Two Blue Lines (Crossing The Line #1) (20 page)

But then he grabbed me in some kind of choke hold and I was suddenly bombarded with all the same emotions I had on That Night. I was helpless, frozen. All I could do was look at Reed’s face.

And, man, Reed just went
off!
He jumped that guy and beat the crap out of him.

I was scared, but it was over fast. I so wish
this
Reed would’ve been there that night—the fierce, protective Reed. Things could’ve been so different.

Would I even be pregnant?

Spun Sugar Love

“H
appy Anniversary!”

I blinked and stared at Melissa’s shining face. Oh, shit. What kind of asshole was I? I totally forgot. Guess there went my plan of telling her about Robin and eating whatever crow I had to before kissing her feet for the rest of the year if necessary.

Guess I’d just be kissing her feet. No way in hell was I going to ruin today for her. Not when she was looking at me like
that . . .
like I was the one who suspended every planet in the sky and painted it with stars just for her.

I smiled and drew her close and inhaled her sunshine scent. “You, too, baby.” I brushed a kiss to her temple, her hair. “What do you want to do today?”

She sat back and glanced around my newly detailed idling car. “I don’t care. I’m just glad we get a weekend together.” She clung to my hand. “We don’t have to do anything.”

“Ah, well, then that would totally ruin my romantic surprise.”

She grinned. “Surprise?”

Yeah, it was a surprise to me, too, but I was flying off the cuff here for my girl—an innocent, snowy lie that would do nothing to purify my others, but it was a start. “Yeah. Buckle up.”

She slid on her seatbelt without an argument and shot me a confused smile. Had it been that long since I’d done something spontaneous and fun? Teenage-like?

I brushed the thought away and started the hour long drive northeast toward the Kemah boardwalk.

We were going to be Reed and Melissa again today. Not parents-to-be. Not the kids who screwed up. Not the scared idiots who didn’t know how they were going to raise a baby.

Just us.

My plan? To excavate the Melissa Summers who didn’t worry about being adopted. I wanted the girl back who loved horror movies and junk food and hot pink and koala bears and that boy band that made me gag and laughed at my dumb jokes. And who was my best friend who loved me.

Selfish, maybe. Necessary, I thought so.

I drove into the glowing horizon until we reached our destination with its signature arching sign and the slowly spinning Ferris wheel, and she sat up with a kid-like grin. “You’re kidding!”

“Nope.”

I hopped out and rounded to open her door. “My lady.” I helped her out then whisked her against me and pressed my lips to hers, swallowing her surprised squeak. It only took her a moment to melt against me, her arms circling my neck, her fingers threading through my hair.

I tilted my head, deepening the kiss, tasting her unique sweetness, sliding my tongue along hers. She pressed against me, her little moans rippling down my flesh, riding my nerve endings like electrical shocks.

This.

I loved this.

I loved her.

Call me a sap, but I couldn’t help myself.

I slid my hand down her waist, her hip. The curve of her belly, cupping our baby.

Slowly, she drew back, her breathing ragged, her fingers clenched in my T-shirt. She stared at me with wide, glazed eyes, her lips slightly parted and moist.

I pressed one last kiss to her mouth then pulled away and grabbed her hand. “Ready?”

She nodded, looking a little shell shocked, which I found so adorable. We’ve made out plenty of times. “Yeah.”

She got herself together by the time we made it into the boardwalk amusement park and I bought our armbands for the rides and a couple sodas. Her eyes strayed to a young couple with a baby that was obviously of a different race. The baby’s big dark eyes were bright with laughter as the dad tickled its tummy. I wondered what Mel was thinking. The couple walked on and she faced me, her grin sweet and innocent and a tad wistful. “So, you really planned today for our anniversary?”

I shrugged and sipped my drink. Treading lightly. “Sure. Three years is a long time.”

She let it go and led the way to the carousel. She smiled at me like a kid and we tossed our empty cups and hopped aboard. She hefted herself onto the unicorn and I sat on the bear next to her watching her giggle in the sunlight.

Next up, the fun house. Kinda lame, especially watching Mel frown at herself in the wall of mirrors that made her look short and squat. I hauled her outta there and to the row of games to try my luck at the ring toss. I sucked. No stuffed duck for Mel. Thank goodness she laughed off my lack of throwing skill.

“You’ll never be a quarterback, babe,” she said.

“Yeah, yeah,” I agreed with a chagrinned shrug, my eyes lighting on the Ferris wheel. We stood there a few minutes watching it go around before we finally got in line. I stood behind her and wrapped my arms around her waist, resting my chin on her head. She tucked her hands into mine and leaned against me.

When it was finally our turn, we settled into one of the cars and started the slow ascent to the top. From up there, the ocean was a giant undulating mass of milky blue, dotted with tiny boats and even tinier people. The boardwalk below us, which was a noisy mass of people and amusement park games, lights, and the scents of junk food, became surreally distant, small enough to look like a model.

