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“Why?” I manage to croak.
“Because we want you. We’ve always wanted you.” West rolls his eyes like I’m some sort of idiot. “Didn’t I make this clear last night?”
“Fuck off.” I glare at his condescending tone. “You can’t just treat me like trash and then turn around, expecting me to run off to college with you to be,” I look past them to find the words, “your whore. Or whatever the fuck you want me to be.”
“I knew she wouldn’t get it.” West pushes off the chair and walks to the window. The silver moonlight perfectly highlights his stupidly perfect profile.
“Get what?” I stand, letting the blanket fall to the floor. “That you three are a bunch psychos? That you’re deluded with your arrogance? I’m not just going to fall at your feet and do whatever you want because you throw attention and money at me.”
I pace away from them, studying the grain of the wood as I stare at the wall. My mind needs time to process this—to work through it all. I feel one of them approach me slowly. A large hand gently grips my good arm and turns me around until I’m facing Cody.
“I might not have a penny to my name or a clear future, but I’m not just going to jump into your arms and thank you for finally taking an interest in me,” I say firmly. “I’m not a charity case.”
“We did everything wrong. We get it,” Cody says softly.
“By the time we all realized how we really felt about you, we were already so stuck in our mess. We didn’t know how to get you to give us a chance.” Blake walks to Cody’s side, cupping my cheek and running his thumb over my lips. “I would have crawled across broken glass for a chance with you after you gave me the gift of this mouth.”
“Then why didn’t you?” There were rumors flying around about me the next week at school. The only people in that room who knew what went down are the same people who are in this room. Blake told me as much a week after everything went down.
“I honestly have no idea who spread those rumors.” Blake’s eyes bounce back and forth between mine, imploring me to believe him.
I’m not sure if I do.
“But we ended them.” Cody draws my attention to him with the ferocity of his tone. “Anyone who said a negative thing about you after that was dealt with. Don’t you wonder why this year everyone basically left you alone?”
“Am I supposed to thank you?” I step away from them. This cabin feels too small all of a sudden. “Show gratitude that you called your dogs off after sending them in the first place?”
“No,” West erupts from the other side of the room. “How aboutyouapologize now?”
“For what?” I yell back at him.
“For up and leaving me,” he shouts back, flinging his arms wide open. “You were just going to leave without a word. Like I wasn’t still there for you. Like I wasn’t always there for you. I loved you and you didn’t give a fuck.”
I’m about to shoot off a retort when a lone tear catches the light as it rolls down his cheek. My chest squeezes as I draw a trembling breath into my lungs. We stare at each other through glassy eyes, hurt coloring the air between us, as we finally see each other for the first time in seven years.
I don’t see the bully of my high school years anymore. I see the little boy that I went walking through creeks with. The little boy who didn’t complain when I made him wear Barbie bandaids and who held my hand while my dad cleaned my cuts. I see the little boy who held me at my parents’ funeral and promised to protect me forever.
“I was an eleven-year-old orphan,” I whisper through tears. “I had just lost my parents. My home.”
Another tear rolls down his cheek. “I was your home.”
ChapterSixteen
Another tear sears my skin as it rolls down my face. I haven’t cried since the day she ran away. When I sat alone in my room wondering how she could just leave. I lived for her back then. Cody and Blake were there for me the next day and I decided that was all I needed. They’re both looking back and forth between us with worried expressions.
Violet takes a few steps toward me, stopping right in front of me. She slowly lifts both her hands, giving me time to push her away, but I don’t. I can’t. Now that I have her back, I’ll never let her go again. Her little hands cup my face as she wipes my tears.
I grab her wrists, holding her hands in place as I turn my head and kiss one of her palms. “I’m so sorry that I hurt you.” Her eyes are misty with tears of sincerity. “I loved you back then.”
“I still love you.”
We hold each other’s gazes for an extended heartbeat before I take her lips with mine. I’m done playing around. She’s mine. She’s ours. I’m staking my claim on her forever, tonight. I lean back against the wall, pulling her against me. I love the way her soft body feels pressed against mine.
Her breath catches when my hands slide under her shirt and over her sides. She stiffens when I put my hands over her belly, immediately sucking in. I stop kissing her and pull back a bit.
“Don’t do that. You’re beautiful.” I fist her hair and force her eyes to mine. “There isn’t one part of you that I would change.”
“That goes for me, too.” Blake steps up, sandwiching her between us. I feel him grip her hips firmly while he brushes a kiss across her shoulder.
