Page 89 of Make Us Yours
Ronnie takes a deep breath, then lets it out. “Yeah, it does.”
Brey nods her head in comprehension, then reaches across the table and squeezes Ronnie’s hand. “You don’t need to tell me anything if you don’t want to.”
Ronnie shakes her head. “No, I should. You’re my best friend, Brey. You always have my back, even when you don’t know what’s going on. You did that day at the mall, so you deserve to know.”
She takes another big inhale and begins to tell Aubrey about her past, her parents, and Victor. Although she doesn’t go into detail about what exactly he did to her, like she did with us, which is for the better. Aubrey is innocent; she shouldn’t be subjected to the cruel parts of this world even if she knows they exist.
Aubrey has tears in her eyes as she listens carefully to Ronnie’s story. “And you went through all this alone? You’ve been living with this fear for years on your own?”
“I didn’t really have a choice. What was I supposed to do? Tell everyone and have them all worry about me? I don’t want to be seen as the poor, scared girl anymore. I worked too hard on myself not to be that way and let others treat me as such.”
That’s my girl, always so brave and strong.
“You’re right. I’m still sorry you went through that, but you have us now, and we’ll always be here for you. And you don’t need to worry; I won’t tell the others.” Aubrey smiles, still holding her hand.
“Thank you.”
Feeling like it’s time to change the mood and subject, I spring out of my chair. “How about a midnight swim before bed?” I point at the pool behind us.
Ronnie smiles brightly. “I’m in! Brey?”
“If you guys want to be alone, it’s fine. You don’t need to include me.” She shrugs.
“Don’t be ridiculous, baby Ford. Jump in the water with us.” I grin, then slip into the pool. I still haven’t changed since we left the resort this morning, so all I’ve got on are my swim shorts.
“Okay, let me just get changed first,” Brey says.
“Yeah, me too. We’ll be right back,” Ronnie says as they scoot out of their chairs and wander indoors together. While Noah gets into the pool and sits on the same bench as me, leaving just enough space between us for Vixen.
“Is she really okay?” I ask him now that we’re alone. A small part of me worries that Ronnie might regret what happened today.
He smirks. “Yeah, just a little sore. We’ll have to go easy on her tonight.”
I grin.Good, we were on the same page. She does still owe us two orgasms after all.
“GABRIEL, I DON’T KNOW WHAT YOUR MIDDLE NAME IS, ELLIS! You told everyone about what happened at the cave?!” Vixen comes marching back with an angry scowl a few minutes later.
I give a disappointed look at Aubrey, who stands behind her. “You told her?”
“Don’t be angry with her, I’m happy she told me because I don’t think you would have. I can’t believe you did that, Gabe! Do you know how mortifying that is for me?!”
“Oh, come on, it’s not that bad,” I whine.
“It really was,” Aubrey says.
I point at her. “No. It wasn’t. Your virgin ears might have been horrified, but everyone else just found it funny. Then Silas and Cecilia had one of their fake fights that ends in punishing sex, and that was the end of that. No one said another word about it.” I shrug. “Oh! But Silas now knows Sam is gay, so that was pretty funny to watch.”
“Shit, I can’t believe I missed that.” Ronnie comes over to stand behind me and Noah. “His reaction must have been priceless.”
“It was. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him so shocked in his life.” I chuckle.
She comes into the water and settles between me and Noah, while Aubrey sits on the opposite bench. I place my hand on her thigh under the warm water and glide my thumb along her skin.
“I’m sorry I told everyone what we did. But they practically guessed it on their own.”
She sighs and drops her head to my shoulder. “I forgive you. But maybe next time,don’t shareallthe details.”
“Okay, promise.” I kiss the top of her head, then sigh with content now that my girl is at my side. After a few minutes of peaceful silence, I speak up once more. “I can’t believe Morgan and Clay are finally having a baby.”
