Author's Note: Thank you all so much for your understanding and for your prayers and support. I really needed them. All is okay again, and I hope you all will enjoy this chapter as much as you've been enjoying the rest. Remember, if you have any ideas or suggestions, or even some constructive criticism then I would love to hear what you think, and I promise not to throw another temper tantrum like before. LOL Enjoy! R&R
Chapter 10: Pemaquid Beach
We arrived at our hotel at Pemaquid Beach just before 7:30 P.M. I had driven the van back from the hotel and parked it in the garage while Emmett had followed me in the jeep. It had taken longer than we'd anticipated for us to get him checked out of his hotel room back in town for the weekend, and then I had had to pack and we'd had to stop for gas and everything. But it was already dark by the time we'd eaten and settled into the room and were finally getting ready to go down to the beach. Emmett had taken all of thirty seconds to change into his navy blue swim trunks and flip-flops, but I had had difficulty deciding which bathing suit to wear, even though I'd only brought two.
"What do you think of this one? I haven't worn a bikini since I was twenty-two, do you think it would still look okay?" I asked, genuinely concerned. My younger sister, Lucy had actually bought the suit for herself but it had ended up being a little bit too big, so she'd given it to me. It was a simple white halter top with a buckle in the center and two buckles at the hips of the bottoms. She had insisted that it would look fine, but I was harder to convince.
"I like it, I'd love to see you in it." He insisted, raising his eyebrows and giving me an approving nod from his spot on the bed, his eyes grazing hungrily across my body and a big goofy grin revealing those adorable dimples that I loved so much.
"Well… I guess if you say so… I'll wear this one tomorrow when there'll be more people out." I said, tossing a navy blue one-piece with a skirted bottom back into the suitcase and donning the white bikini.
"Well, you ready to go?" he asked as I wrapped my cover-up around myself and slipped my feet into my sandals.
Just as I was about to answer, his phone rang and he sighed as he dug into his pocket after it and pulled it out and glanced at the number. I didn't know who it was but the number completely effaced any traces of amusement on his face and he sighed. "I'm sorry, Rose. But I gotta take this." He apologized sincerely. But I waved him off.
"I don't mind one bit. You can stay here; I'll just go ahead and head on down to the beach."
"You sure?" he asked, concerned, but I nodded and he consented. "Alright, I'll only be a minute," he gave me a quick peck on the lips and I started heading for the door while he took the call. When he answered, his voice was cool.
"Yeah?" Pause. "Oh, hey Tom. What's going on?" A short pause, "What? Look, I don't want to have to deal with any of this right now. I left Boston to get away for the week, so why are you calling me now? It's almost ten o'clock!" another pause. "Is that right? Well you can tell Kowalski that I'm not interested…" then I closed the door and I could no longer hear his voice, and I started heading downstairs, humming softly to myself as I headed outside into the cool night air, hugging my cover-up to my body as I started down the street, following the sound of the ocean.
I could hear the laughing before I saw the smoke from their cigarettes. A group of young men stood around in a circle, blocking the walkway onto the beach, clearly tourists by the looks of them. I hesitated, but decided to assume them harmless. So I held my head high and kept my arms folded across my stomach as I headed for the walkway, suddenly wishing I had worn the blue one-piece suit after all.
"Well, well, well, look what we have here…" the first one said. I decided that they had probably come from Boston, judging by his accent.
"Looks like we got ourselves a little treat! What do you think, Royce?" said another as he backhanded the chest of another one to grab their attention, nodding in my direction. Then I slowed and lowered my hands to my sides, fists clenched.
The man named Royce I took to be the leader of their little gang. He was tall and lean, but I couldn't tell anything else about him in the dark. "What 'cha doing out so late, girl? Ain't it past your curfew?" he laughed and the others joined in, the sound of their laughter made my stomach twist in knots. A spew of profanities flashed through my mind that I wanted to snarl, but I held my tongue. I didn't know what these men would be willing to do and Emmett would be coming along shortly. I hoped.
"Maybe she's one o' them Lowell gals," the first one said to Royce.
