Trace + Olivia Series Boxed Set (71 page)

“So, what? You’ll be miserable for the rest of your life?” I questioned him, trying to meet his gaze but he refused to look at me.

“Sounds about right,” he muttered.

“Trace,” I said his name sternly, “that’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard.”

“Yeah, well,” he pulled roughly at his hair, his burger long forgotten, “it’s what I have to do.”

“No, it’s not,” I countered. “We’re in control of our own destinies, Trace. If you don’t want to run the company, don’t do it. Simple as that.”

“And do what? Sell it? Put a stranger in charge? Gramps is
dying
, this is my responsibility now.”

“Gosh, you’re so stubborn,” I groaned. “Do you even hear yourself? You’re being ridiculous!”

“I’m not—”

“If the situation was reversed, you’d tell me I was being dumb,” I interrupted.

He clenched his jaw, having no comeback for that since he knew it was true.

After a few minutes, he let out a breath. “I have a lot to think about,” he mumbled, unable to meet my gaze.

“You do,” I replied, squeezing his hand, which I’d never released, “and I hope you make the right decision for
you
.”

The fire crackled and sparks flew through the air. I sat in-between Trace’s legs with my head lying against his chest.

“This is nice,” I murmured, “I’m glad we decided to stay for this.”

“Me too,” he whispered, his lips brushing over the scar my hair kept hidden. “There’s no lakes in Winchester to do something like this … but it’s not like that stops people from having bonfire’s. This is just … nicer.”

“Mhmm,” I agreed as his lips passed over my scar again. “Why do you do that?” The words tumbled from my mouth before I could stop them.

“Do what?” He asked, his chest rumbling against me.

“Touch my scar …” I paused. “Does it … bother you?” I tilted my face up to see his reaction.

“Is that what you think?” His brows furrowed together and he seemed shocked that I would come to that conclusion.

I frowned. “It bothers me,” I reached up, running my fingers along the bumpy scar on the back of my head, “so it’s understandable that it would bother you.”

“Absolutely not,” he shook his head forcefully. “You wanna know why I touch it? Why I kiss it?” He asked, his eyes dark with an emotion I couldn’t decipher.

I nodded.

“Because,” he said forcefully, “it reminds me of what I almost lost and how precious life is.”

That hadn’t been the answer I’d been expecting … I don’t even know what I thought he’d say, but it hadn’t been that.

Continuing, he ran a finger lightly over the scar, making me shiver. “I watched you bleed out from here … and I knew then exactly what it means to be helpless.”

“Trace,” I breathed, reaching up to cup his cheek, but he caught my hand and kissed the palm.

“When I watched my dad get hit by that truck … there’s was nothing I could do. With you, I could do something, but I wasn’t sure if I was doing the right thing and that scared me more than anything.”

“I’m here,” I whispered into the night. “You did everything right.”

“It’s been two years,” he rested his chin on top of my head, “two whole fucking years, and I still have nightmares about walking in on him beating the crap out of you.”

I let out a shaky breath. “I still have nightmares,” I admitted. “But I didn’t know you had them.”

“I know you have them,” he stated, which surprised me. He ran his fingers down my neck, causing me to shiver.

“You do?” I had thought I’d done a pretty good job of hiding my continual nightmares from him. Early on, after it happened, it had been impossible to keep them from him. But as time passed, I thought I had been sneaky enough that he didn’t know. I should of known though, that Trace being Trace, he knew everything.

“Yeah,” he sighed. “Sometimes, while you’re sleeping … you whimper and break out in a sweat and I
know
you’re dreaming about what he did to you. When you have those nightmares, no matter what I do, I can’t get you to wake up.”

I frowned, staring at the bonfire. “Why do you think that is?”

It had been a few weeks since I’d had the last nightmare, but they were always the same. Aaron was above me, his foot kicking into my side and his fists battering my face. Trace never came to save me in my nightmares and I couldn’t wake up until Aaron had delivered the fatal blow.

“I don’t know,” I felt him shrug, “I guess you’re in such a deep sleep that you can’t wake up.”

