Chapter 18

Bailey arrives at John's house. She took a deep breath before she got out of the car and knocked on the door. She was nervous. John had been blowing her phone up recently and after all that talk about marriage and wanting to meet his family. She had to clear the air with him. She was not going to get married. Paul wanted her to go to him, marry him, be happy. The only problem was, she was happy before all of this craziness. She loved John but loved her freedom as well.

John swung the door open to see Bailey standing there looking nervous. "Come in! I am so glad to see you." John grabbed Bailey and kissed her soundly on the lips. "You have to meet someone." John tried to lead Bailey further into his house. But Bailey hesitated.

"John, I told you I didn't want to meet family. That is just too much right now." Bailey frowned up at him.

"Bailey, please. Andy really wants to meet you. Please Bailey. This is the only person you will have to meet right now." John pleaded with Bailey.

Bailey frowned and sighed in frustration. "Five minutes." Bailey sighed. She walked into the living room with John following close behind.

Andy sat on John's brown leather couch. He had his jeans on that were tight and left little to the imagination. He wore a black t-shirt with the logo of his and John's boat on the upper left hand side. His blonde hair combed back away from his face was slightly graying. His smile, much like John's was magnetizing. He is a beautiful man and Bailey felt instantly at ease. She had to fight her urge to flirt, he was a married man and John would not be happy.

Bailey sat across from Andy looking him straight in the eyes. Using her best poker face, she smiled and introduced herself. She immediately went into a spiel of who she was, where she came from and why she came to Alaska. She never gave Andy a chance to ask her anything too personal. Bailey stopped talking enough to get a few breaths and Andy jumped in.

"So…since you have been here, you have captured my brother's heart. You put him in danger with your "friend", and now you want me to accept you as his girlfriend as someone that would be good for him." Andy said.

Bailey was floored. He was right; she had put him in danger. "You know. You are right. I have put him in danger." Bailey stood and grabbed John's hand. "My five minutes are up. Walk me to the door?"

John looked at Andy and shook his head. He followed Bailey to the door and grabbed her and spun her around. Bailey's eyes had a withdrawn and distant look in them. Her lips trembled and a tear fell from her eye. John had a bad feeling about what she was going to say. He wiped the tear away with his thumb and hugged her. Bailey stretched up on her toes and pulled John in for a long kiss. He groaned and leaned her against the wall and Bailey sighed a needy sigh. Her hands were slowly running up the front of his shirt and wrapping around his neck. John threaded his fingers in her long brown hair and pulled slightly, eliciting a small sexual groan from Bailey. They parted when they heard an uncomfortable clearing of the throat coming from Andy.

"Sorry bro. She was telling me goodbye." John said to Andy. Winking at Bailey he said, "I will see you later."

Bailey chuckled and walked out the door.

1

Bailey headed to her house quite satisfied with her self. She let Andy get to know her by not really getting to know her. Something she perfected a long time ago in order to keep people from getting too close. She didn't trust people easily, and why should she? Nick proved untrustworthy and so did Paul. With all that she had endured throughout her years, she definitely didn't want to try to trust anyone.

Bailey pulled in to her driveway and parked her car. She took a deep breath and headed in to the house.

"Well Paul," Bailey said as she walked in to the living room. "I think it's time you head home, no?"

Paul smiled at Bailey as she sat across from him. "Well, I think I am going to find a place to live here. You know, stay near my girls. I found a job as an accountant in the cannery up here."

Bailey sat back stunned. "What did you say?" She was shocked! He refused to follow her when they were married, why change his mind now? "Paul, we aren't getting back together. In fact, I enjoy being single…sort of single. But I know John will never want to be married, so he's perfect. You on the other hand…"

"Bailey," Paul said interrupting Bailey's rant, "I know you don't want to be married. Actually, I grew to like this town soon after I arrived here. It's not as bad as it seems."

Bailey breathed a sigh of relief. "Ok. Well do you have a place to stay? We could work out a custody agreement with the girls. I don't want them to not have a say in these things."

"We will get to it. How about since they are almost fully grown, they just come when they want to." Paul suggested.

"Whatever you want to do." Bailey smiled, content with the grown up way she and Paul were communicating. It was a first for them and she saw promise for the first time in years.

2

After Paul and Bailey had their custody talk, Paul took the girls to his hotel room for the next few days. Bailey took that time to clean and relax. After about three hours, there was a knock at her door. She answered the door to see John standing there with his head hung low.

"I don't care if he is still here. I want to see my woman and I want to make sure I still have her." John looked her straight in the eyes. The confusion and hurt in his eyes were killing Bailey.

