Chapter 24
TWENTY-FOUR
LEO
This was not how I wanted to meet North’s family. I only got to see his mom in a quick glance as they had her strapped to a stretcher and wheeled her directly to the ambulance. The doors shut a few moments after, and the ambulance left with lights on but the sirens off.
The courtyard is quiet now that everyone’s cleared away.
Easton’s inside with North, while their boss, Henry, and West took off shortly after their mom was gone.
I can only hope that they’ll get some rest. West was shaken up, but she spent the entire time waxing poetic about how thrilled she was that her new best friend was dating her brother.
It was a far cry from how Easton reacted to seeing me and North together, and I let that comfort me as I wait for North beside his truck.
He doesn’t take long either. He was locking up his mom’s apartment, and he appears from the shadows, wrapping his arms around me and shoving his face into my neck.
“You okay?” I ask, though I know the answer can’t be yes. I bury my fingers in his hair and hold him.
He takes a breath, but then his phone begins to ring, and he groans as he looks at the screen. “It’s Starr,” he says.
The sister they called to meet his mom at the hospital. I wave him off. “Go. I’ll wait here.”
He smudges a kiss to the side of my mouth before walking off, and I lean against the truck, dreaming of when we can finally crawl into bed.
“Where’s your cane?” Easton asks. I hadn’t heard him walk up, but then again, my focus is shit right now.
“At the house. We kind of left in a rush.” I open the truck door and rest my backside on the seat. “I’m fine though.”
He stares down at my slippered feet, then back up at my face. “The burns?”
I blink. “Is this seriously what you want to talk about?”
“I don’t know.” He throws his hands into the air, then shoves them into his pockets. It’s his tell. He’s nervous, and he wants to apologize, but he also doesn’t want to admit he was wrong. He’s been that way since we were young.
“Look, you don’t have to say anything.” I don’t have the capacity to hash shit out right now.
“Thanks,” he starts, then stops and shakes his head. “I’m sorry, okay? Like, really fucking sorry. I hate feeling left out, and it hurt my feelings, but this is not about me. I know that.”
That wasn’t what I was expecting. Easton’s an amazing person, but he’s always been crap at admitting when he’s wrong.
“It’s fine.”
“It isn’t. I was jealous,” he admits. “Not of North or anything. I promise I don’t have a thing for him. But I don’t know. I’ve been feeling lonely lately, and I took it out on you, which is terrible, considering you’ve been through hell and back, and all I want is for you to be happy.”
Crossing my arms, I stare at him for a long moment as I work through what I want to say.
I really am too tired for all this, and I’m not even sure my words will make sense, but I want to try.
I need him to know I’m so much better off now with North.
“I wasn’t that happy before, you know? With Liam. ”
“I know.” His words are barely audible.
“It feels so wrong to admit this, but I’m so much happier with North than I ever was with him. It feels like I’m betraying him, but I can’t help it.”
Easton cocks his head to the side, a few curls falling over his forehead.
“I think you’re allowed to feel how you feel.
And it’s harder because Liam died, and he’s not here to be able to move on and find the person who makes him this happy, so it’s going to suck.
But I have to admit, I had no idea you would end up falling for the guy you fucking hated. ”
I burst into laughter. It’s mostly stress and fatigue, but it’s also funny because it’s so true. I know now the feelings I had about North weren’t hate. They were something else—longing, frustration, yearning for something only he could give me, and I didn’t realize it yet.
And it was easy to call that hatred and move on with my day.
Now, I have to face the reality of what we are to each other and all the ways we hurt each other before.
“I was all twisted up inside. He made it better. And…” And I love him. I’m in love with him. But I’m not going to tell Easton that before I tell North.
Easton reaches over and sets his hand on my shoulder. “I’m happy for you both. You’re my favorite person in the whole world, and he’s my best friend. I wouldn’t trust either of you with anyone else.”
I reach out and pull Easton into a hug, which lingers only because I’m too damn tired to do anything else but sag against him. I need a good, long sleep, but I don’t know if that’s going to happen tonight.
Easton lets go a moment later, and then North appears, shoving his phone into his pocket. He looks tired, and his eyes are red, but his face isn’t as stormy as it was before. He walks up and slings his arm around Easton for a half hug, then crowds me back against the open truck door and kisses me.
