Abel
When I arrived in Loveless all those months ago, I thought I’d pen a book, words to paper, thoughts that migrated from my mind and onto a hard drive. But the words never came. Instead, life penned a love story with my own body, Loveless itself the medium. Zoey is the best love interest I could have hoped for. I couldn’t have penned a better tale. The best part? This story has one hell of a happy ending.
I raise a glass to our friends and family who dared to join us just a week after everything fell apart at the seams. But tonight, at Caleb and Kennedy’s home, I look out at the small crowd of grinning faces, each anticipating what I might say next.
“A toast,” I shout as each person in the room lifts a champagne glass in our direction. Zoey is perfection in navy, her body nestled close to mine, her own glass raised in anticipation. “To this beautiful woman by my side. May you never leave me, always love me. May we forever do exactly this with as many friends as possible. To happiness.”
“To happiness,” Zoey echoes as the room explodes in howls and cheers.
“Bottoms up.” I hike my glass, thread my arm through Zoey’s, and we partake together.
“I’ve got one!” Kennedy whoops as she jumps onto the sofa until all eyes are focused on her. “To Abel and Zoey, Loveless’ newitcouple. You came in like a hurricane—twisted and wreaking havoc on one another, only to find true love that waited for you once the storm blew over. To blue skies and sunshine from here on out.”
“Aw!” Zoey coos as she snuggles in the crook of my arm, and the room drinks again.
“I’ve got one, too,” Gavin belts it out like he was gunning for a fight, no smile, eyes that slice right through me. “To never breaking my sister’s heart again. And if you do, I’ll break your neck.” He cocks his head to the side as he says it, and Demi swats him.
“To true love,” Demi insists. “I’m pretty sure that’s how Gavin planned to end it.” She winks his way.
I turn to Zoey and land a brazen kiss to her lips. My neck is still in place so that has to be a good sign. “I love you,” I whisper, right here in a room full of love itself.
She bites down playfully on her lip, her eyes dancing with a threat that only the vixen who lives in her can give. “I love you, too.”
Someone starts the music going, and before long, the room breaks into six different conversations peppered with laughter.
Kennedy and Reese pull Zoey their way as they start in on talks of an end-of-summer party they’ve got cooking. Ace and Caleb nod me their way, and I head over.
My brother shakes his head as he examines me. “It’s finally happened. I never thought I’d see the day. I really didn’t.”
I playfully raise my wrist. “I ditched the watch. I figured I was the last person wearing it. It probably needed to go.”
“You ditched the frown,” he corrects. “You’re damn happy, and it shows. I’m glad about it, too. I wanted that for you. I wanted it for the both of us. Hell, I want it for Solomon, too.”
“You think he’s next?” I inch back, amused at the thought of our con of a brother falling head over heels. Solomon is a bruiser. A lost soul thrashing his way through life as if it were a mosh pit. “I don’t think there’s a person on the planet that could tame him. Hell, it might take two women.”
Caleb glances over at Neva with her black pleather pantsuit, patent heels spiked six inches at least.
“No way,” Ace groans. “My sister’s off-limits. She’s not falling victim to the McCarthy curse sweeping the mountain.” He gives a brief wink my way before downing the rest of his glass. “Besides, no offense, but I don’t think your brother is up for the challenge. My sister is a ball-buster if I do say so myself. If you had a legion of brothers, it wouldn’t be enough to hold her down. She’s a mustang. A pit bull. She’s tenacious, and her bite is deadly.” He nods over at her, and she gives a little wave before gifting us the finger.
Gavin comes over and slaps his hand over my back. “You’re a part of the family now. And as much as I was busting your ass, I can tell you’re one hundred percent invested in my sister.” His lips purse as he looks to her. You can see the sorrow in his eyes. Zoey and I headed to his place first when we came back last weekend. Zoey spilled her past at his feet like a deck of cards, and poor Gavin didn’t know what to do with it. But Demi helped him wade through it. There were tears and lots of hearty embraces. Nobody blames Zoey for what she went through. I offered to help her sue the bastard for taking advantage of a student, but she insisted that she’d rather let the past lie dormant. She said marrying Arlene was punishment enough for him. If it were anything like the dead union I entered into the first time, she would be right. Elizabeth is a good person at her core. We simply drifted, made mistakes, and yet ultimately I still managed to find my way back to Loveless, back to where I needed to be. Right here. Home with Zoey.
“I’m one hundred percent invested, I promise,” I say, looking at her from across the room. Zoey shines like an entire galaxy of stars as she throws her head back and laughs. And just like that, the room glows a little brighter.
Zoey and I walk back to the boathouse under a heavy navy sky, the moon squatting low overhead like a dinner plate just inches from our grasp. The lake shimmers like rhinestones, the water lapping the edge, teasing us, just out of our grasp.
Zoey lands her head over my chest as we slowly stride across the powder white sand. “How about we end this summer the way it began?”
“Dinner at the Blue Crab?”
“I was thinking more like me staring at your naked body while you went for a midnight swim in the buff.” Her chest bucks with a dirty laugh, and I give her hip a quick pinch.
“Only if you’re right there next to me. Rumor has it, nobody can see us just past the boathouse.”
“You want me in the nude?” she teases while running her finger over my lips. Zoey is the forever temptress.
“It’s my favorite way to have you.”
“Last one in has to make breakfast in the morning,” She shouts, darting down the shoreline. And once we crest the bend that affords us all the privacy we could ask for, Zoey peels off her dress like a second skin. I’m right there with her, anxious for one more night in that warm summer water, warm as tears. There is nothing like summer at the lake and I couldn’t think of anyone better to spend this balmy night with—this life with.
