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“I…” the tremble in his voice causes me to pull back, and I stare up at him through teary eyes. He looks conflicted, pained. “I… I love you, Willow, and I’m trying so hard to give you a choice, even though I want to tell you that you’re going to stay with me. The thought of losing you. It kills me. It makes me manic. In my mind, you’re mine, always have been, since the moment I laid eyes on you.”
He… he loves me? My gaze widens, and I feel his words. I feel them moving through me. But is his love enough?
“I can’t go back, Parker,” I confess.
“You can. I’ll pay for your tuition. You can live with me in my house. I’ll take care of you. If you let me. If you want me.”
If I want him? Doesn’t he understand that the only reason I haven’t fallen completely off the wagon is because he’s holding me in place, keeping me grounded?
“I’m going to give you a choice. If you don’t want this, then I’ll help you go somewhere else. If you don’t want me, I’ll pay for you to go to another school, find you somewhere to live. You won’t have to worry about money or your father. You won’t have to worry about me either.”
He isn’t saying what I think he is, is he? He’s not giving me up?
“You would really do that for me?” It almost sounds too good to be true. Like a trick, but what would he get from it?
“Yes, I would do anything for you. If you chose to come home with me, things will be different, I promise. No more games, no more using each other. It’s just going to be us, you and me, trying to make it work. So, what do you say?”
His offer is so tempting, and everything I’ve ever wanted to hear him say. But I’m still scared, still afraid.
Grabbing my face, he pulls me to him, forcing me to look in his eyes.
“I love you, Willow, and if you come with me, I will treat you like my queen. I will never let anyone hurt you. You have always been mine, but now, I will be yours too. You will be my equal. Please…” He pleads, and that’s enough to shatter the fear surrounding my heart.
“I want you, Parker, and I love you. I’ll come with you.”
With a huge smile on his lips, he kisses me, squeezing me to his chest, making me feel that nothing can touch us. Not his parents. Not our past. Together we’re invincible.
Hate turned to love, and my bully became my salvation.
Epilogue
Parker
Sitting in the cafeteria with Willow and Warren, I think back on the last six months. How much my life has changed, how much I, as a person, have changed. The anger I had before is gone now, replaced with a violent love for Willow. She completes me in every way, and I’m thankful every fucking day that I wake up and see her beside me in bed. It’s why I can’t regret the path that led us here, even though I hate what my brother made me become, I hate that I fought so hard for him and did some questionable things all to make Willow pay. How she forgave me, I don’t know. After all, she wasn’t the liar, I was, by default.
I press a kiss into her hair and inhale her scent, mine, all mine.
“I have to get going. I have an early class.” Willow starts to pull away, and all I want to do is tell her no and pull her into my chest and take us home so I can ravage every inch of her.
“I can walk you,” I tell her as she stands, grabbing her tray.
“No, stay and finish your lunch. I’ll meet you at home later. Bring dinner, please.” Her eyes lighten, and I can see the happiness in them. Before Nate was caught, I wouldn’t let her out of my sight, but two months ago, they finally got him. He is currently rotting in jail where he belongs.
My Brett’s freedom was short-lived, he was thrown back in jail the same day he tried to attack Willow. I haven’t talked to him since, and I’m not planning to do so anytime soon, maybe not ever again.
Willow’s father tried for weeks to contact her, to weasel his way back into her life, especially after he found out we were dating and moved in together. After I gave Willow the letter that Ashton left for her—I’d made her father hand it over the day of the funeral—that he tried to conceal, she cut all ties, thank God! It took her a while to get over the contents of the letter, knowing what had happened and how much she’d kept to herself was tough on Willow, but it did give her some much-needed closure, and she now has a reminder of her sister’s love for her. The one good thing is that it could be used as evidence against both Brett and Nate, those sick fucks should be locked up for quite some time. I made sure her father got the message to leave her alone.
