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CHAPTERTWENTY-TWO
KYLER
I wokeup feeling like I was on fire. I was sweating and hot and I couldn’t figure out why…until I felt the leg that had somehow draped over mine during the night and the arms that were wrapped around me. Ian hadn’t stopped holding me all night, even in his sleep.
I sighed and went to grab my phone to see if my mom had called or texted, only to be pulled back into his embrace.
“Busted,” I chuckled. “You’re already awake.”
“No, I’m not. I can’t be, because if I was that would mean you were really here in my bed right now,” he mumbled, his voice still thick with sleep.
“I’m really here. Remember the part where I told my mom about what happened to me and she slapped me in the face, so you decided to go all white knight and rescue the damsel in distress, and you brought me and Cosette here?”
He groaned. “Way to ruin the moment.”
“Sorry,” I murmured as I rolled over to face him. “Want to start over?”
“Yes. This is the first time we’ve ever woken up in the same bed. We can forget about the shitstorm that is our life right now for just a couple of minutes and do this right. Morning, gorgeous.” He gave me a lopsided smile that made my heart do a somersault in my chest.
“Morning,” I said with an answering smile.
He looked adorable, with his hair still messy from sleep and in his gym shirt and pajama bottoms. And his…morning condition made me want to say screw our responsibilities and just stay in bed all day. But I knew he’d say no. Not just because wedidin fact have responsibilities, but because we were stuck in some weird role reversal where I was the one who was asking for more in our physical relationship and he was the one who was holding back.
It wasn’t like I didn’t understand why. And I knew maybe it was weird that the idea of sex – or at least sex withhim– didn’t really scare me anymore. But I just wished I knew how to convince him that I really did want to make love to him. Or that I at least wanted to try.
“I could get used to this,” he sighed. “Waking up to you.”
“Me too,” I agreed.
He let go of me with one arm to stroke my cheek and then apparently decided he didn’t care about morning breath, because he pulled me into a kiss.
“One day it’ll just be the norm,” he told me. “One day I’ll get to start every morning looking at my favorite face in the world.”
I sighed contentedly. God, I couldn’t wait for that day. Maybe by that time, all this craziness would be behind us.
“If we stay here all day and ignore our responsibilities, they’ll just go away, right?” I mumbled.
He gave me a sad smile and another kiss. “Unfortunately not. We need to go run to the pet store this morning, and then we need to talk to my dad and figure out what our next step is.”
“I’m sorry you got dragged into this mess,” I said, my voice catching. “I wish you didn’t have to deal with this. It’s my problem, not yours.”
“No, baby. It’s my problem too. Your problemsaremy problems now. No matter how hard this gets, no matter what we find, no matter what happens, we’ll handle it together. That’s what happens when you love someone. You’ll do anything for them, and you’ll be there for them no matter what. At least that was what happened when I fell in love with you.”
“That was what happened when I fell in love with you too. There’s nothing I wouldn’t do for you, Ian. You know that, right?”
“Then don’t shut me out. Today’s just the beginning, baby, and it’s going to be an uphill battle from here for a while. Promise me you’ll let me help you and support you through this,” he said, looking me in the eyes. “Can you do that for me?”
I nodded. “But it’s your job to tell me if I’m not. Sometimes I don’t even realize when I’m shutting down and icing people out.”
“Okay. Deal. Now, come on. Let’s get dressed and then I’ll buy you coffee and breakfast on the way to the pet store.”
He let go of me, and I rolled back over and grabbed my phone from where it was charging next to his on the nightstand. I’d put it on silent last night, at Ian’s suggestion, because I knew my mom would try to call me more than once and yell at me to come home. But it was time to face the music. And sure enough, there were ten missed calls from her and six voicemails, plus a ton of texts. I deleted the voicemails without listening to them, but I couldn’t do that with the texts. I had no choice but to read those.
Mom: You ungrateful, rebellious bitch. Answer your fucking phone!
Mom: The longer you ignore me, the worse it’s going to be for you, young lady.
Mom: You are MY child! I say when you can leave my house!
