The instant Derek and I stumbled across the doorstep of our rented hotel room in Los Angeles, I knew it was going to be a good weekend. We’d left the grief and pain of losing Erica behind us in Beacon Hills and instead decided to focus the entire weekend on us. After curling up together on our huge king-sized bed to take a quick nap that Friday night, Derek had insisted we get dressed up and go out, so we’d thrown on proper clothes and headed to a simple little restaurant that was only a five-minute walk away. Now we were walking back from the restaurant, me leaning heavily on Derek as my heels rubbed the pads of my feet raw.
“And you remember how pissed Isaac was when you walked in on him and Alice? I don’t think I’ve ever seen him so embarrassed!” I giggled, staggering across the sidewalk and turning to grin at my boyfriend over my shoulder. Derek groaned, pulling me back to him by my hand and catching me in a surprise kiss. I opened my mouth in a small gasp, allowing Derek to slip his tongue in my mouth and deepen the kiss, wrapping an arm around my waist and bowing my body against his. Grinding my hips against his in anticipation, I felt Derek smirk against my lips and pull away.
“No fair,” I pouted, jutting my bottom lip out and bursting out laughing when Derek mimicked my expression.
“Don’t worry, I’ll make it up to you later,” he promised, a mischievous glint in his green eyes as he released his hold on my waist and continued pulling me along the sidewalk. I’d had a glass (or two) of wine at the restaurant since Derek was twenty-one and legally able to order it for me. Although I wasn’t drunk now, I certainly wasn’t in my right mind. This made for an interesting walk home, and by the time we’d finally made it to our hotel by the boardwalk, I’d lost one of my heels in the sand, knocked a baby out of their stroller, and stolen a beer from a guy outside a bar. Derek was thoroughly amused, although when the Beer Guy tried to get my number, he’d growled loudly and shoved the guy so hard he cracked the display window of the restaurant. We’d hurried home pretty quickly after that.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I slurred slightly, kicking off the shoe that Derek didn’t hold in his hand and falling face-first onto our fluffy duvet and clean sheets. I snuggled further underneath the covers while I listened to Derek get changed and then join me in bed. While I knew he’d be expecting sex on our little romantic beach vacation, I was so wasted that I promptly fell right asleep and barely even noticed when Derek wrapped his strong arms around my waist and pulled me firmly against his chest.
“Goodnight love,” he whispered tenderly in my ear, and the term of endearment alone brought a sweet smile to my lips. Instead of responding, I rolled over in his embrace and buried my face against his muscles, cuddling closer to my boyfriend and sighing in content.
*** *** ***
The next day, Derek and I finally made it to Venice Beach, where all the celebrities and famous people hung out. I was ecstatic, hoping to spot Nina Dobrev or Jensen Ackles, but so far we’d only seen some dancer from one of the Step Up movies and the brunette from New Girl. As Derek and I were walking past the volleyball nets, however, my glance brushed over a particular blue-eyed actor who had my heart rate going into overdrive just by looking at him.
“Oh my god, Derek – that’s Colton Haynes!” I exclaimed, hitting his arm to draw Derek’s attention over to where the shirtless man was ordering a drink at one of the bars. Derek scrunched his eyebrows, obviously trying to remember which show Colton was from before he finally grinned at me triumphantly.
“He was on Vampire Diaries, right?”
“Wrong,” I replied, dragging him past the actor as Derek craned his head and tried to get a better look at Colton.
“Supernatural?”
“Nope,” I sang, shaking out my towel and laying it on the hot sand while Derek let his drop to the ground in a heap. I watched in open-mouthed fascination as Derek stripped off his t-shirt, exposing his rippling abs and bulging arms.
“Wait wait, I’ve got it – he was in one of those Twilight movies, wasn’t he?”
“Ugh, Derek, just give up already! He’s from some show on MTV; I don’t even watch it anymore. I’m just messing with you,” I revealed, grinning impishly as Derek’s mouth turned down in a playful frown and he lunged for me, grabbing my waist and carrying me swiftly down the beach.
“No, no, stop, I’m sorry, I’m sorry!” I shrieked frantically, letting out a high-pitched scream when Derek waded knee-deep into the salty waves and threw me in. My jean shorts and thin blue tank top got soaked, and when I came up for air I was spluttering and gasping. I flipped my knotty hair over my head, glaring at Derek as I splashed out of the ocean and stalked over to the towel, brushing past my boyfriend with a scowl. I was soon shivering, the cool September air raising goose bumps on my arms and legs.
“I hate you,” I spat when Derek approached my towel, which I was currently sitting on but attempting to partially pull up over my shoulders to keep me warm as I ditched my wet shirt and shorts and sat shivering, half-naked.
