Chapter 13
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
My mind has been a mess since she showed up, throwing everything off kilter. August Graft was my first love and heartbreak; the reason I am the man I am today. Well, not maybe the whole reason; life had helped with that part.
She’s the girl that left eight years ago, but more grown. I’d still recognize her in a crowded room.
Seeing August in Pirate’s Hideaway roared something inside me that was slowly bubbling with her arrival to Driftwood Bay.
Watching her flirt with the bartender, throwing her long black hair over her shoulder, I couldn’t take it.
Especially watching her close the gap between them.
Because in the grand scheme of things, she left me; she broke me.
So, seeing her all up on that bar didn’t sit well with me.
Who was she to come back to town and act like that?
But I let my emotions and hunger for her come to the surface, which I shouldn’t have.
It took everything in me to not do what I wanted to do on that pier, and that was to lift her sundress and ram into her, make her pay for the way she broke me, but also thrive in the way her pussy would form around me, welcoming me home.
I’d never admit it to anyone, but I watched her that night in the cottage, playing with herself.
I stood there and jacked myself off while watching her come undone on that sofa.
I felt so dirty once I was done, but I’m drawn to her like a moth to a flame.
These last eight years, it’s all been pushed down to the depths of my brain.
Never letting it out, but now it’s out and free, terrorizing me.
Because there is nothing I can do. I’ve already made my bed; now I have to lie in it.
Everyone thinks I’ve become cold and distant, and I have, but they don’t know why.
I’m living one big lie, and I have too much at stake to let my heart lead me astray.
My family doesn’t think I care for them, but they’re so wrong.
I care way more for them than they could ever imagine, and at the cost of my own happiness.
If they only knew how far I’d go for them.
“Bo? You out here?” I hear Molly’s voice coming down the rocks, toward the shore, where I’m sitting on the sand, letting the water lick my feet.
I needed time away from her and her parents.
That entire house is heavy. As soon as I walk into it, I feel like a thousand pounds are on my shoulders, but maybe it just isn’t the house, because I truly do have that weight on me… for them.
I don’t answer her because I don’t want her to come down here, but I can hear her flip-flops descending the staircase to the sand.
Their house sits atop a rocky cliff overlooking the ocean. I smile thinking about the time we all broke in before they came for Summer, used their pool, and got drunk. Teenager days.
“I’ve been calling you.” Her voice holds hostility.
I turn my head to look at her; her blonde hair shines in the sun's descending rays. “I needed time alone.” I look back at the ocean.
She sits down beside me, grabbing my hand, interlocking our fingers through one another. “I have something funny to tell you.”
Cocking my head, “What’s that?”
Molly lets out a forced laugh. “You’ll never believe who accidentally liked my Instagram post and then unliked it, letting it notify me. August Graft!” she bellows out.
My stomach drops.
“I had to send her a little message, letting her know we know.” Molly leans over and kisses my cheek, pulling back. “You need to shave.” She purses her lips.
I don’t say anything, because I’m not even sure how to respond about August. And I can’t say the wrong thing, so I ignore it. “I’ll shave tonight, Honey,” I coo to her before she throws me a smile and stands up.
“Don’t stay too long; dinner will be ready soon.”
I hear her footsteps grow quieter; with her gone, I’m able to process what she said.
I know August didn’t mean to let Molly know she was spying.
So, I chuckle knowing how mortified August was.
But I want to know what Molly told August; I can’t ask, though.
I can’t have Molly thinking further into it.
Without thinking, I open my Instagram app, searching for Baylee’s. Clicking on it. She’s posted a few pictures of her and August. Clicking on the first one, it was posted last night. A plate of cookies Bay is holding up; they both have huge smiles.
I want to zoom in on August, but don’t dare.
She looks so good. Her body is mature now, and she carries weight in all the best places.
Her smile reaches her honey brown eyes, showing me she is truly happy in that brief moment.
I try to get more clues about her from the picture, but it's just a bare wall with a beige sofa, not hinting at anything to do with August.
My mind flashes to that night eight years ago.
I felt the end coming. Everything in my body knew she was pulling away.
That last year was tough, but I stuck it out because I truly loved her; she was going to be my wife.
Grief wrecked her, and it’s not her fault, but fuck, I wish she would've asked for help instead of running from her problems.
Those first few weeks of summer were hard; I felt like I was forcing her to do everything. From hanging out with our friends, to spending time together, and to having sex, which I had to stop. She was just doing it to do it. And I couldn't have that. My conscience couldn’t.
That night on the beach felt so off. Everything was going wrong. She was drinking way too much, and so was I. I don’t know if I should have ever followed her that night. Maybe if I didn’t, everything would have been different, but I did.
Her words broke me piece by piece. Her voice was so mean, and I didn’t see one ounce of my August in her eyes. Her throwing the engagement ring at me signified everything on that summer night.
I did the only thing I could think of doing; if she broke my heart, I wanted to break hers.
And Molly was the first girl I had seen at the bonfire.
Kissing her held nothing for me; it was just my way of payback.
I wanted August to see, so she could break like I did.
And she broke. Molly was just a move in my game of hurt.
