Page 8 of Rebound (Men of Inked 2.3)
For once, I believed in fate.
7
Five Years Later
“What’s wrong?” Fiona asked after she set her purse down on the kitchen counter.
I’d been sitting at the table, staring out the window for an hour in total disbelief. Never in a million years did I think I’d be debating going back to Florida. “Nothing, baby. Come here and give me a kiss.” I held out an arm, waiting for her to come to me.
She walked slowly, staring at me cautiously with every step. “I can tell something is off. Just tell me. Did I do something wrong, love?”
I smiled, slowly shaking my head as I curled her into my side. “Fiona,” I said, brushing my nose against the tiny patch of skin on her arm, “I can never be mad at you.”
She ran her fingers through my hair, slowly raking her fingernails against my scalp. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost, Sam.”
I pulled her closer, wrapping both of my arms around her waist and resting my head against her stomach as she stood between my legs. “Thomas called.”
“Oh.” Her body stiffened slightly in my arms and her hand stilled. “What did he want?”
Mindlessly, I stroked the smooth skin of her back after I slid my hands underneath her shirt. “He offered me a job.”
“And?”
“And, what?”
“What did you say?”
“Nothing, Fi. I told him I couldn’t, and he told me to think it over and get back to him.” I nuzzled her stomach, inhaling her scent and letting it soothe me. Fiona had become my place of calm in the last year. When life seemed to be going haywire, only she could bring me back to center and wash away any panic I felt.
Slowly, her hand began to work through my hair in long, broad strokes. “Do you miss it?”
I looked up at her in confusion. “Miss what?”
“The guys. I know you were close to them.”
Even though it was hard to admit, I did miss them. Often they were tools, but it was almost like being the little brother. I had grown used to them harassing me. Getting a call from Thomas was like an invitation back into the family. No matter what shit went down between us or with his sister, he still wanted me around. “I miss them sometimes, yeah.”
“Do you want to say yes?”
I didn’t know how to answer the question. Would she think that all I wanted was to be near Izzy again? Fiona knew my history, the love I’d had for Izzy Gallo, and how that led me to her. But hopefully over the last year I had showed her how much I loved only her. “A small part of me does.”
She smiled and moved to sit in my lap. She wrapped her arm around my neck and began to stroke my shoulder. “If you want to go back, I’ll go with you.”
My eyebrows shot up and I was completely caught off guard by her words. “You would?”
She nodded quickly. “As long as I’m with you, I don’t care where we are.”
“Fiona, you can’t mean that.” I held her face in my hand and stared into her eyes, studying her. “I know how much you love New Orleans.”
“I do, but I want you to be happy too.”
“I am happy here.” It wasn’t a lie. I was happy in New Orleans—more because I was with Fiona than at my surroundings. But living in New Orleans and visiting as a tourist were two very different things.
“Listen,” she said softly, pushing her face into the palm of my hand. “I don’t have any family here besides you. But you, you have a family in Florida that you’ve left behind.”
“I could never ask you to leave your job.”
Her small fingers brushed against my five-o’clock shadow. “You didn’t ask; I’m offering.”
My thumb stroked her cheek, touching the edge of her mouth. “It’s a big step, and I like our life.”
“We can make a life anywhere, Sam.”
I leaned in, placed my lips on hers, and kissed her gently. “As long as you’re with me, I’m a happy man,” I said against her mouth.
“I think we should do it.”
I pulled back and held her face in my hands. “You do?”
She nodded. Her smile touched the tips of my thumbs. “Yes.” She turned, straddling me fully and pushing her lips against mine.
I breathed her in, wrapping my arms around her and holding her tightly. This was the thing I loved about Fiona. She never had demands of me, nor did I of her. Things were just easy with us.
If she was willing to go with me back to Florida, I was more than ready to go home. My family had missed me, and with my parents growing older each day, I felt like I should be there for them.
It was time to go back to my life and stop running away from the past.
8
Problems…
“We have to get some shit straight.” James didn’t hide his anger toward me.
I didn’t think he’d welcome me with open arms, but after all this time, I didn’t expect the hostility. “Shoot.” I figured I’d let him blow off some steam and spew his macho bullshit while I paced around the living room.
Fiona and I had spent the last week packing up our small New Orleans apartment. We had another week before she could leave the city after putting in her two weeks at the hospital. But being a nurse, a week equaled only three more days of work before we headed toward the Sunshine State.
“I want you to stay away from Izzy.”
“Why?” I asked, pausing from the pattern I had started to wear into the hardwood floor.
“Cause you’ve done enough damage. We’re in a good place and—”
“Hold it right there, James,” I said, interrupting him and figuring it was the perfect time to set his ass straight. “Izzy and I have been friends for most of our lives. No matter what happened in the past, we’ll always be friends. I’m at a really good place in my life. I’m in love with an amazing woman, and I’d never do anything to jeopardize my relationship with her.”
“Good,” he mumbled.
“So whatever issue you have, or whatever you think will happen when I come back, put it out of your mind. I’d never do anything to get between you and Izzy. I realized a long time ago that she never loved me. In all honesty, when I met Fiona, I realized that I’d never really loved Izzy the way I should. She wasn’t my forever. Fiona is the person I was meant to be with.”
“Fine.”
“What the fuck are you so worried about, man?”
“I’m not. I just don’t think I’ve ever forgiven you for putting her life in danger.”
I sighed and started pacing again. “I know I fucked up. I was an idiot for bringing her around the club, but if it weren’t for my fuckup, you probably wouldn’t be married to her right now.”
I’d thought about it a million times since the day I realized Izzy was in love with him. I put them together. My idiotic move of bringing her to Bike Week placed her right in James’s hands. I didn’t regret a moment, though. Without those events, I wouldn’t have Fiona in my life.
I know, in James’s book, he “won” Izzy. But there was never a competition. She wasn’t a prize I was meant to win. “Whatever issue you think we have, you need to get the fuck over it.”
“You have to put yourself in my shoes, Sam.”
“I have. I can’t change what’s happened in the past, James. What’s done is done. I want to move forward. I have the love of a good woman, and all I want to do is come home and be part of a team again. If you don’t want me there, tell me now and I’ll make other plans.”
“No.” He breathed hard into the phone. “We need you.”
I laughed. “That was hard to say, wasn’t it?”
“Don’t be a chump.”
“I can see you’re still a cocky bastard.”
“Just get your ass settled and stop in the office when you get to town.”
“I’ll be there.”
“I’ll let Thomas know.”
I wasn’t about to tell him I’d already spoken to Thomas. James and I would always have a tense relationship, and I was trying not
to rock the boat. Eventually, we would have to work our shit out and put it to bed forever. I wasn’t about to let him hold shit over my head for my entire life.
“Thanks, man. I gotta run.”
“I have to go feed the kids.”
“See ya soon,” I said right before he disconnected the call.
The thought of Izzy as a mom had my head reeling. She was probably supermom and ultraprotective. I’m sure having twins changed her. It had to, after all. The funniest part of it was that God graced her with boys.
Before I could set my phone down, Fiona texted me.
Fiona: Meet me on Bourbon after work.
Although we lived within walking distance, we rarely spent time among the tourists. So her request was out of the ordinary, but I’d meet her anywhere she asked.
Me: I’ll be there at 9. Where?
Fiona: Where we first met.
The thought of going back to where we began brought a smile to my face. When I thought I’d hit my lowest point, Fiona entered my life and changed everything.
I texted Thomas, letting him know I’d be in the office in a week. The wheels of change were moving, and Fiona and I were about to start a whole new life. But first, I wanted to relive our first night together.
* * *
