Zach.
We arrived in our aunt’s estate in Miami. We were greeted by Aunt Marie and her daughter, Serena, and her son, Damien.
“Oh my god, what beautiful creatures you both grew up to be!” Aunt Marie said. She cupped my face between her palms. “Zachary! I never thought I’d ever see you again. You always were my favorite nephew.” Then she kissed me on the forehead.
“And you always have been my favorite aunt.” I smiled at her. “But you can’t say that in front of Damien. He’s your nephew too. And he’s related to you by blood.”
She rolled her eyes at the mention of Damien’s name. “Oh him. The troublemaker. Being family is not about being related by blood. Like you and Blaire. You’re not blood related, but that didn’t stop you from loving her like a sister.”
Great! I was hoping they had stopped seeing me and Blaire as brother and sister.
I nodded and smiled at her gently. She turned to Blaire and smiled. “Blaire,” she smiled and gave her a hug. She whispered something in her ear. I didn’t hear what it was, but I watched Blaire’s expression soften. Suddenly, her eyes became teary. She nodded and hugged our aunt back.
They sent us to our rooms. Blaire would be staying with Serena, and I would be rooming with Ben and Damien. As we parted ways, I gave Blaire one last longing look.
She smiled back at me. I gave her a wink before I turned around to follow Ben to his room.
“Blaire is a real knockout!” Ben said to me.
I bit my lower lip to keep myself from going for his collar and shoving him against the wall by his throat.
“Too bad we’re blood-related. I wouldn’t mind asking her out,” he said.
One Mississippi. Two Mississippi. Three Mississippi. I was trying my best to tune him out.
“I wonder how you do it,” he said.
“Do what?”
“Resist jumping her bones,” he replied. “Come on, man! Are you blind? On a scale of one to ten, she’s at least a twelve! How do you not see that?”
I sighed. “Who said I do not see it? Unfortunately, I was adopted by her parents.”
“It’s not like you’re blood related,” he said. “And it’s been almost a decade since the court decided on your case.”
“Well, not everybody will see it the way you do,” I said. I was sure there was sadness in my voice. For a moment, I was scared that Ben actually heard it.
He didn’t say anything. When I looked at him, I found that he was watching me.
“You have a girlfriend?” he asked.
It took me a while to answer that. To be honest, I wanted to say that I did. Because it was true. Blaire was mine. And I was hers. We weren’t just fooling around. We were exclusive.
I nodded at him.
“That’s a bummer! Damien is planning to have a boys’ night out tonight. You know, to scout for girls. Maybe we’ll get lucky.”
“You guys go ahead. I got lucky last night,” I said.
“I didn’t figure you to be a one-woman man.”
“I am,” I said. It was true. Get any other hot girl to strip naked in front of me now and I still wouldn’t get hard. Only one girl had that effect on me now.
An hour later, we all had dinner with our parents, aunts, and uncles. Damien appeared at dinner with two of his friends, Karl and Ricky. Serena and Blaire were joined by two other girl cousins, Sarah and Belle, and their friend, Mel.
I sent a text message to her: I miss you.
I watched her on the other table as she read my message. She smiled and texted me back: I miss you too.
Me: If it were up to me, I would be in the shed with you… and you would be screaming, writhing underneath me.
I could see her face turn crimson as she read my message. She bit her lip as she texted me back: Behave yourself! We’re with family!
Me: Your family. They aren’t related to me. And I’m not related to you, so nothing wrong if I have all these inappropriate thoughts about you…
Her: Shhh! Behave! We can do all those inappropriate thoughts you have later when we get back home.
Me: Don’t make promises you can’t keep, baby girl. Because I will hold you up to that. Every. Dirty. Thought.
Her lips curled into a smile. Suddenly, I saw Serena whisper something to her, and she blushed and nodded at her cousin.
Me: What are you girls talking about?
Her: Nothing. She asked if I was texting my boyfriend.
My heart leaped inside my chest. She had nodded. So basically, she just admitted that I was her boyfriend.
Me: You said yes.
It took her a moment to respond. She looked up and looked over at our table. We stared at each other for a moment, saying words we could not say out loud because we were in the presence of the very people who made our relationship forbidden, when it shouldn’t be in any other circumstance.
I raised a brow at her, waiting for her to answer. Finally, she looked down on her phone and texted.
I nervously read her message when my phone beeped: I did.
I smiled widely, knowing she would be watching me. I responded to her message: Hello, girlfriend. ☺
When she got that message, she smiled. She bit her lip to prevent herself from smiling wider. She tried to avoid looking at me, but she couldn’t help it. I didn’t take my eyes off her. I was looking at her intensely, with a grin on my face.
Her: Stop staring at me! People will notice.
Me: I can’t help it. You’re gorgeous. You’re driving me crazy.
She stared at her screen for a long time. She had a smile that she couldn’t wipe off her face. I hadn’t seen her this happy in a long time. Like looked like she had just opened her Christmas present and found everything she asked for wrapped up for her. I felt warm and happy knowing that I caused her that happiness.
I never gave much thought about another person’s happiness before. Just hers. I knew I would go to hell and back for her. Even if our future seemed dark, bleak, and uncertain. Even if it would hurt me, break me or leave me wounded. I would always put her happiness first. Because I loved her.
I love her. More than the sexual compatibility. More than the uncontrollable hormones. I love this girl… with every fiber of my damned soul.