“We’re one messed up pair,” I mumbled.

He chuckled, playing with a piece of my hair. “We’re not messed up. We’re perfect for each other, Olivia. Absolutely perfect.”

“And why is that?” I asked, tilting my head back to smile up at him.

He kissed the end of my nose. “Because there’s perfection in everything.”

“I thought you told me perfection doesn’t exist,” I flattened the collar of his shirt as I remembered a conversation we’d had several years ago when we were crossing things off of my list.

“It doesn’t … not in the way people believe.”

“What do you mean?” I gazed at him quizzically.

He took a deep breath, gazing at the fire for a moment, before looking down at me. “There’s beauty in everything, Olivia. So why can’t there be perfection too?” His tongue flicked out, moistening his lips. “People spend too much time dwelling on the bad in a situation … when if they dug a little deeper they could find something good in it.”

“Does that mean you found something good in what happened to your dad? To me?” I asked. I wasn’t asking the question to be mean, I was curious.

His jaw tightened and his eyes narrowed but eventually he answered. “It took me a while, but yes.”

“And what was it you found?”

He tightened his arms around me. “If my dad hadn’t—died,” he choked, “I would’ve probably been at some party or doing something stupid, and I wouldn’t have been there to help you with your tire. Hell, I wouldn’t have even been a mechanic.” He brushed his nose against my hair. “I miss my dad
every single day
, but I know that if he hadn’t died I wouldn’t have
you
.” I was surprised that he was being so open with me. Trace wasn’t one to talk about his feelings, I knew that and I respected it, but it was nice to hear how much he cared. But I hated that he felt he had to lose his dad in order to gain me.

“And what good did you find in what Aaron did to me?”

“This is going to sound so cheesy,” a smile played on his lips as he looked to our right where there was a forest and Marcus’ kids were playing hide and seek.

“I promise not to mock you for your cheesiness,” I rested my head against his chest, looking up at the stars.

“Mhmm, sure,” he hummed.

“Tell me.”

“I knew I was in love with you before that day, I was just a pussy and wouldn’t tell you,” he chuckled. “But what Aaron did to you, made me fall even more in love with you, because after that I knew we could get through anything … together.”

“That
is
cheesy,” I giggled.

“Woman, you said you wouldn’t mock me,” he nibbled on my earlobe.

“Sorry, I couldn’t help myself.” My eyes fluttered closed as he trailed light kisses down my neck.

“Hey, lovebirds!” Marcus called over to us, waving his hands. “Come get something to eat!”

I scooted out from between Trace’s legs and stood, dusting the grass and dirt off my legs. I shivered as a breeze gusted around us. Being on the water, the night’s here were cool. It was nicer than the heart attack inducing humidity I had grown used to in Virginia, but I hadn’t packed for cooler weather. Which was dumb, since we were heading all the way up to Maine.

“Here,” Trace shrugged out of the plaid shirt he was wearing and draped it across my shoulders. I’d ditched the shirt I’d borrowed from him earlier and left it in the car.

“Thanks,” I smiled as I pushed my arms through the large sleeves.

“Can’t have you getting sick,” he kissed my forehead, placing a hand on my waist and guiding me towards Marcus.

Apparently Marcus had a bonfire once a week, where he grilled and hung out with his friends and family. He was a nice guy and his wife, Rebecca, seemed sweet but I’d only been introduced to her briefly. She was pretty with short light blonde hair and kind blue eyes. She almost seemed too calm to handle Marcus’ boisterous personality. Their two kids, Sarah and Jamie, were adorable and reminded me of their dad. Both were currently trying to climb the trees to see who could make it the highest.

“Sarah! Jamie! Get down from there!” Rebecca scolded, looking like she might pass out if they climbed any higher.

“Becks, they’re kids. Let them play,” Marcus waved his hand in dismissal, flipping a burger on his portable grill.

“Tell me that when we end up spending the night in the emergency room,” she glared at her husband. “Tell them to get down. They’ll listen to you.”