"Nah… she's too pretty to be a local, what's your name, sweetheart?" Royce said, and something about his voice rubbed me the wrong way and gave me chills all the way down my spine. I didn't answer.
"Aw, what's the matter, girl? Why you actin' all stuck up and shit?" A fourth one asked me as he and the first two started towards me. I took a step back.
"I don't want any trouble," I said, my voice shaking.
"What? Oh, come on now girl, we won't bite 'cha. Ain't that right, boys?" Royce cackled as he finally came close enough to close his fist around my forearm and the rest of them joined in his laughter.
"Don't touch me, you son of a bitch!" I tried to snatch my arm back but he only squeezed tighter.
"Whoa, you're a mouthy little bitch, aren't 'cha?" the first one said as I tried to pull my arm back again, but Royce twisted my arm back and I yelped. Suddenly his other hand was on my stomach and another one's hands were touching my neck.
"Let go of me!" I cried, kicking my legs wildly and getting Royce in the groin. He howled and sank to the ground, cupping his hands around himself as he cried out in pain, but my victory was short lived as another grabbed me by the hair and yanked my face downward. I yelped again and I grabbed his wrist, trying to keep him from pulling my hair out.
"Oh, you gonna regret that, you stupid cunt!" He blew smoke in my face when he spoke and tears stung my eyes as I was tossed to another member of the group, and then I was slapped across the face at the precise spot that made my eye feel like it was going to explode. But just when I was expecting another slap or perhaps some groping to come, I heard the voice of my savior at last.
"Hey! What's going on here?" Emmett's voice boomed out, his voice deep and threatening. I looked up and saw him running towards the scene and suddenly I realized that I had never been more proud of his enormous bodybuilder's shape and his towering height. He was a sight to see, even silhouetted by the streetlight down the road.
"Emmett!" I cried and I ran to him, not surprised that I was released when the young men caught their first sight of him. I ran to him and he caught me in his strong, protective embrace and I began to sob against his naked chest.
He kissed my head and cradled me against his well-sculpted body, before turning back to the gang. "What the hell is going on here?" he repeated loudly and furiously.
"Hey, man, calm down, a'ight? We didn't know she belonged to anybody—"
"Oh yeah? Well now you assholes do, and if I ever see any of you out here again or if you ever so much as tip your fuckin' hats at her, I will make sure you don't have hands to tip your hats with! Got it?"
"Yeah, man. Whatever you say,"
"Dude, totally,"
"Whatever you say, man,"
They all answered in unison, Royce just nodding his head mutely as he still cupped himself, wincing in pain again. None of them were anything compared to my Emmett. He had a god three inches on the tallest of them and could probably lift more than double what they could. He was not someone to be messed with.
"Now get outta here!" Emmett ordered and they obeyed without another word, one of them helping Royce back up and quickly scurrying away. When they were finally gone, Emmett turned back to me, startled. "Are you okay?"
"Yes," I nodded weakly, wiping the tears from my eyes and looking up at him. His eyes were wide and his brows were raised in concern. "I'm alright."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes, I promise. Just rattled, I guess…" I insisted, and I was.
"Oh, Rosalie. I'm so sorry… I should have just ignored the call and walked with you. I'm sorry,"
"No, I'm alright. I'm more scared than hurt, honest. I just want to forget it ever happened and go on with our weekend… Besides, I could tell it was an important call. Who was it?" I asked, hoping to change the subject. But it didn't completely erase the worry from his face.
"It was nothing," he said shortly.
"You're lying."
He sighed. "Yeah, you're right…" he paused before he said anything else. "It was something…" he said, deliberately vague. I frowned.
"Is everything alright?" I asked him, noting his sudden change of expression.
He sighed and wrapped his arm around my waist and we started walking to the beach, "It was my lawyer." He said coolly. "Vivian's lawyer said that they aren't accepting a settlement and she's refusing to go along with the divorce and if I tried to fight her in court, it's going to turn into a bloodbath and could take years to resolve." he said, his face screwed up as though the words left a foul taste in his mouth.
