Breathe Again (16 page)

Grabbing the bottle and two glasses, I placed them on top of the bar with a clink and held it up to Blake. “You still like scotch?” I asked.

“Wouldn’t drink anything else.”

I dropped my eyes and watched the amber liquid swirl in the glass as I poured, and I knew I had the beginnings of a smile on my face. Maybe this wouldn’t be as bad as I’d expected. “Good to see some things haven’t changed. Many of my hazy memories growing up include you, me, and a bottle of cheap scotch.”

“I’m surprised I still have a working liver after the abuse I gave it with you.” Blake laughed and took the glass I held out to him.

“Remember the time you tried to hook up with that Sally chick and your dick got jammed in your zipper? Fuck, that was the funniest shit ever.” I roared with laughter as I was taken back to when I was nineteen.

Shaking his head, Blake grimaced. “I couldn’t fuck for weeks.”

Our laughter meshed together as we were both lost in the memories of a time where life seemed to be all about drinking on the beach, surfing, and picking up girls. A simpler time—a time when we were just two best friends, who were about to take on the world, one surf and one chick at a time.

“Look, Blake, I know shit has been cr—”

“Tate?”

What the fuck? My eyes moved from Blake and looked over his shoulder. What the hell was he doing here? Blake looked at me with questioning eyes, and the glare on my face spoke a thousand words. He twisted on the stool and looked towards where our father stood by the main entrance. The moment our father realized who he was looking at, he clutched a seat to steady himself. I bet he hadn’t thought he’d see both sons when he’d decided to barge into my bar unwelcome and uninvited.

My eyes pointed at him as my anger increased with every passing second. “What the hell are you doing here? I suggest you turn around and leave now.”

“If you answered your phone, I wouldn’t have had to come here. Why are you not answering my calls?”

Was he serious? A billion responses echoed in my head; a billion images appeared in my thoughts. I heard Blake scoff beside me and the sound of his glass slamming down on the wooden top of the bar. I followed his lead, swallowing the strong scotch down my throat before turning back to face my father.

“I don’t have anything to say to you. I got what I needed, and now I suggest you leave.” I felt my hackles rise on the back of my neck and the panic flood me. My comfort wasn’t here. The calming waves in my life weren’t here. Sav wasn’t here.

“I am your father. I deserve your respect.”

What the hell had this guy been smoking? Respect? He could piss off as far as I was concern. Respect is earned. It was an honor to be respected, and I wouldn’t piss on him even if he was on fire, so he could jam respect up his ass.

“You lost all opportunity to be respected by me the moment you put your dick in another woman’s pussy and left my mother.”

His eyes narrowed on me. “Watch your mouth, son.”

“I’m not your son,” I sneered. “You are not my father. You lost the right to call me your son the moment you abandon your children, Blake included, so get on your fucking high horse and fuck off.” I shot a look at Blake, who looked on silently. I saw the vein in his neck pulse dangerously and knew any minute he would unleash his own assault of words.

“So what, you can’t talk for yourself, son?” he spat, moving his gaze to Blake with a smirk on his thin pathetic lips.

Blake stood from the stool and moved beside me in a show of brotherly solidarity. “I’ve got nothing to say to you. You left before I was born so why the fuck should I give you the pleasure of speaking with me? You are a pathetic waste of space. The only thing you did right by me was give me a brother and sister, and as far as I’m concerned, you aren’t even alive. So that’s what I want to say to you. Fuck off out of our lives. You are neither wanted nor needed.”

Props, little brother!
I turned and gave Blake a look of satisfaction before turning back towards our father. His demeanor had changed and he knew he was quickly losing the battle he had waltzed in here trying to start. What had he really expected? If a person doesn’t answer your hundreds of calls, it clearly means they want jack shit from you. Now it was my turn to let loose, and the pleasure of facing him ran rampant with me. I stood face to face with my past, a past that, from this moment on, would not affect my present and would be forgotten in my future.

“I’ll tell you why you have absolutely no part in my life, not even a minuscule part. It’s because within a week you have gone from fucking up my life to now affecting the lives of the two people who mean the most of me—my girlfriend and my unborn child. I have a girl who has finally healed all of the fucked-up hurt you put on me and now she is hurting because of you. And I have an unborn child I would die for but now I am so petrified of screwing up because of you.” My eyes ran over his face to memorize the monster I didn’t want to become. His blue eyes were void of any emotion or life. “Actually, come to think about it, I do have something to thank you for. Thank you for showing me the kind of man I never want to become. Thank you for screwing up so much that I will never inflict that on the people I love, and thank you for showing me everything I don’t ever want to be. Now get the fuck out of my bar and my life before I call the cops.”

I didn’t wait for him to respond. “Blake, you and I are celebrating. Let’s go.” Making my way through the bar, I jumped at the sound of the entrance door slamming as my father left. Finally, he’d gotten the point.

“What are we celebrating?” Blake asked nervously.

I smiled at him as best I could. “Freedom.”

S
AVANNAH WALKED
through the doors and anxiously looked around the bar. Friday nights were always busy and tonight wasn’t any exception. I watched her from across the bar before I moved towards her. I just wanted to enjoy her innocence. Her head darted around the bar as she tried to find me. Her eyes connected with mine and a smile filled her face. I put the empty glass I had just collected on the bar and strolled through the people towards her.

“Hey, Sav.”

“What’s going on, Tate?” she asked anxiously, grabbing my hands and pulling me close. I had asked everyone to come down to the bar tonight. Tonight was the first day of my new life. “Is everything okay?”

“Everything is perfect, Sav. You are perfect. This little one is perfect,” I cooed, placing my hands on her eight-months-pregnant belly. “Can we talk?”

“Of course.”

