9. Where There’s Fish.
9
Where There ’s Fish...
Angel Savoie - June 25th, 2025 - A Few Days Later.
“I still can’t believe I went along with you bringing me up here to stay in the middle of the woods for a week,” I laughed as Phoenix helped me into a pair of boots. “And you’re taking me fishing knowing my ass can’t swim. If I fall in, you better save me.”
“You know I got you, Sweets,” she chuckled before smiling at me. “And I told you the water isn’t that deep where we’re taking the boat. Besides, you will be wearing a life jacket.”
“I know. I know,” I mumble as she helps me stand. “I can feel myself breaking out already.”
“You’re so damn dramatic,” she shakes her head. She hands me one of my allergy pills, and I take it before looking at her again. “We’ve been here for three days now and all we’ve done is fuck and eat snacks.”
“ And what’s wrong with that?” I question with a devious smile. She pulls me into her arms and kisses me lightly on the forehead. Her hands cup my face, and her thumbs gently rub my cheeks.
“Nothing at all, Angel baby,” she tells me. “But we gotta go out and enjoy the serenity of the lake at least once. Plus, I really wanna share one of my hobbies with you. Please?”
I almost fold right then as she pouts cutely, her hands moving down my body until they sit on my hips. Ugh, I would give her anything, just like I knew she’d give me anything. It was hard to resist her, and the longer we were around each other, the less likely I wanted to. Seeing how excited she was about finally going fishing made me nod and agree to tag along. She was right, though. It was time for me to experience some of her hobbies, and as nervous as I was, I was also low-key excited.
So, I let her lead me out to the boat that sat a couple of yards away, tied to the dock. It was bigger than I expected and even had a motor. As she helped me into a life vest, I looked around at how spacious the boat was. There was a seat for the driver and a cushioned bench about a foot or two behind it. There were even a few stairs leading down to a door. When I asked her what it was, she said it was where the bedroom and bathroom were. Was this a mini-yacht or something?
Yeah, I don’t know much about boats…
Once we’re settled into the boat and she has all of the gear packed in, we head off toward some fishing spot that she said she and her granddad used to frequent. The lake leads out into a river surrou nded by trees on either side. The scenery is so beautiful, and I feel a sense of calm wash over me.
As we’re cruising, I let myself relax. These past few days have been great for me mentally. After that surprise pop-up visit from Nate, I thought that my whole week was gonna be ruined. However, Phoenix jumped in when she saw how distraught I was and took me out of that situation.
My mind drifts over to Nate, and I sigh.
He and I had known each other since we were kids, since he was good friends with Chris and Orion. He’d hang around a lot, and in turn, I got close to him, too. Contrary to what people may believe, our friendship was never the one where the little sister fell for the brother’s friend. No, I’ve never been attracted to him like that.
Why did I sleep with him then?
Well, I’d never had much luck in the relationship department. I mean, I’m naturally an extrovert and, not to brag, but I knew I was pretty. It’s just that I was also awkward as hell, and none of the women I’d crushed on until that point even gave me a second glance. Maybe I wasn’t their type or didn’t give off woman-lover vibes. I don’t know. All I knew was that I was twenty-two, had never been in a relationship, and had never slept with anyone. Never even experienced heartbreak.
That was also around the time that I was struggling with my sexuality.
I know now that I shouldn’t have felt like this, but I was embarrassed to be a late bloomer. All of my friends from the culinary school I had attended were well-versed in relationships, but when we sat and talked about our experiences, I could never add anything, because I had none. I felt lonely, but Nate was there to cheer me up.
I could always talk to him about shit I couldn’t speak to my brothers about, and I trusted him. When I explained how I felt about being inexperienced, he listened without judgment. When I finally worked up the courage to ask him to be my first, he hesitated, telling me to think about what I was asking and then let him know if I was sure. I was, and after a week, I told him as much.
Then it happened, and it wasn’t bad, but it left me feeling empty…figuratively. I realized then that the universe loved a good joke because, of course, I’d be the one to get pregnant after their first time. Yes, we used protection. Still, obviously, we happened to be amongst the small percentage where it wasn’t effective.
