Текст книги "Dare Me"
Автор книги: Stella Rhys
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Текущая страница: 17 (всего у книги 17 страниц)
Chapter Thirty-One
Lake
I was probably ten years old the last time I woke up feeling so fresh. At that point, I’d been years into my life with my grandma, had long known Callum but had yet to be contacted again by Trish. It was a golden age for me. I didn’t realize how truly long it had been since I’d felt pure and complete happiness till I rose from bed that morning with it filling my heart and my lungs. I even breathed differently.
“We’re gonna have to work on this,” Callum smirked as he pulled me to him from the edge of the bed. His raspy morning laugh was quite possibly the sexiest thing I’d ever heard in my life. “Sleep alright?”
“Better than ever.”
“Good.” He kissed the top of my head and rolled out of bed. Though my arms still ached to wrap around him, I didn’t protest because the view of his naked backside wasn’t something to ever complain about. I bit my lip as I watched him pull on a pair of boxers before taking his wallet from the dresser and sliding out something yellow and folded. “Forgot to give this to you yesterday.” He tossed it to me. I snorted at the piece of legal pad paper, dirty fingerprints staining its folded corners.
I smirked. “You’ve always been such a romantic.”
“Hey. Don’t judge a book by its cover.”
“I’d be more forgiving if this was an actual book,” I laughed, probably wearing the most quizzical face as I unfolded the paper. I finally had it fully straightened out just as Callum disappeared into the bathroom. Sitting up in bed, I squinted at the blocky yet messy handwriting that I didn’t remotely recognize. It certainly wasn’t Callum’s. Pulling myself to the edge of the bed, I brought what I realized was a letter closer to my face.
Lake,
I’m lucky to have never known that you were forced to go back to the park. I left your mother the week after you did. I drove away and I never looked back. But I would have come to get you if I knew. I didn’t realize I was worth the life I wanted till I watched scrappy you fight for yours. Thank you for that and know I admired you for it. You were tough as nails. All that time in that park you thought you were on the verge of breaking when I knew you were already broken. You were as good as dust and bones and I had no hope for you but you still kept fighting. That’s something to respect and learn from till the day that I die.
I know I was never your family but the good man who brought me those fine bottles of Scotch told me how you survived a second time without me at the park and it makes me feel like some kind of proud poppa. And he was asking for it so I thought why the hell not. I’m glad to. I won’t be there for the big day but I gave him my blessing and I hope you have the beautiful life you deserve.
Be good.
Always,
Dean
I stared in awe at the words.
I gave him my blessing.
I still wasn’t sure I fully understood till I put the letter down to see Callum before me on one knee. My hand flew to my mouth and I shook my head because I thought my tears had finally, finally dried. But here they were again and in fuller force than ever before as Callum held a little, velvet box and told me how much he loved me.
“I never told you this,” he laughed so gorgeously, “because I never had the chance, I guess. But I’ve had recurring dreams of you since you went away and one of them was just a memory of the day it happened, but the other, which came as often as that one did, was a dream I’ve been having of you since I first met you as a kid. And it changed as we got grew older, obviously. Became more realistic. But I’ve been dreaming of marrying you since I was six years old, Lake. I dreamed down to your white dress and your hair being down, off to one side. I guessed if I kept having this dream even after you left, it meant that inside, I always knew you might come back to me. My body could never shut down the part of me that loved you. It was too big and it was too strong because you’ve always been my goal, my dream and my everything. All I’ve ever wanted was you.”
I cried. So damned much. I wanted to sit properly at the edge of the bed, but in my aching joy, I crumbled to my knees in front of Callum and he laughed as we knelt on the floor together, tears in both our eyes, unable to stop kissing though he wasn’t quite through with his speech. He opened the box and the ring was a simple but enormous princess-cut diamond that sparkled at me between two smaller, matching stones.
“Lake,” Callum murmured, kissing my weak, jubilant body. “I grew up on you and I’m the man I am because of you. I’ve spent every year of my life since I was six years old as half of your whole and I was at my best that way. You always completed me and I know we’ve never officially dated,” he grinned that beautiful, sexy grin, “but I think we could make it easier on ourselves by making this official, so we can finally have a name.”
“God, just say it, Callum,” I begged through my elation.
“I want to spend the rest of my life watching the way you love. I can’t think of anything I want more than to wake up every morning knowing you’re my wife, the mother of my babies.”
“Callum,” I pleaded, bursting with anticipation. He laughed and gave me a quick kiss to soothe me. When he pulled away, he took my hand and looked at me with more love than I knew existed in this world.
“Baby.” Callum grinned wide. He paused again for effect and I was ready to smack him so he laughed and soaked in my reaction for another second before starting again. “I would dare you to do it but I think you’re going to say yes anyway, so…”
“Callum!”
“Lake DePalma, will you marry me?”
“Yes,” I cried. “Yes, Callum, yes,” I whispered, wiping my tears to watch him slide the beautiful ring on my finger. I wanted to stare and admire it forever but I needed to feel his lips even more. We sat there on the bedroom floor for the rest of the morning, kissing, engaged, in bliss. Finally together. Again and forever, just us, the way we were always meant to be. In his arms, I could feel his heart as much as mine, and I knew neither of ours had ever been fuller. It had been such a long, crazy, unbelievable fight back to each other.
