Icouldn’t get Addy and me out of the water fast enough when I saw the commotion on the shore. I couldn’t fucking believe that Derek had found Avery, at the beach of all places. Addy had buried her face in my neck after she screamed, watching her dad acting like a messed-up madman.
Addison ran to her mom for protection after I’d set her down on the sand. There was no time to console either one of them, just a mutual nod from Ash to let me know she’d care for the two while I tried to shut down this situation that was beginning to draw a crowd.
“Fuck you,” Derek said after Collin and Alex darted off to grab the beach patrol before this lunatic hurt himself or someone else. “Fucking my girl, trying to kill my fucking kid,” he spat while I stepped over to him.
“You need to calm down,” I said, in the firmest voice I could, given how pissed I was. I looked at Jake. “Don’t touch him.” I knew this loser was looking for a fight, and what better place than in front of people with all their cell phones, capturing the entire thing?
“Just try to fucking touch me,” Derek challenged, and then the dip shit stepped forward and took a swing at where I stood.
I reflexively blocked it with my elbow, hearing the crack when Derek’s fist made contact. The prick dropped while the fucking audience instinctively gasped. I leaned over and extended my hand. “Get the hell up,” I said in a growl.
“You broke my hand, asshole.”
“You broke your own hand on his elbow,” Jake said with restraint. I could tell my brother was holding back like never before. We both knew the consequences of reacting to a dirtbag like Derek.
After law enforcement showed up, beach patrol took reports, two lifeguards on quads and one lifeguard truck rolled up, and then the show was over, for now. That little mother fucker was heading to jail in the back of the patrol car, and I had no idea how Avery and Addy were doing.
“How the fuck did that son of a bitch find us here?” I barked to Jake in a low voice, leaving the scene after pressing charges and giving my statement.
I left Jake and knelt in front of where Avery was sobbing in her hands. “Hey, sweetheart,” I said softly, Addison leaving Ash’s arms and clinging onto me. “Look at me, Avery.”
Her eyes were swollen from crying. The fucker finally broke her into a position where she wasn’t fighting back. I even had his daughter clinging onto me for security.
“Let’s get you two out of here,” I said. “They cleared the area. Give me the keys to your car.”
Avery sniffed. “I’m so sorry.” She looked at me, then reached for Addison. “Baby, I’m so sorry you saw that.”
“Mommy, Daddy scared me.”
“I know, honey,” she said, holding her tight.
While Avery consoled Addison, I worked to get us the hell out of here.
“Jake, I need someone to drive my Bronco back to my place,” I said. “Can you guys get the boards and all of this packed up? We’ll just meet up there.”
“I’ve got the Bronco,” Collin said. “I rode here with Jake and Ash this morning.” He glanced around, and everyone was more solemn with the fact that my two girls were fucking traumatized by a selfish and high as fuck bastard who’d tracked them down.
“We’ll see you at the house.”
“Beach house?” Alex said.
“Right.” I nodded.
I was direct, and my only focus was on Avery and Addy. I peeled off my wetsuit while Avery peeled Addy out of hers and put on her cover-up. I hoisted Addison into my arms, and while Jake handed me my wallet, Ash gave Avery her bag.
“We’ve got this.” Ash smiled. “It’s going to be okay.”
I nodded and smiled at my sister and then took Avery’s hand in my free one. Once we were in the car, I tried to tease Addy while locking her into her car seat, but it was painfully obvious that she was not in the mood for fun and games. She was rattled. I couldn’t believe anyone could do that to their child, especially this sweet little girl.
I set my phone to connect to Avery’s car, knowing shit could go any direction once I got moving down the highway.
“I’m scared of vacation,” Addy said as I saw the tears streaming down Avery’s cheeks again.
I reached for Avery’s hand while exiting the parking lot. “It’s over now, sweetheart. We’re going to my house on the beach now, just as we planned,” I said, seeing tears welling up in her frightened eyes.
“No,” Addy said in a whimper, her eyes spilling out tears as she covered her tiny face. “I don’t want the beach.”
“Okay,” I rubbed Avery’s arm. I needed her with me right now. I didn’t want either of them to be alone. “Why don’t we—”
“Just take us home,” Avery said, trying to breathe it out.
“Why don’t I take you to my place in the Hills instead? It seemed to help you the last time?”
“That’s fine,” she said.
I glanced back, and Addy was staring blankly out of the window, sniveling. I had no idea how to console her. All I wanted was to find that mother fucker and beat the shit out of him for hurting these two sweet girls. The two most important people in my fucking life.
I called out for my phone to dial Jacob.
“Jake,” I said when he answered, “change of plans. We’re heading to my place in the Hills.” I looked at Avery. “You guys can do whatever.”
“It’s okay if they come. I’d actually like the company,” Avery managed to my surprise.
“All right. Let everyone know we’re meeting up at my place. Swing through a drive-through and load up on burgers and shakes,” I said, going for what I believed was comfort food.
“You’re asking a cardiovascular doctor to—”
“Jacob, please,” I cut him off. “You know what I’m asking you to do. Grab the happy meals too. Ash?” I said, knowing I was in earshot of her.
