A Matter of Trust Ch. 03

Jackson didn't seem to interject, just sat there quietly.

"...I spent some more time with her before I left and I knew there were more feelings developing there. I didn't ask her to show up last night, she surprised me shortly after you dropped me off. She told me how she felt and that she wanted to come; that she felt she had to."

"She's, my sister; I'm just trying to look out for her."

"And just what's that supposed to mean?" I asked, his comment confusing me.

We sat for a moment in silence and he turned to look at me.

"I don't want her to get hurt Nathan. I just want what's best for her and my family."

"What, so now you think I'm going to hurt her? You honestly think I would ever do that? You really think that little of me after all these years?" I asked, not liking the way this conversation was heading.

"It's not that Nathan..." He said as he turned to look at me.

"Then what, Jackson?" I asked, practically begging for an answer from him.

Jackson said nothing, he just looked back down and stared at the sand. We sat like this for a few more moments.

"I'm sorry if that's how you feel Jax, but I've never given you any reason not to trust me. I never meant for any of this to turn this way. For what it's worth I truly am sorry and I never meant to hurt you." I said as I rose to my feet and slowly walked away.

Jackson stood up and I turned back to look at him again. He had a look on his face like he wanted to say something to me but couldn't. I sighed and turned around, making my way up from under the pier and off the beach. I made my way up the boardwalk, finding a little seafood stand to grab a bite to eat. I waited a bit and when my food was ready, I grabbed my bag and walked down the pier, finding a non-crowded place to sit down. Sitting there, replaying everything in my head, I wasn't feeling hungry at the moment, so I set my food to the side when I heard the text message alert on my phone.

'Heading to the airport. Did you talk to Jackson?'

I held the phone up looking at it, the events that happened running another loop through my mind again. I sat for a while, not knowing how to respond, just listening to the waves crashing against the shore, hearing the seagulls calling as they flew overhead. I sat for a little while, thinking to myself about everything that had happened over the last few days, when my stomach growled and I decided to eat after all. About a half hour later I finished lunch and pulled out my phone and texted Candace:

'Sorry, I grabbed a bite to eat. Tell everyone I said hi and I'll call you later.'

A few moments later she responded.

'We are heading to Taylor's suite. You can come by if you want.'

'You have fun with your friends. I just need a little while.' I replied.

'If you need me, just let me know. Love you'

I smiled as I read her message and got up to throw my empty box in the trash. I needed to talk to someone and see if I could get some advice on what's going on. I called Ron and Barbara, asking them if I could come over, that I needed someone to talk to. They said that they were home and to stop by any time. I hailed a ride and in a little while I pulled up in front of the house. I made my way up the couple steps and knocked on the front door.

"Hello son." Ron said as he opened the door, extending his hand out to me.

"Good afternoon, sir."

"Come in, have a seat." He spoke as we walked into the house and made our way over to the couch.

"If I may, I could really use some advice on something." I said nervously as I took a seat on the chair opposite to the couch.

"Anything son, what's on your mind?"

"I kind of screwed things up with Jax. He's really upset with me."

"Candace told us earlier what happened."

"I never meant to hurt Jackson. I would never do that to him. I tried to explain this, but he was still upset."

"I know you wouldn't. He knows you wouldn't. He just needs time Nathan."

"I'm sorry if I made a mess of everything." I said as I lowered my head.

"Do you love her Nathan?" I heard Barbra ask as she joined her husband on the couch.

"I'm sorry it all had to come out this way, but yes, I am falling for her. I always had feelings for her, but I never thought she felt the same. When she told me how she felt, all of my feelings for her came back."

"She's a grown woman who can make her own choices Nathan. If you both feel the same way for each other, than that is something to work out between you two. Things will work out with Jackson." Barbara replied.

"You have always been a good man Nathan, Jackson knows this. Let me see if I can talk to him." Ron said.

"Thank you." I replied.

We sat and talked for a little while longer. Being here with them, being able to come to them, had helped me calm myself. I was glad that I had them to be able to go to when I needed some help. Then my mind starting thinking about my parents. I started thinking about all the time that I never got to have with them, all the conversations that we could have had, all the advice that they could have given me. I was extremely grateful for everything that Ron and Barbra had done for me, but naturally I missed them.

