Until Trevor (16 page)

“What do you want to do today?”

“Mom and I have an appointment at the spa for this evening; but before that, I kinda just wanted to lay out in the sun and read.”

“We can do that. How
‘bout we shower first?”

“You broke me
. So if you want me to move, you’re going to have to do all the work.”

“I can do that.”
I laugh, sitting up. I pull her legs around my waist and carry her into the bathroom.

*~*~*

"Hell no
," I mumble, walking out of the water towards Liz. She's been laying out since we came down to the beach, her white bikini making her already golden skin look darker. She is always hot, but Liz in a bikini under the Caribbean sun, her skin shimmering from the suntan oil she used, her long hair braided down one side of her chest…is perfection. That's not what has my teeth clenching; it's the surfer dude who has pulled his chair up next to hers, trying to get her attention. Lucky for her, she hasn't noticed. As usual, when she has her Kindle in her hand, the world could crumble around her and she wouldn't have a clue. I'm 20 feet away when surfer dude leans over, talking quietly to her. She looks over at him and smiles. My blood starts to boil, making me pick up my pace. I cover the distance between us just as surfer dude says something, making her laugh. All I can think is
that smile is mine; that laugh is mine
. When I reach her, I stand at the end of her lounger; the guy looks up, and Liz bites her lip.

"Do you need something?"
surfer dude asks. I don't even look at him.

"Let's go."
I take her hand, helping her up.

"Trevor." I can hear the warning in her tone
. I ignore it, take her bag from her, take her hand, and walk away from the beach and surfer dude. I do not know what's wrong with me. I have been feeling over-the-top crazy-jealous, crazy-possessive, and just plain fucking crazy. I don't like feeling like this; in fact, I hate it. If she would let me tattoo my name across her forehead, I would consider doing it. Part of me knows that one of the reasons I'm so on edge is because I need to tell her that I love her. The words have been consuming me, eating me alive. I need her to know how I feel, so that I can take the next step and ask her to be my wife. I know people are going to say that we're moving too fast, and we don't know each other, but I don't care. I love her. I get her. I want her to be my forever. Fuck what everyone else says; as long as she will have me, they can all suck it. “Hey, slow down,” she says, and I do immediately. We walk silently up to the room, and once we’re there, I throw her bag onto the chair, and start pacing back and forth, running my hands over my face and head. “You’re freaking me out,” she says quietly. I look at her, and before I can think, I'm pushing her towards the bed. Once she’s down, I trap her arms above her head. “Trevor, stop. You’re scaring me.” Her voice wobbles, making me crack.

“I love you.”

Finally, the words are out and I feel like I can breathe. “I fucking love you so fucking much that it’s making me fucking crazy.” I lay my forehead against hers. “I need you to say you will marry me. And don’t tell me that it’s too soon; I don’t give a fuck what anyone says. It’s going to happen one way or another, so just agree.”

“What?”
she questions and I can hear the shock and disbelief in her voice.

“Tell me you love me
,” I growl. “I'm going fucking crazy; tell me you love me.”

“I love you.”
I watch as tears start to slide into her hair.

Seeing her tears
, I realize that I have been such a dick. I hate seeing her cry. “God, baby. I'm so sorry. I'm an asshole. I just needed you to know that I love you, and I want you to be my wife.” Great, now I'm sounding like a pussy. I stand, picking her up, and I walk out to the balcony, where I sit down on the couch with her in my lap.

“That has to be the worst proposal in the history of proposals
,” she says, her face tucked into my neck.

“It’s original.”

“Yeah,” she agrees, but doesn’t sound angry. But I'm pissed at myself. In my head, that’s not how I ever imagined asking her, and she deserves a lot more than some fucked up jealousy proposal. I don’t even have a ring to slide on her finger.

“I take it back.”

“What?” she asks, lifting her head and looking at me.

“I take it back. Just forget the whole thing ever happened.”

“I—” she starts to talk, but I cut her off when I see tears in her eyes again.

“Shit. No
, not that part. Definitely remember the part where I told you I love you; that hasn’t changed.”

“Oh
.” Her face scrunches in confusion.

“One day
, I'm going to ask you to marry me, and I’ll do it the right way. Until then, know that I love you.” I run my fingers down her cheek, watching her smile, feeling the weight that has been sitting on my chest finally release.

I lean in and start kissing her
. She smells like coconut, ocean, and sun. She leans her head to the side, giving me better access to her neck. Then she’s gone, running back into the room. “Shit! I'm late,” she says, pulling a dress out of her bag, slipping it on over her head.

“Late for what?”

“I was supposed to meet Mom at the spa twenty minutes ago.” She pulls out her hair tie, unravels her braid, then pulls all her hair up into some kind of crazy ball at the top of her head. “I’ll be back in a couple hours,” she says, picking up her bag from the chair. Before she can run out the door, I grab her, kissing her deeply.

“I love you
,” I whisper against her lips. She smiles, bending back against my arm, and looks up at me.

“I love you
, too.” Before I know it, she’s gone, the door closing behind her.

“Shit.” I rub my face
, thinking that I need to call November and see what she thinks I should do about proposing. I flop down on the bed, pull my cell out, and dial her number.

“You’re calling me from Jamaica
? What’s wrong?” November answers on the first ring. I laugh at the motherly tone in her voice, then I hear my niece July start to cry in the background.