"No one is here. Paul has the kids and I was just cleaning. Please come in." Bailey moved aside so John could come in.

John grabbed the door from Bailey and with a grin, shut it. He hooked his arm around Bailey by the waist and bent to kiss her with a hunger that had Bailey's head spinning. Before Bailey could think, John had her shirt off in the foyer kissing and teasing her nipples with his tongue. She grabbed John's shirt and pulled the shirt over his head. She ran her hands through his hair and captured his lips with hers. His hands slowly slid down her side and pulled her pants and panties down. Pushing her against the wall, he reached down and found her sweet hot center with his fingers. Bailey gasped in pleasure and rocked her hips slowly back and forth and her breaths coming quicker and her moans louder. John removed his hand before she screamed her climax and released his long cock from his jeans. John lifted Bailey off of the ground and settled her on his ready erection. He growled a deep growl of pleasure and started thrusting hard and fast. Bailey screamed in pleasure and dug her fingers into his shoulders as she felt the fire of her climax reach its peak and explode. Feeling Bailey find pleasure, John released with one last deep thrust inside her. They both groaned in pleasure and collapsed on to the floor of the foyer. Both spent and satiated.

Some time during the night, they found their way to the bed. Both tired and happy, they stayed up talking and laughing as well. Bailey had never found such a connection with anyone. She felt safe enough to tell him what she couldn't tell him a while back.

"John, I want to tell you about what I couldn't bring myself to tell you a few months ago." Bailey said in a serious moment.

John sat up straight and took her hand. "Go ahead."

"I was molested by my brother when I was 9 or 10." Bailey blurted out. Tears formed in her eyes while thinking about it.

John turned red and squeezed her hand in anger. "That bastard…" John finally said. "Oh Bailey, I'm so sorry."

John brushed a tear away that had slid down Bailey's cheek. He grabbed her and held her in a bear hug as she started to sob. "Don't tell me any more. You're ok. You are safe with me. Shhhh…"

Bailey buried her head into John's chest and cried herself to sleep.

3

The next morning, John brought breakfast to bed. They ironed out details of the day. Both of them needing to run errands and opting to do them separately so they can get done quicker for a night out. They decided to meet at Bailey's house later that evening. As they were getting ready, John couldn't help but see bruises on her back.

"Hey, where did those come from?" John asked, while running a gentle finger over the bruises.

"I don't know. Maybe they came from when you were bending me backwards over the coffee table…" Bailey looked at him smiling seductively.

"Oh yeah. I almost forgot. See you later." John kissed Bailey soundly on the mouth and patted her on the butt before he left.

Bailey smiled and rolled her eyes. She headed out to finish errands before their planned time to meet. Bailey picked up her mail and went grocery shopping before heading to the liquor store to replenish her stash of liquor. She dropped her groceries off and stored them before heading back out to finish her errands. She made her way to the beauty shop to get a wax and an overdue hair trim. She made a last minute decision to shop for something nice to wear for the night. As she walked in to the house with her purchases, she saw John sitting in the chair in her living room. She smiled and turned to walk to her room.

"Hang on, I will be done in ten minutes!" Bailey called down the hall.

"Yeah right!" John chided.

Bailey was dressed and ready in less than ten minutes. She bounced down the hall in her new clothes and her hair pulled in to a tight, high ponytail. She was excited about tonight. This was the first night in a while they will spend together alone. She loved spending time with John. They have so much fun laughing and joking around with each other. Both being light hearted and free spirited, they always had a joke to tell or something fun to do. Bailey was also excited to spend time with John because he was leaving in the next few weeks and they didn't know how long he would be out fishing.

As she bounced in the room, John grabbed Bailey and kissed her passionately on the lips. "I can not wait to get you back home." John growled in his deep, smoke husky voice. Bailey smiled and patted John on the ass, and winked.

"All in good time." Bailey said as she danced away, giggling.

John smiled and shook his head. He followed her out to the truck and opened the passenger door for her. Bailey climbed in and buckled her seat belt. John came around the front of the truck and hopped in the driver's side.

"I hate it that you retired the GTO for the winter. We could have had some fun." John joked.

"Yeah, and have it rust? I think not!" Bailey laughed. She was secretly glad she had put the car away and brought out her winter truck. When she brought the GTO up from back home, she knew she would need to buy a truck. But when Nick died, he left her his truck and business to sell. She kept the truck but the business went up for sell and was about to sell soon. She had several offers already. Bailey shivered at the thought of Nick and the upcoming memorial service he had requested. Though small, she hadn't entirely forgiven him for his actions and she wasn't sure she wanted to go through with the service at all. Maybe it was for the best, not only was she burying her best friend but he also betrayed her and her girls. He had requested cremation and a releasing of his ashes at Mount McKinley. If Bailey had her way she would just dump him in the toilet, but Paul harped on her to the point where she agreed to follow through with the arrangements anyway.

