Restoring Hope (31 page)

“Nicky, we’re goin’ out on the boat. Grab your shoes and life vest.”

Nicky came around the corner, a wary look on his face and Nic told him, “She’s gone. Your momma’s just dealing with some stuff right now. She didn’t mean what she said.”

“Why’d she call Hope a bad name?” Nic sighed ‘cause he couldn’t tell his son the truth without hurting him. So, he kneeled down and told him, “Even adults have bad days and say things they shouldn’t. Your mother is a good woman and so is Hope, but sometimes people just don’t like everyone they meet.”

Nicky rolled his eyes and broke it down for his dad.

“What you really mean is mom is jealous of Hope, and she called her a bad name to be mean.” Nic’s lip twitched and again he realized his son was too sharp for his own good.

“Yeah, somthin’ like that.” Nicky nodded and then shook his head as he went to get his shoes, and his mumbled “Grownups, jeez,” made Nic chuckle as he headed back to the porch.

“Is he okay?” Hope asked with concern in her voice as he pulled her under his arm.

“He’s a kid, they bounce back quickly. You ready for your first sunset and night under the stars?”

“Sounds great, but what about Kat?”

“She’s heading back to New Orleans. She won’t be coming back if that’s what you’re asking.”

“Good, I’m uninviting her when Nicky’s here, I’m not putting up with that behavior again.” Tilly replied and then asked “We gonna take Nicky out on the boat and shoot fireworks?”

“We got any?” Nic asked his father.

“Always,” Nic Sr. replied as if that question was an affront to his manhood.

“Then load’em up, Dad, time to blow something up.”

Nic Sr. rubbed his hands together in excitement and Hope heard Tilly mumble, “I’d like to blow
someone
up.” Nic snapped “Mom,” in warning, afraid Nicky would overhear.

“Blow her all the way back to OZ,” Tilly kept on and Nic Sr. barked out “Enough, you made your point
espesces de tete dure.”

Tilly bit her lips and looked at Hope and Hope bit her lips to keep from laughing. There was no doubt about it; Hope didn’t see good things in her future when it came to handling a Beuve man. If Tilly could be silenced, there was no hope for her.

Chapter Twenty-Four

South Louisiana is humid most days, add in ninety plus degrees and it's humid and hot like a steam bath. Hope was experiencing her first heat wave since arriving in Louisiana on the sidewalks of Louisiana State University or better known as LSU. “Geaux Tigers!” was everywhere on the campus of the university Nic had attended and his father before him.

Nic and Nic Sr. had decided that a day trip to Baton Rouge, the city of Nic’s birth, and the city that housed the great university, were the order of the day before she and Nic headed back to New Orleans. Though the campus was practically dead, college students were home on their much-needed summer break, Hope could feel the energy of the university.

They took pictures in front of Mike the Tiger’s habitat, though the LSU mascot was taking a break sunning himself, he did raise his head once and look their way. They toured the dairy store where students raise the cows and make fresh ice cream daily, and they took a walk around LSU Lake as they ate the creamy delight.

But, the biggest draw for all three Nicholas Beuve’s was the football stadium. Tiger stadium, home of the LSU Tigers football team and arguably the worst place to play if you’re an opposing team, was huge. Under construction, but due to be completed that summer, the stadium will hold 100,000 when construction is complete. Hope and Tilly were behind the men as they all three morphed into little kids at the sight of the construction and the coming football season.

“Dad, can we get Tiger Den seats for next season?” Nicky shouted as they walked the perimeter of the stadium.

“Only a man would think spending thousands of dollars on season tickets for football was a great idea,” Tilly mumbled.

Hope bit her lips hearing that ‘cause she didn’t agree. Though she lost her family at twelve, she had vivid memories of watching football with her father. They, however, had been Oklahoma Sooner fans. She always thought it was odd that her father, who’d never lived in the sooner state, had bled crimson and cream. But he’d told her about how they’d had the longest winning streak ever, forty-seven straight games, from 1953-1957, and that he’d been mesmerized by that team as a kid. His enthusiasm for his adopted team had rubbed off on her, and as a tribute to her dad, she watched every game she could when they were on TV. Now
she
bled crimson and cream, and standing next to the football stadium of the team that beat her Sooners for the national title in 2003, her football hackles went up.

“Depends on the team,” Hope replied.

“Indeed it does,” Nic Sr. answered back and she just smiled. Though the smile said, “this team is not one of them.”

“You don’t like Tiger football, angel?” Nic asked shocked at the thought of his woman not liking his beloved Tigers.

“Not since 2003.”

Nic’s brain remembered quickly, and he grinned slowly as he asked, “Please tell me you’re not a Sooner fan.”

“I may not be sooner born, but I
was
sooner bred, and when I die I’ll damn sure be sooner dead,” Hope announced and then watched as the three men looked at her with varying degrees of “what the fuck.”

“Dad,” Nicky chuckled as he looked up at his father, “Saturdays are gonna be interesting at our house.”

Both big Nic’s threw their heads back and laughed and Tilly and Hope both giggled at the astute kid.

“You’ll learn to love the Tigers, sugar,” Nic laughed as he wrapped an arm around her neck and pulled her into his side, plastering her whole body to him. Hope looked up and then grinned slyly saying “Not in this lifetime, pal. I hold a mean grudge.”