"I'm sorry to do this, but could I ask for a favor?"

"Anything son, what do you need?" Barbara replies.

"Sitting here like this reminded me of my parents. I'd like to go see them while I am in town. It's been a while. Would you mind if I borrowed your car? I feel a little uncomfortable asking an Uber to take me to the cemetery."

"Here, take mine." Ron said as he reached in his pocket and pulled out his keys.

"Thank you both, for everything."

"You're welcome, Nathan. Anytime we can help, just let us know." Barbara said as she stood from the couch. I raised myself off the chair and walked the short distance over, giving her a hug. Ron stood up and shook my hand.

"I'll bring it back later. Thank you again." I said, standing next to the door.

"Take your time. I'm not in a hurry." Ron said.

I nodded and made my way out the door. I walked over to the driveway and got in the car. I punched in the nearest florist as I wanted to stop and grab some flowers for my parents and headed on my way.

The drive took about 40 minutes with some mild traffic. I arrived to the cemetery and drove to the section where my parents had been buried. I parked the car and got out, slowly walking towards my parents' grave. I stopped when I reached their tombstone and placed the flowers next to it. Looking down I saw a little American flag that had been placed there had fallen over. I knelt down to straighten it, lowering my head...

"Hey mom, hey dad. I'm sorry it's been so long. I should have come and seen you sooner. I hope that you forgive me. I wish you were here. I miss you. I love you. I just hope that I have made you proud. I did the best I could."

A tear slowly started to form and I reached up to wipe it away. I leaned over, resting my head on their tombstone and said a prayer. I asked for forgiveness, I asked for strength. I heard my text alert go off, but I ignored it, instead just staying in the moment before me. A little while later I heard the alert go off again, so I pulled out my phone. The first message was from Candace.

'Hey is everything ok? Mom and Dad said you went to see your parents. Call me please.'

The second message was from Ron and Barbra.

'Heading to the country club to help finalize a few last-minute things for the wedding. Don't worry about the car, you can bring it back tomorrow.'

I texted them back and thanked them again and that I would bring it around tomorrow morning. I replied back to Candace's message from earlier.

'I'll call you in a bit.'

'Ok, talk to u soon' She replied.

I made my way back to the car and headed back to my hotel. A short while later and I parked the car, heading up to my room. I laid down and pulled out my phone to call Candace back. It rang twice before she picked up.

"Hey you." She answered.

"Hey yourself. How was everyone's flight?" I asked.

"They said it was fine, except Melissa complained the whole time about the drinks they offered." She spoke. I heard Melissa jokingly scream 'OH FUCK YOU, I DID NOT!' in the background which made me chuckle. "Dad called me a little while ago and said you stopped by to talk and borrow the car."

"Yeah, I needed some advice and thought I should go see my parents."

"Are you ok?" She asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine. It's been a little bit since I was out there, so after everything that happened, I thought it might help to clear my head."

"Did you talk to Jackson?"

"Yeah. I tried to apologize and talk to him about everything; that I didn't mean for things to happen the way that they did and I told him how I felt about you. He didn't say much and we just left it at that. I guess when he is ready to talk then he will let me know. Hopefully its soon, otherwise this weekend might be a little awkward." I said, trying to laugh.

"Well, we are getting ready to go out to dinner in a little while. Taylor said that you were welcome to join us if you wanted to."

"Normally I would but with everything that's happened I just need a little time to sort things out. How about lunch tomorrow before the rehearsal dinner?"

"Ok babe. Call me later."

"Enjoy dinner with your friends. I'll talk to you then." I replied as we ended the call.

Having some time to myself, I thought I'd go get in a little exercise, as going for a run usually helped me take my mind off things. I threw on a pair of athletic shorts, tank top, and my running shoes and headed down to the beach. I found the path that ran along its length wasn't very crowded, so I took off. As I ran, I thought about everything that had happened. The flight, the stayover, Candace surprising me at my hotel, my feelings for her, the confrontation with Jackson, my parents, my service...

