Breathe With Me (The Breathe Series Book 3) Read online

  Abby always seemed to fall hard, though. Hopefully, this time the dude is a good guy. She also has a knack for falling for the wrong ones as well.

  I nod my head, remembering that I had indeed seen him briefly at the Halloween party before I had stormed out. “So, I guess it’s serious?” I smirk glancing back at the guy. At least she is moving up from my brother.

  She looks at Hayden and shrugs her shoulders. “Who knows, but I like him,” she pauses and steps up a stair to smack me on the shoulder. “I better go. You gonna join us later on the beach? We’re going to have a huge bonfire.”

  I nod my head, not knowing what my plans are for the evening, but I’m sure I’ll make an appearance.

  “I’ll see you later then!” she hollers over her shoulder, racing off to join her guy.

  The screen door slams shut behind me and I hear Mitch let out a low whistle.

  “Mmmm…I miss that tail.”

  I grit my teeth; he’s talking about gallivanting around with Abby a couple years back, when he treated her like complete crap.

  Another snap of the door sounds and I glance back, seeing Dad.

  “So what are we going to do today?” he says, stretching his arms above his head.

  Mitch nudges his chin towards the beach where everyone has gathered, busy throwing logs in a pile. The girl’s giggle and laughter kicks up, bringing forth an array of flashbacks of this past summer; of just how miserable I was watching Tyler paw all over Piper. The same pain bolts through my heart as I put two and two together of who the owner of the green truck is, as he lazily arranges his hands around Piper’s waist. My jaw tightens and anger starts to surge through my veins as he slides his hands down further to her hips. I know that shit isn’t going to fly with her.

  One…two…three…

  Piper spins around and shoves him away playfully, but I know better. I can tell she is playing off how uncomfortable she was when he touched her. I know all about it; been there.

  “Well, well…I think I see something that could take up my time. She seems feisty.” I snap my head over to Dad, who has walked up beside me against the banister, currently eye-balling Piper. Not cool! He smirks, and the anger I was feeling only seconds ago magnifies.

  Dad has always had a thing for younger women, but he can sure as shit take his eyes off this one. My blood boils when I see him staring at Piper like she is some slab of meat. I take a step back, ready to bolt inside and deter his attention away from her. I know he wouldn’t try anything, but just thinking about what is on his mind is enough to drive me insane with jealousy.

  “That’s one hot piece of tail,” he says as I try my best not to choke him out.

  Mitch chuckles and walks in front of me to stand beside Dad, no doubt so they both can ogle the girls that are too young for either one of them, and sure as shit too good for both of them.

  “She’s not that interesting. Actually, she’s kind of bitchy, not feisty and she has a boyfriend, I think,” I say, hoping this will knock his mind away from mentally undressing her.

  I’d really hate to punch Dad when I haven’t seen him in over two months, but as my eyes go back and forth between him and the target he has sighted in, my heart slams in my chest and it becomes harder to breathe.

  Mitch laughs and looks back towards me with an evil glare, pretty much his normal expression, but I know he is going to say something that pushes me over the edge.

  “They sure don’t look like they are taken. Those tight jeans and sweaters look like an invitation to me.” He grins, shifting his eyes back out to her.

  Dad laughs and I cannot hold back any longer, “Maybe you should try looking at some girls in your league and maybe you should check out women your own age,” I say in a condescending tone that I know may get me thrown across the deck.

  Dad finally looks away from Piper and over to me with his eyebrows drawn and a frown on his face. Yeah, that pissed him off! At least he isn’t looking at her anymore!

  Mitch takes a swig from his beer, completely unaffected by my comment, then sputters out a laugh. “Oh yeah, I wouldn’t go after that one…she’s already tainted!” Mitch sneaks a sly grin in my direction, knowing he just touched down on a sore subject.

  “Shut up, you asshole!” I spit out about ready to lunge over Dad and knock my brother to the ground.

  Dad opens his mouth to intercede, but Mitch nudges his arm to stop him. “Don’t mind him. Besides I think he already plowed that field.” He laughs harder and I can no longer hold it together.

