Chapter 58

When I first learned where we were heading too, I bawled my eyes out till Jacqueline convinced me it would be fine. "Staying at the lakehouse doesn't sounds bad, Red. The house is anyway less than an hour away from here." She said, holding my shoulders tight and bringing a halt to my cries.

I didn't want to anywhere far where I'd fear Luciano would get sick. I had been there once and I felt horrible. We were talking about Vincent's lakehouse by the town that would have the perfect view of the sunset, swimming in the warm water, ending off the day with a little bit of camping and playing board games. The idea solely came out from Luciano but I suspected Ben's hand in there.

They both wanted to spend a night there and I didn't.

"But—"

"It's okay. Go have some fun, you all need it. I need some silence too—"

I interrupted her and her research, "What happened with that? Did you learn about the spell?"

"No, no, I've found nothing in the books yet. I'm still working on it. If needed, I'll have to contact Cordelia and she might be able to help us." She explained carefully. "But, that's none of your business so go grab your things and have fun. Look at Fiona, she's waiting for you." Jacqueline pointed at my daughter who was standing behind me with Luciano, both of them having their doey, pleading eyes, waiting for me to come with them.

We were all ready, including Ben and Anna. I even pulled out a swimsuit to spend the afternoon in the beach but by the time I was ready, I learned we weren't heading to the beach but the lakehouse and not for just a couple of hours but for a whole day.

I turned away from Jacqueline and looked at everyone. "Okay, okay, everyone can stop staring at me like I'm the villain here. I was just being thoughtful."

"Yay!" Anna spilled out a happy act. "Let's leave before the water in the lake gets cold and we don't get a chance to swim at all because Red wanted to be thoughtful."

"I will drown you!" I exclaimed, grabbing my bag off the couch and heading out with everyone else.

We got inside the car and headed for the lakehouse right after I was convinced. They had even prepared for it while all along I believed we were going to the beach.

It was somewhere around four when Ben parked the car by Vincent's lakehouse.

The scent of nature hit me and I took a deep breath while studying my beautiful surroundings. The birds were chirping loudly, scattered across all the green trees around us and the water was flowing to the shore with the breeze that was gentle.

The sun was at the peak, shining brightly above our heads and reflecting onto the water of the lake that went on for miles. They were a couple paddle boats tied to the house that was well-kept by Vincent.

It recently came to my knowledge that after the fire in the castle, Vincent and Jacqueline stayed here along with Fiona for almost a week or two and in that time, my daughter learned to swim as well.

It wasn't just us at the lakehouse. Due to Luciano becoming the king again, there was a whole protocol sent along with him that came in separate cars. They stepped out and guarded the land around us since it was out of the town and the rogues could have an easy access to us if we weren't protected.

"It's good to see you again, my King." An old man walked out of the house and bowed to Luciano before he hugged him.

"Ah, Bill, still here? How are you alive after all these years? I need some tips." He joked, hitting his back hard.

"The secret is to be happy and to never marry!"

"Oops, got too late in that." Luciano chuckled. He turned around and took my wrist before forcing me by his side. "Red, this is Bill, he keeps the house in check and he has been here since I was a child."

Bill bowed down to me as well in respect and kissed the back of my hand. "I had always wanted to see the woman that had trapped this lousy man." He chuckled before opening the door wide. "Come on in. It's good to have you both here after years." His eyes flickered to Ben who had been hiding his face away from the old man.

With a few never-ending laughters, we went into the lakehouse. The house had an open ceiling in it's sitting room with only a glass panel protecting us from the heat. The sun shone in the blue sky above us and suddenly, I felt warm and happy.

To my surprise, Fiona's best friend was Bill, the same old man I had just met. The first thing she did was run to him before she started blabbering in her baby voice about a couple sharks she saw on the TV, all while wondering if they were in the water outside at the lake.

"You used to come here?" I asked Luciano while sitting down.

One of the servants of the house bought us drinks, actual drinks with ice and I refrained from drinking it as someone among us needed to be sober.

"Yes, a lot until I became the King, then I forgot about everything." He sighed.

"The only thing I'm loving right now is that this ice isn't lonely." Anna blurted, shaking her glass in the air before drinking the alcohol.

The four of us spoke for a bit—mainly about childhood memories before we hit the warm water. Ben took the first dip and then it was me—apparently, I learned to never say I was going to be sober while drinks were being served around me.

Three drinks in and I was in fifth heaven, swimming like I was still fifteen years old. That was the last time I went for swimming was with Nana, after that, we had too many things to take care off and to my bad luck, she fell sick as well.

My heart swelled with love as Luciano chased behind me in the water. He tried to grab my leg but someone hadn't told him how good I was in swimming.

"Wow. I'm surprised!" He shouted from afar.

I smiled under the water before taking a turn and going back to him and everyone else. When my foot felt the shells and the sea weed, I stopped and stood up while breathing heavily.

"I remember someone telling me earlier that I was to weak. Who was that?" I furrowed my brows.

"Not me." Luciano snaked his arm around my waist and grabbed me quick before I swam away again. He bought me closer to himself and kissed my lips. "God. You look so beautiful." He pushed the hair away from my face and said.

The sun was hitting us straight and the heat showing us no mercy. Shaking the water away from my eyes, I wrapped my legs around Luciano and jumped on him.

"Uh, this feels so good." I whispered, feeling the sparks of happiness all over again.

"I told you so."

I gazed in his piercing, bright eyes and stopped myself from falling in deeper in the love I had for him. My nerves trembled and my mouth watered as I trailed my hand down his wet chest. His hand went behind my back, fingers curling around the straps of the swimsuit I wore.

I bit my lips hard, imposing a control while knowing well it was going to break. His hardness stirred to life between my legs and just below my stomach.

Luciano leaned inwards and kissed my collarbone before he whispered, "Let's make the water dirty."

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