Page 94 of Break the Rule
Eden hardly listens to Addy counting, his chest lighter than it’s been in weeks as he breathes in the salt air and listens to the sounds of waves crashing and Ella’s excited laughter as she takes off running. If he were really trying to win, he could, but he’s not trying, trailing after her while dramatically pretending he can’t keep up.
“I win,” Ella cheers, crashing into Eden and toppling them both into the cool, smooth sand. It gets in Eden’s hair, and he’s never cared less.
“You wanna build a sand castle with me?” Ella asks, sitting on his stomach. “Momma brought my sand toys.”
“Yeah,” Eden whispers, unsure he’s ever wanted anything more.
Ella takes Eden’s hand, leading him closer to the shore where the tide has turned the sand wet enough to mold with. Addy follows behind, laying out their beach blanket and adding oversized rocks to the corners so it doesn’t blow away in the wind. Eden settles himself down beside Ella, removing his shoes and socks so he can bury his toes in the sand. It really is fucking cold, but he doesn’t care. It feels good to be somewhere besides work, especially with his two favorite people.
“You gotta make the wall,” Ella announces, passing him a small plastic mold. “I’m gonna make a moat.”
“How big should it be?” Eden asks, still out of his depth with shit like this, even after years of playing with Ella. He didn’t build sand castles as a kid, not just because he grew up landlocked but because he didn’t have toys of his own or grown-ups who played with him. Sometimes, he can’t relax until Ella tells him exactly what to do. Luckily, Ella’s pretty assertive, so that’s not usually an issue.
“This big,” Ella instructs, holding her small arms out wide. “Make sure the sand isn’t too wet or it gets stuck.”
“Got it,” Eden nods, turning to look at Addy who is watching them with a smile and already taking photos of them on her cell phone. “Oh no, it’s the paparazzi.”
“Can you blame me? It’s the only time I can sneak a photo of you.”
Eden waits until Ella’s not looking to flip Addy off, finding himself laughing when she snaps a photo of that, too.
“This was a good idea,” Addy says, twisting open a bottle of iced tea she pulled from the bag and takes a drink before holding it out to Eden. Sweet tea is Addy’s favorite since she grew up in the South, and Eden’s grown to love it because it tastes like home—the first drink Addy gave him after bringing him home.
“It was a good idea,” Eden agrees, using one of the tiny neon yellow shovels to fill his mold with sand. The first one is clearly too dry because it all crumbles, but he scoots down half a foot and uses wetter sand, uncaring about the way his ass and legs get wet as he continues to mold up the wall for Ella’s castle.
Time passes too quickly for Eden’s liking, but by the time the sun is beginning to set on the horizon they’ve made a pretty impressive—albeit wonky—sand castle that Ella has decorated with broken sticks and little shells. They join Addy on the blanket for steaming cups of cocoa she pours into paper cups from a thermos, along with homemade chocolate chip cookies.
“This is the best day ever,” Ella exclaims, fingers stained with sand and chocolate, and the smile on her face is something Eden will remember for years to come. Apparently getting a second wind from all the sugar, she abandons Eden and Addy on the blanket in favor of chasing seagulls.
“So, tell me about this guy,” Addy prompts once Ella’s out of earshot.
“It’s nothing,” Eden shrugs, unsure how to begin to explain Charlie King.
“Don’t bullshit me,” Addy says, arching one sharp eyebrow at Eden over the rim of her paper cup of cocoa. “Tell me everything. I’ve been really patient but I’m kind of losing it. You’ve spent more nights away from home in the last two weeks than since I met you.”
“I’ve made sure to be home before Ella wakes up so she doesn’t know,” Eden frowns. “Except that one night.”
“You have, and I appreciate that, not because you need to pretend you don’t have a life, but because Ella would miss you terribly if she didn’t get to see you before school, especially on the days you work all night. But you know what I mean. You don’t sleep over with guys, Eden. You never have.”
She’s not wrong. Even in the early days before he’d been able to stop turning tricks, he’d never stayed out all night. Eden doesn’t sleep with people. Charlie is the first person Eden ever spent the night with. Charlie’s been a lot of his firsts.
“Charlie is…something else.”
“I’m gonna need more than that,” Addy says, playfully nudging his shoulder. “Come on, you landed yourself a sexy older man who is an artist. Is he passionate? Romantic?”
“He’s a pain in my fucking ass.”
“Okay,” Addy laughs. “So you must like it.”
Eden groans, gulping down the last of his cocoa before setting the cup on the blanket. “I do like it. What the fuck am I gonna do?”
“Uh, keep dating the hottie, obviously.”
“You think Charlie’s hot?”
“I do have eyes, Eden. That man is sexy as fuck.”
“He is sexy, isn’t he?” Eden sighs, thinking about how eager and pliant Charlie had been in the car earlier. He’d let Eden do anything he wanted to him. He’d also asked if Eden might ever let Charlie fuck him which had turned Eden on so much he’d nearly run away. The only thing that kept him in the car was changing the subject, slightly terrified by how much he wanted the one thing he’d swore he’d never want again. Eden didn’t let men have power over him, not any more. But the idea of Charlie fucking him had filled Eden with such a sharp longing he’d almost walked into oncoming traffic.
