Music of the Heart, page 20
“Fine. I won’t push you right now. But we need to talk. Go to dinner with me tonight. Please.”
“I can’t Cross. My family comes tomorrow and I’m not going to let anything between us mess up my family time. I agree, we need to talk but I just can’t do it right now. Now, if you want to stay a few extra days, Merritt and the girls will be here early tomorrow morning and Dixon and the guys will be here after lunch tomorrow. You are welcome to stay and hang with all of us. They have a crazy night planned at the dueling piano bar.”
“You sure you’re fine if I stay? I can leave if you think it will be uncomfortable for you and everyone else.”
“No, it’s fine. My family loves you. Oh and so you know, they are clueless to what has happened between us. I never told them it was you who caused my break.”
He says nothing but grabs my wrists and pulls me towards him and into his chest. He holds me for a few seconds and kisses me on the forehead.
Letting me go, he walks back to his umbrella and sits down. I take a few more minutes in the water and head back to my umbrella as well. I try to read but can’t concentrate on my book. Ordering a beer, they deliver it to the beach for me.
I shoot Merritt a text telling her about Cross being here.
Ashleigh: Did you know Cross was going to show up at the beach?
Merritt: What? No! I sear this time I was clueless. I had no idea but I bet Dixon knew. He
mentioned Cross wanting his help to win you back.
Ashleigh: I’ll deal with Dixon when he gets here tomorrow.
Merritt: How is it going? Is he driving you nuts?
Ashleigh: He told me he loves me.
My phone immediately begins ringing. I know who it is without even looking.
“Hello Merritt.”
“He told you what?! What did you say? Did you say it back? I can’t believe he actually said it. He’s never told a girl that since college. This is huge Ashleigh.”
“Merritt! Shut the hell up! Dear Lord woman, take a breath. To answer all your questions… yes, he told me he loves me. I couldn’t say anything. Hell no, I didn’t say it back. He asked me to dinner but I told him no. I did, however, tell him he could stay and go out one night when y’all get here.”
“Okay, I’m seriously about to see if the girls are ready to drive down now. We could totally be there between 11:00 p.m. and midnight.”
“Come on down if you want to. I’m just grabbing dinner at the hut tonight so I’ll be here giving myself a pedicure. Maybe go for a night swim.”
“Okay, let me go round up the girls. Be prepared to stay up when we get there to talk. Love you Ash.”
“Love you too Mer.”
I decide to head back to my room and relax for a while. As I gather my stuff, I turn towards Cross and give him a small wave. He grins back at me and nods his head. I stop off at the beach hut and tell Seth to have a good night.
When I get to my room, it’s about 4:30 p.m. I decide to take a quick shower and maybe a nap for a couple of hours. After my shower, I lay on my bed completely naked. It’s so damn hot in Florida, I don’t want to put any clothes on right now.
I grab my lotion and rub it all over my body. I can’t help thinking about Cross as I do it which leads to my fingers going to more hidden places on my body. I can’t help but think of him kissing me on my mouth and then trailing his kisses all the way down my body stopping at the center of my thighs.
I place two fingers on top of my clit and start rubbing. I pick the pace up and slide my other hand to my breast. I start massaging and squeezing my breasts as I slip two fingers inside myself. Still thinking of Cross doing all of this to me, I pump my fingers in and out while my thumb rubs my clit. Before I know what’s going on, I’m screaming out and feel satisfied.
I drift off to sleep and when I wake up, I decide to freshen up. I throw on a new bathing suit and a cover-up and head down to the hut to grab some dinner. I head out to the pool bar to grab a beer and wait on my dinner. I look at the other end of the bar and see Cross staring at me.
I fully expect him to walk over and sit by me but he doesn’t. He just holds up his beer and nods his head at me. I shake my head and smile back and take a sip of my beer. Rayna, the bartender, brings over my food and I dive into my fish tacos. I am starving and quickly scarf them done along with two more beers.
I can feel Cross staring at me and I glance up instantly locking eyes with him. I am still so mad at him for what he’s done to me but I can’t deny the way he makes me feel. I finish up quickly and get ready to head back to the room. I start walking back towards the elevators to my room. As I get up the stairs by the pool, I glance back one more time and see the most piercing blue eyes staring back at me.
CROSS
I sit and watch her walk away from me yet again. It took a lot for me not to sit by her and eat. It was even harder to not follow her up the stairs or to pull her down for a walk on the beach. Instead, I find myself heading up to the top pool for a night swim. Diving in, I swim a few laps before heading towards the side to grab my beer and hear my phone ringing.
I dry off my hands and see that it’s Dixon calling.
“Hey man, what’s up? Made any progress?”
“Hey Dixon. I’m not really sure. I think I may be getting somewhere but she was pretty pissed when she saw me here for the first time. I followed her out into the ocean earlier and told her I loved her.”