“No, you don’t.”
“I do. That was really, really mean, Derek.”
“But I got you in your bikini,” he whispered huskily, leaning over me so that I was forced to stretch back on the towel with Derek’s warm body pressed tightly over mine. My breathing hitched and my throat and I felt my nipples harden instantly when Derek’s chest brushed against them. Instead of closing that small gap between us, however, I rolled to the side and escaped down the beach, heading towards the beach volleyball game.
“Hey, can I join?” I asked simply with a blinding smile and a cocked hip; my efforts were rewarded by every single guy on the makeshift court nodding and agreeing exuberantly, and I looked over my shoulder to smirk at Derek as I was roped into a team and began to play. Considering I didn’t really know how to play, I spent most of the game jumping around and jiggling my boobs for all the guys to see while simultaneously openly checking out the bare chests and glistening biceps of all the players surrounding me. I never turned around to check, but I could feel Derek’s hot glare piercing into my back with each flip of my hair and playful high-five.
When the game ended, I received tight hugs from some of the guys I’d flirted with, and I noticed their hands lingered a little bit longer than I would’ve liked. By the time I stormed past Derek to rinse off in the water, he was steaming mad and grabbed my arm as I passed. His grip was so tight I was sure it would leave a bruise, and I wriggled uncomfortably.
“Derek stop, you’re hurting me-“
“How dare you flirt with all of those guys? Do you have any idea how jealous that made me? I nearly turned right here on the beach-“
“Sorry but you threw me in the ocean! I was just getting back at you.” Even as I yelled back at him though, I realized Derek’s raging jealousy was a huge turn-on and I found myself growing eager to touch his glorious, hard-muscled body. At some point while Derek was shouting at me, I flung myself at him and locked his mouth with mine, taking my boyfriend by surprise. His lips responded enthusiastically after a moment’s hesitation, and my skin began to crawl with desire. Wrapping my hands up in his thick dark hair, I pressed my body eagerly closer to his and felt Derek’s arousal through the thin fabric of his swim trunks. Before either of us could get too carried away, however, Derek somehow managed to walk us over to the shore and dove into the water, pulling me with him. Icy waves cascaded over our intermingled bodies, washing away the lust and heat and replacing it with stark astonishment and frigid joy.
“Derek!” I gasped, laughing as my head bobbed above the surface and I stared into his sparkling green eyes. Derek’s hair was slicked back over his head and water trickled down his cheeks and dripped off his chin; to me, he’d never looked so desirable.
The two of us played around in the water for most of the day, occasionally stretching out on the beach to dry off in the hot California sun or fetching food from the shack by the beach. I was headed over to use the bathroom quickly now when I felt a hand on the back of my shoulder and I turned, startled. Before I’d even glimpsed the person holding me, I was being dragged backwards into a little dark cabana that was isolated from the others. I struggled, letting out a loud scream before a hand was clamped over my mouth and I was being yanked backwards against a firm chest. The person’s arm went around my chest, holding me tightly in their grasp while keeping my shouts muffled with their other hand.
“Chris, I need you to calm down. It’s me, it’s Peter, I’m not going to hurt you,” the deep, masculine voice said quietly, and I felt the arms around me drop. Breathing a sigh of relief, I spun around to confront Derek’s uncle angrily.
“Peter, what the hell? You scared the crap out of me!”
“Well who’d you think it was?” he shot back, raising an eyebrow questioningly as the last trickles of fear washed down my spine. For a second, I’d thought that my stalker had finally caught up to me; I was almost certain that for days now someone had been watching me, but so far nothing had been done to harm me so I’d held off in telling Derek.
“Never mind. What’re you doing here? And why couldn’t you just stroll onto the beach and ask to talk to me like a normal person?”
“Because then Derek would’ve seen me, and he can’t know I’m here. It’s imperative that he doesn’t know, alright Chris?”
“Okay, sure. What’s going on?”
“It’s the pack…Isaac and Monica are falling apart. With Erica’s death, they’re suddenly terrified that they’ll be next. Isaac dumped that ridiculous blonde he was dating and now the two of them have taken up residence in your apartment until further notice,” Peter reported grimly, his hand still clenched onto my forearm.
“Oh God…we’ve gotta go back! Isaac broke up with Alice…? Oh no, we’ve gotta go back-“
“No. Chris, that’s what I came to tell you. You have no idea how messed up Derek’s been lately, and a care-free vacation with you is just what he needs. But you have to make sure that he doesn’t check his phone – he can’t know what’s going on back home or he’ll head straight back.”
“But-“
“No, promise me. He can’t find out.”