I was miserable and scared, but his feelings didn’t mirror mine. I mean, yes, he was initially afraid and didn’t even talk to me for a week after I told him. Then he returned with a whole new attitude, insisting that he was ready to be a dad, and apologizing for leaving me distraught. I told him that he might be ready, but I wasn’t. I told him that I never wanted to carry a child because the thought of it terrified me. And then there was the fact that he left me to cry for hours alone.
He was taken aback by how much I was against going through with the pregnancy and practically begged me to bless him with this one child. I couldn’t do it and told him as such. The day after I went through with the termination, he messaged me saying that he was moving away because it was too hard to be where I was. That was the last time I’d seen him until a few days ago. Seeing him again caught me completely off guard, and I was instantly filled with so many intense emotions, from sadness to anger to disgust to hurt. Even though Nate apologized for how he’d acted, I still couldn’t stop myself from shutting down. I was quickly overwhelmed and so glad when Phoenix took me from the scene.
“You’re really quiet back there,” I hear Phoenix say, and my head snaps up to see her slowing down the boat. She cuts the engine and then turns to face me. “Penny for your thoughts?”
“I’m good,” I assure her with a smile. She doesn’t say anything as she stares at me, no doubt trying to figure out if I was telling the truth. I pat her arm lightly. “I promise, Phee.”
“Okay, Sweets,” she sighs, leaning in to kiss me. “Let me put this anchor down, and then we can start. I also packed some snacks for us. If we stay out here as long as I’d like, I can order dinner for us too.”
“Wait, order us dinner?” I ask, eyebrows furrowed. She nods. “And they’ll deliver it to us way out here?”
“Yeah,” she chuckles with a nod before pressing a button. I hear a mechanical sound, and then a splash comes from under the boat. She pressed a different button, and I felt a sudden jerk that had me gripping the edge of the boat. She chuckles once more and walks over to sit beside me. “That was just the anchor dropping. We’re good now.” I nod. “And as for the food, there’s a riverside restaurant a few miles east. They make a pretty penny doing deliveries on the water. They’re pretty good too. The best seafood restaurant I’ve ever had.”
“ Wait, so let me get this straight,” I say, trying to put it together. She nods. “We came fishing, but we aren’t gonna eat any of the fish? Instead, we’re gonna order fish from someone else?” She nods again. “What’s the point of fishing then?”
This gets a genuine laugh out of her, and I’m even more confused. “Baby, the point of fishing, at least how I was taught, is just to be one with nature,” she explains. “When I was younger, I asked my Granddad the same question after we’d caught fish and then let them go. He said that the main thing he wanted me to learn from fishing was patience. You see, this isn’t something that can be rushed. If you move too fast, you scare the fish away. Nah, you have to take your time.”
“Okay, but that doesn’t explain why you don’t keep the fish,” I point out.
“That’s simple,” she states, picking up one of the poles and a spool of translucent string. “I just don’t want to. I mean, yeah, he taught me how to descale, debone, and filet fish, but eh.” She shrugs as she begins to unwind the string. “The thrill is in the catch. I’d rather have other people do all the other stuff. Besides, I’m very picky about my seafood. Believe it or not, aside from shellfish, I really only eat catfish, and there’s a specific spot you have to go to get them suckers. This ain’t it.”
I sat back and nodded as I watched her in her element. I wasn’t sure exactly what she was doing, but she’d run the string along the pole in record time. She had a small kit of tools, and she used some to fasten the string to the pole. I watched in awe as she cut and tied as if it were second nature to her. When I asked what she was doing, she told me she was making a fishing pole for me.
There must’ve been genuine shock on my face because she laughed lightly before explaining what she was doing. I felt like I was getting a VIP fishing experience as she showed me what each part was and then taught me how to hold it. She even showed me the correct way to cast it and reel it in. I was getting excited by the second because never in a million years did I think I’d do something like this.
“Thank you,” I say once our poles are set up on these little stand thingies. The hooks were dropped into the water, and we were waiting for a bite. She smiled before pulling me into her arms and asking why I was thanking her. “For sharing your hobby with me. You always get me out of my comfort zone, and I appreciate it. Also, I love getting to experience the things that make you…you. You tend to radiate genuine joy when you show me stuff you like, and I love seeing it.”
