Chapter 6
Chapter Six
Juni
“Ugh, I should’ve taken the time to go through everything first.” Donating would’ve been the wiser path for some of it, but I was in such a hurry to get away from that damn woman who’d birthed me that my sole focus was too pack and run.
The inside of my SUV was packed to the roof as was the interior and bed of Kyson’s truck. He secured the boxes in the back with a cargo net, then a tarp and then another cargo net and bungee cords. Hopefully nothing will get ruined or stolen.
Kyson jumped down and closed the tailgate, having secured the last strap. “I can’t believe we got it all in. What about the food in the fridge and pantry?”
“There isn’t much, but I texted my housekeeper and let her know I moved out and to take whatever she wanted from the kitchen.
My parents will probably rent the condo out furnished since I left all the furniture.
I’m just happy to be out of there. The further away we get, the easier it’ll be to breathe. ”
“Deep breath, sweetheart,” Kyson hugged me. I loved that about him, always touching me, which had such a calming effect. “We’re almost there and the hardest part is over.”
To be honest, I was surprised my mother hadn’t come back with an entourage of suitors to try and break Kyson and me apart.
It’s possible she sensed his dragon and backed off.
Who knows with her. Maybe my being gone will trigger the motherly instincts she’d always lacked, and she’ll reach out and see how we’re doing.
Right, Juni, nice try. She doesn’t have it in her to love anything beyond money and social status.
Goddess, please don’t let me fuck up our children the way my mother has done to me.
I wasn’t foolish enough to believe that leaving Cali would wipe away the years of mental anguish and solve all my problems. Snark was my mask, but with that mask removed, it was time to address the underlying issues.
With Kyson by my side, I was no longer alone and looked forward to each new day with a vigor I’d never had before.
Soon I’d be strong enough to face my demons, and he’d be right there to pick me up each time I fall.
And I will fall. I’m only human, after all.
“Are you ready to roll, Juni?”
“Yeah. Can we just get out of California before we stop anywhere?” I had no clue how long that would take. “I just need to be out of here.”
“Then that’s what we’ll do. Call me along the way if you need to stop for food, or the bathroom, or just to stretch. Okay?”
“Okay.” With a quick hug and a kiss, we got into our respective vehicles.
I glanced around one last time at the familiar complex I’d lived in since turning eighteen and said a quiet goodbye.
Many of my friends envied me having a nice place to live in on my own and a sweet car I didn’t pay for.
What they failed to realize was each were given to me when I graduated high school, along with a kick to the curb.
Sure, it came with keys, but still…not the same as making the choice to move out for myself.
Music was always my go-to to drown out the voices and negative thoughts.
But even today that wasn’t working. Tempted as I was to turn around and give her a piece of my mind, deep down I knew that in the end it was wasted energy.
Hopefully I didn’t rub Kyson’s family the wrong way as I had with mine, but this was my second chance at a first start and I wasn’t about to fuck it up by being me. At least not the old version.
Kyson pulled over just past the Welcome to Oregon sign. “Is everything okay?” I asked as we stepped out of our vehicles. There wasn’t a gas station or anything in sight and I worried something was wrong with his truck.
“Yup,” he grinned and took my hand. “Thought this was the perfect spot to take the first selfie of our trip.” We paused in front of the sign, and he wrapped his arm around me. As soon as he pressed his lips to my head I heard the shutter on his phone click. “See, isn’t that a great pic?”
“It really is. Send it to me, please.” My smile was wide and so true to the way I felt when we were together. How thoughtful was that of him? Only a couple weeks in and I felt more alive than I ever had.
My phone vibrated in my hand and there we were, the corner of his mouth turned up in a grin as he kissed me. “Can we stop soon for lunch?” In our haste to get out of town we skipped breakfast.
“Was gonna suggest the same myself. Let’s hit the road and see what it holds up ahead.”
It wasn’t long before we pulled into a small town and popped into their diner, which seemed to be a theme in rural locations, I’d noticed.
Not much by way of stores, but they always have a dining establishment.