“What the fuck man? You told her you loved her? What did she say?”
“She seemed shocked because she couldn’t respond and told me she couldn’t talk about anything right then. She did agree for me to stay a few more nights once y’all get here and go out with everyone one night. I guess that’s something.”
“Sounds good man. Me and the guys will be headed down in the morning. Should be there a little after lunch. The girls are already on their way now.”
“I thought they were leaving early in the morning? Why are the headed down now?”
“Merritt talked to Ashleigh earlier and they decided to come on down tonight. Should be there in about three hours. Look, I’m going to finish packing and hit the sack. The guys put me on driving duty in the morning.”
“See you tomorrow man.”
I hang up with Dixon and go for a few more laps in the pool. Deciding it’s getting late and knowing everyone including her family will be here tomorrow, I head upstairs for a shower and to go to bed.
Morning arrives with a very loud knock on my condo door. Stumbling out of bed, I head to the door and don’t even look to see who it is. Swinging open the door, I am welcomed by the very big smile of Merritt.
“Hey Mer. What’s up? It’s kind of early, don’t you think? I mean, I am on vacation.”
I walk into the kitchen to start my coffee but Merritt still hasn’t said anything. I turn around to look at her and she still has that stupid grin on her face.
“What the hell Merritt? Cat got your tongue?”
“You love her! I knew it!”
That makes me laugh out loud. Leave it to Merritt to get right to the point.
“I see Ashleigh told you what I said. What else did she tell you?”
Merritt makes herself a cup of coffee and we head out to the balcony to talk. I’ve always been able to tell her anything. So when everything started with Ashleigh, she’s been my go to person other than Dixon.
“She loves you too, you know. She may not be happy with you right now but she’ll come back around. I can already see her anger chipping away. Just keep giving her some space and time like she asked.”
I know Merritt is right and we keep talking and finish our coffee.
“Okay, I need to get back to our condo and get ready for the beach. The guys should be here in a few hours as well as Ashleigh’s family. I hope you know that Greer is going to be all over you.”
“I know and I don’t mind. That kid rocks plus maybe it will help score some points with Ashleigh.”
Merritt just laughs as she walks out the door. I head to take a shower and brush my teeth. After another cup of coffee, I change into my swimsuit and head down to the beach. I just talked to Dixon and they were about three hours away so I’m hoping the girls will let me hang with them this morning.
“Hey ladies. Do you mind if I join you today? The guys won’t be here for a few hours and I’d rather not sit alone.”
Everyone including myself looks at Ashleigh knowing her answer is the only one that really matters.
“I guess. Actually, all three of these umbrellas and the chairs are ours so take your pick.”
The three umbrellas are placed together forming a half circle and the girls have taken over the beach in front with their chairs. I walk over to an empty chair with a smile on my face. She agreed to let me hang out with them. Baby steps.
Chapter Thirty-Three
ASHLEIGH
I don’t really want him sitting with us but I know everyone would think I was being a bitch so I decided to give in this once.
The girls spend the day baking in the sun, reading on our Kindles and drinking beer and frozen margaritas. We decide to just order lunch down on the beach today and Cross offers to run up to the hut and pick it up for us.
“Ash, he’s really trying. What do you think about forgiving him?”
“Are you serious Laken? Just forgive him after everything? Sorry girls. That is going to take more than two months to happen.”
I glance towards the boardwalk and see Cross walking back with our food. I know I’ve mentioned it before but his body is perfection. He is totally ripped and catches the eye of every girl, young and old, on the beach. I notice the girls are watching him walk back with our food. Ava looks at me and laughs.
“You’ve got to admit Ashleigh – pissed at him or not, that man is hot. I know I’m married but his hotness is hard to miss.”
Of course, that makes me laugh and I just shake my head at her. We all divide up our food and start to eat. After all those beers and margaritas, I need some food in my stomach. Just as I’m about to take a huge bite from my sandwich, someone comes up behind me and scares me.
“Dammit Dixon. You scared the shit out of me.”
“Well, it’s nice to see you too Ash.”
He leans down and kisses me on the cheek and the rest of the guys gives their hellos as well. I notice they are already in swimsuits so I assume they’ve been to the room already.
“Did y’all already drop your bags in the room? If we had known you were here, we would have ordered lunch for y'all.”
Dixon leans down and grabs a handful of fries from Ava’s plate before answering me.
“No worries. We saw Cross picking up your food so we stopped and ordered something to be brought down to us.”
Their food arrives and everyone eats in silence. Two more hours goes by with the guys hanging in the ocean, throwing the football and drinking beers while all the girls lay out and read on their Kindles. A couple of hours later, I hear the sweetest little voice in the whole world.
“Aunt Ashweigh! Aunt Ashweigh! I’m hewe! I’m at the beach!”