“Yeah, Jim,” she said. “We’re switching out cars at the house, and we’ll handle the food.”
“Thanks.”
After the call ended and we were cruising through my shortcut from Malibu up through to the Hills, I saw that Addy was sound asleep, and Avery’s head was resting against the headrest.
“I went ahead and pressed charges,” I said in a soft voice. “You won’t be seeing him for a while after he violated the terms of his probation,” I said, reaching for her hand as her leg bounced nervously where she sat.
“You didn’t need to do that,” she said solemnly.
What the fuck? The hell I didn’t, I thought. Her response hit me sideways, but I wasn’t willing to argue back at this point. That asshole needed to be behind bars or in a rehab center before ever being in the presence of the child again after his behavior today.
“You sure you’re okay with everyone at the house? It can be just us three,” I said, feeling her turn her hand up to intertwine her fingers with mine.
“I’m fine with it.” She shook her head. “Good God. What must they think of your girlfriend now?” She laughed in disgust.
“What I think.” I smiled, glancing to my left, changing lanes and getting the horsepower out of this car that I fucking needed right now.
“And what do you think?” Her humor was nonexistent and for a good reason.
“The guys and I would love to kick his ass,” I kept my voice low, so as not to wake Addison, who slept with a frown on her face. “Simple as that.”
“It’s my fault.” Avery shook her head. “I swear, fuck,” she said, looking out her window.
“What’s your fault? You didn’t tell him where you were going, did you?” I asked, partially wondering since she didn’t seem happy that I’d pressed charges against the fucker.
“Fuck no,” she said numbly. “Never. He…” Her voice cracked, and I brought the back of her hand that I held to my lips.
“How did he know where to find you?”
“He put a new phone with a tracker on it in Addy’s backpack. All I did was take out pup, her stuffed animal, last night. I guess I should’ve gone through the thing.”
“Jesus,” I said, gripping her hand tighter. “This is not your fault. That guy has serious issues. There’s no way anyone would anticipate a fucked-up tactic like that.” I glanced over at her tears, “Hey, it’s over. He’s back where he needs to be. We were all pretty much ready to pack it up anyway. Take a breath, sweetheart. We’ll get home, and Jake and Ash will bring in the food to put a smile back on my woman’s face.”
“Sounds good.” She sighed.
“So, no running to the cemetery then?” I teased, thanking God that she was settled down and out of that same zone she was in the night we left Addy when Derek had pulled his shit in front of me.
“I can’t believe Addy saw all of that. She’s never seen him pull something like this. I’ve always sheltered her from it.”
“We’ll make sure she’s okay. If we’re all swimming in the pool with her, we’ll make it fun tonight.”
We rolled into the place before anyone else. Addy was still sound asleep, and unfortunately, I had no room set up for her in this damn house. I had Avery follow me to one of the rooms on the first floor, Addy drooling adorably with creases in her cheeks from sleeping so hard on the ride up to the house.
“Do you think she’ll be okay in here?” I asked. “I have the glass doors on all floors open for whenever she wakes up. That way, we’ll be able to hear her.”
“She’s fine,” Avery said, brushing the hair from Addy’s forehead and offering her a small and raggedy, gray stuffed animal.
Must be pup, I thought with a smile of adoration.
I heard Jake come in and left Addy and Avery in the bottom room. It was the one closest to the open glass door, where I’d had the security company set the motion sensors for anything that would walk out to the pool area.
“Pool’s closed? You’re such a fucking asshole sometimes.” My brother nudged me and grinned, testing the waters in his own way. “How are the girls?” he asked as I grabbed bags of food from Ash.
“What the hell, man?” I shook my head while Ash laughed along with me. “Did you buy out the entire restaurant?”
“Jake acts like I’ve never asked for a McDonald’s cheeseburger before,” Ash said with a wink to her husband.
“No tomatoes, I know.” He smirked at her.
“Oh my God,” I heard Avery say, her voice light with humor. “First of all, McDonald’s doesn’t put tomatoes on their cheeseburgers unless you ask for them, and second, what army are we feeding with all this food?”
Ash shook her head. “I tried to order, but Jake wanted to prove he was a fast-food champion or something. Poor girl taking his order probably quit her job tonight after that.”
I looked at Ash’s humored expression as she leaned into Avery at her side and hugged her. “You wear the pants in that relationship,” I teased. “How the hell did you allow this dip shit to ruin some girl’s day?”
“She was laughing too hard.” Jake arched an eyebrow. “I tried to get assistance, but some gorgeous brunette in my car was laughing so damn hard she couldn’t help, which made it all worse.”
Avery started laughing as we set all the food on my counters.
“How unacceptable,” Ash said, countering Jake, going to my fridge and pulling out a beer for himself, me, and Avery.
Jake grabbed the ginger ale I had on hand for whenever the two showed up, and he handed it to Ash while Avery came to my side. I could feel all her energy had been drained, so I held her close after twisting the cap off her beer and handing it to her.
