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My own smile lifted right. “You’d be great at it. You and Billie.”
“Thanks for saying that, but really, we’re good. Happy.” And he did seem to be, at peace. He sat back. “Jax, Knight, Ramses, and your dad happened to have terrific kids. Between that along with my own siblings’ kids, I can’t call myself anything but the luckiest man on earth. I am lucky. I get to live the life of my dreams with the woman I love. What else could I asked for?”
When he said it like that, it sounded like he didn’t have to ask for anything else. That he truly had it all.
“You go fix things with yours then, yeah?” he stated, my mouth parting. He smiled. “Come on. It’s obvious.”
His phone rang just then, and upon checking it, he got up. He gave me a hug before saying he’d take the call inside, and I didn’t question it. He’d been getting calls all day, but I hadn’t asked him about any of them. Mostly because I knew what they were about. It was obvious he’d been talking to my parents on more than one call.
My dad.
I had to trust that they were taking care of things, and after LJ got up, I did too. Sloane may have taken me out of the fight, but that didn’t make my new position any less important. I did need to protect her, and I was going to.
I just hoped she’d still let me.
Chapter Forty-Eight
Dorian
I found her on the rooftop, hunkered down in the spot where the boys and I smoked weed. She’d found our stash because the floorboards inside her room had been lifted when I’d entered. The guys and me always kept it in that room because no one used it. It was the smallest.
The window open to that room, that was how I found her after speaking to LJ. Sloane had her legs up, a cloud of smoke around her. Her cheeks hallowed when she took a drag, all bundled up in her coat. She noticed me climbing out the window to her and passed me the joint when I sat beside her.
I tasted her cherry lip balm, heaven, before passing it back to her. Some of the best moments between us were when we were doing shit like this. Just relaxing and being with each other. She knew I wasn’t great at talking, and she let me be that way.
She was patient with me.
“I was scared.”
Her lashes flashed in my direction, her lips in a full pout. I’d never seen her so beautiful than with a winter flush on her cheeks. Her eyebrows narrowed. “Scared?”
I nodded, getting closer to her. She didn’t move away so that was a good sign. “I thought I’d fucked things up so bad that you didn’t trust me. That you didn’t believe I could take care of you, which was why you went to the parents first and not me.”
I thought the words would cut more coming out of me, but speaking to LJ had helped, my fears before me.
A sadness touched Sloane’s eyes I didn’t expect. She flicked the joint butt off the roof, then raised her legs. She hugged them. “I didn’t want your grandfather to use me against anyone and especially you. I wanted to leave so he couldn’t, but I didn’t even do that right.” Rubbing her arms, she looked at me. “You weren’t supposed to find me, but when I saw you…”
Her head lowered, and I stayed silent. I was going to listen to her, truly listen. I hadn’t been great at that in the past, but I was going to try today. I’d try for her.
“Dorian, no one makes me feel so safe.” She gripped her arms, and my breath touched the air. She cringed. “And I couldn’t leave you. I should have, and I know it was selfish, but when I’m with you, I can’t help it. It feels so good. It always feels so good.”
Her gaze took the sky, her head shaking, and I got closer to her.
“I was stupid,” she admitted, her swallow hard. “I just hurt you and made you feel like I didn’t trust you, but I do. I trust you with everything.”
I trusted her with everything too and made her look at me. I scanned her eyes. “You feel safe with me?”
That almost felt more valuable than her trust, her words like a fucking security blanket. I wasn’t a monster or even her dark prince.
I was her safety.
I touched my forehead to hers, waiting for the words like my next breath.
She slid her arms around me, tears blinking down from her eyes when she pressed her face into my neck. She gasped. “You’re home, Dorian Prinze. You’re my home, and I love you. You make me feel safe. So safe, and I’ve never felt that way before. I’ve never felt this…”
She gripped my coat in her hands, and I brought her into my lap. She was shaking so fucking bad, and I guided her to look up at me. I’d never felt like this before either, like I couldn’t fucking breathe anytime she was in the room, or the sheer agony it felt to ever be under her disappointed gaze. She made me want to be better, stronger for her. I used to feel like emotions were weak.
But with her, it only turned a dark world into light.
