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Tully keeps her eyes locked over my shoulder, still refusing to look at me, but for now, I’m content just to stay here in her arms. That is until her body tenses and she looks as though she’s going to bolt.
I can’t resist it any longer. “Hey,” I murmur as I release a hand from around her waist and run my thumb over the heated skin of her wrist. “It’s me.”
Her eyes rise to come to mine and I break at the devastation within them. “I…I don’t know what to say to you.”
“You don’t need to say anything. There’s plenty of time for that. Just be here with me and enjoy your night.”
She shakes her head ever so slightly, trying not to draw attention to us, but she’s overthinking it. She needs to relax and if I was to ask, she’d tell me no, so I make my move, not giving her the option.
My arms curl tighter around her waist and I pull her in, sliding one hand up her back and holding her close to me by the back of her neck. She resists for a second, but it doesn’t take long before she’s sinking into me and resting her head against my chest right where it fucking belongs.
Home.
Tully’s hand comes down and sits over my heart as the other remains around my neck. I don’t even know if she realizes that she’s doing it, but her fingers curl into the back of my hair, just like they used to.
The music wraps around us as our bodies sway from side to side, neither one of us giving a shit about actually putting effort into our dance. At this moment, all that exists is us. My mind tunes out Henley and Noah who both continue looking over here, making sure Tully hasn’t broken down into tears, and I sure as hell tune out Spencer whose sharp glare hasn’t left my back since I rose from the table.
The way she melts into me and the way she seems to relax for the first time all day tells me that she’s still mine. The way she looked at me while walking down the aisle and the way she can’t seem to catch her breath around me. She’s affected by my very presence and I fucking love it.
Tully might be with Spencer, and I’ll do my fucking best to respect that, but she doesn’t love him, not like the way she loves me. She doesn’t even need to say it for me to know it. It’s in her actions, but more than that, it’s in those beautiful eyes.
The question is; how do I go about making it up to her for all the shit I’ve put her through and earning her trust back to the point that she’d even consider being with me?
The announcement is made for the rest of the wedding guests to join the dancefloor and if only now just realizing what’s happening, Tully pulls back from me and looks up in horror.
Wordlessly, she pulls out of my arms and walks away, snatching her drink off the table in the process before walking straight out the back door.
I want nothing more than to go after her, but from the corner of my eye, I notice Spencer already on his way, and the tense hold of his shoulders tells me they’re about to have it out. Maybe I should be backing off and giving them a little privacy to sort out whatever the fuck they’ve got going on.
I go and order myself a beer before heading out the front exit for some air. Tully and Spencer went out the back so they should have plenty of space to sort themselves out. I walk around the gardens of the nicest manor house in Broken Hill. This place is huge and is the top-rated venue for wedding receptions and big events in the area, and it shows by how incredible the night has been.
I sit down on a stone bench and sip my beer. It’s been a long fucking day and even longer since I slept last. In fact, I haven’t slept since the moment I realized I was coming home.
It was a long flight in shitty weather and all I could think about was what I was going to say to her and what I could possibly do to make this all ok. I didn’t have the intention of staying, but now that I’ve seen her and felt her in my arms again, I won’t be letting go. I was a fool at nineteen and wasn’t ready to let someone into my life, but all that darkness is in the past and I’m home, ready and willing to make it happen.
My beer runs dry and I decide that I’ve wasted enough time out here. I should be inside enjoying this night that will never come around again.