Watching August disappear under the waves is something I’ll never forget. I was okay to die with her if I had to, but I would not let her go out alone.
When she opened her eyes while lying on the sand, pure fear filled them.
I knew I couldn’t make her stay in Driftwood, and I hoped by letting her go so easily, she’d come back home, but weeks turned into months, and months turned into years.
And she never returned. Nor did the Bohdi I was before that night.
I never trusted after that night and still don’t.
Forcing myself up, I have to hype myself to just make it into the Williams’ home.
They're already sitting at the table when I come in. Everyone turns and looks at me, like I caught them speaking of me.
Mrs. Williams has her leg propped up on an extra chair. The woman isn’t ugly, but her soul is. There isn’t one good thing I can say about her. And that’s sad.
The same thing I can say about Mr. Williams. His money lets him get out of whatever he wants. He uses it in ways one shouldn’t. He blackmails and holds people in a corner until they crack.
And their daughter is a culmination of both.
Sitting down next to Molly, I immediately grab the scotch that’s waiting in front of me, taking a bigger sip than is appropriate, in their eyes.
Clearing my throat, I smile at all three of them.
“Glad you finally came in, Bo. We’ve just been talking about the plans for our next business.” His smile is way too wide.
“That’s great. What are you thinking?” I ask as I lift my eyebrows, like I care, but not one part of me does.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Molly sit up straighter, excitement wafting from her.
Picking my glass back up, I take a sip.
“Driftwoods first spa. And we found the perfect spot for it. Quaint and full of options. August Cove will be the best place for it,” he tells me, his eyes searching for any indicator of a reaction.
I cough, not able to catch my breath; I force a sip of water. My throat is burning, and my eyes scan all three of them. I don’t know what to say.
“Isn’t it exciting! You know, Mom’s always looked at that property as the perfect place.
Finally able to knock that old cottage down and build a spa.
And now she can.” Molly claps her hands together, and I want to slap her.
But I don’t hit women. She and I both know there is so much more behind the words she just said.
I want to remove myself from the table, but I can’t.
I can’t let them know how angry they just made me.
Lifting my glass of scotch. “Here’s to new adventures,” I cheer, the words feeling vile coming from my lips, but I can’t make a big scene.
Their faces look a bit surprised by my words, but I don’t let them in on anything.
The dinner seems to last forever; they talk about their plans for the spa. Not letting August know it will all be knocked down, bulldozed, leveled, and turned into something for the upper-class.
The food in my stomach doesn’t settle well, but I just sit there.
“Ready to head home?” Molly smiles at me.
“I’m ready when you are.” I swallow the last sip of my drink.
Our house is on the same property, in their guest house. I can never get away from them. And I feel like this was Molly’s plan all along.
At first, we had good conversations; now there's barely anything there. I’m here because I have to be, and she’s here because she got what she wanted.
Picking Molly that night on the beach had bigger consequences than August leaving for good; it has all this I have now.
Letting the spray of the too-expensive shower head massage my back, the knots in my muscles not seeing any relief.
I hear the door open. Standing up straighter, I open the glass shower door for her, and a naked Molly steps in.
Her body isn’t hers. The boobs were bought, her lips plumped, and her nose ground down.
She’s beautiful, but beauty is only skin deep.
You’d think her tan was from the sun; it’s not.
It’s from the tanning bed she has in the connected garage.
Closing the gap between us, she presses her tits into me, licking up my neck, collecting the shower water as she goes. My dick grows with her attention. One thing Molly doesn’t withhold is sex. Because she likes it just as much as me. It’s one thing we can agree on. We both have needs.
“Fuck me, Bo,” she purrs up at me before I steal her lips, so she won’t speak again. Her voice is like nails on a chalkboard. I don’t know if it was learned or not.
Grabbing her around the waist, I lift and I don’t prep her; she never needs it. Lining my cock up to her entrance, I roughly enter her. She’s tight and constricting.
As I’m fucking her into the wall, Molly fades and August emerges.
I’m not in this shower; I’m at the shower at the Marina, fucking her as she’s on all fours, screaming my name while her knees got shredded by the concrete.
We were supposed to be cleaning it, but one thing led to another.
It got cleaned, but we were eighteen-year-olds at the height of our relationship.
Picturing myself pulling out of her, watching my cum leak down her thighs, I growl.
“Bo.” I’m yanked back to the here and now, my hips pounding into Molly fervently. Her face contorts as if she is trying to piece together where I just was.
“Come,” I grunt to her, and with that one word, she does.
Coming around my dick. Hurriedly, I pump a few more times, feeling my balls draw up and my own orgasm on the brink.
Pulling out of her, I sit her down on her feet before pumping my dick a few times, coming on to her stomach. Hoping my pull-out game stays strong.
I turn my back on her, washing my dick off. Eyes closing, berating myself for the memory I just had. I wasn’t fucking Molly; I was fucking August. And that thought shocks me. Because since she returned to town, my mind has been wrecked, and I don't know what I'm supposed to do.
I toss and turn throughout the night, unable to get restful sleep. My mind keeps running back to August. To them announcing what they’re going to do to August Cove, and I know I can’t let that happen, even if it puts everything else at risk. Even if it puts our family business at risk.