Jake took a sip of his beer. “The experience could have been so enticing, yet here we are.” He held out his hands to what easily looked like twenty fucking bags of food. “The poor girl is most likely still frazzled.”
I looked at Avery’s gleaming eyes as we watched Jake and Ash play out their excuses for ordering everything on the menu. “Well, I can say this: my little girl is going to wake up and think she’s in heaven when she sees all of these happy meals.”
“Thank God.” Jake smiled at Avery. “I ordered different types of each meal to make sure she got the toy she wanted.”
I almost choked on the drink of beer I had just taken. “Jacob Allan Mitchell, fuck me to hell.”
Jake’s eyes zeroed in on me. “James Howard Mitchell, you will go to hell if you ever drop my middle name in conversation again. Who the hell are you, Dad?”
“I tried to tell him that there were only three toys and that you could actually request them.” Ash laughed again.
“Did you, now?” Jake walked over to Ash. “The only way I’m going to stop this laughing of yours is by kissing your little lips.”
“You’re a heart surgeon, right?” Avery said, amused by their interaction.
Ash lost it again, and Jake couldn’t answer before Collin and Alex walked in.
“What in God’s name?” Collin said, eying my kitchen island that was lined with bags of food. “So the cardiologist wants to kill all of us tonight, then? Trying to experiment on us?”
“I was thinking the same. You missed his lame-ass excuses for ordering all this shit,” I said.
“Guess so.” Alex pulled a burger out of the bag and started in. “I’m not complaining. I’m starving.”
I was watching Avery more than anything as Collin started going through all the bags. “Avery, what’s on the menu tonight? In Palm Springs, it was nearly everything at the table.” He glanced back and smiled. “Seems like Jake caught on when I told him Jim’s girl could throw it down better than he does.”
Avery shook her head and stepped forward. “I’m glad my appetite can enhance conversations,” she said, pulling out a burger.
“Hey,” Collin said, leaning back against the counter, “when your best friend is a doctor, and all you do is share reports of that?”
“All fucking night,” Jake said, bringing his arm around Ash. “Then we talk about crazy shit like my brother dating a woman who could eat an entire buffalo.”
“Buffalo? Jesus Christ.” I laughed. “Avery and I are heading up to the top. Addy is asleep. Grab your dinner—compliments of Jake—and we’ll hang up there and let Addison sleep.”
“The outdoor fridge stocked up there, brother?” Collin asked.
“Yep,” I said as Avery moved toward Ash, who asked how she and Addy were doing. “Let’s head up. I have the motion alarms on to the pool in case Addison wakes while we’re up there.”
“Nice. Sound the fucking sirens when the poor kid wakes up in some strange place,” Alex said, trailing everyone with me.
“Avery,” I said before we headed up. “Do you want to change?”
Even I wanted to get the fucking salt off me.
Avery, looking gorgeous in her crochet, cover-up dress, stopped and laughed, “Yeah, actually I do.”
“Go get cleaned up. Jake and I jumped in a quick shower before heading up. It helped give us both a second wind,” Ash said. “We’ll watch out for Addy. Take your time.”
I followed Avery into the bathroom and turned on the water. “You don’t mind if I join you, do you?”
“If you didn’t, I would think you were kicking my ass to the curb after everything.”
“That shit storm wasn’t your fault. You need to get that out of your head,” I said, helping her out of her swimsuit. “I imagined us seeing each other in a position like this.” I ran my hand over her ass after she turned and pulled the Velcro open on my board shorts and dropped them.
“Like what?” she taunted, and my Avery was back without reservation.
“Well, for starters, I wouldn’t have sand in my ass. Let’s get in the shower.” I kissed her lips gently, “Allow me to clean this salt and sand off, and then, I’ll be washing you up.”
Avery was in before me and turned back to me with a few pumps of my cleanser. “How about I help get the sand out?”
I jumped when her hands moved under my balls and up my ass. I reached for the wall. “I have to admit,” I cringed, “there is nothing sexual about this for me.” I bit my bottom lip while Avery laughed.
“How so?” she asked, kissing my side.
“It feels like you’re rubbing sandpaper on my balls and up my crack.” I laughed when her eyes met mine.
Avery’s head fell back in laughter. “Oh shit,” she said, her hands wrapping around my waist. “I’m so sorry. You should have rinsed off first.”
I chuckled and walked over to the area where I could get this damn sand off my body and appreciate my woman’s hands all over me. I’d waited all fucking week for her, to touch her, to see her eyes in euphoria—I wasn’t sure that would happen in this shower with everyone here and my concern about Addy waking up in a strange house. The door was locked, of course, and once again, I was following Avery’s lead, but it still had me a little unsettled.
The shower wouldn’t be about me. It would be about bringing Avery whatever she wanted—anything—that’s all I wanted, to see Avery’s eyes, glistening while she climaxed. Her hands, gripping my hair and begging me for whatever she wanted. It’s all I’d longed for all damn week. Maybe this would be an excellent start for removing Derek’s bullshit from our day. Hopefully, anyway. I could tell this shit was still sitting with her, and I wanted nothing more than to take it all away.
