No, wait.I’m the one shaking, a full body shiver as the late hour descends.
Levi scoops me up as he walks us further up the beach. “You’re okay. I have you. You’re safe.”
I grip his hair, wrap my arms around his neck, and practically crawl up his body until there’s nowhere else for him to go. “You saved me again.”
“He tricked us. If you didn’t call… You did good, darling. You kept yourself safe.”
Over his shoulder, the flatness of the ocean doesn’t give away the recent horrors. Beauty like this doesn’t deserve to be exposed to it.
Then again, I never deserved a father’s abuse.
The vast body of water in a place like this represents how free we are. Nothing can be seen for miles. Nothing’s around.
Nothing but trauma, but even that’s swept away by the gentle waves.
“I love you, Levi. Thank you for being my friend.”
He hauls me closer. “I’m much more than that.”
“You’re mine.”
“I’m yours,” he agrees softly. “And you’re mine.”
He kisses me, the kind of kiss that lights the world on fire.
That sets me free.
After all…
Freedom is a delicious sort of wicked.
EPILOGUE
LEVI
Three Years Later
From the shadows,I observe Summer swim.
It’s become our annual tradition to visit my father’s resorts—first in Greece, then St. Lucia, and this year in Belize. This year, however, I have something extra planned.
I slip out the side entrance and around the pool, quietly climbing in on the side opposite of her. We’re staying in another private suite, but this pool is about double the first year’s. She’s been lapping it for the past few minutes, celebrating the anniversary of her father’s death in her own silent way. She hasn’t said anything about the date, but I know.
She’s barely spoken about his death at all. At first, I assumed it was grief triggered by their father-daughter relationship. A few months after the whole event, when she started to calm down and understand there’d be no fall-out for me, she admitted to being relieved he was dead.
Still, it’s become a strange day for her.
I move through the waves, reaching her as she takes a swimming break to hoist herself over the edge. She stretches for a slice of pineapple, followed by a sip from her piña colada.
I grasp her waist, untie the tiny bikini bottoms that make me so fucking hard, and untuck myself from my shorts. One hand remains a fist, concealing the object within until later.
“Levi,” she gasps when I thrust inside her, impaling her on me in one go. She’s always wet, waiting for the unexpected. Anytime, anywhere—permission pre-granted.“Fuck.”The word is dragged out as I slowly slide from her and back in, changing the angle.
“Three blissful fucking years,” I grate into her ear. “You should know me by now: it won’t be enough. I’ll play with you however I desire.”
She moans my name again—this time, Hunter—because she’s come to using them interchangeably, claiming it’s both versions of me she fell in love with.
“After you come for me, go check your phone.”