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Again, I wanted to be irritated, I wanted to spit fire, but I was just too darn in love with this motherfucker.
“Now, I appreciate what my brothers have found with their women,” he murmured, voice still tender. “Seeing them with their families, it’s great. I’ll be happy to babysit. But I’ll be more than happy to jet off to a beach or a mountain or wherever the fuck my woman decides she wants to go.”
I stared at him. Had I told Colby about my desire to see the world? Yes, I must’ve, at some point.
“I’ve just driven across the country with you pressed to my back,” he continued. “Fucked you in different states, watched you marvel at new sights, enjoy good food. And though we could do that with a kid, it’d be a little more complicated.” His thumb brushed my bottom lip. “You give me the gift of a whole fuckin’ lifetime of that, I’m gonna count myself the luckiest son of a bitch to walk the earth.”
I could barely hear him over the sound of my pulse thrashing in my ears.
I hadn’t been expecting any of that. Yet there it was, all laid out. He was talking about forever. With me. I was in my early twenties. Girls in their early twenties should not settle down. If they did, more often than not, they found themselves divorced in their early thirties once they realized their husband was a douchebag … if they were lucky. If they weren’t, they stayed married to the douchebag because of the kids, then they yelled at waitresses, starring in viral videos.
Or that’s what I thought.
I’d promised myself I wouldn’t be naïve enough to believe the first man who promised me forever. In fact, any other man who’d done this would’ve sent me running for the hills.
But this was Colby. Not only did he mean it, he would chase me to the ends of the earth if I ran.
And I’d want him to chase me.
“Although that’s all very sweet and likely what every woman on the planet would want to hear, forever is a little much for me right now,” I admitted in a shallow breath.
Instead of getting all frowny and moody, Colby’s face was relaxed, and he smiled, leaning back on the sofa, taking me with him.
“Figured.” He kissed the side of my head then reached for the TV remote. “How about we binge watch some TV, drink some more, fuck on the sofa then go to bed? That kind of plan okay with you?”
I nodded. “That kind of plan is okay with me.”
“Good.” he switched on the TV.
Then we did all the things on his list … and it was more than okay. It was fucking great.
Violet and Kate—and no doubt the rest of the women—had wanted to throw me a coming home party.
I’d been very against such a party.
We really didn’t need to celebrate me running away for almost two years after getting tortured by a serial killer.
Like … fuck no.
We settled on a dinner at Kate’s restaurant since I knew those bitches were not going to back down.
It was almost … nice. I loved being back with people I adored, being back in Garnett. I especially enjoyed Colby being back where he belonged, with his brothers. It hadn’t hit me how much the club was a part of him until I saw him around the other men, exchanging man hugs and talking while the women corralled me off to the bar for cocktails and dishing.
I’d dreaded this part of the evening, fearing the women would want to inquire into my wellbeing, give me tender but pitying looks and otherwise treat me as the fucked-up Final Girl.
Though they were kind, concerned and generally good people, I should’ve known better with these bitches.
All they wanted to know about was me and Colby.
Since it was very clear that there was a me and Colby.
We’d walked in holding hands.
I hadn’t wanted to hold hands. I didn’t like holding hands. I thought it was gross and weird and something couples did to announce to the world that they were grossly in love when in reality they were trying to convince themselves the didn’t fucking hate each other.
Turned out holding hands with the man you were kind of in love with was … nice.
Except I didn’t let on to that.
We walked from my apartment since the restaurant was just down the street. The air was crisp yet warming up. Main Street was alive with people, a lot of them nodding to Colby as we passed. The desert landscape yawned past the town itself, making it feel like we were in an oasis away from the real world. Which we kind of were. Garnett always felt isolated. There wasn’t a chain store to be found within town limits. All the business façades were well-kept and matched with each other. There weren’t any soul sucking subdivisions. Each structure was completely unique.
