Hey readers, here is the next chapter! Thank you to everyone who reviewed the last chapter, and who are still reading this story! I don't own Divergent, anything military-related mistakes are mine, the only thing I own is the plot. Happy Reading!
Chapter 8: Cruel Summer
I wake up early, before Tobias, the next day, and the waves can be heard in the distance crashing along the shore through the open door. My eyes stay glued to Tobias's sleeping form, he is peacefully asleep on his stomach, his arm muscles contract and then relax, his fingers reach for me, his hand finds mine, a tiny, sleepy smile appears on his lips. The frown lines which have been permanently etched upon his brow every night he comes home from work, since he came home to break the news of his impending deployment, are gone. He looks younger. His nose wrinkles momentarily then, suddenly, his eyes snap open, and I am met with his beautiful dark blue eyes, the light blue splash of color in his right eye, unnoticeable. A wide smile spreads across his lips, he whispers, "You know, it is creepy to stare at someone while they are trying to sleep." My cheeks heat, having been caught staring at him. His arms stretch above his body, he lets out a moan as his back muscles flex showing off how in shape he is, gulping, I whisper, "Sorry," his rough fingertips touch my lips, a grin slides across his lips, he continues, "Don't apologize. I like to watch you sleep too. I guess we are both creeps."
Cocking my head, I ask, "You like to watch me sleep?" My fingertips run along his back. He lets out another small groan, pulling me to him, he slips the lock of hair behind my ear, replying, "Yes, it is a picture I have permanently ingrained into my mind. I love watching you sleep for a minute or so before I fall asleep at night. Before Peter took us hostage, I liked watching you sleep, but now, it brings me a sense of comfort, knowing you are still breathing, especially after those first few nights in the hospital when I thought I had lost you." I giggle, whispering, "Tobias, Peter almost killed you, not me!" His fingers touch my cheeks lovingly, he answers, "Not in my mind, every time he laid a hand on you, he could have easily killed you. I don't think, you comprehend how hard it was for me to sit in that chair and not be able to do anything while he mistreated my girlfriend, nor do you understand how hard I had to bite my tongue to keep from telling him off. I wanted to tell him off so badly. Most of the time, I respect people, but Peter, I never respected, not after he beat you up, I wanted to kill him from that moment on. I have never wanted to kill another human being as much as I wanted to kill him." Breaking the tension of speaking of Peter, I kiss Tobias's rough cheek, whispering, "You probably felt the same way I did when he was manhandling you." Tobias rolls his eyes, I whisper, smiling, "But, I thought we were done talking about the past for now." My fingertips tickle his neck playfully as he smiles at me through sleepy eyes, his fingers wrap around my waist, pulling me back to his chest, his lips nip at my earlobe and chin drawing sounds from my mouth as only he can.
Our day on the beach is spent playing in the surf and sand. There is no more talk about Peter. Maybe one day Drew will come back to finish Peter's unfinished business. Tobias didn't seem concerned when I brought it up to him in California as we were packing up the truck with our final belongings from his house at Travis Air Force Base to begin our cross-country journey. My missing cellphone was never found after the move, and everything was unpacked. My cellphone dings with a text. It is the same unknown number that has been texting me for weeks since I got a new cellphone. A shiver shoots up my spine reading at the text message. When I was invisible, I could watch you all the time. I delete the message, tossing my phone back onto the beach blanket, and return to my book. A large shadow and cold dripping water, ruins the scene playing in my mind of Louisa and Will. "Tris!" The male voice says.
"Yes?" I ask, flipping his pair of aviators to the top of my head to look at my husband, soaking wet in his hot pink board shorts. Only Tobias can make hot pink board shorts look sexy. Squinting, I can see the freckles beginning to appear on his nose and cheeks from the sun. Biting my bottom lip, my mind drifts to how he looks without clothes. Tobias eyes me in my red bikini, his eyes lingering along my chest, he smirks, crossing his arms, "You are going to burn if you don't put on more sunscreen." I shoot him a sly grin, "Am I? Perhaps you will have to help me," wanting to feel Tobias's hands on my body once more. He grins wickedly at me as I hand him the bottle of lotion to apply to my back. Tobias and I take turns applying more lotion to each other, as he finishes my back, he grabs my arms, spins me to face him, takes my sunglasses off, along with his glasses, drops them onto a chair, then picks me up, tossing me over his shoulder, a mischievous smirk spreads across his lips. I scream, "Tobias, put me down! Don't you dare!" He begins to move, running with me over his shoulder, laughing, the sand moving below my head. Wiggling to look over his shoulder, the water appears closer and closer to us, laughter bursts from his chest, he launches both of us into a wave. "I hate you," I sputter, floating in the water. He swims toward me, grabs ahold of my waist, "No you don't," he whispers, his forehead touches mine as we float in the water, arms locked around one another, kissing. Pulling away from the kiss, I whisper, "Just a little bit," holding my fingers a few centimeters apart. He smiles at me as we begin to splash in the water, enjoying our time together on the private beach.