  My eyes widen in rage and I shove Dad out of the way, slamming him into the banister as I lunge at Mitch. Swinging my arm, I knock his beer bottle to the ground with a loud shatter and his ass soon follows, landing right in front of my grandma’s rocker.

  But I’m not finished.

  He screwed things up for me then and although I wasn’t big enough or tough enough to do anything about it, I sure as hell am now.

  I slam down on the porch, a slice of pain shooting through my knee as I feel the spilled beer soak through my jeans. Gathering a handful of my brother’s shirt, he shoves at my chest forcefully as I raise my fist to make him pay for his comment. My brother swings first, grazing my nose with a burst of air right as a pair of strong arms wrap under my armpits and clasp behind my head so that I can’t move. My chest heaves up and down as I am pulled to my feet.

  Kicking my leg at Mitch, who is still on the ground, I grind my jaw and yell with more venom than I’ve ever felt in my life, “Don’t ever talk about that again! Ever!”

  The screen door slams and my grandfather’s stern tone jolts us out of the heat of the moment, “Knock it off, boys. I will not tolerate this under my roof.” His keys rattle as he makes his way past us and ventures to the drive behind the cabin. He knows none of us will disobey him. When Grandpa puts down his foot, we listen.

  Mitch slowly stands up and casts a shitty grin, not the least bit concerned with my anger. Placing his hand on his jaw and wobbling it back and forth with his mouth open, I see a bruise forming. I didn’t even realize I hit him. A bit of satisfaction rises within me and I look him straight in the eye, challenging him.

  “This is done, boys! Your grandfather is right and I will not tolerate this, either…you hear?!” Dad shouts.

  I nod my head and Mitch holds his hands up in retreat. Dad lets go of me and I smooth my shirt back down. Gazing out past Mitch, my eyes make contact with Piper as she looks up in my direction. She saw the whole scene unfold.

  As Dad and Mitch head inside, my brother laughs under his breath and I step down off the porch. Gritting my teeth as another slice of pain splinters over my knee, I quickly bend to inspect the damage, finding a tear in my jeans with a few droplets of blood. Great…just great! I’ll have to take a look later; right now, I need to go apologize to her for the chaos. She already thinks I’m despicable, now she’s probably afraid of me, too. Great.

  She keeps her eyes on me as I walk towards her with cautious footsteps, fearful that she may bolt if I move too fast. Dammit! I just want to talk to her! That’s all I’ve wanted to do for the last three years, just to talk without all this animosity and hate between us. She watches me the whole way; studies me until I reach the edge of the beach, then folds her arms over her chest, turning in a defiant stance with her back to me. I blow out a sigh, ruffling the hair hanging down on my forehead.

  Right then my saving grace comes as Judd’s truck pulls into the gravel lot between our cabins and distracts me from getting completely shot down. I turn to wave at them, but when I glance back to the bonfire, Piper has already walked away and joined the guy that she apparently came with. Better damn luck next time, I guess!! I shake my head to get her off my mind and head over to help Alyssa and Judd with their stuff.

  “Hey, man!” Judd hops out grinning from ear to ear. “What happened to you?” he asks, looking me over.

  Glancing down, I immediately notice the small rip with a trace of red is now a full on scarlet soaked hole. “Shit
.”

  I bend, scraping my forefinger over the torn, wet tear and immediately crumple my face in pain. Clamping my jaw down, a splinter of stabbing sensations shoots through my knee as I realize a piece of the beer bottle must be lodged in my leg. I look closer, using my fingers to open the ripped fabric. A shard of glass no bigger than my pinkie nail juts out of my skin.

  “Well that’s just perfect,” I mumble, pinching it carefully with my finger and pulling it out as another painful tingle emerges; this time almost a relieved sensation.

  Staring closer with the glass still grasped between my fingers, I check to make sure there are no more visible pieces lodged in my skin. Straightening up, I shift my weight over to my other leg and frown. Judd stares back, waiting for my response, probably wondering what the hell.

  “Oh well…my brother and his big mouth happened.”

  “I completely understand that.” The excitement in Judd’s tone cannot be missed as he smiles at Alyssa, who is climbing out of the passenger side.

  I glance back and forth between the two of them. They are way too giddy. He must have already done it.

  “So, did you show her?” I say quietly, not wanting to ruin his surprise if he hasn’t.