After a few laps up and down the path, I checked my watch and realized that I had been running for almost an hour, so I turned back to head towards my hotel. I made my way back up to the room, grabbing a shower to wash off the sweat. I laid on the bed, turning the TV on, thinking about what to eat.

I have no clue as to how or when I managed to pass out, but I woke up around three hours later, having completely skipped dinner. I came to and got up off the bed, dressed, and made my way down a little pizza place I noticed that was across the street. I grabbed a couple slices to go and went back to my room. I had just finished eating when there was a knock on my hotel room door. I got up and opened it to see who was there, as I wasn't expecting anyone.

"Hey, you got a minute?" I heard Jackson ask as I opened the door.

"Sure, I just grabbed a bite to eat. What's up?" I asked, opening the door fully to have him come in. He came in and made it to the little table, taking a chair opposite to me.

"Mom and Dad told me you came by to talk earlier and you went to see your parents."

"Yeah, I needed a little advice after everything. As we talked, it got me thinking about my parents. I haven't been to their grave in a while, so I thought I'd go pay them a visit."

"Are you ok?" He asked as he looked over at me.

"Yeah, I'll be alright. Thanks."

We sat for a moment, when Jackson hung his head down. "We need to talk, but I didn't want to do it over the phone, so I thought it would be best to come here."

"I was worried that you wouldn't want to talk to me after this morning."

A few more moments of silence followed when Jackson spoke. "I'm sorry for today, Nathan." He sighed.

"I understand Jax, I do. It's my fault, but please, don't be mad at her, I'm the one that screwed up. I should have told you. I never meant to hurt you Jax. Again, I'm sorry and I hope that one day you can forgive me."

"I didn't think it would hit me the way that it did. I just went into protective brother mode, you know?"

"I would have expected nothing less. It's part of the reason why I was nervous about telling you how I felt." I replied.

We sat there for a while, neither of us saying anything, both still processing all that happened.

"Nathan, I shouldn't have to tell you this but if you hurt her..." he trailed off

"I would NEVER hurt her, Jackson. I'd take my oath on that."

"I know, but I had to hear it from you." He said, the mood seeming to lighten between us.

We sat for a while longer, both coming to grips with everything.

"I wonder why she never said anything before."

"I guess she might have been a little scared about how you felt. Or, maybe she didn't want to make anything uncomfortable between us." He spoke.

"Like this morning?" I replied, giving a light chuckle.

Jackson gave a light-hearted laugh and turned back to me. "I'm sorry for what I said and how I reacted, Nathan. If there was anyone who I would approve of being with my sister, it would be you." He replied.

"Thanks. That means a lot coming from you Jax."

We sat for a bit longer, a calmness seemed to come over the two of us. I stood up and reached my hand out to him. "We cool Jax?" I asked.

"We're cool." He said, standing up and grabbing my hand, pulling me in to a hug. "Now I just gotta straighten things out with my sister. That might be harder than this was." He joked.

"Nah, you'll be fine. But just in case, if you need backup call me."

We laughed and continued to talk for a little while longer, about wedding stuff and the plans for the weekend before he said that he had to go. I shook his hand again as he made his way to the door. He smiled and said goodbye, turning to head down the hall. As he neared the corner, I saw Candace round the corner and she began walking down the hall. They stopped and gave each other a hug, chatting for a brief moment when he looked back in my direction.

"Treat her right marine, that's an order." He said as he gave me a salute.

"Yes sir!" I replied, returning his salute.

He nodded and headed around the corner towards the elevators. She walked down the hall towards me, a smile across her beautiful face the whole time.

"What are you doing here?" I asked as she approached the door, surprised to see her.

"I never heard from you, so I wanted to come check if you were alright."

"Yeah, everything's good now. I went for a run earlier and fell asleep." I said as I walked her into the room. "I woke up and went to grab some dinner. When I got back, Jackson stopped by; he said he wanted to talk."

"Is everything ok between you two?"

"Yeah, we worked things out. He did say he wanted to talk to you though."

"He mentioned it when he gave me a hug, said he'd talk to me tomorrow."

"Would you like to go get a drink?" I asked, holding my hand out to her, giving her a smile.

"I'd love to." She smiled back and reached for my hand.

