Restless (Relentless Series Book 2) (11 page)

I padded my way into the living room carrying a massive bowl of popcorn. Violet looked up in surprise.

“I thought you were out with Rhys. Didn't you guys have plans to go to the carnival with a few of his employees from the bar?”

“I told him I wasn't going today.”

She turned back towards the TV, but the confused expression still stayed on her face. It was hard not to laugh, but it was only a matter of time.

“So, why are you here?”

“It’s Sunday, isn’t it?”

“You’re joining me for yoga pants Sunday?”

“All my assignments are done, and all my plans have been cancelled. So I'm joining you for yoga pants Sunday, if that's okay with you.”

I put the bowl of popcorn down between us and she moved the brownie plate a smidgen closer. Frowning, I looked over at her. “Three inches? I share my popcorn with you and you move the plate three inches closer?”

“Popcorn versus chocolate, you do the math.”

“I had ice cream and soda for us to make floats later, but I’m not so sure now.”

She shoved the plate closer. “I’ll share for ice cream.”

I laughed and turned back towards the TV.

“So, what’s going on with you?”

I sighed.

Of course she wants to talk.

I shifted so I could look at her. “Let’s make this easy. What do you want to know?”

Violet flushed. “It’s not that I want to—I’m just worried," she stammered.

“Vi, I know you. You want me to tell you if I’ve talked to Stephen or not, don’t you? We're taking things slow. I have some work to do before we get back together.”

“Why do you say that?”

I shrugged. “We’ve had a really rough couple of months. Just give us time to get there, okay?”

She nodded. “I won’t push. For now.”

I settled back into the couch. “So what are we watching?”

“I don’t know. You pick.”

It was Violet’s apology for prying. I was surprised that she had because normally she leaves things alone until I’m ready to come to her. Although, I had called her out before she could ask a ton of questions. Maybe I was being overly sensitive.

We searched through Netflix trying to pick a movie, but instead we decided on a series we had watched a million times already. The day was exactly what I needed to forget about the drama surrounding my life. As much as I wanted to figure out this crap with Stephen, I needed to stop overanalyzing everything.

“Where’s Jax and Harp?”

“Harp is at Connor and Sophia’s with Alice. Jax is out with Gage, Connor, and Stephen. They said something about going golfing.”

“That would be hilarious. Have any of them ever been golfing?”

“Stephen, many,
many
years ago. Other than him, I don’t think so.”

“I might pay money to see that.”

“Oh, I already bribed Jax with sex if he records it for me.”

I made a face and switched the TV over so it was playing music. My tolerance for sitting around was over.

“Let’s go make floats.”

We raced to the kitchen, giggling like little girls. Mayday by Cam came on and we sang at the top of our lungs as we scooped ice cream. I hadn’t seen Violet this relaxed in forever. She had been so stressed out from her law classes, doing press appearances during breaks, and taking care of Harper. It was awesome spending this time with her.

I hugged her side and tucked my head under her chin.

“What’s up kid?” she asked looking down at me.

“Nothing. I’ve just missed my big sister.”

She hugged me back, and we had a moment.

“Okay, enough of that sappy stuff,” I said laughing.

“Let’s do something fun.”

“Like what?”

“No clue, but we are two young, fun women. Surely we can think of something.”

“Yoga pants Sunday is evolving,” I said laughing.

“I don’t have my kid or my husband attached to my hip right now. I need to have some fun.”

“Never have I ever. Call Sophia and Amanda and get them over here. We’ll make it a girls’ night.”

Vi was already pulling out her phone to text them. I made a run to the store to get supplies. Within twenty minutes we had both the girls and the liquor we needed to make the night more interesting.

“So you’re telling me you had sex in the bathroom at Crossfire?” Violet cried out giggling.

“It was only once,” Amanda defended.

“Drink. That’s the rule,” I said laughing.

“Sophia, you’re being awfully quiet,” Violet said narrowing her eyes. “Are you even drinking?”

She blanched and my eyes widened.

“Are you pregnant?" I screeched.

