The Way With You (The Way #2) (13 page)

He cups my breasts, gently squeezing then thumbing my nipples.

Then I'm there, my breath catches, my vision blurs, my entire body stiffens as overwhelming sensations of bliss roll through me. My toes curl, my nails dig into his chest, and then he lifts his hips with a shout, coming with me, never looking away, giving me everything he is and taking everything I am at the same time. It's scary. It's unfamiliar. It's bliss.

I slowly lean forward, collapsing on top of him, sweaty and panting and deliciously spent.

"This makes it a done deal," he breathes into my hair.

"What's that?" I ask, looking up at him.

"You're mine forever."

I grin. "Don't you forget it."

I hang up the phone and look at Bash.

"My mom wants us to come home for spring break."

"My mom wants us to go to Brooklyn this weekend," he tells me, making me smile.

"I'd love to go!" I tell him. I'm so excited to finally be whole and healed enough to meet his family.

He pulls me into his arms. "I wish you'd let me take you sooner. They wouldn't have cared about the bruises."

"The cast is bad enough."

He gives me a look. "My mom's been nagging me every day for the past six weeks."

I look at him. "Six weeks, huh?" I hadn't broken things off with Cam at that point.

He grins. "Yep. I mentioned you at the beginning of the semester, but I knew about six weeks ago I had a shot."

"Pretty sure of yourself, aren't you, Elevator Boy?"

He chuckles. "I know you, Three. You fell for me the day you met me—you just weren't ready to admit this tattooed bad boy could give you real thing then."

"How did you know—" I break off, wondering how he could possibly know what I thought of him when I met him. Manwhore. Tattooed bad boy.

"Love, I could read you like a book. You just needed some time."

"Hmm," I tease. "I think you might be right."

He beams down at me. "Of course I am. I know my girl."

He leans down to kiss me, and I wrap my arms around his neck, deepening the kiss further than he expected. He lets out a groan of pleasure and I nip at his bottom lip.

"I love you, Sebastian Smith."

"I love you too, Olivia Brennan."

"Thanks for waiting for me," I say sincerely.

"I'd have waited a lifetime—but I'm glad I didn't have to," he admits.

Our kiss is heating up, hands are roaming, our breath turning to pants when Bash's phone rings. He pulls back, cursing.

"I have to get it. My mom wants to make the plans for the weekend," he tells me and I just smile, hugging into his side.

"Smith," he answers, without looking. Immediately his body gets stiff and tense. "When? I'll try but I can't guarantee it. All right."

He hangs up and backs me up to sit in the chair. He hunkers down in front of me.

"What's wrong? I ask, my stomach plummeting.

"Nothing's
wrong
, but I need to ask you and Alexa to go somewhere with me that you're not going to want to go," he tells me, the dread sinking deeper.

"Lex!" I call out and she walks over.

"What's going on?" she asks cautiously.

My lover looks so uncertain. I don't like it. I want to comfort and soothe him just as he does me.

"Bash needs to take us somewhere," I tell her.

"Where?" she asks.

"I don't know. It doesn't matter, let's just get our boots and jackets on," I tell her. She gives me a look like "what the hell is going on" and I just shrug. We'll find out soon enough.

When we arrive
at the frat house, I want to turn and run in the other direction—but then I remember, nothing here can hurt me anymore—my past can't hurt me anymore.

There are three police cars and campus security all over the place.

"What is going on here?" Alexa murmurs.

I just shake my head.

Cam steps out the door, talking to a police officer, and I cringe. When he sees us standing there, he smiles cautiously. He nods to the cop one last time and heads over toward us.

"Ugh," I mutter and Bash tightens his arm around me.

"It'll be all right. I promise."

With those words, I relax. I trust him like I've never trusted anyone before—completely and without hesitation. Alexa cocks out a hip and rests her hand on it.

"Thanks for coming," Cam begins.

"What do you want?" Lex hisses.

"I wanted to let you know that Alison was just arrested for paying someone to attack you, Liv," Cam says and my breath backs up into my lungs. I lean against Bash for support and try to breathe.

Bash pushes my head down between my legs. "Breathe, Livvy. Slow and easy. That's my girl. Breathe," he coaxes. My eyes flip up to Cam who watches us with worry, caution, remorse, but most of all confidence. I realize in this moment, he's never going to be anyone but this Cam.

I slowly stand up, my breathing under control.

"How?" I ask, unable to think of anything else to say.

Cam shrugs. "I basically used her. Got close to her and last night when she'd had a little too much to drink, I mentioned you when we were in my room. I had everything set up to record her and she didn't disappoint."

"Oh my God," I breathe, my hand flying to my chest.

"She told me about the guy she paid to attack you. Smith, dude, it's a good thing you went looking for her because Ali told the guy the only restriction was that Liv was still breathing," Cam tells us.

"I can't even imagine what she wanted him to do," I say with more anger than disbelief because, honestly, Alison has no conscience.

Cam looks uneasy. "I don't know but she wanted you hurt
really
bad. She said this was just a taste of what she wanted to happen."

"She was going to make this happen again?" Bash asks, his anger palpable.

Cam nods. "Yeah. She's been watching but you're always with Liv so she hasn't had the chance."

"She was going to do it herself?" I ask.

"That's what it sounded like," Cam answers.

"I wish she'd tried. I can take her—well, if I didn't have this cast. The hell with that—I'd still have kicked her narcissistic ass," I growl.

"Whoa, tiger," Bash says with a chuckle. "Now you don't have to and that's a good thing. You'd feel guilty afterward."

"It'd feel
good
," I admit.

Bash shakes his head. "Only at first, but once you thought about it, no matter what she's done to you, you're not the type to be okay with hurting someone like that."