The wind bumped our car gently, and above us the sky was so pale blue, it almost appeared white.

And the silence . . .

So high, it was an achingly quiet, tender world.

Mel snuggled into my side, sliding her shoulder under my arm. I knew she hated heights, so she was being super brave. I brushed a kiss to her crown.

We began to move again, slowly. My mind moved just as slowly, as if underwater. As if being this high was giving me a different perspective, quieting my brain.

We circled around a couple more times, my mind easing along with each rotation.

By the time we got off, I felt like a Zen master. Guess my girl knew I needed that. As we disembarked, she stayed quiet and led me to a bench.

“You okay?” she asked when we sat.

“Yeah.”

She shoulder-checked me. “You sure?”

I nodded.

“You still upset about the other night at work?”

I studied her face. She hadn’t said much about Jeremiah trying to choke her and the way I’d gone all Rambo on his ass afterwards. “Nah. It’s done. I’m just quiet, I guess. Thinking.”

She nodded and her eyes drifted to a family with a couple of small kids in strollers as they walked by, one of the babies screaming its lungs out. “Thinking about what?” she asked, her voice a little timid as if she was afraid of what I’d say.

I toed the pebbly gravel. My thoughts had been an ebb and flow, nothing concrete, definitely nothing worth ruining our day over. I gazed up into her worried brown eyes. “Not much, really. Just how much I love you,” I said with a lazy smile.

I saw the disbelief swim across her face. Chased by relief. “Whatever.” She let it go. She tipped her weight against me and grabbed my hand. “If you
really
loved me, you’d buy me cotton candy.”

So my girl wanted me to prove my undying love with spun sugar? I was on it. I nodded once and popped up. “Oh, I love you all right.” I winked and headed to the snack vendor to order her cotton candy plus a hamburger for us to share, a Mountain Dew, and a bag of Twizzlers. I was going to prove my devotion if I died doing it . . . a little sugar rush wouldn’t hurt the baby, right?

She ogled my bounty when I returned.

“Yeah, babe.” I smirked. “Who loves you?”

She snagged the bags of licorice and cotton candy, making me wonder if pregnant women only consumed sugar. She popped them both open as I bit the burger. I offered her a bite and she accepted between sugary swallows.

I leaned over and kissed her sweet mouth, tasting nothing but the sugar from the cotton candy. I licked the stickiness from my lips.

Her eyes slid open slowly, dreamily. “Thank you.”

A gust of wind kicked up, swirling her hair into her face. The strands were like silk through my fingers as I brushed them back. “For what?”

Her eyes dipped to her lap. “This has been the best day.”

“And?”

Her eyes tilted back up to mine. “And?”

It had been the best day. But I could see something else, something weighing her down like a heavy coat. “And what else? Why do you look so sad if this has been a good day?”

She sighed and licked the stickiness from her fingers. “I’m not sad. It’s just . . .”

“Just what?”

The sunlight glinted off her hair, across her skin. Emotions rolled across her expressive face as she processed whatever she was feeling. I waited.

She finally met my gaze. “It’s just been a long time since we’ve been us. Like this.” She looked away. “Know what I mean?”

I swallowed. Yeah, I did. I gathered myself and told her so.

Her eyes filled with relief at my admission. Maybe we were in sync again . . . at last.

I wrapped my arm around her shoulders. “So, now that we’re us again, let’s ride the bumper cars.”

Disappointment crinkled her brow. “I can’t.”

“Why not?”

She swept a hand over her belly. “Peanut.”

Oh. Right. We’re us plus one now.

October 15
th

Today was the perfect day! It’s me and Reed’s three year anniversary, and he took me to Kemah. I saw this couple with a baby that was obviously adopted. Her dark features were nothing like her white parents. My heart ached for a hundred reasons as I studied her. I hope she’s happy, never questions she’s loved.

That’s what I want for my baby. For myself.

But today, I felt super loved. Normal even. For those few brief hours, it felt like it used to between us. Maybe better.

I even forgot about all the secrets weighing me down for a while.

At least until I had to pass up the bumper cars . . . my favorite. Sometimes, being pregnant really sucks.

Karma

T
he following Saturday, I got off work early enough to meet Jonah at the rec center and shoot some hoops while Melissa went shopping with her mom. As I pulled in and parked, I realized I couldn’t remember the last time I’d seen him. I was always working or with Mel, and he’d been pretty wrapped up with Chloe lately.

Was this all I had to look forward to?

Killing the ignition, I skimmed the parking lot and adjacent grassy fields, looking for him. I finally spotted him lounging by the court, his baggy red basketball shorts shining in the sinking sun.

Loping toward him, I grinned when he zipped his eyes away from the chicks he was checking out across at the volleyball court. “Hey, dude.” He stood with a half-grin. “Ready to get your ass handed to you again?”

“In your dreams.”

He ignored me and jogged across to half-court and scooped up the ball. He began dribbling and loped over to toss in a quick basket.