10.13.2022
"Drop the towel." I say with a sly grin as Rylie emerges from the bathroom. "We don't cover up here. Especially with a body like yours." I raise an eyebrow and Rylie laughs.
"First off, I'd rather towel dry than air dry."
"I'd rather you air dry..." I murmur, and Rylie cuts me off, trying not to smile. That only makes me smile more.
"Second off!" She finally grins, gesturing to me. "I drop the towel if you drop the robe."
I narrow my eyes. She has a point.
"Fine." I say as I tug at the belt of the robe.
"Fine." Rylie smirks, dropping the towel.
Despite seeing Rylie's perfect body nearly every day, it would always feel like the first time. My eyes travel slowly over every inch of her exposed skin, lingering a little longer on certain areas as she moves closer to me.
"Better?" She asks with a raised eyebrow as she climbs onto the bed to straddle me.
"Much better." I reply as I rest my hands on her bare hips and lock my eyes with hers. "You're impossibly hot. And perfect. And so soft..." I trail off as I run my hands down her thighs slowly.
"Mmhm..." Rylie replies, running her right hand down my chest. "I've got a pretty good view too."
I feel the heat in my cheeks, and lower, and use my eyes to ask Rylie for what I wanted. She obliges instantly, pressing her lips to mine. I pull her closer to me, enjoying the taste of her on my lips. I bite her bottom lip gently before kissing her again and moving my hand closer to the sweet spot between her legs. Before I can make contact though, she pulls away.
"As much as I'd love to do this," Rylie says with a slow, burning look down my body. "We've got other plans."
"Rylie," I whine. "We can't stop now!"
"Baby, I really want to see the dock runners." Rylie pouts, and I groan.
"I'll show you YouTube videos of dock runners later!" I beg, but Rylie doesn't budge. Instead, she gives me puppy dog eyes, and there's no way I can say no to her. Anytime she gave me that look, or any similar look for that matter, there was nothing I wouldn't give her.
"Please? I'll make it up to you later." She whispers, sticking out her bottom lip that was still reddened from our heated kiss only moments ago.
"Oh, baby wait, please don't pout!" I plead, placing my hand on her cheek. "We can watch them." I say quickly. "We can do anything you want, my love. Just please don't be sad."
Rylie's face brightens instantly and she leans back down to kiss me before hopping off of me. Unfortunately.
"Yay! I love you." She grins, and I can't help but return her smile.
"I love you." I laugh as I sit up and re-tie my robe.
"Uh-uh." Rylie stops me. "Wear this, please." She smiles sweetly as she hands me a sundress. I laugh when I see that it's her favorite sundress of mine, mainly because of how little it covered and how accessible it was for her wandering hands. Not that I minded her wandering hands.
We change quickly before heading out onto our balcony, and I stand behind Rylie, slipping my arms around her as I breathe in her smell mixed with the salty Cozumel air.
"I really love this port." Rylie says as she leans back against me.
"Me too." I smile. Even if it completely exhausted me."
Rylie laughs. "I hope I'm part of the reason you're exhausted."
I giggle, feeling my face redden. "You know you are." I press my lips to her neck gently, enjoying the sigh she lets out.
"You're distracting me again." She murmurs with her eyes closed, and I grin.
"Yeah," I laugh. "I definitely am." I kiss her neck once more before moving to stand beside her, and we glance down at the nearly empty dock.
"When do we leave?" Rylie asks, and I check the time.
"Five minutes. If there is anyone not on the ship yet, they're cutting it about as close as they can."
Almost as if on cue, we see two dots emerge from the building at the end of the pier, moving at a brisk walk. Rylie and I laugh as other passengers on the ship begin cheering. The couple on the pier begin waving and bowing as they near the ship, earning more laughter.
We spend a few more minutes on the balcony enjoying the view and the music from the Lido deck. Just before we decide to head inside, another figure appears at the end of the dock.
"Ry, look!" I point, excitement filling my voice. Down on the dock below us, the workers are nearly done putting away the last gangway ramp when they also notice the figure sprinting down the dock.
