Hello Darlings!
We are both sad and excited to announce that Taking the Horizon is officially completely written and ready to be released to all you beautiful people!
Daily updates will continue until August 30th, when we will post the final chapter of the beautiful "quick and dirty summer fic" that we originally set out to write!
In true Nerdy fashion, it turned into so much more than that, and part of that has been because of the support we've received from all of you.
Head on over to our Facebook page (search NerdyLilDarlins Fanfic) if you want to be a part of the live show the three of us will have to celebrate! Come ask us any questions you may have or just hang out!
Until then, here's the first of only nine more chapters.
As always, thank you to the reviewers and Pamela for prereading. xx
-41-
Rose
July 14, 2023
Lighthouse Cove, Maine
Warm.
Everything is so warm in this happy little love nest Emmett and I have made in my bed each night.
Light blankets cocoon us in our own body heat that rises with each slide of his skin against mine.
Fingers sink into flesh and muffled cries slip into the night as Emmett fills me again and again, my legs clinging tight around his waist like an anchor keeping me from floating off.
I shift, tilt my hips upward and he hits a new spot that makes lights burst behind my eyelids. My teeth sink into his shoulder to stop me from screaming and letting the whole house know he's dismantling me from the inside out.
He has been. Since the moment I saw him that first night in Brighton Bay, he's been tearing me down in the best way. Building me back up with new, sturdier material. The kind of steel that can withstand a storm of his magnitude.
This time when he sends me over the edge, it changes something in me. Something clicks in place.
And it's not until his fingers are running through my hair, damp from the sweat we've worked up while the sun worked its way higher in the sky, that I realize what it is.
Lighthouse Cove is hard to leave every year. Sometimes I think it even gets harder every time I have to travel back to the mainland and board that plane.
But the thought of not having this once I'm home?
It's one I can't bear.
"Em?" I whisper against his chest, pressing a kiss where my words fall.
"Mm?" He grunts, sleepy and sated and drained in a way that makes me proud I've done this to him.
"After tomorrow, don't make me wait until Friday to see you again."
He lifts his head, turning so his eyes can rake over my features. Maybe he's testing to see if I'm being honest or not, and his moment of hopeful hesitation is so fucking adorable I want to keep him forever.
"Yeah?" A smile is breaking out all over his face, raw and unfiltered.
"Fuck yeah. Turns out ten days is the exact amount of time it takes to change my —"
I'm cut off by his lips on mine, and soon we're a mess of giggles and kisses and desperate grabbing.
"You mean it? We're actually going to try this?" He asks, breath heavy from our wrestling.
"I think we have to," I nod and I'm swept up again, bodies tangling until he has me pinned on my stomach.
His torso covers every inch of me, making me feel small and helpless and safe all at once. His cock, hard and heavy, presses between my legs with impatience. One hand steadies himself while the other is enmeshed in my hair, gripping to tilt my head back until his lips are next to my ear.
"Tell me," he pants, his voice bringing goosebumps to my skin. "Tell me I get to keep this."
He enters me in one long stroke.
"Yes," I gasp, gripping the sheets. "God, yes."
…
It's a fucking beautiful evening in Lighthouse Cove.
The party the Cullen's threw was exactly what we all needed with our departure looming on the horizon.
A way to get back to the root of what makes Lighthouse Cove so magical.
My eyes scan the crowd from my seat on Emmett's lap, his arm happily wrapped around my waist while he nurses a beer.
I've been so wrapped up in him, I haven't managed to talk to the girls about my meeting with Decode last night, and the thought has me fidgeting against the solid wall of Emmett behind me.
I never make any decision without their input, and with my mental scales swinging so wildly from one side to the other, I need them now more than ever.
"Keep that up and I'll find a place to teach you a lesson," Emmett groans in my ear, his grip on me tightening.
My eyes roll and I'm about to throw back a quip when I connect eyes with Alice from across the yard where she stands with Jasper and give her the look. The silent communication that I need her and as soon as we find Bella, we'll meet up. She gives me a small smile and a nod of acknowledgement and I go back to scanning the crowd.
Knowing Bella, she's probably off with Edward again, getting her fill of his lobster while she can, I snicker to myself.
I'm not the only one with a looming job offer, and hers may take her away from the only man who's anywhere close to worthy of her. Because I know her, I know she's losing her goddamn mind, and I can only hope she's deciding to think with her heart instead of her head this time.