“Is this a bad t
ime?” I hear Asher in the background telling her that he’ll take care of July while she’s on the phone.

“No
, your brother’s got her. It’s his fault anyways; he won’t ever put her down, so now, if someone’s not holding her, she starts to cry.”

“I think you’re
both to blame for that one.”

“Nope
, it’s all his fault.” I can actually feel the love she has for my brother in her voice—as crazy as it sounds. “So what’s wrong? Why are you calling me from sunny Jamaica?”

“I think I fucked up.”

“Trevor!” she huffs out, sounding just like Mom.

“I didn’t fuck up like that.”

“How?”

“I told Liz I love her.” I don’t tell her that I held her down
to tell her, then forced her to say it back, then told her she is going to marry me.

“So
? She loves you; what’s the big deal?”

“How do you know?” I sit up
, waiting for her to tell me how she knows. I never wanted Liz to tell me she loved me until she was ready. I didn’t want to force her, but that’s exactly what I did, held her down and forced her to tell me.

“She told me,” November
says in a duh-tone, the same one she uses with all of us boys when she thinks were being stupid.

“Why would she tell you and not me?”
Now, I'm pissed that she’s felt the same way I have and has never said anything, while I’ve been stewing over this for the last few weeks.

“She wanted to make sure
you were both in the same place before she told you.”

“
Jesus, why do women do that? Why do you guys think that you know what we’re thinking?”

“You’re a guy
; you think about sex and sports. It’s not hard to figure out.” She laughs right before I hear a loud smack. “Asher,” she says, then I hear the phone go quite, and a loud moan. I hang up before I can hear anything else. Listening to my brother have sex with someone who I consider a sister is never going to happen. I lay back on the bed, closing my eyes.

I wake to the sound of someone banging on the door
. I look over at the clock; I’ve been asleep for about two hours. “Coming!” I yell. I don’t even look to see who it is; I just open the door, still half asleep. I’m caught off guard when I’m slammed into the wall by my neck.

“W
hat the fuck are you doing with my sister?” Tim asks, his arm planted in my throat. I use my free arm to swing over, switching our positions. He’s not expecting the move, judging by the way his body slams into the door.

“Listen to me
, you piece of shit,” I growl, my hand going around his throat. “I love her, and that’s more than I can say for you, the one who had the nerve to steal her money, forcing her to take a second job that just so happened to be working at a fucking strip club.” I’m so pissed, I can feel my blood rushing through my veins.

“You have no idea what
you’re talking about,” he coughs out when I loosen the hand around his neck.

“I don’t know what
I’m talking about? I’m the one she cries to,” I retighten my hold around his neck. “Don’t tell me I don’t know what I’m talking about.”

“I didn’t have a choice
. I need the money. I found out that Kara was pregnant and had to pay off some debts.”

“So you stole from your family?”

“You don’t have a kid on the way; you don’t understand.” I shove away from him, walking into the room.

“You
’re right. I don’t have a kid on the way. But I’ve got a girl and a family, no way I’d put either of them in the middle of my shit.”

“Oh
, the great Trevor Mayson is all of a sudden better than everyone.”

“You don’t know anything about me.”

“Oh, but doesn’t everyone know about you?”

“Did you really come find me to talk about this shit?” I ask
, crossing my arms over my chest. My blood is boiling. If it wasn’t for my promise to Liz, his ass would be hanging over the balcony.

“I want to know what
you’re doing with my sister.”

“You don’t get to ask that
; you don’t get to play the role of the big brother.”

“
I love my mom and sister. You may not believe me, but I do.”

“Prove it
. Come back to town and earn back the money you owe her.”

“I have Kara
. I—“

I take a step towards him
, cutting him off. “That’s your choice; but I’m telling you now, if you push me, I will insist that Liz press charges.”

“I
can’t come back to town right now. I’m working undercover.”

I shake my head in disgust.
“That lie might work on your mom, but it’s not working on me. “

“Fuck you,” he shouts
, his face turning red.

“How long are you going to keep that lie up for?”

“It’s not a lie. The people I owed money to trusted me. The cops had no one on the inside, and when they found out about my debt, they offered to pay it off in exchange for me going undercover.”

“If they paid off your debt, why did you take the money from your sister?”

“The money I took from her paid the debt; the money the cops gave me paid my interest.” I watched him start to pace, his hands running through his shaggy blonde hair. “I had been seeing Kara for a while when she told me she was pregnant.” He stops, his eyes meeting mine. “This was around the time that I lost my last bet. I knew I needed to get out from under the people I owed; no way was I going to have a kid and have to look over my shoulder.”

“
So you took the money, started working for the cops, asked Kara to marry you, and went on your merry way. All the while, your sister is staying in the back room of her store after losing her apartment, working for Mike so that she doesn’t lose her dream, and you’re living it up, not wondering about the damage you left behind?”

“If
you’re with her, then why the fuck was she working at a fucking strip club?” he yells.

“Me working for Mike had nothing to do with Trevor
,” Liz says, walking into the room. She sets her bag down on the bed, coming to my side. Her arm goes around the back of my waist.

“
How—”

My girl must not
be in the mood to listen. “You need to leave, Tim.”

“What?” Tim ask
s, looking at me. Wrong person. I would always side with Liz; even if I liked him, I would still side with her.

“You need to leave
,” she states, more firmly this time.

“We need to talk.”

“The only thing that I want to hear from you right now is that you’re coming home to pay off your debt.”