While we were there, Kyson booked us a remote cabin for the night, stating it should be safe enough to leave the boxes in the trucks, plus it was just off the route we were traveling along.
“Wow,” I stepped out my car and into a B-rated slasher film. “It’s very…”
“Lost in time?”
Kyson took the words right out of my mouth. “Yeah like straight out of a 1970’s horror movie set.”
He shrugged. “Your big, bad, dragon is here to protect you, Princess. Besides, it had all five-star reviews online. Let’s get settled in for the night.”
As soon as we stepped inside, I froze. “Am I in a parallel dimension?” This did not match the worn-out exterior. The interior had been completely modernized with all stainless-steel appliances and was immaculate. “Wow.”
“No kidding. Maybe the outside wards off the evil,” Kyson laughed. “Come on, let’s grab our overnight bags and dinner.” Thankfully, he’d ordered easy to reheat, to-go dinners for us at the diner, and the cabin had a microwave.
“Who knew driving was so exhausting,” I dropped back onto the couch.
“You forget about all the marathon packing we did beforehand. Here,” he handed me a Styrofoam container and a bottle of water. “Dinner is served.”
“Thank you. Kisses!” I made kissy faces at Kyson. He grinned and pressed his lips to mine then went to get his food.
“So, I was thinking that maybe building the new house should be done sooner rather than later.”
“Why?”
“Well, that vast collection of runway worthy clothing you have will fill up the guest room at the current house, which I’m only renting. There won’t be room to walk through the wall-to-wall boxes. It’s a tiny house.”
“I was thinking about selling some of it online. Not that I need the money, but it would give me something to do and free up space. Do you have a website for your stuff already? Maybe I could just add a page to it for mine.”
I’d always read the lines in books, he stared blankly back at me, and never fully understood them until now.
“You do have a website, right?” He shook his head. “How can anyone in this day and age sell anything without a website. Are you on eBay?” Another no. “So, you are strictly by word of mouth or in the stores you’d mentioned.”
“Yup. You’re speaking Greek to this dragon, darlin’.”
I shook my head, beyond stunned. “We’ll remedy that as soon as we get to your house.”
“Our house.”
My heart leapt when he said that. “Our house.”
“I saw you that day, in town,” Kyson began. “Walking down the street before I returned to cabin and found you dancing in the kitchen.”
“You did? And you didn’t say anything?”
“Hmm, well, what my dragon and I thought wasn’t public friendly and I was sitting in the diner at the time,” my sexy dragon growled.
“What was the first word that came to mind when you saw me?”
“Flawless.”
My face heated. “Thank you.”
“My dragon knew right away that you were our mate and he wasn’t relenting.”
“You know,” I turned sideways to face him, “something inside me did too. Not the mate part, exactly. It wasn’t until you explained it that I got it, but my first reaction when faced with anything more than a one-night stand has always been to run.
But you knew how to handle me, how to tame this shrew,” we both laughed though I wasn’t far off.
“My shrew. Not gonna lie, that snarky side does just as much for me as this sweet one. You’re so different one on one than you are in public.”
“That’s because I don’t have to constantly be switched on. It’s exhausting.”
“No more switches and just for the record, in my opinion, I won the mate lottery.”
Someone finally believed I was worth keeping.
#Win
Maybe now I would too.
Having always been the one to fight to get my way, even amongst my so-called friends, it was odd to feel as I did now.
Going along with whatever Kyson suggested about the move and building a house.
Hell, I was looking forward to being part of a real family, and if I could find my place amongst it, that would be even better.
Trust.
Yes, trust. Another new emotion I’ve adopted since Kyson found me.
“All right, my love, we’ve got another long day ahead of us, so we should probably hit the sack.”
“Are we driving straight through?”
“As much as I’d like to, I don’t think we’ll make it in a day.
Seattle traffic is the worst and I’m roughly two hours north of it.
We’ll likely stop just outside of Vancouver for the night if I can find a safe space for us to park.
But let’s table that conversation for lunchtime tomorrow and see how we feel. ”
“Sounds like a plan.” My body instantly relaxed as we slid beneath the flannel sheets, all nice and cozy curled up together.