I pull Tobias from the water when our lips are beginning to turn blue and our fingers and toes have long withered from the water, we sit in the sun on the beach blanket, drying, he reads a new science fiction novel, I soak in the warmth of the sun, attempting to work on my tan. Tossing the tub of lotion at Tobias, barely missing him, he shoots me a look that could kill, I giggle, "You mind putting more on me? I don't want to burn."
He grins, "As long as I get to put my hands on your body." I roll my eyes at him as I move my hair out of the way. Tobias straddles my hips, pushing his cellphone toward me with a picture of him on it, one I have never seen before, but he is staring at the camera, a frown evident on his lips. He is wearing the same dress blues he wore when we had our engagement pictures taken. My eyes lock on the four ribbons pinned to his chest. His fingers massage the lotion into my back, drawing a sigh from my lips, I ask, "Where are the rest of your ribbons?" His fingertips move along arms, he answers, "I didn't have them yet. That picture was taken the day I graduated from Officer Training School by Stacy, and I was maybe twenty-four in that picture" He doesn't wait for me to ask another question instead he begins to speak, "The ribbon with the wide yellow stripe in the center flanked by the narrow stripes of red, white, blue, and white is called the National Service Ribbon, and everyone who signs the dotted line to serve in the military during a time of war receives this ribbon. The ribbon with the ultramarine blue flanked with equal stripes of yellow, brittany blue, and white on each side, this one is my Honor Graduate Ribbon, this is one of the ones I'm most proud of, that ribbon was limited to the ten percent of my training flight, and I worked hard to receive it, I graduated top of my class. The ribbon with the wide center of laurel green, flanked by thin lines of yellow stripes on both sides and wide stripes of blue at the edges is called the Marksmanship Ribbon. The little bronze star you can barely see means I am an expert in both an M-16 and a handgun. I had to hit forty-three out of fifty of my targets to get this ribbon, and I hit all fifty. The week before my test, I practiced at the range nightly for hours wanting to earn this ribbon. The targets on the test were twenty-five feet away, and the silhouettes were anywhere from fifty to three hundred feet from me as I stood barricaded, laying, kneeling barricaded, and face-down unsupported, and some of those shots were done wearing a gas mask. I remember calling Stacy on Sunday to tell her I passed my test, that I was the person with the highest score in my training class, and before I could tell her my news, she told me she wanted to break up with me. The last ribbon, the one with the wide center stripe of red, flanked by wide stripes of dark blue and narrow yellow stripes, edged by a narrow dark blue stripe is the Air Force Training Ribbon. This ribbon is given to everyone after training, and it is the lowest ranking award that is given."
"Thank you, Tobias, for sharing a little bit of your award history with me, you don't know how much that means to me," I whisper as he leans, his lips capture mine in a searing kiss, making me want to forgo the rest of the time we have together on the beach in the sun and go back to our room instead. Our kiss is broken by a vibration in my hands. Tobias pulls away, grabbing his phone from my fingers. I raise my eyebrow at him, he stares at his phone shaking his phone, saying, "That was Stephen, wanting to congratulate us on making it twenty-four hours married." His phone vibrates again, he reads, "Shauna wants to know if you are ready to kill me yet, and to call her, she will help you hide my body, and Zeke wants to know if you are pregnant yet." He rolls his eyes as I laugh, "Tell Zeke to mind his own damn business, Captain Eaton, that is an order."
Turning, Tobias shoots off his text, I draw my knees up to my chest, I ask, "Do you want kids?" We never discussed the idea of having kids before getting married. When I was fifteen, a doctor Peter brought me to diagnosed me with endometriosis and an iron deficiency. I take my iron supplements religiously to help with my symptoms. At fifteen, I learned my chances of having children were very low. How am I supposed to tell Tobias after everything we have been through, I can't have kids. Surely this is going to be the nail into our relationship coffin. Is this going to end our marriage before it even begins, or will this be the thing to make him turn against me? What if he envisioned us with a house full of kids, and I can't give him that, my body can't do the one job it has as a woman. My heart breaks as I watch his face drops, he stares at me, as if he is reading my mind, I try to imagine the worst-case scenario as I wait for him to speak.
Thoughts? Opinions? How do you think Tobias is going to react to Tris's news when she tells him? What do you think of Tobias finally beginning to open up to Tris about his ribbons? Who do you think is Tris's mystery texter? Please review and let me know what you thought of this chapter. The next chapter will be up the weekend of April 11. Stay safe everyone with everything going on in the world.