I sighed loudly, rubbing a hand over my face in aggravation as I weighed my options. It sounded like Isaac and Monica could seriously use the guidance of their Alpha, but on the other hand, Derek really needed our special weekend together. Do what’s best for Derek.
“Okay, I promise. But I’m telling him on the car ride back, okay?”
“Fine. Just do everything you can to make this weekend therapeutic for him.”
“Gotcha.”
“Seriously, whatever need he has-“
“Ew Peter, seriously, stop! Just stop! I’ve got it,” I cried in disgust, throwing my hands up to prevent Derek’s uncle from elaborating. With a twitch of his lips and a pat on my shoulder, Peter disappeared out of the cabana, leaving me confused and conflicted.
*** *** ***
Derek and I spent the rest of the day at the beach, swimming and sunbathing and even playing a game of beach volleyball together. After we finally headed back to the hotel, I made sure to give Derek the best night we’d ever spent together, going above and beyond what he’d probably expected. Afterwards, I’d been so exhausted I’d nearly fallen asleep on top of my satisfied boyfriend, but ended up just cuddled in his arms for the rest of the night. Now it was Sunday morning and Derek was talking about heading back to Beacon Hills around noon so he could check on the pack.
“No, I’m sure they’re fine. Besides, don’t you want to visit the boardwalk before we go?” I said persuasively, running my hand over Derek’s chest and thinking about how good it had felt to lick it last night. This in turn stained my cheeks with a hot blush, and I ducked my head so Derek wouldn’t notice.
“Maybe.”
“It wouldn’t hurt to just go for a few hours, tops.”
We ended up staying at the boardwalk until it was nearly dark. Derek and I got huge funnel cakes and buckets of fries and ate them together while we walked through arcade after arcade, playing games and winning random prizes here and there. With Derek’s enhanced Alpha strength, I managed to convince him to win me a giant stuffed panda, which I carted around with me like it was a badge of honor. In a way, it was.
“Ooh how about we buy matching t-shirts?” I crowed, dragging Derek over to a stand that was selling cheap t-shirts that were plastered with Venice Beach logos and images of people in their bathing suits. After convincing Derek to try on several different ones with me, we eventually settled on a couple’s shirt that had a man’s shirtless body on the one for me and a woman’s bikini-clad body on the shirt for Derek. We walked around for the rest of the day in the shirts, and I’d never felt so special in my entire life. Derek was smiling, laughing even, and playing every game I asked him to while I joked around and ate a ton of food. We teased each other in the shops, kissed in the arcades, and at the end of the day we sat side by side on the edge of the pier and stared out at the dark ocean together. I’d never had a more care-free, fun day with my boyfriend, and I didn’t want to see it end.
“It’s late,” Derek remarked, turning my hand over in his with a thoughtful expression on his face. I nodded lazily, admiring the crashing waves with awe as Derek pulled a little box out of his pocket and turned to face me fully. With a loud gasp that brought tears to my eyes, I realized it was an engagement box; the same one from when we’d been engaged before.
“Christina Laymen…I know we’ve had our difficulties, and it definitely hasn’t been easy, but I’ve loved you since the day I met you. I was ready to marry you five months ago, and I’m even more ready now. I love you, Chris, and I promise to protect and cherish you every day for the rest of your life. Will you marry me?”
Tears poured down my cheeks, carrying away all of the dried up salt water on my face and replacing it with so much love and happiness that I felt like my chest would burst from the magnitude of it all. Nodding vehemently as my throat was clogged full of tears, I wrapped my arms around Derek’s broad shoulders tightly and kissed him passionately, putting all of my love and emotion into that kiss. When we finally broke apart, Derek slipped the ring on my finger and smiled at me sweetly.
“I love you, Christina Laymen.”
“I love you too, Derek Hale,” I whispered back, leaning forward to embrace Derek once again.
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Hey guys! So I stayed up late to finish writing this for you and it took me THREE HOURS STRAIGHT to get it right! But I finished :) Sorry its short but this is the best I could manage. And besides, there are some funny bits in this chap! I personally love the Colton Haynes reference lol a show within a story about a show! Confusing :P But anyways, I'm starting to wrap up SLG so that I can start the third book soon so I hope you guys are pleased with the proposal! And yes, this time it is for real :) No more breakups in the near future, I promise! I'd really love to hear what you guys think of this chapter so please please pleasey please COMMENT! And votes are always nice too :) I'll try to update again by Friday night! Promise! Thanks yall :) Oh and also I'd love to get name suggestions for the third book from you guys if you have any! So please share :) And a hilarious gif of Peter from Mondays episode of Teen wolf - let's be honest, Peter was TO DIE FOR in that shirt! Ahh *faints* Thankss guys lol xoxox