34. Abigail
ABIGAIL
“Was it too much?” Elliot asks, lifting his head off my stomach to look at me.
After uncuffing me from the cross, he had scooped me up in his arms and carried me into the other room and laid me on the bed while he fetched me some water and cleaned me up.
Aftercare, he called it.
“No, it was perfect.” I run my fingers through his hair, loving how soft the strands feel against my skin.
I’m exhausted. Every inch of me is achy and sore but in the best way.
The fact that Elliot trusted me enough to bring me down here, that he finally bared himself to me, means everything.
“I’m sorry if I went too far.”
“Elliot, stop.” A contented sigh slips off my lips. “I wanted this. I want you. All of you.”
“You really mean that, don’t you.”
The vulnerability in his eyes makes my heart squeeze.
“Yes, I mean it.”
“They’ll know,” he whispers. “The boys and?—”
“It doesn’t matter.” I brush my thumb along the curve of his jaw, gently coaxing him to crawl up my body.
Looping my arm around his neck, I pull him closer. Elliot leans in close, kissing me softly. A far cry from the boy who brought me down here earlier.
And I love it.
I love that I get to experience all his facets. Cold and dominant. Soft and vulnerable. Everybody might think he’s the savage, vicious Heir but I know better.
Something I’ll never take for granted.
“Do you want to talk about it?” I ask.
“There’s nothing to say.” He tries to pull away, but I anchor my hands around the back of his neck.
“Elliot…”
“He did it.” His expression crumples. “He really did it. I mean, I knew he would, but fuck,” he breathes. “I didn’t expect it would hurt so much.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Not your fault, Red.” He gives me a faint smile. “I guess I expected some big confrontation. I should have known he would cast me aside like I’m nothing.”
Holding his face in my hands, I touch my head to his. “You are worth so much more than he’ll ever know, Elliot. If you want to go and see him, talk it through, I’ll come with?—”
“No. No.” His eyes shutter again. “I never want you anywhere near him again.”
“Might be kind of difficult given we live in the same town.”
“Actually, I was thinking about that. How do you feel about moving out of Saints Cross?”
“You want me to leave?” My heart tumbles.
“No, Red. I want you to leave… with me.”
“Oh. Oh.” Realisation hits, stealing the air from my lungs. “You want us to move in together?”
“Yeah, I do. Although given the fact that I’m as broke as fuck, I guess it will be me moving in with my very rich girlfriend.”
“You want us to live together,” I repeat, a slow grin breaking over my face.
“Yeah, I mean, if you want?—”
“I want. I really, really want.” I crush myself against Elliot and he rolls us back so we’re lying facing each other.
“I’ll get a job. Pay my way. I don’t want?—”
“Shh.” I press a finger to his lips. “I don’t care about any of that, Elliot. You being an Heir never meant anything to me.
“I love you. You.”
A rare glimpse of emotion flickers across his expression. “I don’t deserve you,” he murmurs, brushing another kiss against my lips.
“Too bad because you’re stuck with me.”
“You and me, Red.” He gazes at me with unwavering intensity.
“You and me,” I breathe.
You and me against the world.
It’s surprising how one minute your life can feel like it’s teetering on a knife’s edge and then the next, there’s nothing but calm.
It’s been a week since Johnathon Eaton served Elliot disinheritance papers.
One week since his Heir status was ripped out from beneath him. And yet, at school nothing much has changed at all.
Of course, the rumours were rife at first.
For the first time in my life, the whispers and stares have been aimed in a direction other than mine.
But Oakley, Reese, and Theo soon stamped out the gossip and chatter. Heir or no Heir, Elliot is still an Eaton by name and his reputation still precedes him.
“So I’m thinking end of exams party here at the end of June?” Oakley says as we laze around on the patch of grass outside the Chapel.
Elliot tightens his arm around my waist as I lean back against his solid chest, enjoying the mini-heatwave we’ve been having.
“No party,” he grumbles, and Oakley rolls his eyes.
“Final party. It’s happening. Get on board.”
“I don’t know, brother. He has a point. Do we even like anyone enough to invite them to a party?”
“It’s not about liking them, dear sister.” Oakley smirks at Liv. “It’s about reminding them that no matter how much they try, they’ll never be as cool or as epic as we are.”
“Spoken like a true Heir,” Tally mutters.
“You weren’t saying that last night when you were riding this Heir’s dick, crying for?—”
“Pig,” Liv scoffs right as Tally throws her empty can of Coke at Oakley’s head.
“Ow, what the fuck was that for?”
“No party,” Elliot repeats.
“We’ve got to do something to celebrate,” Oakley complains.
“Can we tell them?” Elliot whispers against my ear, and I twist back to meet his heavy stare.
“You’re sure?” I ask, and he nods.
“Okay.”
“Actually, we might have a better alternative.”
“If you’re going to suggest we all pile down to the basement for?—”
“Oakley!” We all grumble, and he grins.