We made our way down to the lobby and walked down the street a block or two, until we came across an outdoor bar that had a large patio. We made our way inside and found a table, ordering our drinks. She placed her hand on top of the table and I grabbed it, lacing our fingers together. She sat there smiling as we waited for our drinks, the two of us just looking at each other when blonde woman came over to our table.

"Candace Parker? Oh my god, hi. I thought that was you." The woman said as she came up next to our table. She looked over at me and smiled, while turning back to Candace.

"Hi, how are you. It's been a while." Candace said as she returned the greeting.

"Who's your date? Nice work, he's cute." She asked, looking me over, giving me another smile.

"I'm sure you remember Nathan, right?"

The woman looked over at me and kind of studied me for a minute, trying to picture who I was when I guess it finally hit her. "Nathan Walker?" The blonde asked.

"Yeah, that's me." I replied, trying to remember who this woman was. She looked vaguely familiar.

"Holy shit," she laughed, "You came a long way from the skinny kid that I turned down for a date to prom." She said with a smile.

It suddenly came back to me who this mystery woman was. Tiffany Marks was here, in the flesh, standing right in front of me. Suddenly, my mind went racing back to the hallway incident.

"How have you been Nathan?" She asked.

"I've been good. On leave for a little while for Jackson's wedding."

"On leave? Are you in the service?" She asked.

"Yeah, I've been with the Marines a little over eight years now." I replied.

"Wow, well you look amazing. Thanks for your service and you stay safe out there."

"I will, thanks. How have you been?"

"Things have been going really well. It appears that you two picked things up since then." She said as she glanced at Candace holding my hand. "Guess we shouldn't have teased about the two of you getting together since it happened anyway."

"I made the mistake of listening to what others wanted once, I won't make that mistake again." Candace replied as she seemed to be getting aggravated at Tiffany's comment.

"Yeah, sorry about all that. But hey we were kids, right?" She tried to play it off with a light laugh but Candace looked like she was not amused. "Anyway, I have to get going, I am meeting my friends for drinks, I just thought I recognized you and wanted to come say hi. Take care!"

She gave us a smile and waved goodbye and turned to leave.

"That went much better than the last time I tried to talk to her." I joked, giving a slight laugh. Candace laughed and nodded her head as our drinks arrived.

We chatted for a little while about her dinner with her friends and finished our drinks. Afterwards, we headed down to walk along the beach. I grabbed her hand as we walked, enjoying the night air, the cool breeze off the ocean as the waves crashed ashore. There were a few other couples sitting along the beach when we found a clear spot and sat down. She rested her head on my shoulder as we sat there for a bit.

"Hey Candace, can we talk?" I asked, a little shaky with my voice.

"Sure Nate. Are you ok?"

"Yeah, just wanted to talk about things."

"Like what?"

"Well, when you told me you loved me it was like a light bulb went off. I always had feelings for you, I just never said anything. I never knew how you truly felt until last night."

She smiled at this and gently squeezed my hand.

"Something happened that we never addressed when I stopped over at your house..." I trailed off, nervous as to where this could head.

"You mean with Melissa." She replied.

"Yeah. Candace, I know you told me not to, but I need to apologize. I didn't mean for anything to happen when I stopped over, but it did and if it upset you, I'm sorry."

"Melissa and I have talked about it. I'm not mad that you fooled around with her. I hadn't told you how I felt and neither had you. Before things escalated between us at the house, I knew how I felt but I didn't really know how to tell you. I didn't know you felt the same and I didn't want to ruin things between you and my brother. I am really happy with what's been happening between us and I don't want to lose that." She said with a little sob.

"You'll never lose that. I just didn't want there to be an issue between you and your friends or between you and I because of one of your friends." I said, grabbing her arm and running my hand up and down it as I gazed out into the waves.

"Nathan, look at me please. I love you, no matter what. I want you in my life and I want to be in yours." She said, leaning in to give me a kiss.

"I love you too." I said, returning her kiss.

I stared at her for a while, just looking into her blue eyes, a look of pure happiness on her face. She hadn't seemed upset with the fact that I had gotten a blowjob from one of her friends. She was still here, smiling at me like she would do anything in the world to show me how much she loves me.