American Made (Against the Tides #2) (18 page)

Rush turns to look at him, his smile only getting bigger. “Birthday week, man! We made a bet a while back and she lost. So now one week a year she gives me whatever I want.” Out on the deck, Envy drags the baggy shirt she has on over her head and drops it. Sliding her hands over her hips, she adjusts the tiny piece of hot pink fabric that barely covers her ass and turns back to wink at Rush. “God damn, I love birthday week!”

“Wait,” Knox laughs. “You two come up here every year and she just gives you whatever you want?”

“Well it’s normally the three of us,” he says, motioning between us. “But yeah. Then she goes back to hating me when I drop her off.”

Slowly, Knox turns to glare at me. Under the table his hands ball into fists and I wish I could reach across the table and punch Rush.

“The three of you?” he growls. “And what, you were just gonna leave Emerson at home this year and come have some fun?”

I shake my head. How the hell did we get back to him thinking I’m just with her to fuck her?

“Do you honestly think I’d do that?”

Knox shrugs and Rush stands up to get away from the table, finally realizing what he did.

“Does she know about the shit that normally happens when you come up here?”

It’s my turn to shrug. “I figured that Envy probably told her years ago. I didn’t see the point in bringin’ up something that doesn’t matter since it wasn’t gonna happen again.”

Rush snorts as he watches Envy make her way through the sand and drop down on a towel next to Emerson. “Shit, Gentry, even I know better than to do that. Do you actually think that your woman would’ve told you to come on this trip without her if she knew what normally happened?”

“Yeah, I do. Have you met Emerson? She’s not like other women, Rush.”

They stare at me for a minute before they burst out laughing. “Yeah, I’ve noticed. But she’s still a woman and despite how good that chick is at hidin’ her feelings, she still has ‘em.”

“I know. I saw them last night.”

“OK,” he says, sliding up onto the island. “If the situation was reversed and birthday week consisted of me and Knox tearin’ into Emerson and she didn’t tell you before planning to tag along again without you, how’d you handle it?”

I want to hit him for just thinking about Emerson like that, but when I finally realize what he’s saying my stomach sinks.
What if Envy hasn’t told her? Is she going to think I was coming along to do what we normally do? How the hell did I not think about this shit?

“I’m not gonna tell her and neither is Knox.”

“But you better,” Knox cuts him off, anger evident in his voice.

“It’s not gonna be good if she finds out from someone else.”

I let my eyes wander out to where Emerson and the girls are sitting. Her loose black hair whips around her in the wind and I realize that they’re right.

“I’ll tell her. But I’m gonna give her a few days to deal with what happened yesterday first.”

They both agree but Rush’s focus is on Envy as he types on his phone. She turns around and flips him off with a smile, making him laugh.

“What the fuck was that?” Knox asks.

“I sent her a message that said she got twenty minutes in the sun before she had to come service my dick.”

“And she flipped you off.”

Rush chuckles again and slides to his feet. “That’s Envy code for ‘yes, Sir’.”

“I bet,” Knox says, trying not to laugh.

“I’ll make sure to break up the sexual activities so you guys can have some fun too. We can go into town or something. There’s a bunch of activities goin’ on for Windjammer Days so there will be stuff to keep my mind off gettin’ Envy back on my dick.”

“That’s a lie,” I call him out because I know better.

Without bothering to look at me, Rush heads out of the kitchen, yelling over his shoulder. “You’re right. If we go missin’ don’t come lookin’.”

Knowing how loud shit can get when they get going, I grab Knox and tell him to follow me. Pulling my shirt over my head, I toss it over the deck railing and jog to where the girls are at. When Envy notices that Rush is the only one left in the house she heads back in and I take her place next to Emerson. I pull her against me, thankful that she doesn’t push me away, but I can’t stop wondering how she’s going to react when I finally tell her what usually happens on this trip.

I dig my toes into the sand and lean back on my hands. The fire the guys built for us before they went to get food crackles in front of me, keeping me warm as the temperature drops with the sun. Envy skids to a stop beside me and drops, tossing a sweatshirt to Ari so she can keep warm. The amount of weight she lost didn’t come to mind when she packed to come and even though she’s slowly putting it back on, there’s still nothing to her to help her stay warm.

“Sorry,” Envy pants. “Rush needed me to
check out his battle wound
again.”

I choke, spitting out more of the beer than I actually get to swallow. When I finally catch my breath again I start to laugh which is something they’ve managed to do a lot today despite what happened yesterday. “What the hell!”

“Yeah.” She nods. “I asked him if he really thought he would make it across that trap line. I mean come on, you don’t take someone that’s his size and let them run across tied together lobster traps without thinkin’ that they’re gonna fall. It’s a tiny scratch and a bruise. He’s just a baby.”

“I am not!” he whines from behind us. He hands her a plate of food and drops down in the sand beside her. There’s been something going on between them all day, but I can’t quite figure out what it is. They’re nothing like they are when we’re at home.

Knox sits down beside Ari and I can’t help but watch to see what she’s going to do. I know she says she’s getting better and Knox says the doctors agree, but I don’t think I’ll believe it until she’s back to her old self.

“Sure you’re not hungry, Em?” Rush asks. “I’ll go back up and grab you something before Gentry gets out of the shower.”

I shake my head without looking away from Ari. She takes half a bite and then continues to push the food around her plate to make it look like she’s eaten more. When she looks up and catches me watching her she smiles sadly and forces herself to eat before I have a chance to say anything.

“I’m trying, Emerson,” she says quietly when she realizes I’m still watching. “It’s harder than you realize, OK.”

“I know. But when we talked earlier I told you I’d call you out on it if I caught you doin’ that shit and you said OK because you needed it.”

