AllFreeNovel
Share Us
She jumps over the bed to snatch it out of my hand and hold it to her chest. “Don’t look at that. This was my ugliest year.”
That year she had braces and I was a scrawny little fucker. None of us looked very good. We were kids. “Well if you think you were ugly, I’d hate to know what you thought of me. You were cute. You were thirteen. You looked thirteen-”
“I was flat-chested! Layla had-”
“Layla had two extra years to grow boobs, Nellie. You caught up. Chill.”
She looks down at the picture and then back up at me. “You… You thought I was cute?”
I put my hand over my chin as I contemplate how to answer that. “You were thirteen and I was sixteen. Wouldn’t it be weird if I looked at you like that then?”
She groans and tosses the picture on the bed. “I thought I was supposed to be just as good at my sister as everything, even though she was almost two years older. I thought that when she did something I had to be able to do the same things. I hated every time she did something I couldn’t. She could reach the pedals in your truck and I couldn’t-”
“You can now,” I remind her. She reaches the pedals in the truck and even drives it just as well as I do.
“No, I know, but that’s the thing,” she says, her voice wobbling as she fights back tears. “I always thought I was behind her, that I was lacking because I wasn’t at the exact same stage she was in life. But the way you said that…I caught up. I wasn’t behind. I was on track.”
“Come here, crybaby.”
Nell frowns but drops onto my lap and hides her face in my neck. “Did you always feel that way? Like I wasn’t failing?”
“Always, Nell. You didn’t fail at anything except trying to be your sister, because you aren’t her. You’reyou.Let yourself be you.”
“Does that mean I shouldn’t be with you?” she says, barely holding back the laughter at her own shitty joke.
“Fat fucking chance. You go ahead and try to run from me. See what happens.”
“No. I believe you. I don’t want to run. I love you.”
My arms cinch tighter, hauling her up against me. “I love you, Nellie. I actually… made you something.” I feel around in my back pocket until I find the little piece of metal. “I didn’t know if you’d come back, but I’ve been carrying it with me to convince you to stay if you did.”
Nell’s eyes fall on the circle I hold between us. “Knox, what is that?”
“It’s not a diamond. Those are super expensive, but it’s white opal, which I thought might be close enough. And I actually melted down those fucking handcuffs you had me in and I made you… this.”
She pulls the ring from my fingers and stares at it. “You made this? When did you make it?”
“I bought the opal after we had that fight about the new prospect asking me if I’d marry you. I thought if I ever decided I was ready and that I thought you’d say yes, at least I’d be prepared. I finished it the night after you left. I had to do something to keep me busy. So… I made it, and I want to make you… my wife.” I don’t do nervousness well, and it’s very uncomfortable. I don’t like it.
“Hello?” Knuckles’ voice calls from downstairs and I close my eyes.
“Fuck.”
“Yes. yes, but… I have just one small condition,” Nell whispers. “I don’t just want this. I want to be your ol’ lady too. I want your name in my skin. Right here, where you wrote it.” Her fingers trace over her neck, and I stare at her.
Maya appears in the doorway first. “Hey- oh my god! Is that- Is this- did we just ruin your-”
“No. You didn’t ruin it,” Nell tells her, smiling broadly. “You just missed it.”
Chapter Twenty-six
Nell- two days later
Knox lays beside me in the bed of the truck watching the stars pass by. This is the same place he brought me when I was seventeen and pissed as hell at him and Layla. The last couple of months have been a whirlwind of crazy, but I’m enjoying the ride. The ring Knox made for me shines in the moonlight and I lean my head over to smile at him. “Thank you for this. It’s beautiful.”
He slides his hand under mine and lifts my fingers to his face, kissing the ring and my knuckles. “Thank you for agreeing to be my wife.You’rebeautiful.”
“It’s so peaceful here. I remember the first time we came here.”
