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“If you want to leave, we can,” I tell her. “But if you think it’s something you can get through, I’d really like to get out of the truck.”
She takes a deep breath as she stares back at me. “They’re gone.”
“They’re gone,” I confirm.
It’s a thing she’s needed to do lately, especially when the nightmares caused by the trauma creep up on her at night. But she’s so damn strong, and all I can do is be in awe of her as she puts her hand on the handle and opens the door.
I hop out and walk around the truck, taking her hand in mine. We go slow as we walk onto the beach, until I stop and turn to her. Her eyes narrow slightly as she looks up at me.
“What are we doing here, H?” she asks.
My head turns as I look around, surprisingly feeling a little nervous. “This place was so special to us, and it was just one of the many things that were stolen from us. But I plan on changing that. They don’t get to take away this place or the incredible memories we have here. So, I’m taking it back.”
I drop down on one knee and pull the ring out of my pocket. The same one she put on the island next to the wordsI’m so sorrybefore she left. Her breath hitches as she recognizes it immediately.
“Two years ago today, I married you in the middle of our living room in front of our closest family,” I say, with all the love I feel for her pouring out in my words. “Now I’m asking you to marry me in front of everyone we know and love, here, on our special beach.”
Laiken’s smile stretches from ear to ear as she giggles. “You’re such a caveman you have to marry me twice, huh?”
I huff out a laugh as I stand, grabbing the back of her neck. “You know it, baby.”
As I pull her in, she goes willingly, and the two of us meet in the middle. I move my mouth gently against hers. It’s slow and it’s calculated, which is exactly the kind of kiss that tells her everything she means to me.
“So, is that a yes?” I ask once we stop for air.
“Of course, it’s a yes,” she answers. “But I have one condition.”
Condition?We’re literally already married. It’s hardlythe time for bartering, but I’ll entertain her. “What is it?”
“It has to be soon because I want your mom to be there.”
Just like that, her words warm me from the inside out. Leave it to her to always be thinking of me. What I want. What I need. I’m always the first thing on her mind, and it shows in everything she does.
“Every time I think I can’t love you any more than I already do…”
She brightens a little more and throws her arms around my neck, bringing our lips together again.
THE FIRE BURNS HOTin front of me, reminding me of the day we won. After something so horrific, some people will try to avoid anything and everything that could trigger the memory of what they went through. But not us. We’re stronger than that. Letting them take these from us would only be letting them win, and the four of us? We’re a little too competitive to let that happen.
All of my friends, all the people I care about, they’re all here—drinking and enjoying the good life. They may drive me insane sometimes, but that’s what friendship is. I watch as Cam lectures Mali on the proper way to roast a marshmallow, only for it to catch on fire. Mali giggles as he blows it out and then presents it to her like it’s the best thing in the world. She pulls it off the skewer and looks at it skeptically, blowing on it just before she smushes it all over his mouth. Cam stares back at her in shock, but I wouldn’t expect an apology out of her if I were him.
Not for that, or anything else.
“Hey,” Laiken says, coming to stand beside me.
I sigh in relief, feeling everything somehow get even better now that she’s here. “Finally. I missed you.”
“You literally saw me an hour ago,” she teases.
Turning toward her, I give her an incredulous look. “Woman, I miss you when you walk away for five minutes. Don’t act like this is news to you.”
She laughs and rolls her eyes playfully, but as she looks at the fire, I notice the envelope in her hand.
“What’s that?” I ask her.
Her brows furrow for a second until it dawns on her when she looks down. “Oh!” She hands it to me. “It was in one of the boxes Nolan sent.”
Opening it up, I pull out the first note that Laiken received. The one that was written on the back of a picture. And when I turn it over, I can see why it had the ability to make her leave. The photo looks like a still frame from a video. Monty must have still had the hidden camera on the boat, and it was able to capture footage as I pushed it away.