She nods once and goes back to looking at her plate even though I can tell she wants to say something else. It’s been like that with everyone since I walked into the kitchen this morning. As much as I hate them knowing, I hate them only talking about it when I’m not within earshot more. No, I don’t want to talk about it but I don’t want
them
talking about it either. Instead of sitting here watching them avoid the subject that is floating over my head, I stand up and wander down to the edge of the water. It’s far enough away that the only thing I can hear is the wind and the waves.

Dropping to the ground, I pull my knees into my chest and rest my chin against them as the water laps across my toes. As much as I don’t want to and as hard as I try not to let it, my mind starts to wander. It’s almost as if watching the water puts me in a trance and I can’t pull myself out of it. My life plays out in front of my eyes using the ocean like a movie screen and I have no control over what is playing.

Every single shot I’ve ever taken rolls through my mind, including ones I took with Sam by my side in the middle of a field. I try to stop my train of thought when he appears but it’s harder to fight it off than it was to breathe when I got shot. It’s involuntary and unwanted; like a muscle cramp when you’re dead asleep. Thankfully, when the day he died begins to run through my mind, Gentry sits down behind me, pulling me back against his chest. I quickly reach up and wipe my face in case I had started crying and hadn’t realized it.

“And you’re down here by yourself because?” he whispers, kissing my neck. I tilt my head to the side and lose myself in the way his lips feel on my skin and the way his fingers trace across my stomach.

“Was waitin’ for you,” I lie and I know he knows it but doesn’t say anything.

“They’re all inside gettin’ ready to go into town for the fireworks and a drink. Wanna go?”

Turning around, I straddle his lap and wrap my arms around his neck, trying anything I can think of to get my mind in a better place. “Sure,” I mumble, pressing a kiss against his jaw. “Do you wanna leave with them, or do you wanna be a little late to the party?” Gentry slides his hands into the back pockets of my cut off shorts and groans. When I look up at him I see the hesitation in his eyes. I just want to fill my mind with something other than what was just running through it and I need him for that. “You told me last night that we could have sex instead of talkin’.”

“I did,” he agrees with a slow nod.

“I don’t wanna talk about it, Gentry. But if I ever do, it’ll be with you.”

Thankfully my answer seems to ease whatever issues he is having right now. Pushing off the ground, he lifts me until I wrap my legs around his waist and starts to wade into the water. 

“Shit that’s fuckin’ cold,” he curses.

I toss my head back and laugh when I feel his entire body start to shiver. “Don’t you jump into the ocean in the dead of the winter at work?”

A look of confusion washes over his face when he looks at me. “Well yeah, but I have shit on that helps keep me warm. I’m pretty sure my dick just took up residence inside me and I became a woman.”

“Well why the hell are you carrying me into the water if you’re freezing?”

“You were just sittin’ on the beach,” he says like it should be obvious but when I still don’t understand what he means, he shakes his head and keeps talking. “Your pussy is officially a sand trap and I refuse to willingly put myself in a predicament that could ruin my game.”

“Did you just turn me into a golf analogy?”

“I could keep going if you’d like.” Forcing my legs from around him, he sets me down in the water and I have to bite my tongue to keep from screaming. It’s summer time, water should not be this cold right now. After a minute my body finally adjusts and I dip down to rinse the sand off. “I could come up with something about a nine inch iron or a drive… maybe a wedge. But nothing about a putter. I don’t think I could make that work with what I’ve got goin’ on.”

Oh my god.

Pushing me backwards a few feet, Gentry spins me so I’m facing away from him, and bends me over the edge of the dock. His hands slip into the sides of my shorts and he slides them down my legs. He lets go of me and the sound of his shorts being moved out of the way makes my stomach clench. I grab the edge of the dock to keep from falling when he presses himself against me. In one swift movement he’s inside of me and has a handful of hair. His hips slap against my ass with every thrust, sending water splashing around us.

“Hey, Gentry,” I call out before I lose the nerve, my voice mixing with a moan. He grunts in response so I turn my head to look at him over my shoulder. “Thank you.”

He slows his pace, leaning into me. “For what?”

I rear back against him and try to get him to pick up his pace again. “For not forcing me to talk about it.”

“Anything for you, baby.” 

He presses a kiss against my spine and I wait for him to tell me he loves me again but he doesn’t. Instead he just goes back to fucking me until I can’t think straight and scream out his name, forgetting that we’re somewhere that people could hear us. I’m thankful that he doesn’t say it again because I’m not ready to hear it. I’ve been on the edge of my seat since he said it last night waiting for him to ask me why I didn’t say it back. I don’t have an answer for him right now. With so much going through my mind, that just isn’t something I need to have added to the pile. Soon enough I’ll be drowning in the thoughts piled up against me.

I rest my head against the dock as I pull my shorts back up and try to catch my breath. Gentry grabs my arm to help me up and I wrap myself around his waist as we splash our way out of the water. Even from back here the house looks huge and only gets bigger as we get closer. “Who owns this house?”

He chuckles as we step up onto the deck. “Rush does.”

“But how the hell…?”

“His family is loaded,” he explains, shrugging it off. “Stocks, oil, old money. I have no idea how really.”

“Huh. I never would have figured that out. He never said anything.”

“He doesn’t talk about it. He wants people to want to be around him for more than his money.” He doesn’t give me a chance to say anything else before he’s pushing me upstairs and cutting me off by telling me to get ready to go.

The sun filtering through the curtain covering the huge window in front of me warms my skin as I slowly wake up. I shift to get it off my face but as I do, Gentry tightens his grip around my waist. He buries his face into my hair but doesn’t wake up. It still amazes me how comfortable I am waking up in bed next to him. I never thought I would want something like this, let alone actually have it.