“Gross,” Easton says after a long moment.
North pulls back and doesn’t look sorry at all.
“Starr’s with my mom now. She’s being admitted for seventy-two hours, and Starr’s going to try and have that extended.
They’re going to run some cognitive tests.
They called in a neurologist to see her tomorrow.
It might be something worse than just her weird mood swings. ”
“I’m sorry,” I whisper.
He shakes his head and takes my chin, kissing me again. “It’s okay. The girls are grown up and can handle themselves. I might have to help with Meadow until she’s eighteen, but Westin and Starr are good, and maybe now I can let go a bit.”
“I’m so fucking proud of you, bud,” Easton says, his voice heavy with emotion. “You two get home and get some rest. Why don’t I bring you some coffee in the morning.”
North nods but holds up a hand. “Wait. Make it early afternoon.”
I could cry with relief.
We exchange another quick goodbye, and then Easton jogs over to a car, and I realize right then he’s called an Uber to take him back to the station. We should have offered him a ride, but North looks dead on his feet, so maybe the extra stop would have been a bad idea.
Climbing into the truck, I wait for him to start it, but he doesn’t put it into reverse right away. Instead, he turns toward me and heaves a small sigh. “So. That was my family.”
“No,” I tell him quickly. “That was a bad moment involving your family. We all have shit, okay?”
He nods, swallows thickly, then licks his lips before reaching for my hand. His fingers tangle with mine. “I’m so in love with you.”
The words rise. Then they fall. And he looks like he might cry again, and I’m not about to let that happen. I pull his hand to my lips and kiss his fingers, his wrist, then his palm.
“I’m in love with you too,” I murmur, so soft I can barely hear myself.
But he doesn’t miss it. His body gives a single tremble before going very still.
“I’m afraid that admitting that will tempt the universe to take you from me, but it’s worth the risk because I need you to know that you’re everything to me too.
And some things might scare me, but with you, I feel brave. ”
He reaches for me, tracing a touch down my jaw before pinching my chin and kissing the breath out of my lungs. “Let’s go home,” he says when he pulls back.
Home.
I know he means I’m part of it, and that is all I will ever need.
North groans loudly, writhing beneath my touch, though my hand is nowhere near where he wants it to be. Pressing down against his lower back, I watch his hips thrust against the mattress.
I allow it, but only for a moment before grabbing him and pulling him up and away from the friction he’s seeking.
“Fuck, why?” he gasps as he gets onto shaking knees and forearms. He turns his head to look at me, eyes wide and wild with desperation.
“I want to take my time with you. Be good for me,” I murmur.
His cheeks explode in a pink flush, and he tips his head down. “Okay.”
Leaning over, I kiss the side of his hip. “My good boy.”
He shudders, and I hear his swallow click in the back of his throat. We both need those words sometimes—the quiet, honest praise. A reminder that our fucked-up past doesn’t define us.
That we are worthy of this.
And North has been so fucking brave and strong through everything. He stayed back and let his sister handle his mom, offering advice only when she called and agreeing not to try and see her until she was ready.
He accepts that might be never. He understands that his mom is mostly racked with guilt on her more coherent days, where she can reflect back on everything she did and all the mistakes she made.
It’s been a week and a half since the incident at her apartment, and so much has happened.
I got my settlement for the house, I got the all clear to walk normally again, and it’s time for me to make a decision about what my future is going to look like.
But first, I’m going to do this.
First, I’m going to fuck the man I love.
I’m going to be the first cock inside of him, and I’m going to make it so, so incredibly good.
I’m going to eclipse and erase every bad memory he’s ever had of being touched by anyone who didn’t deserve him, and he will forget every other time he was ever rejected for being himself.
“Spread your legs a little,” I say as I reach for the lube. His cock hangs heavily between his legs, still a little spit-slick from where he let me suck him to the edge, and I can see him fighting the urge to reach up and stroke himself.
Instead, he obeys me, and I reward him with a wet, biting kiss on the right side of his ass.
“Fuck, baby,” he moans, head pushing down into his pillow.
I grin. He uses those little names for me. Sweetheart. Baby. My love. I can barely tell him I’m in love with him still, and I’m working my way to those casual little pet names that I want to use on him. But for now, a well-timed good boy does all the work I need it to.