Page 116 of Forever Yours

Sweeping kisses across my chest had me moaning softly as the daybed hammock gently swayed in the fragrant ocean breeze. I never knew air could smell so good until I stepped out of the plane and took my first breath of Hawaii. It literally smelled like flowers.

We were enjoying our last full day on the Big Island on a black sand beach before we flew out tomorrow to head back to the mainland. Fallon’s impromptu trip had become the most amazing adventure I’d ever been on. Surfing, snorkeling with manta rays, wading in the shallows with the sea turtles, fish, and anemones, hiking the lava fields in the south and the rain forests in the northeast, exploring the parks along the always sunny Kona coast, partaking in a traditional luau, sunrises and sunsets… I couldn’t wrap my head around everything that we’d done in the past three days.

Hawaii was, hands down, the most magical place on earth. And I got to share it with my man and my best friends.

Julien tucked a plumeria flower in my hair that he got from a glass bowl filled with them floating in water from the table under the cabana.

I rolled over to my back and pulled him on top of me, digging my fingers through his wet hair. His gray eyes looked almost blue from the sunlight that reflected off the sapphire waters of the Pacific Ocean.

“In a minute.”

I gazed up at him, the late afternoon sun a perfect backdrop for his handsome face, and I swore I could feel my heart expand, so full of love for this incredible man.

Smiling, he tucked another flower in my hair. “Did you know that plumeria flowers represent new beginnings?”

Every bouquet and every flower he gave me had meaning, the petals were his love letters to me.

“I like that,” I replied and lifted my head to steal a kiss.

In a way, this trip was a new beginning for me. The fallout with Mom closed a door that I should have shut and locked a long time ago.

But where one door closed, another opened. April and I had been texting back and forth the past few days. The wedding happened as planned on Saturday, but apparently Brad threw Justin out the same night I left. Shocked the hell out of me when April told me. Shocked April, too. She said it was the first decent thing her father had done in a long time.

I might have lost a mother last weekend, but I gained a sister. Besides, wasn’t family who you made it to be? And I had my family—the only one that mattered.

I looked deeply into Julien’s gorgeous silvery-gray eyes. There was a brightness to them, a light that I hadn’t seen in months.

He gently touched the curls of my hair, lifting them away from my face.

“You’ve been quiet most of the trip, and I know you’re still processing what happened with your mom. You shouldered so much for me and Jayson. It’s my turn to be your rock. Whenever you’re ready, I’m here, baby.”

He was right about my quietude. A lot had happened since classes started in August, a majority of it horrible and stuff I’d be more than happy to forget. Somehow, Fallon knew I needed this trip to paradise. To be surrounded by beauty and the love of my friends. It helped erase all that bad crap and replace it with something good. Wonderful memories that I would forever cherish for the rest of my life.

I cradled the back of Julien’s head and brought his face down so I could kiss him. Julien Jameson was the air I breathed.

“I swear to God, the two of you are hornier than rabbits on Viagra.”

Jumping onto the daybed hammock, it rocked wildly as Ash settled in next to me. He waved a hand in our direction. “Continue.”

“I’m not making out with my boyfriend in front of you,” I told him.

He rolled his head until we were almost nose to nose. “Says the guy in the room attached to mine who I’m forced to listen to every night cry out, ‘Fuck me har—’”

Julien reached over and covered his mouth. “You need a filter.”

Ash slid Julien’s hand away and pouted. “After three nights of listening to the two of you, what I need is to get laid. Mei better watch out, ‘cause I’m jumping her the first chance I get when we get back.”

Not touching that, Julien said, “We were about to go for a walk. Everything good?”

They shared a glance that piqued my curiosity.

“Yep. Ryder is babysitting the gruesome twosome so they don’t kill each other. They bitch talk worse than a divorced couple fighting over custody of the kids.”

Ash was on form with the one-liners today. But what he said was the truth. Fallon and Jayson were trying their best to keep their mutual hatred of each other from ruining our trip. It was proving difficult.

Ash flipped over to his back and inspected his nails. The rainbow of glittered colors sparkled in the daylight. Last night, he initiated a mani party, and everyone—even Julien, Jayson, Fallon, and Ryder—got their nails painted, each fingernail a different color of the rainbow: red, yellow, green, and blue, with his right-hand pinky painted orange and the left painted purple. It was a show of solidarity and pride. For me. I had the greatest friends a guy could ever ask for.

“Alright, boys. Have fun. I have a surfboard calling my name, and not much more time to enjoy it before it gets dark,” Ash said, getting up.

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