She hung her head. “I don’t know. I’m scared to take the test. We thought we were done after the boys.” Sophia looked miserable. I couldn't understand how she had been keeping everything to herself. If it was me, I would have already taken it. There was a reason I took the shot religiously.

Violet grabbed her arm and tugged Sophia back to her bathroom. Amanda and I took one look at each other and ran to catch up.

“You guys can wait outside,” Sophia said pointedly.

I giggled and pulled Violet back. We tumbled down on the bed.

“Why do you even have a pregnancy test?” I asked.

“After Harper, I bought stock in the fuckers. I probably took like fifteen tests just to make sure.”

“Before or after I caught you with the first one?” Amanda challenged.

“After.”

Amanda and I giggled while Violet scowled at us, but before long she had tears rolling down her face. We didn't understand why everything was so funny, but we couldn't stop laughing.

We heard, “Oh fuck!” come from the bathroom.

“Sophia, are you okay?” Vi asked tentatively.

“No,” she said opening the door with the test in her hand. Violet sat up and tried not to fall off the bed onto the floor.

“What does it say?”

“It’s positive.”

“Are you okay Soph?” I asked slowly. “Why don’t you sit down?”

She sat down next to me and I rubbed her back.

“I guess I’m happy. It’s just going to take some time adjusting. Is it wrong of me to want a girl?”

I laughed. “No, it makes you awesome. You’ve been outnumbered for too long.”

She started laughing. “Holy fuck. I’m going to be a mom again.”

Violet fell off the side of the bed and we all laughed our asses off at her. And that was the end of girls’ night. The guys came home to find us drunk and crying as we ate ice cream and popcorn. All except for Sophia, who had a very secretive smile as she looked at Connor.

Stephen threw his hands in the air. “I said I could do this, but I can’t. Taylor, every time I see you with him I feel like I’m going insane. You need to choose, it’s either him or me.”

I stared at him in shock. “All I said was that I went to the bar last night to hang out. I didn't even mention Rhys by name. I didn't even go to his bar. Are you kidding me right now?”

“No, I’m dead serious.”

I huffed out a breath. “I have never once asked you to give up a friend because I was jealous. And that's all Rhys is, a friend.”

His eyes narrowed at me. “I’ve never flirted with someone in front of you and given you a reason to be anxious.”

Ouch. Direct hit.

“You expect me to give up my friendship because you’re insecure. I’ve already explained to you it wasn’t like that. He’s been listening to me talk about you for months now.”

He crossed his arms over his chest. “I can’t stand the fact that you tell him about our issues.”

“Can’t we just have a good day without fighting for once? I want to hang out with you today and ignore all the drama. You said you wanted to go hiking, let’s fucking go hiking.”

He sighed. “Fine, but this isn’t over.”

“Yes, it is. I’m through having this conversation.”

I tugged on his arms and waited for him to wrap them around me. The afternoon was meant to be fun. We needed to reconnect and spend time together without thinking of all the bullshit. My head rested on his shoulder and I breathed in the comforting spicy scent of his cologne.

“Come on. The trail is just ahead,” he said.

I wasn’t one for marching through the woods, but Stephen loved it. Surfing and hiking were two of his favorite hobbies. As far as I knew he hadn’t been surfing much lately. Jax went out every morning, but he hadn’t mentioned if anyone was going with him. That could have been intentional on his part though. I had been a little moody when it came to Stephen lately, so Jaxon avoided bringing him up if at all possible.

We’d been hiking for over an hour and I was getting tired. Stephen forged ahead as we got on a particularly challenging portion and I lagged behind. My foot snagged on a root and I fell down hard. As my knee hit a rock I cried out. I tried to catch myself on a tree, but my fingers slipped down the rough bark instead of stopping my fall.

“Baby, are you okay?” Stephen called out as he rushed back down to my side.

Blood covered my shin, but I couldn’t tell how bad the injury actually was. My knee was killing me and it already seemed swollen. I was afraid to put weight on my ankle because it hurt worse than my knee.

“I’m not sure if I can walk,” I whispered.

“What hurts the most? Can you move your ankle?”

I cried out again as I tried to shift my weight.

