me, looking back at the hole that’s now through it.
I take my bag down to the truck while she throws her things into it. It takes me three trips, but our stuff is all loaded up. I drop my key onto the coffee table, and she does the same, with sadness in her eyes. As happy as I am to have her back, all I can think about is how I fucked this shit up. She lost her brother because of me. I won’t rest until he hears me out and forgives her. I don’t care if he ever forgives me or not. I don’t need him in my life, but she does.
I take her hand in mine and lead her down the stairs and out to the parking lot. My truck is parked right next to her car. We stand between them and I pull her to my chest, hugging her tightly. “I swear, I’ll make everything right.”
She doesn’t respond. She just nods silently.
“Do you trust me?”
She looks up into my eyes, and I can see the honesty shining in them as she nods. “I trust you, Hudson.”
“Good.” I lean forward and press my mouth to hers, giving her a long, slow kiss. I pull away with a forced smile. “See, we’re not even hiding.”
That makes her smile a little more.
“Meet me at the motel?”
She nods and I back away, moving around the truck to climb behind the wheel.
It only takes minutes to drive to the motel here in town, and her silver car is behind my truck the whole way. I rent us a room and carry our things inside. The motel is old and out of date, but it’s better than sleeping in our cars. I don’t complain and neither does she as we dig out our everyday items and put them away.
Once our things are put away, there’s still an awkwardness between us. It’s like we’re both thinking, “What do we do now?” I head to the bathroom and run a hot bath, filling it with the body wash provided by the motel so it makes a nice bubble bath.
When I walk back into the room, she’s sitting at the table, staring off into space. I hold out my hand, and she studies it with her brows pulled together.
“What?”
“Come on. We need to relax,” I tell her, pulling her to her feet. She follows me to the bathroom, and when she sees the tub full of bubbles, she smiles.
I step in front of her and pull her shirt over her head. “Just for today, pretend that this morning didn’t even happen. Okay? Just make yourself believe that we’re still hiding, that Brad doesn’t know about us. I told him that I was going to be helping my brothers, and you told him you’re going back home to see some friends. Nobody knows that we’re here. Okay?”
She nods as she allows me to remove the rest of her clothes and mine. I step into the tub and slide back. She comes and sits in front of me, her back to my chest. I push her hair over her shoulder and rest my chin on the other.
“Tell me, Dev. Where do you see us going now?”
She glances over her shoulder at me and offers up a small smile. She takes a deep breath and lays her head back against my chest, staring up at the ceiling. “I see us getting our own apartment and living together for a while. You will work at the fire department, and I’ll work at the boutique. After some time, we’ll take the next step and get married, then move into a bigger house so we can start having children. We’ll have two boys and a girl. The two boys will be exactly like you: smart, handsome, brave, but good and always wanting to tell the truth and do what’s right. And our daughter, she’ll be a mix of the both of us. She’ll have my skin tone with your blue eyes. She’ll be the wild one, the one who gets into a little trouble, the one who pushes the rules but doesn’t quite break them. She’ll make me proud and drive you crazy.” She laughs.
“I like the sound of that,” I reply, kissing her head.
“Me too,” she agrees.
“Brad will come around. I know he will. We just need to give him some time. Do you believe me?”
She spins around to face me in the tub. She bites her bottom lip. “You don’t