Kyson’s contented sigh matched how I felt. “What amenities and rooms would you like the new house to have?”
“Definitely a shower for two,” our dragon moaned. “At least three bedrooms, and one big ass closet. Ooohhh, and a big bathtub.”
“That’s a given,” he chuckled. “I’d like a wood shop attached to the house. That way when I’m working I’m close enough if you need me. Especially come winter.”
“I love that you always think of me. For the kitchen, I don’t even know where to start, except for the fact that I should probably learn how to cook, given it sounds like we won’t be anywhere near a town to order delivery from.
” Guess when it came to eating I’d been spoiled there too.
Time to pull up my lace panties and be a grown-up.
“Closest town is about an hour by truck, fifteen minutes by dragon, but we can only fly in the dead of night or land in the nearby forest which is still kinda risky. I can teach you, but the best teacher is honestly my mother. She raised six of us and we never went hungry.”
“What if she doesn’t like me? What if I’m too much for her?” Having voiced my fears aloud made them far too real.
“Sweetheart, the snarkier you are with me the more she’ll love you. Trust me. She always said she hoped I met someone who could deal with my bad attitude and put me in my place. Now I’ve got that and more.”
“I like her already.”
“I talked to my parents on the way here. Then my siblings blew my phone up. Needless to say, they’re all excited to meet you, but I made them promise to wait until I brought you out to the compound.
We don’t need them barreling into the tiny house and swarming you.
At least up there you have space to run if it gets to be too much,” he laughed.
“I’m sure it’ll be fine. Besides, I’m excited.”
“You say that now but just wait.” A yawn escaped. “Time to sleep. Goodnight, Juni. I love you.”
“Love you too, Ky.” The nickname just slipped out, but since he didn’t correct me, I decided to permanently adopt it.
“Next town we hit, let’s grab a quick breakfast, then onward!” My far too cheerful mate announced, sans coffee. How did he manage that? I’m shit without my morning cuppa.
“Must. Have. Coffee,” I protested. “Pronto!”
“Understood, Princess. Let’s head out.”
Thankfully, it wasn’t long before we found a coffee shop. Fully caffeinated and with a chocolate croissant in hand, I was a happy Juni and ready to belt out the tunes along with my girls.
“You good to go, Princess?”
“That I am,” I gave Kyson a big smacky kiss. “Giddy up, dragon!”
Vehicles fueled, I’m fueled, it was time to roll.
We decided at lunch to push through and made great time until we hit Seattle.
I didn’t want another night in a hotel. After sitting in that traffic nightmare for far too long, we stopped for dinner just north of Seattle, in Lynnwood, to hopefully wake our tired asses up enough to make it to Bellingham.
Sure, we were only a little over an hour from home at this juncture of the trip, but as Kyson pointed out, there wasn’t any food there, so it was best to fill up now. Groceries he’d get in the morning.
“Well, this is us,” Kyson said. We’d just parked in the driveway at a small but cute home.
Exterior needed a bit of love, and it was too dark now to make out the color.
But sprucing it up while we were here would give me something to do.
Now, to figure out exactly what landscaping involved.
No more mani-pedis for this princess, these idle hands would soon be put to work.
“Let me show you around, then we can put all the boxes in the garage for now. It’s got my woodworking shop in it, but I can make some room. ”
There were a lot of trees surrounding the property. I couldn’t wait to see it in the light of day. Living in the city, the greenery wasn’t as prevalent as it was here, and the air was so much cleaner. Lack of smog will be a great change that my lungs will appreciate.
“Not much to it.” A couple of steps inside we stopped.
Kyson proceeded to point out each area from the central point of the living room.
“Living room, kitchen, both bedrooms with a bathroom between them. The bedrooms are the same size, which isn’t big at all.
The king-sized bed in our room is practically wall to wall. ”
“Simple enough.” Tidy and not packed full of junk, which made it nice.
“Go ahead and bring in the bags you know you need and I’ll meet you in the garage.”
I lost track of what time it was by the time we got to bed. All I know is we barely said I love you before we passed out.