Curvy Girls Can't Date Bad Boys - Kelsie Stelting Page 0,49

I said, “but I'm done playing it. Mom would be ashamed of you.”

I didn't wait to watch my words hit their target or the impact they had; I just kept walking. I could already hear the sound of a loud motorcycle engine in the distance. I was ready to get out of here. And fast.

I’d just walked away from the only family I had left, with no idea of how my life would look afterward. I didn't cry though. That bothered me. Why couldn’t I cry? Even tears of anger would be better than the nothingness that washed over me.

Maybe I was in shock. I took several deep breaths. I didn't want Ronan seeing all the messiness behind my day or hearing the reason why I’d just walked half a mile in stiletto heels.

I stood outside the gate, listening to the hum of Ronan’s engine grow closer and closer. Eventually, he pulled alongside me.

He lifted his eye shade.

I lifted my gaze.

And he saw me. Saw the hurt. I could feel it in his stance, see it in his eyes.

He handed me the second helmet, and I put it on. And then I climbed on to the back of his bike and held on, because at this point, I didn't have much to hold on to.

Thirty

Ronan drove up the coast again, but this time, he didn't stop at sunset. It was well past dark when he exited the road and took a gravel path to an isolated patch of beach. This spot was rougher, unkempt.

As I shucked my heels and walked over the rough ground, he got the blanket from underneath the seat of his bike. Next to me, he spread it out and sat down. His arms opened to me, and I fell into them, letting him hold me, and finally, I cried.

I cried as the sky changed from dark blue to pitch black, as the stars twinkled, oblivious to all the suffering happening beneath them. I cried as he held me and rubbed my arms and pressed his lips to the top of my head over and over again.

As the tears subsided, I breathed deeply and watched the moon’s rippling reflection on the ocean. Everything in my life seemed so dark, but here, with Ronan, I could see clearly. Somewhere between seeing him and knowing him, I’d learned to create my own compass. I’d lost everything and felt what I wanted, and I’d never be grateful enough to him for giving me that, for showing me what it meant to live life on your own terms, even if it wasn’t easy or glamorous.

His steady breaths and the rhythm of his heart sounded against my cheek. It was like he was an ocean all his own, and I paced myself to his waves. Slowly, I could feel my shoulders loosening, my breath slowing, and the pain in my heartbeats easing. The weight of what I’d walked away from settled over me, but with Ronan, I could carry it. With him, I felt like I could do anything. Be anything.

I lifted my head and looked him in the eyes, and I felt seen. For the first time in my life, someone saw me as I was—without my dad, without the money, without the confidence I portrayed to the world.

And the best part? I saw him too.

This strong, beautiful, broken man was here with me when he could have been anywhere else. His compass was pointing right at me, and mine at him.

I lifted my chin and pressed my lips to his, tears forming for completely new reasons. His arms circled my waist, and he held me back, kissing me slowly. Then his thumbs wiped my tears, and he held my cheeks so gently. So preciously.

I took his bottom lip between my teeth and bit softly, and a low moan sounded from deep in his chest. The sound electrified me, ignited me, and I deepened the kiss, getting lost in Ronan and him in me.

He turned me and laid me back on the blanket, kissing my lips, the wetness on my cheeks, the corners of my jaw and the tender hollows of my neck.

His T-shirt hung from his torso, and I slipped my fingers underneath, exploring the hard muscles of his stomach, the spot where his waist met his jeans.

He paused and met my eyes, his hands on either side of my head, holding himself up. I turned my gaze on his face, on how pale his skin looked in the moonlight,