I jump up from my seat and run to my sweet little niece, Greer. My brother-in-law, Aiden, isn’t far behind her. The girls all get up and love on Greer who is decked out in a hot pink fringe bikini while the guys grab a beer for Aiden and start talking to him. It only takes about five seconds before Greer sees Cross.
“Cwoss! You’wa hewe too! Aunt Ashweigh, did you know Cwoss was at the beach too?”
Everyone laughs and I tell her I did in fact know that he was here. She runs over to him and jumps in his arms planting a big kiss on his cheek. I turn around and walk to grab my drink so I can take a moment to breathe. Seeing Cross with Greer and how much she loves him makes it hard to stay as mad at him.
Catching the end of their conversation, I only hear her ask Cross, “well, why is she mad at you? That’s not very nice.”
I go to interrupt when Cross looks at me and shakes his head.
“Well, I did something that made her sad so she isn’t very happy with me right now. I’m trying to make things right with her again because I think she’s pretty awesome.”
“Aunt Ashweigh, you need to not be mad at Cwoss. He thinks you’wa awesome and I weally wike him too.”
I can’t help but smile. Thankfully, being a child, she has a short attention span and forgets all about the conversation after a few minutes. She hops down from his arms and goes running to the ocean.
We stay out a little longer and then we all go up and shower before we head to my parents condo for dinner. I adore my parents and am so happy to be spending the next two weeks with them at the beach. Walking into their condo, my daddy wraps me up in a big bear hug which makes me start to cry.
“Hey, what’s wrong sweet girl?”
“Oh, nothing Daddy. I’m just happy to see you and I’m tired. Nothing else.”
I excuse myself to the restroom to freshen up while the girls help my mom finish dinner. I take a few minutes and hear a knock on the door. I look up as Cross walks in.
“Hey, sorry to bother you but your mom wanted to know what you want to drink with dinner.”
“Oh, um, a glass of wine would be great.”
He looks like he has more to say but just nods his head and walks back out.
As we all sit for dinner after fixing our plates, my mom starts talking to everyone about how they are doing and the upcoming weddings. She looks over at me with some concern in her eyes.
“Hey sweetie. You doing okay?”
“I’m good mom. Just tired. The past few months have been a bit trying for me. Hopefully, I’ll get some well needed rest at the beach.”
“I understand honey. Hey, did you ever find out who was behind your forced break? I know the label wouldn’t tell you who came to them but you haven’t mentioned anything else about it. I thought you may have figured it out by now.”
You can almost hear a pin drop because all five guys and four girls are dead silent and just staring at me. My mom and dad both look up with very strange looks on their faces while Merritt is looking at me with her questioning look of what I’m going to say.
“Well, mom, I’ve not really…”
“It was me. Mr. & Mrs. Kennedy, it was me who talked to the label about her. I’m a silent shareholder of the label and I talked to Jamie about Ashleigh and her voice. I was worried about her and truly thought I was doing something helpful. Unfortunately, all it did was make her mad and not speak to me. And before you ask, no, she didn’t invite me to come here with everyone else. I showed up to try and make things right again.”
Everyone is just staring at Cross. My parents look so confused. My dad is actually the one to speak up.
“So, let me see if I have this straight. Y’all met, became friends, felt something more for each other, started a thing with each other, then Cross told on you to the label and got you put on a break in order for you to get healthy again. Is that close?”
“Yes dad.”
“Well, then all I have to say is thank you son. Thank you for looking out for her. She works herself too hard.”
My mouth just falls open that my parents weren’t mad or at least surprised. For the love, they just thanked him for ruining my career. Glancing over at Cross, I see a faint hint of a smile on his face like he just won.
I sit through the rest of the night ignoring Cross and wondering how in the hell I am the only one who thinks what he did is a bad thing. We finally say our good nights and head to our condos. None of the girls mention what was said to me. I’m just ready to get in bed and forget about today.
CROSS
Three days have gone by and Ashleigh is back to not talking to me or acknowledging me. After dinner with her parents the first night, she shut down again. Tonight is the night we are all going out to the dueling piano bar. Ashleigh’s parents are keeping her niece and nephew at the condo tonight while her sister and brother-in-law have a romantic date night. We decide to just go early and eat dinner at the bar. Thankfully, between me and Ashleigh, we are able to get a large table in the front reserved for us.
Ashleigh and I are sitting on opposite ends of the table but I have the best view of her. We order our food and drinks. We rented a car tonight to drive us around because I’m pretty sure this is going to be a long night of drinking.
By the time appetizers arrive, the girls are ready for drink number two. By the time, our meals arrive, the girls have already hit drink number four. The guys aren’t much better. We are already on number four and getting ready for number five. We are all actually having a lot of fun and the guys playing the pianos are amazing. We order another round and the waitress actually stops to ask Ashleigh a question.