“Let’s get you cleaned up first,” he said pulling out the supplies he needed from his bag. Thank goodness he was always so prepared. His fingers moved gently over the cut on my knee. “I think the cut will be fine, but your knee is swollen.”

I nodded and waited for him to inspect my ankle. He slipped off my shoe carefully and pressed in a few different places. “Oh baby, that has to hurt. It’s already starting to bruise and swell. We need to get you home and get ice on it.”

He used the ace bandage he had in his bag to wrap my ankle. When he finished, he took my hands in his and placed gentle kisses on my scraped palms. Tears pricked at my eyes, but it wasn’t because of the sting.

“Let’s get you out of here.”

With his help, I stood up slowly. I couldn’t put any weight down on my injured ankle. Stephen scooped me up in his arms.

“You can’t carry me out of here,” I protested.

“Just try and stop me,” he said smiling.

It took forever for us to make our way out of the trails. Even taking the shortcuts that Stephen knew, we were in there for another forty-five minutes. Stephen insisted on carrying me the entire time. My arms looped around his neck and it was getting harder with each second not to trail my hands over his muscled chest and back. I wriggled around and he shot me a dark look.

“Magnolia,” he said in warning.

“It’s not my fault,” I said innocently, blinking my eyelashes at him.

He laughed and the throaty sound hit me low. I closed my eyes and tried to keep my thoughts from wandering to places they had no business going. We hadn’t ever had sex in a forest.

Damn it.

“Stephen, I really think I should try walking.”

He grunted, but didn’t put me down. I sighed and attempted to forget how he was making me feel. At least I wasn’t a guy because then my thoughts would be even more noticeable.

“Taylor, I swear. If you don’t stop, I will fuck you right here.”

I sucked in a breath. “How did you—”

“I only have to look at you to know when you’re turned on. Haven’t you realized that yet? Baby, you’re so damn wet I can feel it through your shorts.”

My face turned crimson, and I looked down. Stephen stopped, his hand trailed up and down the back of my thigh. I shivered in response.

“You’re hurt. We really shouldn’t.” His mouth clamped down on mine and I swallowed a moan. He broke the kiss first, his forehead rested against mine. “I want nothing more than to lay you down and bury my cock inside you, but we need to get your ankle checked out.”

“Stephen,” I whispered, my voice needy.

He grit his teeth. “Not right now, baby. Soon. Oh god, I want you very, very soon, but just let me do the responsible thing and make sure you're okay first.”

I pouted, and he laughed again. He kissed the tip of my nose and I fought back a smile.

We went to the ER, and they told me I had a sprained ankle. Big surprise. They also said I needed to stay off of it for three to four days. The pain medicine the doctor gave me knocked me out and before we even made the twenty-minute drive back home, I was asleep.

Later that evening I woke up curled into Stephen’s chest. He was lying on the couch watching baseball. My ankle was propped up with an icepack securely wrapped around it. It was things like this that I missed the most. Over the years I had always taken care of myself, not allowing anyone close enough to help, but with Stephen he just did it.

As he stared at the TV it gave me a chance to study him. He had the beginnings of crow’s feet at the corners of his eyes, probably from laughing so much over the years. Stephen may be demanding and moody, most actors were, but he never forgot how to laugh. His perfect smile was one of his most attractive features. My fingers itched to touch the light stubble along his jaw, but I held back. I didn’t want this time to end. The weight of my gaze must have made him glance down at me.

“You’re awake.” I nodded. “How’s your ankle feeling, baby?”

“I think it’s okay. Thank you for taking me to the ER.”

He pressed a kiss to my forehead. “Of course. Are you hungry?”

I smiled. Stephen was always starving. “I could eat.”

“How about I order some pizza and we pick out a movie?”

“That sounds wonderful.”

Thirty minutes later we had hot food in front of us and we were playfully arguing over what to watch. We ended up finding something on Netflix that we hadn't ever heard of. I fell asleep on his chest after my second dose of pain meds. He moved me to our old bed at some point because I woke up wrapped in his arms with a beautiful view of the Pacific Ocean. If I had my choice, I would wake up like this every day. I made my mind up that I would heal no matter what I needed to do.