"Oh, I don't know. I'd feel pretty good about hitting Cam in the head with a baseball bat," I admit.

"What? Why?" Cam asks with disbelief.

"You're such an idiot, Cameron Stone," I scoff.

"Uh…" he mutters.

"Thanks for what you did—with Alison and the guy who attacked me. I sincerely appreciate that, more than you can know," I begin.

"But?" Cam leads.

"Don't misunderstand—I don't want to get back together—
but
I find it interesting that while we were together you didn't have five minutes to visit me or, some days, even time for a phone call, but for the last two weeks—from what I've been told—you've been making time to snuggle up to Alison, fuck her, get her to trust you. That takes
time
and effort, neither of which you made for me," I tell him straight up.

He has the decency to look down in shame. He should. When he lifts his head and looks at me, that shame is gone. What I see is the same Cameron Stone I've always seen—the cocky son of a bitch who doesn't give a shit about anyone's feelings but his own.

"I guess it was time to bully Alison instead of me, huh? Just with different tactics," I bite out.

He shrugs. "Guess so."

Alexa scoffs in disgust, walking away and over to where Raven is standing with Candace.

Cam doesn't say anything else and he's really not worth any more of my words.

"Thanks again, seriously. I wish you the best of luck with your career—but we both know you're going to make it big. I just hope one day you'll allow yourself to truly love someone other than yourself," I tell him. His jaw ticks, he's pissed, but I don't care. It's how I feel and I'm not afraid of him anymore. Those days are gone. Washed away with the rain.

"Oh," I say before Bash and I leave. I point over to the lawn. "Your umbrella's over there. I won't be needing it anymore." I look at Bash. "Turns out I love the rain."

Sebastian squeezes my hand and we walk away.

"Where are you taking me?" I ask when we go in a direction I've never been.

He smiles, that one that makes my heart skip a beat, the one that had my breath catching the first time I saw it.

"Exploring," is all he says. "The sun is shining and tomorrow they've predicted snow."

"It really is a gorgeous day, but what if we get lost?" I question as we follow a path into the woods.

He stops and turns me toward him, leaning down to kiss my lips softly.

It's taken me awhile to find her—but I've found the me I want to be, and having Bash walk this path with me—literally and figuratively—is everything I've ever dreamed of, no matter where it leads.

When he pulls back, I smile and he smiles back.

"We won't get lost. Livvy baby, don't you know? I'll always know the way when I'm with you."

Six Months Later…

I don't know what
the exact charges were or how much time she got, I just know Alison got charged with a felony and she's in jail… or prison? Whatever. It doesn't matter. Let's see how much bullying she gets done in
there
.

Apparently, they had the girls from Boston come forth and testify as well. Alison is so screwed. And the guy she hired? He's a third-strike offender so he's in for life. Idiot.

Does it make me sad? Hell no. Does it make me feel safer? Very much so. I can finally stop looking over my shoulder—well, maybe some day when it sinks in.

"Your mom's looking for you," Bash says as he walks up behind me.

I roll my eyes and flop back on the soft blanket. "She's
always
looking for me."

He lays down next to me.

"She said to tell you lunch was ready. She made the chicken salad that's your favorite," he murmurs as the sun shines down on us, hot and bright.

I curl my toes in the sand. "That's almost reason enough for me to get up. I'm so relaxed, babe, I just don't want to move. It's the first time in I can't remember how long that I'm not constantly afraid to be alone."

He reaches over and threads his fingers through mine, twisting the ring on my left hand. No—it's not an engagement ring. It's an I-love-you-and-I-promise-I-will-forever-and-this-is-the-ring-before-you-get-the-big-one ring. To me, it means just as much. I think it does to him too.

"I gotta tell you, Livvy. Seeing you out here by yourself, eyes closed, totally relaxed? Well, it made me smile. I love you so much and when you're happy, I'm happy," he tells me.

I roll over on top of him and our skin touches. I'm in a bikini and him in just board shorts.

I press my lips to his and kiss him chastely, but one taste of Bash is never enough. Our tongues duel and play and when I pull back, I look down at him with a smile.

"You should know, babe, that
you
make me happy. Happier than I've ever been."

He smiles back. "Good. Wanna go eat before your mom starts pouting?"

I snicker. "She's got you so wrapped around her finger."

He nods. "She does and I'm not ashamed of that at all." His hand trails up my back and over my shoulder. "What'd they say about your tattoo?"

When Bash and I went to Brooklyn for the first time, I mentioned wanting a tattoo. Bash took me and I got a tattoo of four angels looking down through the clouds, the sun beams glowing bright. It is, of course, much bigger than I thought it would be, but I wouldn't change it for the world.

"Well, once they got over the initial shock, they really looked at it and my mom started crying. My dad smiled and told me I did good," I say softly. "It was good."

"See, love, you didn't have to hide it."

I shrug. "Let's go eat. I hate my mom's pout."

Bash chuckles.

We walk hand-in-hand over the sand to the grassy backyard. I look up in the sky as a cloud passes over the sun, hoping it's not going to storm. It's just a single cloud but the wind begins to break it up. It splits into four smaller clouds and the sun shines through the middle of them.

You guys.
I shake my head. I swear I hear the words
be happy
float in the wind, Bash stiffens beside me.

"Did you say something?" he asks.

I shake my head and smile. "Look up."

"Four clouds…" he whispers.

"Yeah. No one's ever heard them before. Just me. They're always looking out for me."

Bash smiles. "I'm glad." He looks up. "Thank you."

It's been a little over a year and so much has happened, but I made it. Danny, Phillip, Simon, and Cassidy helped me a lot, and so did Sebastian and Alexa—past and present—and I realized it doesn't have to be one or the other. I can have them both. I can have it all.