"You look deep in thought." John said as they climbed out of the truck to enter their favorite Mexican restaurant.

"Yeah, just thinking about Nick's wishes and why I agreed to this whole mess." Bailey sighed.

John threw his arm around Bailey's shoulders as they entered the restaurant. "Well, let's go forget about all of that for a few hours."

John and Bailey ate and joked and talked while eating. They saw a few friends who stopped to talk and a few fans came by to try to get pictures and autographs. John was nice and all smiles through out the whole meal even when the fans came up to them to chat or they would buy him drinks. Bailey didn't mind. It was the nature of the beast. If she were going to date someone famous, she would have to deal with all of the fans too. She smiled and snapped pictures of him and the fans; she shook hands and was friendly to every one of them. Even the most over zealous fans who tried to sit on his lap. He was polite, but she could tell that he was uncomfortable with them doing so. Bailey didn't chide herself. She knew if she weren't there, he would allow the really pretty ones to sit for a while. She knew he was a playboy and accepted him for him. She also had told him that if he cheated, she was gone. He said he would never cheat on another girl again since Gia had been the first to cheat on him and it really broke his heart. Bailey wasn't stupid though. She knew alcohol would impair his judgment and he would have a weak moment one day. She was willing to at least stay with him until then. Funny thing, she accepted him as he was and didn't want to try to change him. She knew how that felt since Paul had done that very thing and it nearly killed her soul.

"You ready to go?" John asked as he paid the bill.

"Yeah." Bailey said as she walked to the door.

3

She had enough of the fans for the night. She wanted to go home and sleep. The last five weeks had been very stressful and she wanted to be alone with her thoughts. As they pulled in to her drive, she saw someone sitting in the shadows. She stiffened and grabbed John's arm. He spotted the shadowy figure then and stiffened as well. They sat in the truck staring for a few minutes, both frozen with memories of the abduction. The shadowy figure stood and lit a cigarette and Bailey knew then who it was.

"Oh my gosh! I can't believe it!" Bailey squealed in delight and jumped out of the truck before John could stop her. Bailey raced to the figure and threw herself into his arms.

The man picked Bailey up and swung her around. "I am very happy to see you and I need some Makers Mark! It is cold out here!"

Bailey laughed and pulled him inside. John followed, curious about whom this person was and why did he get the same reaction from Bailey as John does when he gets home from being away for a while. "Who is this?" John said as he entered the kitchen. The guest was standing in the kitchen pouring him a drink. He was Bailey's height, dark hair and eyes, tattoo sleeves, and very muscular.

"John, this is my cousin Steve! Steve, this is John." Bailey said excitedly. "I am so glad you are here, Steve! I have been missing you! How's the firefighting going?"

"Nice to meet you John. Firefighting is good. I thought you and I could have some fun! You know, like the old days." Steve said as he took a drink from his glass.

"Well, I am going to let you guys catch up" John said as he excused himself.

"Ok, I'll walk you to the door." Bailey said as she followed John. She gave him a kiss goodnight and he walked out.

"So…let's move this party to the next room!" Bailey said as she grabbed the MM and headed for the couch.

Steve followed only because she stole his bottle. They sat and talked for most of the night and made plans for the remaining days that Steve was visiting. The next morning, they bundle up and take the truck and ATV out to Beluga Lake. It seemed the whole town was there and they welcomed Steve as if he were one of them. As the day passed, Steve and Bailey drank and had fun. The rest of the week was a blur of the same activities. Bailey and Steve fished and drank, rode ATV's and drank, and went out to bar hop all over Homer. Bailey always had a little more of a good time when her family came to visit. They were all a wild bunch and always knew how to have a great time. The last night, Bailey and Steve were out yet again, drinking and cutting up. John sat in a corner of the bar they had entered and watched. He was more than concerned about Bailey's actions this whole week. It seemed everyone was talking about how much fun Bailey was and how drunk she was the whole week. John didn't want to deal with that kind of girlfriend and didn't like what he saw. Just then, someone slapped Bailey in the butt. She froze and wheeled around quickly kicking the man squarely in the chest. The man fell back onto the floor and chaos ensued, people started punching and kicking each other. John stood to go after Bailey to keep her from harm, but saw Steve grab Bailey by the waist and carry her out of the bar. John frowned and headed outside to escape the fighting and to talk to Bailey.

"Bailey, wait!" John called after her.

Bailey stopped and turned. "Hey John!"

"Bailey, we need to talk." John said calmly.