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A sudden thought struck her. “Are they expecting me?”
He pulled the car in to park. “No.”
“So, I’m crashing the party?”
He tossed her an unconcerned grin, then exited his side and jogged round to hers. She sighed and undid her seat belt. Zac opened her door for her, and she stepped out. He put his hand on the small of her back and guided her to the entrance of the house.
“Are you sure—”
“I’ve never been more sure of anything in my life.”
She frowned at him. That was a weird thing to say about a baby shower.
He took her through to the back of the house, where they could look out onto the beautifully manicured backyard that overlooked the ocean. Outside was a long trestle table, with all of his Fractured bandmates, Lexie, Eden, Summer, and Drew sitting around it. The group was laughing at something, obviously enjoying themselves.
Instead of taking her out to join them, Zac stopped her with a hand on her wrist. She turned to him with raised brows. “Aren’t we going out there?”
“I told you I had something to show you.”
Hehadsaid that. She’d forgotten once he started talking about the baby shower.
“Right. And this something you want to show me is here?”
He nodded outside. “It’s right out there.”
Cassie turned to look, seeing only what she’d seen before. His bandmates, his friends, his manager.
“I don’t know what I’m supposed to be looking at.”
He stepped closer, his arm brushing hers. For a long beat, he was silent, watching the people outside. “Along with Tori, those people out there are my family.” He didn’t turn to face her as he spoke, and she kept her gaze on his profile. “I’ve spent all these years refusing to acknowledge it. I thought not letting myself get fully emotionally invested in them, or anyone, gave me some kind of control. I thought it would keep me safe.” Now he did face her. “But all it did was keep me lonely. I just didn’t know it until now. Until you.”
Cassie’s lips parted. “Zac…”
He cupped her cheeks, and his eyes searched hers. “I thought letting people in would force me to make choices I didn’t want to make. I didn’t want to have to make sacrifices. And I didn’t want to resent the people I was supposed to love for forcing me to do it. I didn’t want to hurt anybody the way my dad hurt us.”
“You’re not your father, Zac. I don’t believe you’d ever be capable of hurting others the way he did.”
He nodded. “Being with you made me happy, Cassie. For the first time, I felt what it was like to have someone by my side and be stronger because of it. And I realized I’ve actually had that all along. I just didn’t appreciate it.” He glanced back out the window. “I had these guys. They’re my family, and I love them. But I want more. I wantyouby my side. I want to be by yours. I want what Connor, Tex, and Noah have. And I want it with you. If you’re willing to take a chance on me.”
Her heart beat a wild rhythm in her chest. “Zac, I don’t know what to say.”
“Well then, let me say something else. I love you, Cassie. Being with you makes me feel whole in a way I’ve never felt before. Your warmth, your sweetness, your beautiful soul—you are everything I always wanted and everything I told myself I could never have.”
Zac’s thumbs swept over her cheeks, brushing away the tears she hadn’t noticed were falling. He let out a long, slow breath and his lips tilted into a smile.
“I think I knew I was going to love you from the moment I kissed you,” he said. “I told myself that night that I was doing it to prove a point to Bryan, but that was a lie. I kissed you because I wanted to. Because I was looking for any excuse to touch you. To taste you. So I gave myself the excuse I needed. My father tried to hurt me by saying I was in the right place at the right time when it came to Fractured. And all this time, I thought it was a bad thing. But now I know the truth. Being in the right place at the right time brought me to this moment. I was in exactly the right place at exactly the right time when you ran into me in that hallway. If I hadn’t been, none of this would have ever happened. I will be forever grateful for being in the right fucking place at the right fucking time. And I’m so damn sorry it took me this long to figure my shit out. I’m so fucking sorry I hurt you in the process. But I’ll never be sorry for kissing you. And I will never,neverbe sorry for falling in love with you.”
More tears spilled from Cassie’s eyes. Her heartbeat was detonating in her ears, her whole body lighting up from the inside out. Maybe she should be more wary. Maybe she should hold out. But nothing in her life had ever felt more right, more perfect, than this moment. Maggie had told her months ago that sometimes it was good to be foolish because it meant you were taking a chance on something that could be amazing. And she wanted amazing with Zac. She wanted something unforgettable.
She curled her fingers into his T-shirt, just above the waistband of his jeans. “I love you too, Zac. I thought what I had before was love, but I was so, so wrong. That wasn’t love. It was friendship that got twisted into dependency. I’ll always be grateful to Bryan for finding me in that field, but we were never meant to be together forever. We didn’t strengthen each other. I was following him around, not standing by his side and helping to choose our way.”
His eyes searched hers as he listened. His thumbs continued stroking over her cheekbones, even though her tears had slowed almost to a stop.
“I needed to find my own self-worth not let someone else determine it,” she said. “And I have. I finally know who I am and what I want. I want to write songs. I want to follow my dreams and have adventures along the way. And I wantyou.” She stepped closer so that they were toe-to-toe and she had to tip her head back to look at him. “I want to stand by your side. More than anything in the world.”
Zac gave her a crooked grin, but his beautiful hazel eyes blazed with intensity. “Does that mean I get to kiss you again?”
She gave a slightly hysterical laugh. “God, yes. I’ve missed your kisses. I’ve missed the way you touch me. I’ve missed everything about you.”