As the man nears, we can see the multiple bags clutched in his hands, slowing him down. About halfway down the dock he stops, turning around as if waiting for something. Sure enough, we see another figure emerge from the building. Instead of running, she hops into a small carriage hooked to a bike. The owner hops onto the bike and beings paddling down the dock. When the man sees this, he continues his sprint towards the ramp that was being set up again.
As he and the carriage get closer, cheering erupts once more on the ship, this time much louder than the first. Rylie and I cheer along with them and watch as the man helps his obviously pregnant wife from the carriage and to the gangway.
"Awe, well that is a very good excuse to be a dock runner." Rylie turns to me with a smile.
"Yeah," I laugh, watching her as she turns back to the couple below. "It is." I was suddenly very happy we'd come out here to watch this. I would never get tired of watching Rylie's excitement and joy. Actually, I'd never get tired of watching her in general. I think with a smile as I take her hand and lead her back into the bedroom to finish what we'd started earlier.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The next day is our final day at sea and we don't waste a minute. We take full advantage of the breakfast buffet, guys burgers for lunch, and endless ice cream. Dinner wasn't for another few hours, but I was already preparing myself for the large amount I knew we'd be eating.
After dinner tonight we were going to go to the adult comedy show, and I knew Rylie was just as excited for that as I was. I'd heard that it was the adult one for a reason, and that only made us look forward to it more. But until then, we planned to just hang out on the lido deck enjoying the sun and activities.
They'd just announced the hair chest competition, which could either be very funny or very... uncomfortable. I was hoping for the first. As I have the thought, we hear our cruise directors voice over the speakers and I sit up to see a line of men on the main area of the deck, and three women sitting on chairs in front of them. It looked like they would be the judges.
I turn to Rylie and gently shake her arm. She opens her eyes and pulls out her earbuds before giving me a sleepy smile.
"Did you have a good nap?" I ask with a laugh and she nods happily.
"I did. You wore me out earlier." She smirks, and I feel my face heat up. That had been my intention.
"Good. You'll need your energy later tonight. Earlier was just a warm up." I say, enjoying the way Rylie bites her lip. Before she can reply, voices and music sound in front of us and we turn our attention to the competition.
All the men up front have their shirts off, and I augh as Rylie groans. "I am so glad I am not attracted to men. This simply confirms that I only love women." I turn to her with a glare, and she hurries on. "Woman. I only love one woman. No one else catches my eye ever, only you!" She finishes, and I laugh.
"That's right." I reply before leaning over to give her a quick kiss. "Don't worry, there's only one guy down there that catches my attention." I joke, but Rylie doesn't take it as a joke.
"Hey!" she scowls.
"I'm teasing!" I say, taking her hand. "Once I saw you for the first time, I realized there's no one else out there that can catch my eye the way you do." Rylie's scowl turns to a smile and I laugh. I meant what I said though, I could go the rest of my life only seeing Rylie and no one else, and I would be completely happy. She was all I needed.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
We cut dinner shorter than normal to make sure we can make the comedy show on time, but we still manage to eat everything we want and more.
"I think this is the most I've ever eaten in one sitting." I groan, putting a hand over my stomach.
"Do you regret eating so much?" Rylie asks, taking my hand as we walk down the hallway towards the elevators.
"Kind of." I reply with a giggle.
"Do you want ice cream before the show?" She asks with a smirk.
"Yes please!" I say excitedly, suddenly feeling less full. Rylie laughs and I roll my eyes. "You know soft serve ice cream is my weakness." I whine, bumping her shoulder lightly.
"I know, baby. We can grab some to eat on the way to change our clothes." She promises with a smile, and I pull her excitedly in the direction of one of the many ice cream machines.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The sound of barking wakes me up, and I sit up as confusion washes over me. "Harvey?" I call out into the darkness, signing with relief when he hops up onto the bed and into my lap. "What's wrong buddy?" I glance around as my eyes adjust to the darkness, and worry begins filling my stomach along with the confusion. "Where's Ry?" The bed is empty beside me, and a touch to Rylie's cold pillow tells me she's been gone for a while.
