"How did you sleep?" she asked, reaching over to run her finger down the side of his face.
"Like a rock. I don't even remember dreaming," he said, reaching up and holding her hand. He kissed her finger and smiled. The look on her faced turned serious as she pulled her hand away gently.
"AJ, you know things aren't back to normal. I don't know if they ever will be like they were," she said quietly. "I can't trust you anymore."
"I know, baby. I understand. I don't blame you a bit for not trusting me, either," he said, his brown eyes downcast. "But I promise... no, I won't say I promise, because that doesn't mean anything anymore. I swear that I will never, ever do anything to break your trust again."
She looked at him, and it was clear to him that she was skeptical.
"Ok, I talked to Brian last night. Good job, by the way... calling Brian, I mean. He convinced me to give you another chance," she said. "But I'm laying out the groundrules for us. You'll follow them to the letter, or we're finished. I mean this, too, AJ. First, you will not drink at all. No drugs, no pot, no nothing. Second, we aren't going to see each other exclusively right now. You're obviously not ready for that."
He started to object, but she silenced him with a look.
"As I was saying... you're obviously not ready for that. You proved that to me this week. Don't argue with me on this, Alex." He knew she was very serious when she called him Alex. "We can see each other, we can go out, you can even stay over with me sometimes. But I'm not saying that I'll just be seeing you, and I don't expect you to just see me. Third, if you ever, and I mean EVER, lay a hand on me again, so help me God, you will lose that hand. Now, does this sound like something you can live with?"
He nodded his head, but couldn't look at her.
"Look at me, AJ," she said, her voice low and firm. He raised his head and looked at her with the saddest, most pitiful eyes she had ever seen.
"Mikayla, I don't want to see anybody else," he said, reaching out and holding her hand. She smiled a little.
"That's your choice," she said. "But don't expect the same from me. I tried the monogamy thing for what? A year and a half? And what did it get me? A broken heart. A broken relationship. No, I don't think I'll be traveling down THAT road again soon. We're going to take this slowly. Maybe one day we can get back to what we had, but it's going to take some time."
"Ok," he said simply. "Ok, I guess I deserve this, don't I?" She nodded her head slowly.
********************************
Karina pulled on her swimsuit and turned to face Brian. He was very quiet, and looked ashamed of himself.
"What's wrong, Brian?" she asked, smiling. He didn't answer her as he pulled on his shorts and picked up his towel.
"Well, be that way then," Karina said, shaking her head.
"I shouldn't have done that," he muttered. "And what the hell are you doing thinking about AJ, anyway? He and Mikayla are gonna work things out."
"Whatever you say, Bri," she said, laughing. "Oh, and don't even think about telling anybody what happened this afternoon."
"Believe me, that's the last thing I want to do," he said, rolling his eyes.
"Good. Because if you tell anybody... Nick, Mikayla, Kevin... whoever... I'll make sure your wifey knows, too. By the way, you really are amazing, Brian. Just amazing. You should get out more." she said, throwing her towel over her shoulder and sashaying away into the maze. Brian stood there, stunned. He couldn't believe what he had done. He couldn't believe what an incredible BITCH this girl was.
He walked to AJ's house and entered through the front door. He saw Karina sitting on Nick's lap in the living room.
"Hey, man!" Nick said, excitedly. "Sorry I missed you this morning. What did you two do all day?"
"Not much," Brian said, eyeing Karina. She had a self-satisfied smirk on her face as she sat on Nick's lap, her arms draped around his neck. "Just laid out on the beach and got some sun."
"Cool," Nick said. "You hungry? I'm starved. Why don't the three of us go get some dinner?"
"Nah," Brian said. "I'm going to take shower. I'm feeling really... nasty all the sudden." He walked down the hall to the bathroom and took the longest, hottest shower he had ever had in his life.
***********************************************
Mikayla made her way back to her house, alone. She had made plans to have dinner with AJ and Lyric later, and she wanted to get cleaned up. When she walked inside, she found Kevin sitting in the living room with an icepack on his head.
"Aww, Kevin," she said, "Are you still hung over?"
"Yep," he said, removing the ice pack from his head and looking up at her. "I just can't get rid of this headache. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that you and AJ are getting back together."
Mikayla laughed. "Now Kev, I don't see what one could possibly have to do with the other." But the look on his face stopped her laughter.
"What's with the face?" she asked, walking over and sitting beside him.
"Mikaya, don't go back to him," he said, a sad, pleading look in his eyes. She felt her heart drop when he said the words.
"Kevin, I love him. I have to give him another chance."
"No you don't. You could... be with me," he said, his voice trailing off as he looked down.
"What do you mean, be with you?" she asked, suspiciously.
"Just what I said. You could be with me."
"Kevin, you're married. I can't be with you," she said, sadly. "Otherwise, you know I would."
"I'll leave her," he said quietly. "I'll leave her and we can be together." Mikayla was shocked. Here was the love of her life, telling her that he would leave his wife to be with her. She should be ecstatic. But... she wasn't.
"Kevin,there was a time that I would have given everything I had in the world to hear you say that. But now... I can't let you do it, baby. I love AJ. I really do. We have some things to work out, but I'm going to try."
"But... what about last night?" he asked, holding her hand. "You can't tell me last night wasn't... incredible."
"No, I won't even try to tell you that," she said, laughing. "It was mindblowing. But Kevin, it was your birthday. I did that for you as a gift."
"So, does that mean that it won't happen again?" he asked, eyeing her mischeviously.
"I didn't say that," she said, smiling. "Nooooo, I definitely didn't say that."