But God, was it worth it.
Epilogue
Callum
Two Years Later
We lived for the dares as kids. During the war back to each other’s hearts, we ached for nothing but all truth. I knew Lake and I were in a good place when we found a happy medium that leaned a hair more toward the dares.
We got married in Scotland, on a smaller island. Logan was my best man because I knew it was important to him – Oz was just happy for an excuse to wear his kilt. My mother gave an embarrassing toast about how she found it amusing that Lake and I thought our teenage love was subtle. I gave Lake the idea to surprise her at the reception.
“I can’t believe I never thought about that,” Lake had groaned into her hands while we were doing planning.
“It wasn’t your last memory of it. But it was for her.”
The song “Cheek to Cheek” had lived forever in Lake’s heart as a good memory. She’d already been gone by the time my mom waltzed down the hall to the tune, only to discover Lake’s bedroom empty, important things packed away and a note left on her bed. So I figured it was time to make it once again a good memory for my mother.
There was no traditional father-daughter dance to be had at the wedding, so after we walked into the grand ballroom as Mr. and Mrs. Pike, Lake surprised my mother by gliding to her with a hand extended. With a dramatic flourish, she tucked a big, red flower in her hair. My mom got it before we even played their song. She gasped and squealed loud enough to make even Oz wince, and they danced around the floor to the crooning that would never again do anything but lift my mother’s heart.
Our guests drank, danced and laughed all night. Isabel said “matron of honor” sounded gross, and that she’d had the role in too many weddings already, so serving as maid of honor was Shanna, the incredible woman who played such a big role in delivering Lake back to me. She’d actually known before most that I was going to propose. I’d told her to get ready to visit, just as we were leaving Sunstone. She flew in early from Virginia because it was actually more of a wedding week, and all our friends, from all walks of our lives, took part in the festivities leading up to the big day. It was what made the actual night so perfect and filled with true joy. The kind of perfect that even Oz, Logan and I had to notice.
“Fuckin’ great wedding, mate.”
“Damned good,” Logan nodded.
“I agree,” I grinned. They both looked at me at the same time and then shook their heads.
“I don’t even want to imagine how you twisted kids are going to celebrate your honeymoon,” Logan snorted.
“Fuck, I do,” Oz said. When I cringed, he clarified. “Don’t worry, only her end of it. And I promise I’ll stop fantasizing about her the second you get home because you know, that’s your wife.”
Lake was my wife. I couldn’t stop saying it to myself in my head.
We went several places on our honeymoon. We justified that we’d earned the full month off to travel and relax. I waited till our final stop – just an easy trip to St. Barts – to bust out the whip.
Or rather, the tie.
“Don’t tell me that’s the one,” Lake whispered in giddy shock, biting that sexy lip of hers.
I kept it tight in my grip even as I whipped off my shirt. “Oh, it’s the one.”
She knew at that point that she was in for it. It was the damned white tie that she’d tricked me with ages ago. She caught on to the camera I’d installed in my room to catch her stealing. I’d been an idiot to think Lake was ever anything but a step ahead of me. I saw it missing, dove into the film and found her doing a striptease for me on my bed.
I made her repeat it for me that night.
This time, when she stuck that perfect ass in the air, I brought the tie down on it. I tied it around her ankles when I had her lay on her stomach on the king mattress. Never had she felt so fucking tight. I came home from that honeymoon with several new favorites, as far as positions in bed. Or out of bed. I had a feeling we’d never really stop discovering those.
Bedroom adventure aside, I also came back from the trip with new ink. Lake and I had too good of a streak to let me leave a dare open, even if it was from almost a decade ago. Instead of completing it as promised, I’d covered up the “L” I had done for Lake when I was twenty. So on our honeymoon, I started and finished a fresh, new tattoo of her name. There was ink down my arms but none on my chest so it was an appropriate spot. I loved my wife in a way I’d never loved anyone else, so her name was carved over my heart, sitting there all on its own.
At least until our beautiful Ella was born.
Epilogue
Lake
Four Years Later
Ella Caroline Pike came into the world at a gorgeous seven pounds and eight ounces. She was named with love after Callum’s mom, my grandmother and, well, Ella Fitzgerald, to be totally honest.
She was the apple of Callum’s eye before he even got to touch her. I saw him brimming with love as he waited to hold her and the second she settled into his arms and stopped crying, that love overflowed. I never thought Callum and I could be more, even bigger than what we were. But Ella brought us to another level of bliss and she did every day from that one forward.
When he proposed to me, Callum had said that he couldn’t wait to spend the rest of his life watching the way I loved. But that pleasure was really mine. He stayed home a lot as I went back to school. I came back to find him passed out on the couch, his dark blonde hair tousled because Ella loved to play with it. She would be either peacefully awake but more often, fast asleep on his chest – figured it wouldn’t take long for her to discover how awesome it was there – and I’d smile through every minute of making dinner till my husband woke up and came up behind me in our kitchen, kissing the back of my neck.