Suddenly, the front door slams and I stiffen as footsteps sound in the hallway. As much as I wanted it to be Rylie returning from wherever she'd gone, I instantly knew it wasn't her. I pull Harvey to me as fear fills my body.
The footsteps stop outside my bedroom door and I try to brace myself, somehow already knowing who it is before they even turn the doorknob. As the door opens and a body fills the doorway, the light from the hallway prevents me from seeing his face. My body tenses, preparing for what I knew must be coming.
"Gabe."
He takes a step the moment his name leaves my mouth, and I try to make out his expression. It's not until Gabe stops right in front of me that I can finally see his face, and I can't stop the gasp from leaving my mouth as I take it in.
"What... what happened to you?" I ask quietly, unable to keep my voice from shaking.
Gabe scoffs, his eyes darkening as he speaks. "Oh, Aspen. You always were clueless and ignorant."
His words sting and only add to my confusion. "What do you mean?" I whisper, unable to take my eyes from his face.
"You know exactly what I mean. You sent me there, Aspen. They only knew what I'd done because of you. If you'd kept your mouth shut like I'd told you to, I wouldn't look like this." Gabe growls, gesturing to his damaged face.
His once handsome features were now distorted and torn, blood seeping from a seemingly endless amount of wounds. Bruises colored the skin around his eyes and led down to his cheeks. As my eyes travel farther down, I can see the same wounds on his neck and arms.
The only question that comes to my mind is the one I'd already asked: what happened to him? Gabe had answered this already but I didn't understand. Had this really been my fault?
"Yes, Aspen. This was your fault." Gabe confirms, as if I'd spoken my thoughts out loud. "You couldn't live with what we'd done, so you decided to lie and say I'd forced it on you. And," He cuts me off as I open my mouth to speak. "You told them I beat you."
"You did!" I try to yell, but my voice only comes out a hoarse whisper. How was he here? Why was this happening?
"I didn't, Aspen. You just wanted attention." Gabe growls as he gets uncomfortably close to me. Then again, no matter how far away he was from me, it would always be too close.
"Please stop." I sob, feeling the tears on my cheeks.
"You're the reason they attacked me." Gabe says in a dangerously low voice, and I flinch when his hand grips my throat. "You're the reason I'm dead, Aspen."
"Stop..." I gasp as his hand tightens. Another sob threatens to break loose, and I try to replace it with a scream.
As the scream leaves my mouth, I wake up again, this time for real. I'm breathing hard and can feel the tears staining my cheeks. I jump and nearly scream again as a hand touches my arm.
"Hey, it's okay!" I hear a soft, familiar voice. "You're safe." She says, and I feel relief rush through me as Rylie's arms wrap around me.
"Ry," I sob as I cling to her.
"Shh, you're okay baby." Rylie whispers as she tightens her hold on me. "He's not here." She promises, knowing who the nightmare was about.
My mind is still running wild, so I remind myself of where I am in hopes of easing it. I was with Rylie, in our room on the cruise ship, not at home with Gabe. We'd fallen asleep late, despite tomorrow being an early and long day of getting off the ship and flying home. I hadn't had any thoughts of Gabe for a few days, so I wasn't sure where the nightmare had come from.
Calming down from this one takes me longer than the last one did, but Rylie is as patient as ever and her words manage to ease the fear and anxiety caused by the dream.
"It was worse this time, wasn't it?" Rylie asks once my tears subside.
"Yeah." I whisper, brushing the last of my tears away. "He was alive again, sort of. And he blamed me for what happened to him."
"Aspen, none of that was your fault. What happened to him was caused by his own actions. Only he is responsible, you know that right?" Rylie's words are soft.
"Yeah." I reply quietly, but I wasn't so sure anymore. Maybe I was partially to blame.
"Good." Rylie says as she pulls me back into her arms. "Let's get some sleep since we have a long day of traveling tomorrow."
"I love you so much, Ry." I whisper as I cuddle as close to her as possible. I'm not surprised when the warmth and safety of her arms quickly pulls me into a deep, thankfully nightmare free sleep.