Left or Right

Chapter 48

.Riley.

When it reached the night, we all huddled around the campfire together.
Miami was rather hot during the day but once it reached the evening it was pretty cold and James and I had curled together in a blanket on one of the logs we sat on while the others all shared their own blankets with each other.

They all continued to speak amongst themselves while I was perched on James's lap, roasting a marshmallow on a stick as I reached out to hold it closer to the fire.
His hands stay on my hips, keeping me sat on top of him so I didn't haul myself over.

"Okay but honestly, we need to talk about that duet," Michelle speaks up, making me roll my eyes when I send her a look. "It was so sweet," she gushes while I chuckle.
"Only Jiley could put together a duet like that," Cierra agrees, making me smile as I sat myself back again, leaning against James's chest beneath the covers as he massaged my hips.

"It was pretty good, wasn't it?" he mumbles, kissing my ear while I laughed softly in response.

For once, everything had gone back to normal. Everything was perfect.
There was no drama. There was no misunderstandings. Everything seemed okay.
I could only wish it was like this everyday.

"What time is it anyway?" I ask them all before Eldon looks down at his watch then glances back over at us.
"It's just gone ten, why?" he questions.

Everyone looks at me curiously as I glance up at James with a playful smile - one I knew he would be able to read in an instant.

"Wanna get out of here?" I whisper to him, placing my hand on his knee before he smirks, taking my hand in his.
"I've been waiting for you to give me the signal, Ri," he laughs back.

We ignore everyone else as we stand up while I wrap the blanket over my shoulders, curling up by James's side.
I'm sure they all had some sort of idea of where we were headed but I pay no attention to them and instead focus on getting back to the dorm rooms with James.

"Well I'm not sleeping in that room tonight," I hear Stephanie call out. "Giselle, I'm bunking with you," she says before Michelle agrees, making me chuckle.

Getting back to mine and the girls' dorm room, I unlock the door with the key card before slotting it into its pocket against the wall.

Instantly after shutting the door, I turn around to face James as the light of the bedroom remained turned off.
Before I had the chance to turn it on, he pulls me in close to him and crashes his lips against mine, making me giggle while he lifted my legs up so they were wrapped around his torso.

He carries me over to my bed and drops me down on it before crawling and hovering over the top of my body, looking me in the eye by way of the moonlight escaping a gap in the curtain.

"Are you sure you want to?" he asks, like he did every time it got to us doing this sort of thing. "We don't have to if you don't want to-" he begins to say but I cut him off by pulling him down by the collar of his hoody.

I'd heard enough and didn't need to hear much more. Everything was okay. There were no worries, no doubts, no fears. I was with him and he would never hurt me.
I knew what we were doing and I was ready for it.

Without saying much else, I shake my head and slowly press my lips against his but we don't pull away.
His hands wander, lowering down to hold me by the waist while our lips moved together, our eyes closed as we continued in the dark, his kisses diverting towards the skin of my collarbone and neck before lowering to my chest.

I was safe with him. I always was.

. . .

The following morning, I wake up in bed with my head rested against James's chest while he drew patterns over my arm. He was shirtless and I wore one of his over-sized white t-shirts on top of my body.

Michelle and Stephanie were both telling the truth when they claimed they would spend the night with the other girls, I hadn't heard from them since we left the beach last night to retreat in here.

Waking myself up, my eyes flutter open for James to meet my eyeline while he smiles down at me.
"Morning, beautiful," he whispers, pressing a kiss against my forehead.

I smile and snuggle up closer to him, not ready to get up just yet.

We were supposed to be getting the plane back to Toronto today but that thought was something I wasn't yet ready to contemplate over. I still had no idea what was going on with that.

There was Mom in Montreal who was currently begging me to go back to stay with her and as much as I didn't want to, part of me knew it was the better option. I couldn't be a burden to Deborah for much longer.
I could have always turned to Harry - it was what I had been talking to him about all this time anyway, but no one would truly be happy with that, that's for sure.

Just as I was about to say something, James's phone starts going from off the table and I look at him in confusion.
Either it was the boys calling to tease him about what we had got up to last night or we had overslept and Kate was calling to get us to wake up before we were late for the time we were due to arrive at the airport.

"Who is it?" I ask him when he stretches over to grab it.
He takes one look and then raises an eyebrow, seemingly just as confused as I was. He shrugs his shoulders but answers the phone and puts it on speaker, allowing me to hear the conversation too.

"Hello, is this James speaking?" the person says, their voice deep and harsh but also somewhat familiar.
"Yeah, sorry, who's this?" he asks in response.

"This is Officer Bradson. I'm calling to organise a meeting between you, Riley and I for this afternoon regarding Nate Jerrard. I'd just like to ask a few questions regarding his case if that's okay."
I look up at James as he looks to me before taking my hand in his.

We were supposed to be arriving at the airport for one o'clock. We didn't have time to be having meetings, but at the same time I knew it was important.
The person with all the information would be me... I'd be the one who would have to fight, not James.

I close my eyes and breathe in while James awaits my response, making sure I was okay with it first.
After a moment or so, I slowly nod my head in confirmation and James gives my palm a short squeeze.

"What time would you like us to meet?" James asks and instantly I sigh, looking down at the mattress.

It was all becoming real now...