After I laced my fingers with hers, we moved through the bar towards my office. I halted as Sav stopped dead in her tracks. I shifted around and followed her gaze to the table where Jack, Tanzi, Blake, and Lucas were sitting. Tanzi was sitting on Jack’s lap and Blake was laughing at something Lucas had said. Her eyes darted between the table and me as a questioning look flooded her face.

“That’s what I need to talk to you about.” I tugged on her hand and we made our way into my office. I closed the door behind us. Sav stood before me and I finally got to take in the sight before me. She looked stunning, absolutely glowing. The dress she was wearing hugged all of her curves, and Jellybean was on full display. She was so proud of showing off her baby bump. Her hair was swept into a low braid that hung over her shoulder and she had no makeup.

“Today I faced my father.” Sav’s eyes widened and she opened her mouth to speak. “Let me speak, Sav.”

Walking towards my desk, I sat on the edge and pulled Sav between my open legs, flush against my body. My hands rested on her lower back before trailing down and cupping her perfectly inviting ass. My eyes roamed her face, taking in her invitingly pouty lips that were covered in a sheen of gloss and her wide, green eyes that were looking at me with question and anticipation. Fuck, I was a lucky bastard.

An air dense with need, want, and anxiety thickened and shifted around us the longer our eyes hunted each other’s. Her arms wrapped around my shoulders and my eyes closed as her fingernails raked through my hair. The sounds of the bar beyond the closed door flitted into the office, but all I heard was the broken breathing coming from Sav.

“I love you so fucking much, Savannah.”

A tormented sigh escaped her mouth as my lips crashed on hers, forcefully taking the air from her chest. Softly my tongue ran the length of her bottom lip, sweeping, tasting, and caressing her sensitive flesh. As I pulled her lip between my teeth and nibbled the flesh I wanted to devour, a moan rose from Sav and her hands gripped my hair tighter, pulling me desperately closer to her and deepening our kiss. Our tongues swept each other’s mouths, claiming the loss the past week had given us, a week where our affection had been a kiss on the cheek here and there, a week I would never ever let us experience again.

“Do I have you back?” Sav hesitated against my lips, her breath dancing with mine as she spoke. Dropping my forehead against hers I drank her in. “I need you here Tate.”

“I wouldn’t be anywhere else. I’ve said goodbye to my past today, Sav, and that means I told my father I couldn’t have him in my life in any way. I want my relationships with people in my life to be positive. I am going to try with Blake. He is my brother, Sav, so I need to try.” I cupped her face with my hands and looked at her with a smirk begging to show. “You are my life now, this baby is my life, and your incredibly distracting new set of boobs are my life.”

“Well I won’t have these distracting boobs for much longer once Jellybean arrives,” Sav scoffed and squarely slapped my chest.

“I’ll always have the memories. Memories like those are burned into my brain. I have a month to do some serious motorboating on those bad boys.” I kissed her lips lightly and groaned as another slap ricocheted off my chest.

She wrapped her arms around my waist and dropped her head to rest of my chest, just above my racing heart. Complete silence surrounded us. Everything about today, the last week, all boiled down to this moment. Every fear I had, every thought that consumed me, and everything regret that swallowed me—it all boiled down to this. Finally I could smile at the thought of the future.

“I finally feel like I’m going to be the best dad in the world, Sav,” I whispered into her hair.

She lifted her head from my chest and her entire face smiled at me. “I’ve known since day one.”

Savannah

M
Y BODY
felt stretched to full capacity, like at any moment my insides were going to explode through my tightly pulled skin. Graphic, I know, but that’s how I felt as the full term of my pregnancy had come and gone. This wasn’t fun anymore. Sleep evaded me for what felt like days, and every time Jellybean decided to move, a wave of nausea rolled over me, which had resulted in the doctor now watching me like a hawk for fear of dehydration. And with this news, Tate had gone all protective and refused to leave my side. I had to force him out of the apartment to go to work most days, and then the hundred or so text messages would begin. To say he was invested in this pregnancy was an understatement.

All I wanted was to meet my baby. The date was marked on the calendar, circled with thick red sharpie. Today was the last day I was being allowed to go naturally before the doctor would order me to have a Caesarean. I woke today hoping that it was the first day of the rest of my life.

“Sav, where are you?” Mr. Davenport’s voice echoed from the front door. I popped my head out from around the door of the bedroom and smiled as I gazed at him. He held a bunch of flowers, his eyes darting around the empty apartment in search of me. I stepped out into view and his eyes lit up when he saw me. “Well look at you!”

“What are you doing here? Shouldn’t you be at work?” I moved towards him and instantly wrapped my arms around him.

We walked towards the couch and I lowered myself on, wincing as a shot of pain roared through me. It had been happening all morning, but I’d kept it to myself. No need to worry protective father to be.

Mr. Davenport sat with me for an hour, his hand constantly on my stomach, waiting for Jellybean to kick. “How are you feeling? Is my grandbaby behaving?”

“I’m nervous,” I admitted, resting my hand on my stomach as a torrent of butterflies swarmed within me.

“You’ll be spectacular.” He genuinely smiled at me as I fidgeted with the loose-fitting top that was stretched to capacity over my stomach. “How’s Tate faring?”

Shaking my head, I laughed softly. Amazing wasn’t even the word that could explain how Tate had been over the past few months. I couldn’t have asked for a better partner. He was there at two a.m. when I wanted peanut butter and banana sandwiches, he was the one who sat with me in the bath when my body was aching, and he was the one who held me as we both spoke of our fears. But mostly he was the one who made me feel completely and utterly loved.

“He has been incredible. I think he is more excited than I am. He even got a little jumpsuit made up with the Red Velvet logo on it.” Suddenly my phone vibrated on the table in front of me. Leaning down, I picked it up and looked at the screen. “Speak of the devil.”