Page 19 of Jackson
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Iwoke sore.My stomach stung as I stretched. My phone was still on the pillow beside my head. Dex had obviously cut off the call when I’d failed to answer after I’d fallen asleep. I sat up and winced. It was always the same the morning after. I felt a wave of shame wash over me. I stood and walked to the mirror. What I saw wasn’t as bad as I was expecting. I’d need to keep a t-shirt on for a few days,though.
I bent down to pick up the blade. I traced my thumb along the edge, stained with my blood. I wrapped it up, without cleaning it, and placed it back in the box. I heard the swish of Summer’s bedroom door open and pulled on a pair of board shorts and a t-shirt.
By the time I’d made it outside, she was standing at the water’s edge, holding a cup in her hands. She wore the same jean shorts but with a red bikini top and I watched her for a while. My phone beeped in my pocket, alerting me to a textmessage.
Am I expecting you soon?Dexter hadwritten.
Give me a little time. I’m okay,Ireplied.
I placed the phone on the table and descended the steps to join her. She startled as I placed my hand on hershoulder.
“Good morning, I thought you’d gone for a run,” she said as she smiled up atme.
“Nottoday.”
“I can’t imagine what it must feel like to wake up to this view every morning, you’re so lucky,” shesaid.
I wouldn’t class myself as lucky but I nodded my head. The view was one of the reasons I had fallen in love with the house. As we walked back, I remembered the day I’darrived.
Perri had arranged for me to collect the keys from the agent and a taxi had spent way longer than was probably necessary driving me from the airport. When we’d first pulled up outside, I thought we had the wrong address. It didn’t look like the type of property Perri had described. But I was blown away once I’d stepped through the frontdoor.
I loved that every room on the ground floor opened to the balcony. I rarely shut the bedroom door at night, opting to fall asleep to the sound of the seainstead.
We walked back to the house and Summer placed her hand on my stomach as we stopped at the steps. She raised one foot to brush off the sand. As hard as I tried, I couldn’t stop the wince when her hand connected with mycuts.
“Are you okay?” sheasked.
“Sure, I think I pulled a muscle or something. Probably in mysleep.”
“Pulled a muscle? Are yousure?”
“Yeah. What do you want to do today?” I asked, diverting herattention.
“How about a day on the beach? Unless you have to go to thebar.”
“I’ll shoot over there now for an hour then be back, how does thatsound?”
“Okay, want me to come with you?” sheasked.
“It’s fine, you relax and while I’m out, I’m booking that tattoo for this afternoon, before you change yourmind.”
She laughed and looked down at her stomach. The butterfly was still perfect; it would take some scrubbing to get the ink from her skin. I had a stack of alcohol wipes that I normally used for my cuts; they would remove theink.
“Do you need to copy this on paper, so the tattoo person can copyit?”
“No, because I’ll tattoo it onyou.”
“You?”
“I am a man of many talents,Summer.”
“That you are. In just a few days I’ve learned more about you than in the past couple of years. I’m beginning to wonderwhy.”
I placed my arm around her shoulders and side by side we walked up the steps and into thekitchen.
“Breakfast?” Iasked.