“Kids!” Marcus yelled. He didn’t have to say anything else. They immediately started climbing down. “Sorry about that,” Marcus shrugged, smiling at us. “The burgers will be ready in a minute. Buns are over there and Rebecca made some side dishes,” he nodded to the open trunk of the SUV parked behind him.

I grabbed a plate and a hamburger bun, squirting a dollop of mayonnaise on it and adding lettuce and tomato. Rebecca had made macaroni salad and coleslaw. I scooped a spoonful of each onto my plate. Trace took enough to feed at least two other people. I looked his athletic body up and down. Seriously, where did he put all that food?

“What?” He glanced over at me. A slow smile—the panty dropping one—lit his face. “Are you checking me out?”

I snorted. “Don’t flatter yourself.”

“You are,” he smirked, licking some mayonnaise off his finger.

“Not for the reason you think,” I shook my head.

“You mean, you’re
not
undressing me with your eyes? Damn.”

“I heard that,” Marcus interrupted before I had a chance to retort. “Keep it clean,” he eyed Trace sternly. “My kids are here and they still think the opposite sex has cooties. I’d like to keep it that way until I’m dead.”

“Sorry,” Trace hung his head to hide his laughter. “Won’t happen again.”

“You bet it won’t,” Marcus laughed. “I
am
offering you a place to stay tonight that doesn’t look like it belongs in a horror movie.”

When we first arrived at the bonfire and accepted Marcus’ invitation for a place to stay, we’d told him about the first place we’d stopped at in Philadelphia. He’d gotten quite a laugh from that. I’m happy we didn’t end up staying there. I shuddered at the thought. The place probably had roaches crawling out of the drains.

“Yeah, thanks for that,” Trace chuckled.

Marcus turned back to the grill, removing the burgers and stacking them on a plate. He put it in the trunk with the rest of the food.

I grabbed a plastic fork and used it to lift one of the burgers onto my plate.

“I can’t believe you had a cheeseburger for lunch, and now you’re having one for dinner,” I shook my head.

“I need protein,” he smirked. Sobering, he added, “I didn’t really eat my lunch anyway.”

That was true. After the conversation about taking over his family’s business, neither of us had much of an appetite. I hated that Trace felt … obligated to take over the business. His family—they were good people—and I knew they’d respect his decision if he chose to carry on as he was.

We found a spot close to the edge of the lake and sat side by side.

With the darkness the lake appeared to go on forever. The only disruption in the surface was the reflection of the crescent moon. It was beautiful. Peaceful even.

Marcus had set up small outdoor lanterns and spread them around so that we weren’t completely in the dark.

I wasn’t used to eating dinner this late—at home Trace and I usually ate dinner around four or five, not nine-thirty—but it was nice to do something different.

Someone sat down beside me and I turned to see one of the guys from the bungee jumping group. I couldn’t remember his name though.

“Hey,” he smiled at me and then Trace. “What did you think of your jump?”

“It was pretty awesome,” Trace grinned. “That adrenaline rush I got when we fell—there’s nothing else like it.”

“It’s addicting,” the guy agreed. “What about you?” He nodded at me.

“I’m glad I did it. It was pretty spectacular.”

“Marcus said you guys were just passing through?” He questioned.

“Road trip,” Trace replied.

“I’ve always wanted to go on a road trip,” the guy said, stretching his legs out in front of him. “Never had the time though.” He stared out at the water for a moment and then jumped up. “Well, I’ll leave you two alone.” And with that, he sauntered off.

“That was … weird,” I mumbled.

Trace chuckled. “He thought you were hot and wanted to talk to you. You’re lucky I’m not the jealous type.”

“Oh please,” I rolled my eyes. “He did not think I was hot.”

“Trust me, he did. I’m a guy, I know these things,” he set his empty plate to the side. “He was trying not to look at your breasts. At least he didn’t look at your ass, ‘cause that’s
all
mine.”

“You are …” I shook my head, looking out at the lake. There were no words to describe Trace. He was one of a kind and I wouldn’t have him any other way.