Page 35 of Anders and the Girl Worth Fighting For
“Yes, we do,” I growled out as I pulled out my phone to getthe address to the resort I was thinking of.
My phone pinged with directions as soon as we got in the car and an unhelpful offer to show up and crash our date so he could finally meet Grace. I pulled out and followed the map to Sea Pines Resort.
The moon had fully risen by the time we got to the nearly deserted beach. Its white glow reflected off the ripples in the water. I was never so glad that the resort town catered to a slower, quieter, older demographic.
Grace shivered from the breeze off the ocean, and I used that as an excuse to pull her in tight. My arm fit perfectly around her and as she leaned into me, it was like a puzzle piece clicking into place.
She belonged right here, right next to me, always.
“Apparently, there is this old burned-down church around here and a dessert place that serves the stickiest cream-filled pastries. Duke swears they are the best he has ever had. I think it’s probably a skewed childhood memory, but do you want to find out?” I asked after a few minutes of walking under the stars at the beach.
“Yes,” she said, “I think I would like that.” It was a start, at least.
“Duke was right,” she said around a bite of cream-filled dough. “These are sticky and delicious.” The light had come back into her eyes. I hoped with enough time whatever voice in her head told her to be ashamed was silenced.
“I won’t tell him that,” I laughed around the other half of the dessert. It was massive. “He’s got a big enough head as it is.”
I watched as she licked the sugary syrup that coated the pastry off her hand. My eyes traced the path of her tongue up each finger. I wanted to lean forward to chase her tongue back into her mouth. I wanted to taste the sugar on it, to taste her.
She groaned at the flavor of her last bite and the sound was like an arrow digging deep into me. I wanted to hear that sound again.
“That was so good,” she said when her hands were clean.
“Yeah,” I said with a bit of a growl.
She stiffened at that and I mentally kicked myself for letting it out. Too much. Except her eyes weren’t on me, they were aimed over my shoulder. I didn’t move to look, though I wanted to.
“Talk to me,” I said instead. “What do you see?” I coached her like I did my men so many times. She moved her eyes back to mine briefly and then looked over my shoulder again.
“I think I just saw George, but I’m not sure. I can’t see him now,” she said in a low voice as she turned into me.
“Anything else?” I asked, my spine stiffening and my mind working through the exit plan I didn’t consciously make.
“No, he was with someone I’ve never seen before.” She reached her hand down to mine and threaded her fingers through it. I squeezed her hand and brought her in closer.
“Well, seems like this would be a good time to head back,” I said as I steered her in the opposite direction she had been looking.
I scanned the area, looking for anything unusual, and found nothing amiss around us. Still, I opted to take us the more direct route through the armed guards that patrolled this resort. Just in case.
“I’m sorry. I think I’m just being paranoid,” she said and tried to extract her hand from mine. Not happening. I gripped hers tighter and held onto her, desperate to feel her and knowshe was right here with me. I could protect her. Iwouldprotect her. No matter what.
“Paranoid is good,” I reminded her. “You were paying attention to your surroundings, saw something amiss, and alerted me to it right away. You did what I taught you to do.” I pushed as much of a pride I felt in her into my voice, my words. She shouldn’t doubt herself.
“Yeah,” she said. Her voice was a little stronger. “I did.”
Chapter Seventeen
iwant to try something new,” I announced rather suddenly. It was the day after our date to Ela’s and I was still riding high on my revelation last night that I wasn’t going to let Bill and my parents scare me anymore. The one exception being when I thought I saw George, but I wanted to pretend like that didn’t happen.
Also, I was restless. We practiced self-defense again, but it wasn’t enough anymore. Too many days in this place and one night out wasn’t enough to scratch my itch for freedom. We can’t keep eating takeout, and bravery surged through me. I wanted to make something I had only made with my grandma once, but never forgot.
Anders sat up from his place on the couch. He eyed me a bit warily. I realized I didn’t actually give him any information.
“I want to go shopping,” I clarified as I put my shoes on and grabbed my purse.
“Great. What are we getting?” He asked as he grabbed his keys. Anders said it like it was given that I wouldn’t go alone. I should have known that he would. Old habits die hard and a lie sat on my lips about what I wanted. The food made sense. It was the other stuff. A part of me still wanted to hide from shame.
I swallowed down the lie. I can be honest with him, or at least I can try.