Fuck, that sounds so anti-feminist of me, but when you have a man like Edward standing in front of you, you make that shit work.
Emmett shifts beneath me and reminds me that I'm in the same fucking boat. Staring down the barrel at everything I never dreamed I could have and too fucking scared of what could happen to take it.
Just then, I see her come out of the house behind Edward. Her gaze finds Alice before she finds me, but the message is delivered the same.
"I'll be right back," I tell Emmett, standing and turning so I can bend down and kiss him on the cheek.
His hand touches my shoulder when I lean down, then slides down my arm as I stand to walk away, gripping my hand and pulling me back to him at the last second. His lips are hot on mine for just a moment, long enough to make me burn, and then he releases me. Once my daze clears a bit and I'm able to walk away, I'm startled by a sharp smack on my ass that makes me roll my eyes at him yet again.
Something tells me they'll be doing that a lot with Emmett's silly ass.
The girls and I make our way away from the main hub of the party separately, but also in unison. Like an unspoken command that it's time to get in formation. We meet under the shade of a maple tree and I know before I get there it's written all over my face that something is going on, if the looks on theirs is any indication.
"What's up?" Bella inquires, her brow knitting together when she takes in my clearly frazzled appearance.
So I tell them everything, and every word that falls out of my mouth as I'm do lifts a weight off my chest. It's like the picture gets clearer the more I talk, just like it always does when it comes to them.
Fuck, I'm gonna miss seeing their faces every day.
"No fucking way!" Alice's jaw drops and she grabs my arm when I finish. "Rose, that's huge!"
"Seriously huge!" Bella echoes.
"Okay, yeah, it's cool and all but…but what the fuck do I know about managing a band?" I sigh, throwing one hand up. "Guys, I like my job at the station. How often do people find jobs they actually like?"
"And you don't think you'll like this job?" Alice inquires.
"I don't know. Maybe I would. I probably would…"
"What all does a job like this entail?" Bella, the ever-practical one, asks. These are the questions I need them for. The important things that are still coming into focus because my thoughts are too jumbled to see the big picture.
"A lot. And some of the duties can be negotiated, but basically I'll be promoting them and scheduling gigs. I'll go on tour with them and be involved in creative decisions and I'll have to negotiate contracts and…I think I'm in way the fuck over my head here."
"Bullshit." She states.
"What?" I scowl, taken off guard.
"That's bullshit, Rose. That's your anxiety and self worth talking and it's a load of crap. You already do all of that shit for the station! Promoting and scheduling is your bread and butter. You've read enough contracts to know your way around them. You can fucking do this."
I look Bella over, then. Really look at her in a way I try to do with the girls every so often, so I can really see them. She's always stood with her head held high, full of strength and empowerment. Ever the girl boss, smashing her goals like the queen she is. But Bella would also never pull punches with me. If she felt I wasn't ready for this, she would suggest I take steps to figure out how to be ready for it. Instead she's telling me I've got this, and I believe it coming from her. A lot more so than I would believe it coming from myself.
"Bella is right, Rose. You're comfortable at the station, but what if you're missing out on your calling because you've gotten too comfortable? Besides, Aro would take you back in a heartbeat," Alice offers gently.
She has a point. As long as I don't do anything silly to burn my bridges with Aro, I'd always have a job with him.
"Have you put any more thought into how Emmet factors into all this?" Bella continues to question.
I blow out a breath I've been holding way too long, finding Emmett from across the yard. "They want him as an unofficial publicist. He'd be on tour with us."
"Shit," Bella let's put a low whistle, pausing while she stares at the ground.
"Yeah, I know."
It's silent between us for a little while until —
"Do it." Bella states firmly.
It makes my head spin because…really? Bella is the one telling me to spend more time with a man and risk it all like this?
"Bella, I can't—"
But she cuts me off before I can rant any further.
"It's a once in a lifetime opportunity, Rose. Do you really want to be eighty and look back and realize you had the chance to travel the world managing a band? Think of all the stories you'll be missing out on."
"No matter what you choose, we'll be by your side," Alice offers softly. "But I think Bella is right. I think the horizon is calling you to something new."
Later in the day, when we decide to walk back to the house by taking the beach, that horizon steals my attention.
So many potential paths that I could go down laid out in front of me.
Isn't that what life is, though? Following it to that next horizon, the next new experience that makes you feel alive again and reminds you why life is worth it.
As the six of us leave our footprints in the sand, I'm just happy I don't have to figure it out alone.