Nic leaned down and whispered in her ear “I’ll make it up to you when we get home.” Hope melted into him, thinking about how he’d make it up to her, and figured that was a start, but he’d have to work hard before she’d forget.

After touring the campus, they made their way to “Walk-On’s” for lunch. It was a hang-out of Nic’s when he’d gone to school at LSU, and the food was out of this world good. Big sandwiches piled high with mountains of French fries on the side and tall glasses of sweet tea to top it off.

“I can’t eat all this,” Tilly exclaimed.

“Then why did you order it?” Nic Sr. replied as he bit into his own mile high sandwich.

“
̒
‘Cause it looked good.”

“Then give me what you don’t eat,” Nic Sr. answered around a bite of food.

“You don’t need to be eating all of this either,” Tilly went on.

“Woman, I’ll eat what I damn well please,” elder Nic replied.

“Then you can get the bicarbonate of soda in the middle of the night.”

“I won’t need the bicarbonate of soda,” he snapped at his wife.

“Sugar, you’ll not only need it, you’ll find out we are out of it at 2am.” Staring at his wife, he cleared his throat mumbling, “We’ll stop on the way home.”

Tilly winked at Hope, but she was beginning to think she needed the bicarbonate of soda already. Two bites into her sandwich and she began to break into a sweat. The combination of the heat and the greasy food had her pushing her plate away and sipping her sweet tea as the others ate. Nicky saw the move, and all but done with his own food asked “If you aren’t gonna eat that, I will.” Pushing her plate to him, he smiled and dug into her food. Then he finished off his grandmother’s food, but he got an evil eye from his grandfather when he looked his direction.

“You keep eating like that you’ll be a linebacker instead of a running back,” Nic told his son.

“That would be awesome, I love tackling.”

“Yeah, but you’ve got quick feet, and a natural ability to avoid a tackle,” Nic advised.

Nicky was about to open his mouth to argue that being a tackle would be cooler, when a deep voice behind him said, “Running backs get the TD’s
and
we get all the girls.”

Nicky turned around, and his eyes grew wide when he took in the sight of LSU’s current star running back Marshall Tucker.

“You’re Marshall Tucker,” Nicky shouted.

“In the flesh little man, or should I say big man seein’ as you polished off three plates.”

Nicky grew taller in his chair and puffed out his chest. “I play running back too,” he told the LSU football God.

“I heard, you keep working on your footwork and ball control, and in a few years we’ll be watching you run down Tiger field for a touchdown.”

“Yes sir,” Nicky breathed out in awe and then waved at the football God as he exited the building.

“Forget playing tackle, Dad, running backs get all the girls,” Nicky announced and then smiled as his father and grandfather laughed.

Hope slept on the drive back from Baton Rouge. She was exhausted from the late night on the boat, one that had kept them both up until the early morning hours. They’d watched the glowing sun descend behind the horizon; a sight Nic figured was better than any sunset he’d seen in his life. There was just something about the bayou that made everything more intense, more alive, and he figured that was why he enjoyed those sunsets so much. Once the sun was down, they’d shot off bottle rockets and blown up tin cans while the stars twinkled in the sky. You couldn’t see the stars in the city, you had to get out in that inky black water and then drift peacefully down the river to truly enjoy God’s diamonds in the sky. After they’d cruised around for several hours, Nic had taken his mother, father and Nicky home, and then loaded up blankets, pillows and a basket with wine and cheese for a romantic night on the water.

Anchoring in a cove, and lowering the mosquitoes netting to keep the bugs at bay, they’d curled up on the blankets and talked, sipping wine, nibbling on cheese and then nibbling on each other.

It had been a slow seduction at first. Hope had stripped off her top as she sat across his hips, his hands kneading and tweaking her breasts and nipples as her head fell back. Her silhouette in the moons light was the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen, and his need to claim her had been swift. He’d rolled her suddenly, capturing her lips, drinking in the sweet taste of wine on her lips, as she pulled his shirt from his jeans. He’d leaned back grabbed the shirt at his collar and pulled it from his body, as Hope popped the buttons on his jeans. Reaching in, she’d wrapped her hand around his hard shaft, and he’d hissed at the warmth of her touch. Needing more of him, she’d pulled his jeans down to his hips, then leaned forward and took him in her mouth as he tangled his hands in her hair, grunting as he hit the back of her throat.

“Jesus, your mouth,” Nic groaned as she pulled off his hard cock and nipped his crest.

After that he was done.

Reaching down he’d ripped the shorts from her body, pulled her knees out from under her, and flipped her onto her knees spearing into her with one grunting thrust. Hope gasped as he stretched her, set her sensitive nerves on fire, as he grabbed her hips and pound into her repeatedly. The more he thrust, the more she moaned, and when he didn’t think he could take a moment longer, he’d reached forward and pulled her back to his front. With an arm around her chest, so he could anchor her to his cock, he drove in brutally, put his thumb and forefinger to one of her nipples and pinched hard, not releasing it. Then he sunk his teeth into that spot on her neck that he'd claimed as his own, thrust twice more as she opened her mouth to scream his name. Her climax was so strong no words spilled from her mouth as she clenched tight around him. On a grunt of “Fuck,” Nic exploded in her warm depths, his cock buried deep as he held her in place, not moving, while the heat of her milked him…