  Judd doesn’t even answer, but the goofy ass smile that crosses his face says it all as he stares over at her.

  “Yes! We are now proud renters of our very own apartment in Fairview,” Alyssa squeals, jiggling a key between her fingers. “I can’t believe it,” she giggles, scrunching up her shoulders in an excited gesture and bouncing on her toes all the way to Judd’s side.

  I laugh. I’m glad they’re happy; at least some of us get lucky.

  “Heaven help your neighbors. At least bolt your bed frame to the wall so they can get some sleep,” I joke with them as Judd hands me a bag and we begin walking towards the cabins. “Oh, here.” I hold up a set of keys. “Grandpa reserved cabin three for you, so you guys will have some privacy, even though he said he does not approve.”

  I chuckle as Judd snatches the key out of my hand and gives me a sheepish look. He’s not used to any type of parental rules, but he’s an adult so I say what the hell. A conclusion that Grandpa came to when he handed me the key with a shake of his head. I got a good run down on how ‘back in my day’, but in the end he didn’t want to load his cabin down with more people.

  “Thanks, man, but seriously, I want to pay for it,” Judd urges for probably the hundredth time.

  I hold my hand up to stop his thoughts as we make our way onto the porch of the cabin immediately to the left of my camper.

  “I told you Grandpa said he doesn’t need you to pay. Just make sure all messes are cleaned up and by messes, I mean…”

  “Yeah, I got it,” Judd quickly cuts me off before I can dig into the aftermath of having non-stop sex. I swear they’re rabbits. “So?”

  Swinging his head around as he unlocks the door, he nudges his head towards my leg, eyeing my knee. The three of us walk in, Alyssa immediately to the forefront like a little kid that’s never seen the inside of a hotel.

  “My knee? Oh, same ole shit. My brother’s relentless persistence of getting under my skin and saying crap that he knows will light my fuse.”

  Judd sputters out a laugh, clearly flabbergasted at my statement.

  “Well that sounds familiar. Isn’t that what you do…all the time?”

  “Hell no! I am nothing like him, and you better bite your tongue from saying anything like that, unless you want me to start calling you mini Tristan.” I raise my eyebrow, challenging him.

  “Touché.”

  “Hey, this cabin is set up just like the one next door where you guys stayed in this past summer.” Alyssa sidles up to Judd; he quickly tucks her into his side like that’s where she belongs.

  Clearing my throat, I shake loose the tinge of envy that tugs at me and look at her. “Yeah, cabin three, four, five and six are set up for families, hence why they are down on this end. The further down you get the cabins that are more geared towards honeymoon suites…” I raise my hands and crook my fingers to air quote my words. “…and couple’s cabins with either a king or queen bed and then the hideaway.”

  “Oh…” Alyssa looks at me perplexed, biting her lip as Judd totes one of their bags to the bedroom. “So, if this is the second cabin, why is it called cabin three?”

  I laugh at her question because I, myself, have even questioned Grandpa on this topic. “Well, when Grandpa first bought this property, Piper’s family’s cabin was the first one on the plot of land. Then Grandpa built a second cabin, which is the one he stays in…” I point my finger to the right wall, towards the cabin. “Eventually when he added a few more, he numbered the cabins starting with the first one. When he sold that one to Piper’s father, he just never changed out the cabin numbers on the doors. I think it’s some sort of symbolic bullshit for it being the first big purchase he made with Grandma. So I guess that will always be cabin one.”

  “Hmmm…makes sense.” She smiles, sinking back into the couch with her feet kicked up on the rustic barn wood coffee table.

  “What makes sense?” Judd walks out of the back bedroom as I step over to the couch, kicking my bent knee up on the arm in front of me.

  “Nothing…she was just asking about the cabins.” Raising my eyebrows, I direct the conversation back to the topic of his brother. “So, how’s Tristan doing? Have you heard from him?”

  Judd shakes his head, looking down to the ground as he leans against the back of the couch, diagonal from me. “No, I haven’t. I’ve called and I’ve went by the house, but he is always at therapy or locked in his room.”

  “You know I can help with that lock, right…all you need is a hanger.” I nod my head with a wink and a popping noise from my tongue to the roof of my mouth. “Just bust in on him, like I did to you.”

