Page 88 of The Scars I Bare
“I told you!”
She just shrugged. “I’m nearly thirty years old, Dean! It’s not like I’m a mischievous teenager sneaking out here with my high school boyfriend.”
“Did you ever sneak any of your high school boyfriends down here?” I asked, suddenly rising up on my elbow.
Her eyebrows rose in amusement as I watched her remove the floral cover-up she’d put on to hike out here. A small smile spread across her face as she noticed my eyes lingering around the curve of her breasts and the deep valley in between.
“Wouldn’t you like to know?” She jumped up and ran toward the water.
“I would kind of!” I hollered, damn near knocked back by how perfect her ass looked in that black bikini of hers.
I thought back to the night before. Her naked body wrapped around mine. That tight, wet heat. The moans. The cries of passion.
Yeah, never mind. Definitely did not want to know.
“She seems happy.”
I turned to see Abe taking a seat next to me. I involuntarily coughed, realizing I had just been fantasizing about his daughter coming all over my cock, and did a quick check of myself, thanking Cora for packing extra towels.
“She is,” I said, wondering if this guy had some of the superpowers he was so obsessed with because he was just in that water, like, two seconds ago.
The old man had stealth; that was for sure.
He paused for a long time, just staring out at her, watching her splash around with Lizzie and his wife. I could see a small smile forming in the corner of his mouth, full of contentment and satisfaction.
“I know much of what she told us yesterday regarding her and Blake’s marriage problems was full of holes,” he said. “That can only mean she left things out for a reason.”
My jaw twitched as I looked ahead.
“Don’t worry, son; I’m not asking you to break her trust.”
“Good, because I won’t. I’ve worked hard to earn it.”
He patted my knee, a fatherly gesture—or at least, that was what I assumed fathers did. “The thing about Cora you’ve got to learn is, she’s really quite trusting when it comes down to it. That might have been shaken in the last few years, but ultimately, the one and only person Cora has a hard time trusting is herself.”
I thought about his words as we sat together in silence, watching the three of them play out in the water. Cora carried Lizzie on her shoulders before falling over, causing both of them to get soaked. Lizzie came up, sputtering water and laughing hysterically.
“Do you think she does? Trust herself, that is.”
His eyes narrowed as he looked at her until he finally shook his head with uncertainty. “I don’t know, Dean. I simply don’t know. But I think you’d better find out before it’s too late.”
“Before what’s too late?” I asked, turning toward him at his dire warning.
“This,” he said, motioning to the happy scene I’d been staring at since he sat down. “Them.”
They both chose that moment to look back at me and wave.
I held my hand up and did the same.
“Don’t let them slip away like I did,” he said. “Don’t let her slip away like I did. Fight for her, Dean. Fight for each other. Because, eventually, she’s going to lose trust in herself, and you’re going to need enough for the both of you.”
“Fight,” I murmured, looking down at my broken body. I’d felt useless for far too long, like a tumbleweed blowing in the wind with no purpose.
But they were my purpose.
Cora and Lizzie.
And, if push came to shove, I’d fight for them and everything we had to lose.
