.
She threw her hands in the air. “Winner!” she shouted, then let out an evil little laugh.
“Yeah, yeah,” I muttered wryly. “Act like you’ve been there before.”
She threw her arms around my neck with a laugh. “Yeah, yeah. I’ve been here many times before, but I’ll never get over the thrill of a win.”
My face split into a grin. “Jeez, winning is dangerous for you.”
She patted my chest. “Yeah, but you knew that already. Let’s go.”
“Go where?”
Her smile grew. “The tatt place, duh!”
My eyes widened. “Wait, right now?”
“Yes, of course! Why not? Are you scared?”
My face faltered. No, I wasn’t scared at all about getting a tatt to remember this week—actually, I was glad for the excuse to do it.
Because I never wanted to forget this. But I was worried she hadn’t put enough thought into it.
“Don’t you need to think about it for a minute?
Wait, how much alcohol have you had? Shouldn’t this be a sober decision? ”
“Nope, I got it all figured out, Jameson,” she said, tapping her temple. “But you seriously don’t have to. I’m not keeping you to this,” she said with a light laugh.
“Oh no, I’m doing this.” I grinned. “Just no Flounder, please.”
She pouted her lip out and patted my cheek. “But I love The Little Mermaid.”
“Of course you do.” I smirked, pulling her in for another hug so her chin rested against my chest. I smoothed my thumbs over the light freckles under her eyes, making her close her eyes and hum in pleasure. “So, what am I getting?”
Her eyes flashed open. “It’s a surprise. I’ll be nice.” She patted my cheek before grabbing my hand. “Let’s go.”
“You know I don’t like surprises, c’mon, tell me,” I said, but I gave into her pull.
“Patience,” she chided, holding a finger to my lips.
I kissed her finger. Patience was something I ran out of a long time ago when it came to this girl.
As soon as the tattoo parlor in the middle of the boat came into sight, she power-walked in with her head held high.
She waved to a few people as she made her way through the shop, telling me she knew her way around the place.
She didn’t stop walking until she made it to the very last chair in the place.
“Adrienne,” Ali called out as she body-slammed into a girl for a hug. Adrienne, who had long, jet-black hair, a nose and eyebrow piercing, and darkly coated eye makeup, hugged Ali back while eyeing me warily over her shoulder.
“What’s goin’ on?” she asked suspiciously.
“This is JP.” Ali flung an arm my way. “And JP wants a tattoo.”
“Does he?” She smirked at me.
“Uh, yeah, I do.” I nodded solemnly.
“He’s getting a rose,” Ali said, making my ears perk up. Ali reached for my left hand and held it up. “Right here.” She tapped the outside of my hand. She looked up at me with her large brown eyes. “So I always know it’s you,” she grinned. “What do you think?”
My heart ached. “That’s perfect,” I whispered back before dropping a kiss on her head.
A few minutes later, I was seated in the chair while Adrienne messed with tools at her station. Ali sat in swivel chair next to me and leaned her elbow on my chest while holding her chin. “Where would you have chosen for me?”
I raised my hand to smooth her hair back. “It’s a secret.”
Her mouth dropped open. “No fair, you have to tell me.”
“Do I, now?” I cocked an eyebrow up.
“Yes,” she said matter-of-factly before planting a little kiss on my lips. “Unless you didn’t have any ideas,” she teased.
I grinned. “Just a tiny heart.” The idea came to me when she first suggested this little game. If this tattoo would be a reminder of anything, it’d be how I gave this girl my heart—not just this week, but long ago—and I’d never give it to anyone else.
“Cute.” She weighed her head to the side. “Where?”
I used my left hand to snake down and pinch her inner thigh— her ticklish spot—making her collapse forward on me.
“Mean,” she chastised, but she couldn’t hide her grin.
“All right, ready?” Adrienne asked.
When Ali peeled her body off me, I wanted to protest, but instead, I just nodded and said, “Go for it.”
________
When we danced together that night, the lights had a way of catching her just right so that she practically glowed.
Her dress and short hair fanned around her as she twirled in the spotlight.
She looked like her true self, the touchy girl that I met back at the rink so many years ago, beaming up at me with a smile. She was sunshine, even at nighttime.
But here’s the thing: she was sunshine here. She looked like her true self here, she loved it here. And my heart ached knowing that this was where she was supposed to stay.
We jumped in the foxhole together and healed each other. Now we had to set each other free, just like always.
As hard as this was, I had to admit that seeing her happy healed something inside of me.
It was confirmation that I did right by her on that horrible night all those years ago.
I did right by helping her run away, and by saying goodbye to her.
And I’d have to do it again, even though ending us would feel like plunging a dagger into my own heart.
When the band slowed down to play “That’s How Strong My Love Is,” she smoothed her arms around my neck. My hand traced her hairline, and my eyes darted over her face, wanting to capture everything about this moment.
Her doe eyes met mine. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing,” I lied, swallowing hard.
She continued swaying to the music, but her eyes stayed locked on mine. “Something's wrong, you got all quiet and contemplative looking.”
“It’s nothing.” I forced a smile and dropped a kiss on her forehead, cherishing being able to freely show her affection, because I was going to miss it soon.
I was going to miss it for the rest of my life.
But beyond this week, I knew we could never make this work.