“And that’s exactly how I feel when you show me stuff you’re into,” she tells me. Her lips connect with mine, and I melt instantly. My heart thumped as a contented feeling traveled through me. She pulled back to look down at me. “I have no idea what I did in my past life, but I must’ve saved a village or something to be rewarded with someone as amazing as you.”
“Don’t boost my head up now,” I joke. I could feel my cheeks growing warm as I averted my eyes. She lightly gripped my chin and turned my face back to look at her. I almost gasped at the intense look in her eyes.
“ Angel, I’m falling for you…hard,” she admits, stealing any words I had left in my brain. All I could do was stare at her. “I know it’s probably too early to say those three words, but I need you to know that my feelings for you are deep as fuck. You make me feel like I’m floating whenever I’m around you. When I’m not, you’re all I can think about. I love your quirkiness. I love how fucking cute you are. Hell, I love how spoiled you are.”
“I’m not spoiled,” I giggled as I playfully hit her. She nods, a bright smile gracing her beautiful face.
“Right, okay,” she shakes her head. “You have your brothers who would literally burn some shit down behind you. Then there’s Maddox, who would drop everything to help you in a heartbeat. Your cousin Avery treats you like you’re younger than her. And then there’s me.”
“And what about you?” I ask, teasingly.
She smirks, her hands traveling down to my ass. I gasp, falling against her as she squeezes before smacking. My hands latch onto her shirt as her cool breath tickles my ear, and her lips brush against it. “I’d happily give you the world if it meant I’d always get to see you smile,” she whispers. She lightly bites my earlobe, drawing a soft moan from me. “And these sounds you make? Damn, Sweets…I don’t know how I’ve been able to live without hearing them.”
“Phee…” I whisper, my grip tightening on her shirt. She doesn’t reply as she kisses my ear and neck. The fact that anyone passing by on a boat could see us had left my mind as I gave in to her soft kisses and caresses. It wasn’t until I heard a snap that we broke apart. “Oh, my god, what was that?!”
Our heads snapped over to the side to see that the wire on my fishing pole was being pulled from where I left it. Phoenix quickly walks over and catches the pole before it falls into the water. She immediately started reeling it in, and I felt like I was in the middle of one of those fishing documentaries. She struggled for a bit before she finally got it under control. After another minute of reeling, she told me to get the big net. I grabbed the net she’d pointed out earlier and handed it to her.
“Here, Sweets. Hold this and don’t let go,” she tells me before handing over the pole. I was nervous, but I took it anyway. I couldn’t believe I was seconds away from seeing a real, live fish this close. “When I say so, reel it in like I showed you.” I nod. She positioned herself where she needed to be and then looked at me. “Okay, now reel!”
I follow her directions and turn the small handle as she tugs on the string. I liked to pride myself on being pretty strong, especially because lifting big sacks of flour was no easy task. However, this was different. I’d never had to pull something that was trying its best to get away from me. I could feel myself sweating, but I didn’t stop doing my task until she had the fish in the net.
She told me when to stop, and I did. I watched in amazement as she showed me the fish with a big smile. I didn’t know what kind it was, but it was about the size of a half gallon of milk. She asked if I wanted to take a picture, and I hesitated, not fully convinced that the fish wouldn’t jump at me. She noticed my concern and chuckled lightly before pulling her phone out.
“ Come stand right beside me, Sweets. I’ll hold it while you take a selfie of us,” she says. “Sounds good?”
“Okay,” I nod.
We both posed, and she made sure to keep the fish away from me as I snapped the picture. Once we were done, she showed me how to unhook it and let it go. I watched quietly as she lowered the fish back into the water. It swam off without a second thought, and for some reason, I felt a sense of peace knowing that we wouldn’t kill it and cook it up for dinner. No, I’m not a vegetarian or anything, but I don’t have the stomach to go through the whole process of killing my food and then preparing it. I liked stuff that was already in packages, and the only steps that needed to be done were washing it and then seasoning it.
This was one of the main reasons I chose the pastry chef route instead of becoming a regular chef.
We spent the next couple of hours going through the same routine, and I had way more fun than I expected. We used the downtime to talk about any and all things. She told me more about her life growing up in the country, and I told her what it was like growing up in the city, even though I was born in a small town much like the one we currently lived in.