“If everything goes to plan, we can celebrate at our new place,” Elliot blurts, the slight quiver in his voice so adorable, I find myself smiling.
“What do you mean, your new place?” Theo frowns. “What?—”
“Oh my God, you’re moving in together?” Tally shrieks, and soft laughter spills out of me.
“If we can find somewhere,” Elliot says, and I quickly add, “We’ll find somewhere.”
“Oh, how the tables have turned.” Reese smirks.
“Don’t even start.” Elliot warns.
“Wouldn’t dream of it.”
Something about the twinkle in Reese’s eye tells me the second me and the girls aren’t around, they’re going to give him plenty of crap about it. But I’m too happy to care.
Things are good.
Better than good.
Being with Elliot is… everything.
“All jokes aside, it’s going to be fucking weird not having you start uni with us in September,” Theo says, and the mood turns somber.
“I’ll still be around to kick your arses,” Elliot quips.
“Get in line.” Liv flashes Reese a playful smirk and he grabs her arm and hauls her onto his lap.
“Something you want to say, sweet cheeks.”
“Sister, wanker. That’s my sister,” Oakley protests, earning a round of laughter.
Family.
This is what family should be.
Love and laughter and unwavering support.
I never thought I’d find that in the halls of All Hallows’ but here we are.
And I wouldn’t change it for the world.
“At least we get to see out our school days here,” Oakley says. “I knew Dad would come through.”
“How did your old man wangle that?” Theo asks.
“He has his ways. Besides,” his eyes flick to Elliot’s, “old John boy isn’t one for scandal and drama. He prefers to keep up appearances and letting Elliot stay here will soothe the rumour mill.”
“Pretty sure everyone and their dog already knows that he cut me off,” Elliot murmurs, tensing behind me.
“But as far as anyone knows, it’s only rumour and conjecture.”
“Scott’s mangled face would say otherwise,” Reese snorts, but no one laughs at that.
“Didn’t you hear? Golden boy apparently got jumped by a couple of arseholes from Denton. Gave him a good hiding and sent him scurrying back to daddy dearest with his tail between his legs.”
“Should have beat his ass in the cage if you ask me.” Theo huffs. “He’s had it a long time coming.”
“I’m done, they can all rot in hell as far as I’m concerned,” Elliot says, and that’s that.
No one mentions Scott or Johnathon again, but I know the scars will stay with Elliot long after today.
Maybe even forever.
But I’ll do my best to heal them. To soothe them when they hurt most.
Elliot taught me my scars don’t define me. Now it’s my turn to show him that his scars don’t dictate who he is either.
Or the man he becomes.
“What do you think?” I glance over my shoulder, hardly able to contain my smile.
“It’s… small.” Elliot huffs as he takes in the small two-bedroom cottage we’re viewing today.
“I think it has character.”
The second I saw the listing for the renovated cottage on the outskirts of Denton, I fell in love.
It’s worlds away from the big house I grew up in. The house that became hollow and cold in the years after the accident, the years that slowly took my father away from me. Piece by piece.
“You know I have a lot of enemies in Denton, right?”
“Technically, we’re not in Denton. And there’s like five houses in the immediate vicinity. I think you’re safe.”
Elliot lifts a brow, but I don’t let that deter me as I tiptoe towards him, and wrap my arms around his waist, gazing up at him.
“It’s perfect for us. There’s a secluded garden. The master suite overlooks the countryside. There’s an amazing walk-in shower and?—”
His lips slam down on mine, cutting me off. I slide my fingers into his hair and tug him closer, relishing the way his tongue tangles with mine.
“Hmm,” I let out a contented sigh. “What was that for?”
“Wanted to kiss you,” he says, taking my hand and pulling me through the house.
“Elliot, slow down. We haven’t looked around properly yet.”
But he doesn’t stop, practically dragging me up the stairs and into the master bedroom.
The view is even better than the listing portrayed.
“Wow,” I say, slightly awed that this might be ours.
Our home.
Elliot wraps me into his arms, my back to his chest, as we stare out of the large sash window.
“I get to fuck you here.”
“W-what?” I breathe, pulse thundering in my ears as heat floods me.
“You want the house, I want you, pressed up against this glass, naked and ready for me.”
“Now?” I whisper-shriek.
His lips brush my ear, sending shivers rippling down my spine. “Not right now, unless you want to give the estate agent a heart attack. But when it’s ours.”
“Ours?” I ask, hopeful, as I turn in his arms. “You mean…”
“As if I could ever tell you no. Besides, it’s your money, Abi.”
“But it’s our house. Our home.”
“Fuck, hearing you say that…”
“So I can tell him we’ll take it?”
Elliot nods, swallowing over the lump in his throat.
“I love you.” I throw my arms around him, so happy I could burst. “I love you so much. Let’s go tell him. The sooner we get things moving, the sooner we get the keys.”
It’s my turn to grab his hand and drag him out of the room.
Towards a future neither of us saw coming.