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By the time I got off the bus, I was mad as hell. I strode home. Beckett parked down the street and followed on foot at a distance.
“I’ll call the cops,” I warned him when I got to my street.
“Go right ahead. There should be more police presence around this part of town. Where are the fucking streetlights?” He gazed around, seeming irritated.
“The police don’t care too much if the lower tax-paying neighborhoods have to walk home in the dark. It’s too much trouble.”
“Sounds like you and your mom need to move out of here then, as soon as possible. I’m working on it.”
“You better not be doing anything. I wouldn’t want you to think I’m a gold digger, remember?” I flung his words back at him, but it wasn’t as satisfying as I’d thought it would be. He only looked ashamed, and I hated to see that expression.
“You know I don’t think you’re a gold digger, Eve. You’re the hardest-working person I’ve ever met.”
“I know. You just said it to hurt me, playing on my insecurities, which is even worse,” I said quietly.
We stood there, at an impasse.
“Invite me in,” he offered.
I shook my head stubbornly. “My mom’s in there, and she wouldn’t want to see you.”
“I never had her fired, Evie. Believe me. I wouldn’t.”
“Whatever. It doesn’t change anything.”
“You really want me to leave?” he asked after a moment.
No.I nodded, ignoring my heart.
Beckett reluctantly turned to go. A sick and twisted part of me was crestfallen to see him leave.
He got two steps before he turned and strode back to me. He tugged me to him and kissed me hard. I allowed myself to kiss him back for a heartbeat or two, before I pushed him away. Shoving against his chest was like pounding against a steel door. He reluctantly pulled back but still held me close.
“I know you’re mad at me, I know I hurt you…I fucked up. I made a mistake. The truth is, I hate myself even more for making you cry than you could ever hate me. I’ll never forget every single tear you’ve shed because of me. I’ll pay them all back, every single one. But we both know that this isn’t the end for us, Eve.”
He leaned down and pressed a kiss to my forehead. “This is just our beginning. So, punish me, make me beg, and crawl. Make me wait. Torture me by ignoring me. I’ll take it. I deserve it.”
I swallowed hard. His eyes were burning into mine, just like they always had. That searingly honest look that Beckett had only given me.
“But when you’re ready to forgive me, I’ll be here. I’ll be waiting, if it’s next week or next year. Ten years from now, I’ll be waiting, because you’re it for me, Eve Martino. Game over. I will always wait for you. Webelongtogether.”
I had no words to respond to that beautifully painful sentiment. I couldn’t speak. My heart was trembling, urging me to fall into his arms, to slap him, to demand that he never be such an asshole again, while my wounded pride and insecurities held me back.
Beckett nodded slowly, accepting my silence, and let me go. I felt immediately cold.
“Go inside and lock the doors. I can’t sleep unless I know you’re safe.”
I turned away, tearing my eyes from his, and did just that.
Eve
I sloggedthrough the next day after leaving the house extra early to avoid Beckett arriving to pick me up. He’d been showing up every morning and every night, like some kind of personal chauffeur. My resolve to make him suffer was cracking already. Honestly, I missed him. How lame, and yet, undeniable.
My classes felt never-ending, and I was exhausted by the time I took the bus over to the Chickadee for a double shift. Today was a local holiday in Hade Harbor, an annual tradition called Fall Fest. While the name wasn’t terribly original, the tradition was pretty cool. Legend had it that way back, when Hade Harbor was first founded, the locals used to dress up in crazy costumes and celebrate the end of the harvest.
The fall equinox was a thoroughly pagan festival, and every year, Hade Harbor got into it, though I was pretty sure people didn’t even know what they were celebrating anymore. Somehow, over the years the traditional costumes of scarecrows and farmer hands had morphed into an anything goes early Halloween type of deal. Today, students all over campus were already dressed up. I’d seen ten zombie scarecrows by lunchtime alone.
At the diner, the townsfolk were a little more subdued, even though there were a bunch of college kids in a booth dressed up in skeleton costumes.