I saw him love me in so many different ways and no matter how small or large, they meant the world.
I had finally stopped sleeping on the edge of the bed but like lots of girls, was always cold when I got in. Callum started laying on my side to warm it up before I got in. I drank iced coffee throughout the year and was probably too obsessed with pumpkin spice. Callum thought it was completely bizarre but got it ready for me, to my exact liking, down to the amount of milk as I walked around the house in the morning, brushing my teeth. “And she’s off,” he’d smirk to himself the second I stepped out the bathroom door.
On the few occasions that I’d still crawl to the edge of the bed, he’d either pull me back to him or cuddle up behind me, spooning me and brushing his lips along my shoulders. I stirred awake but never let him know, too content to enjoy the late-night kisses he needed to give even when he thought I was asleep.
He surprised me one day with something I never even told him had been weighing on me. It was a photo and a letter, written by the beautiful family in Richmond that had taken in baby Matthew, my half-brother. Callum held me as I sat crying at the kitchen counter, reading about what a relaxed but brilliant boy he was, exactly as I’d imagined him to be. Callum asked lightly about Matthew, going on when he saw that I was happy to tell more stories now that I knew he was okay.
As his wife, I could not, for the life of me, figure out why I had ever doubted Callum. His love for me came in so many forms I sometimes didn’t even recognize them. But I never, ever took him for granted. Not after the years I’d spent fighting to get back to him.
I realized how much love I’d missed of his during that stressful time on a night – one of the many – that I lay in bed on his chest. He was asleep. I stared at the rose gold bracelet he had given me for my twenty-seventh birthday in Scotland. It was a little looser now. Mommy life had slimmed parts of my body. Certainly not my upper arms or my legs, but my wrist was a little thinner, so as I lay in bed, soaking in the peaceful silence of Callum’s easy breaths, I let the bangle slide off my hand.
I gazed at it, sitting atop our plush, white comforter. It sparkled the way I felt inside and it was so beautiful I couldn’t believe I had ever let myself wonder if it lacked the meaning I’d expect in a gift from Callum. Years later, I shook my head, scolding myself for what I’d let that writer from the Times drive me to think. I was already back to full appreciation for the gorgeous piece when I noticed an inscription inside it. I’d never seen it before and as I read it, my lips spread into a slow but enormous smile, realizing that there were even times in our past that Callum had loved me without me fully seeing it.
Carved in the rose gold was our distinct declaration of passion and commitment. Despite being married now, being husband and wife, we still couldn’t always find the right ways to describe how much we truly loved one another. So I laughed against Callum’s warm chest that night as I read the word I remembered most from the night I lost my virginity to him. Engraved in cursive, it was perfectly plain and simple, because we were everything but.
Likewise.
The End
Hello Reader!
Thank you so much for reading Dare Me. I had the time of my life writing this book, so if you enjoyed it, I have a big favor to ask you.
First off, I was always the type of writer who required total silence while working, but oh boy, did I do a one-eighty on that with Dare Me! Music, specifically these incredible songs that felt somehow composed by the word for my story and characters, changed everything for me and I will never go back to writing without it. Never!
Each track below was the one that had me dependent, hitting repeat till I was done writing the labeled scene. It made me see everything so clearly and I hope that sharing this playlist with readers will give a look into my experience of breathing life into Callum, Lake and the ones they loved (and didn’t, for that matter).
If any of the below chapters were a favorite, I would absolutely recommend rereading while playing the song of inspiration! Starred are my favorites. I implore you to listen! I promise you will find at least one to love.
(Also this is a really good sexy time playlist.)
Happy reading and listening!
(And other things!)
xox
Stella
Too Afraid To Love You – THE BLACK KEYS (Chapter One)
Blood Bank – BON IVER (Chapter Six)*
Sail – AWOLNATION (Chapter Nine)
Glory Box – PORTISHEAD (Chapter Thirteen)*
Cheek To Cheek – ELLA FITZGERALD & LOUIS ARMSTRONG (Chapter Fourteen)
I Know Places – LYKKE LI (Chapter Seventeen)*
Crazy In Love Remix – BEYONCE (Chapter Nineteen)*
Psychotic Girl – THE BLACK KEYS (Chapter Twenty-Two)*
Goddamn Lonely Love – DRIVE BY TRUCKERS (Chapter Twenty-Three)*
Biscuit – PORTISHEAD (Chapter Twenty-Five)
Breathe Me – SIA (Chapter Twenty-Eight)*
Dissolved Girl – MASSIVE ATTACK (Chapter Twenty-Nine)
Feeling Good – AVICII (Chapter Thirty)*
Hallelujah – JEFF BUCKLEY (Chapter Thirty)
When I’m Small – PHANTOGRAM (Epilogue)
Available Now by Stella Rhys:
IN TOO DEEP
TOO FAR GONE (IN TOO DEEP #2)
HAVOC
DAMAGE (HAVOC #2)
Ways To Connect:
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