"Well," I said, trying to be supportive. "Perhaps she will change her mind. I mean, perhaps she'll find that a divorce really is what's best for you both and she'll come around." He shook his head and held me by both arms and looked down into my eyes. "He said something else too…"
"Tell me."
"Vivian is asking for a reconciliation, and my lawyer advised me it won't set too well with the courts if I refuse to at least try a reconciliation when my wife is asking for one."
I searched his face, consternation probably revealed on my own.
"Don't worry," he added quickly, "I love you. You're the only one I love, and I promise I won't go back to her. Not ever." He kissed my mouth, tenderly at first, then with growing ardor, his tongue wet and sleek upon mine.
"Oh, Rosy… I love you so much." His voice betrayed his torment. "I just want to be free so I can be with you."
"I know." This time it was my turn to comfort him, so I tenderly touched his face, tracing his eyebrows. "Someday."
"Someday," he repeated with an edge of impatience. "But when!"
"Shh…" I calmed him, kissed his soft mouth, and coerced him into forgetting, for a while. We had made it to the beach. "I love you, too. Let's make some new memories… here… under the stars." The moon cast our shadow onto the sand—one long spear against it as we drew close and became one unbroken line. He opened his mouth upon mine, drawing my hips flush to his, and he ran his hands down the slope of my spine, flaring out and catching my backside to force me up hard against him. I lifted on tiptoe, running my nails down along his skull, then down his naked shoulders. He captured my breasts beneath the white swimsuit top, caught me beneath the arms and lifted me skyward toward the stars, holding me suspended as he closed his mouth upon my right breast. I winced and he murmured, "I'm sorry… sorry… I get too impatient…" Softer, he opened his mouth upon me, wetting my skin and the deepest reaches within me. I put my throat to the sky and felt his arms quivering, and myself quivering, and the night air quivering all around us, and I thought to myself, Don't let me lose him. Don't let her win.
When I slid down his body, my hand led the way, skimming his chest and belly, then cupping him low.
"Come on," he whispered urgently, catching my hand and leading me further on down the beach, and around a large pile of driftwood where we were shielded from the silvery moonlight illuminating our faces with the pale phosphorescence and from being discovered by anyone who might come out to the beach for a late night stroll. Once settled back on the ground, he slipped one hand inside my suit bottoms and began caressing me intimately as my head lolled back in pleasure.
Reaching down, I stroked him through his swimming trunks, absorbing the rich smell of his warm skin and the brush of his hair as he lowered his face to the slope of my shoulder. A minor distance from the water, we made love on the cool sand, in a lunge and lift that matched the motion of the pliant night waves. Our passion was as consuming as always, but beneath its wonder was an underlying thread of sadness. Because he was still not mine, and nor I his, and this above all we both desired.
When it was over, he lay above me, his elbows braced on either side of my head. I studied his moon-shadowed face, what I could make out of it, and felt love inundate me once again with an immeasurable force. "Sometimes," I whispered, "isn't it hard to express it? In words powerful enough or meaningful enough?"
He reached her moonlit brow, touching her soft golden tresses upon the sand until they lay like a nimbus around her. He searched for ways he might express it, but he was not a man of words.
"I'm no Nicholas Sparks, so I'm afraid 'I love you' will have to do." He chuckled.
"And I love you." It was then that I noticed my feet were wet and I looked down, only to notice that what I was looking for was gone. "Um… Emmett?"
"Hm?"
"I think our clothes washed away with the tide,"
"What!" he jumped up and looked around, but all there was to find was a forgotten beach towel hanging on one of the limbs amongst the driftwood. He took it into his hands and looked down at it, then back over to me, and he laughed, his body shaking with laughter. I chuckled as well and we carefully made our way back to our hotel room, with nothing but the one beach towel and two huge grins between us.
Author's Note: Well what do you think? I hope it wasn't too choppy, was it? I know, I just couldn't help but throwing Royce King in there. But I wanted to give Emmett the chance to defend her, also because I only like Rosalie to be a damsel in distress as long as Emmett is there to save her. What do you guys think?