  “Nahh…” Judd furrows his brows. “We had a good talk last month and last thing I want to do is wreck that. Jake said he needs space and time…so that’s what I’m giving him. I’m hoping he’ll come around. I just wish he would trust me above all.”

  I ponder on that for a second, curious. “So you still have no idea what happened to him in the wreck…like not a clue of whether his back was broke or he’s paralyzed or anything?”

  Alyssa flips around on the couch, eager to join the conversation.

  “Judd said he couldn’t see anything except the blankets piled up on the bed.”

  Summoning up everything Judd told me after his visit with Tristan, I nod, agreeing. “Yeah, but you said there was a wheelchair.” I snap my finger out to point at Judd, to spark a bit of skepticism. “So, it could be broken legs, a broken back, a broken vertebra, paralysis…literally anything and I’m telling you, if I was confined to a wheelchair my whole life…that would seriously screw my shit up.”

  Judd shakes his head quickly, not jiving with something I said, “Yeah, but there were no casts or braces on his back that I could see and he was sitting up. Looked to me that he could move just fine.”

  “Hmm.” I press my lips into a straight line and stare ahead. “I guess we’ll find out someday. It’s not like he can hide it forever.”

  “Or maybe if it will be healed soon…like if he has two broken legs,” Alyssa throws her never ending optimism on the table, but I don’t buy it.

  I glance over to Judd and he looks right back at me with an unconvinced expression. “I hope that’s it.”

  Eager to find out plans for our break, I shift gears on our conversation. “So when does Jake get here and what is the plan…err, well, what all are you doing?”

  Judd strides around the couch and plops down beside Alyssa, cozying up like they are about to play footsie. “Whatever we’re doing, you’re doing, too.” I start to disagree, to step away and shake my head; to escape before he can rope me into being stuck in a cabin with pissy-Piper, but he goes on, “Don’t even, man…we are having Christmas at her cabin and Alyssa’s mom is even coming down to join the fun.”
>
  Oh shit. Now I’m second guessing what I was going to give Judd. I don’t normally join in on the sentimental gift exchanges, but I seem to remember a certain someone challenging me at one point and keeping my ass up all night long as a payback for busting in on their romp in the sack. Yeah, I’m not backing down now. I have something that is sure to have Judd thinking twice about all the disgusting moans and groans he makes when someone is sleeping only one bedroom away. If Jake stays in their cabin this week, he will be praising my name.

  “Whatever. So is Jake going to stay with you two?”

  “Oh, yeah…he’ll be here tomorrow,” Judd answers my question, but doesn’t even look up as him and Alyssa get way too comfy side-by-side, eyeing each other like it’s mating season.

  “Ok well, on that note…I’m out of here.” I spin around, taking five paces to the door before turning back to look over my shoulder.

  Judd and Alyssa are half way making out, with barely an inch of space between them. Yeah, I’m no longer even here. What the hell. I roll my eyes and turn back to the door, throwing my hand in the air as I head out.

  “Later.”

  A muffled bye and a few giggles is all I hear as I pull the door shut and let my eyes instantly wander towards cabin one with a stinging sensation rising into my gut. I can barely even remember what it was like to have that; to want someone so bad you could practically taste it. Ahhh, who am I kidding…I remember it all too well and it haunts me every single day.

  A CAR DOOR SLAMS AS I step down onto the first step of Grandpa’s porch, take a seat and then casually lean back onto my elbows so I can take in everything around me. Looking over, I’m surprised to see Skylar hopping out of her small burgundy hatchback. I quickly tally up the vehicles in the lot, counting two trucks that I have never seen, and then glance down towards the beach where a massive pile of brush has been gathered. Squinting to see better, my eyes land on the guy from earlier.

  Abby runs up in the distance, colliding with her burley boy-toy, Hayden. She laughs and waves her hands in the air, obviously talking about something dramatic while Piper settles up beside the other dude who also looks vaguely familiar; maybe from the same party. Gritting my teeth as he pulls Piper closer to him, I lean my head back and close my eyes. I better get used to this shit; she’s done moved on years ago. I’ll break his arms if he hurts her though.