At one point, our conversation drifted to past relationships. Usually, it was a topic I avoided because I didn’t have nearly as much experience as others, but Phoenix made me feel comfortable. When I told her the full details of what went down with Nate, she promised I’d never have to go through that again as long as she had a say. She was so damn sweet and understanding. Not only did sh e not judge me, but she surprised me by admitting that she’d never been in anything this serious either.
She explained that many of her past relationships were more like situationships and hookups. Much like me, she worked so much that she never had time for anything more serious, and the fact that she wasn’t looking just made things easier. When I asked what about me was different, she told me that she couldn’t explain it, but her heart beat differently when she was around me. I nodded, relating one hundred percent to what she meant. I didn’t know what it was about her, but I could tell our being together was different.
Once we were all fished out for the evening, she drove us back to the dock, but we stayed on the boat to have the dinner she’d ordered. Just like she said, it was delivered to us in record time. I was even more amazed when I sank my teeth into the freshly fried fish and shrimp. There was just something about eating seafood on the lake that made everything ten times better.
When all of the food was devoured and the trash was thrown away, we moved the party down to the cabin space of the boat. I was shocked at how modern and up-to-date everything was. The most comfortable-looking queen-sized bed in the middle of the room was calling my name. So, after a quick shower in the most spacious boat bathroom I’ve ever been in, she and I cuddled up on the bed and relaxed in each other’s arms. She flicked on the TV, and we got lost in the movie that was playing.
“Sometimes I think to myself…” she says after about thirty minutes of silence. I look over at her to see her staring up at the ceiling. She sighs, finally turning to look at me. “Well...I don’t know…I just wonder…what if you’re my soulmate? I know. I know. Not a lot of people think that those are real. I wasn’t even sure myself, but you…you just get me, you know? And I get you. Even though we have different hobbies and likes, we click. I’ve never felt this type of connection with anyone else, and the more I’m around you, the more I’m convinced that even if we weren’t together like this, we would’ve still been great friends.”
I don’t reply as I sit up, and she follows suit. I wasn’t sure how she could always articulate exactly how I was feeling even when I couldn’t, but she did, and it always left me speechless—this woman, whom I’ve only known for about three months now. But in my heart, it felt like longer. Maybe it was that small connection we’d had since childhood when both of our parents were taken from us in the same accident. Maybe it was because we were both new to this kind of relationship. Maybe it was because we genuinely liked being around each other and took the time to get to know one another.
I wasn’t sure. All I was sure of was that I felt the same way she did. There was some invisible tether that kept us connected, and I wanted nothing but to make it tighter. The thought of being without her suddenly flashed through my mind, and I hated every second of it. I too felt like we would’ve been best friends even if we didn’t date, but I didn’t want to think about that either. How we were now was exactly how I wanted it to be.
“I agree,” I finally say with a nod. She looks at me with a smile, and I move to straddle her. She holds me in place, her hands on my ass. I wrap my arms around her neck before kissing her softly. I pull away a bit to look down at her. “I think I love you, Phoenix Preston.”
Thi s shocks her from the way her mouth falls open. I knew this was what she wanted to say earlier, but I figured she was just scared. So, I wanted to say it first and see what she would say. However, after about thirty seconds of silence, I started to feel embarrassed. I tried to move off her lap, but she gripped me tighter.
“Nope, where are you going?” she chuckles softly, but I look away, my cheeks hot. “Look at me, Sweets.” And just like magic, I do. She licks her lips and lies back down, pulling me down with her. Once I was cuddled in her arms, she lightly stroked my hair and slowly showered me with kisses. “I love you, too, Angel. Never doubt that. You caught me off guard, is all. How can I not love you?”
“Show me,” I say simply, looking up at her. A devious smile spreads across her face, and she nods.
“With pleasure, Sweets.”
It wasn’t long before I was moaning her name like it was our first time all over. Every time was magical, and this one was no different for the most part. As we rocked our hips against one another, she continuously whispered about how much she loved me and how she couldn’t wait to take care of me for as long as she could. I think my emotions got the better of me, as undoubtedly one of the best orgasms rushed through me. I couldn’t stop the tears from falling. She kissed them away and promised always to be there to do so.
I went to sleep that night with nothing but peace in my heart, thanks to her.