Chapter 52
CHAPTER FIFTY-TWO
The driveway blurred by as Brinton sprinted toward the bonfire’s red-orange aura, past the faint murmurs from the crowd. Finally, something in her told her to stop running. She was right in front of the stage.
He stopped playing, beholding her as an apparition that had come to life. In one motion, he pulled the guitar off his shoulders, set it on the stage.
“Hey,” he said softly, voice trembling.
“Hey yourself,” she said, so breathy she briefly worried if he’d heard her.
“You came.”
“How could I not?” A coy smile spread across her lips. “You played my favorite song. You basically sent out the Bat-Signal.”
He smiled, the one that reached his eyes.
Jamie laughed as if he were still processing that what he’d done had worked.
She held out her hand, and he lifted her onto the small platform.
They watched each other, unsure if any of this was real or imagined, as the crowd whispered animatedly and recorded with their phones.
“I broke my promise to you,” Jamie said, still holding her hands, eyes searching hers.
“Jamie—”
“Please, honey. I’ve waited so long to say this.”
She nodded, biting her bottom lip, holding space for him to continue.
“I promised that I wouldn’t make decisions for you, for us.
But I was afraid. That don’t absolve me, but the truth is, I thought if I couldn’t control every outcome, that if all the noise that came with being linked to me got too loud, I’d disappoint you.
And you’d leave me. I believed it because I’ve never been equipped to navigate any of this.
Then, I let you believe a lie so you’d hate me.
Thought it’d be easier that way. But dear God, Brinton, I couldn’t ever be ashamed of you.
I burn for you. You set me on fire with joy and peace I never thought imaginable. ”
He shook his head, squeezed his eyes shut. “You care for me so good, I wanna be a better man. So I can earn you. That’s all I’ve wanted since the moment we met. I thought I was protecting you, but I was a damn fool.”
Slowly, she dropped his hands so she could cradle his face, as warm and reassuring as she remembered.
“I don’t need you to protect me,” she said, chest still heaving, “I want you to want me. I want you to want me even when I’m scared, and I can’t find any light in the shadows.
I want you to want me when my foundation is cracked, because I’m a work in progress, Jamie.
But, little by little, I’m rebuilding myself. And I want you to want me anyway.”
“Brinton, I don’t want you,” he said.
Her eyes stretched in disbelief, breaths rattling against her windpipe.
“I love you,” Jamie continued, eyes softened. “I love you so much, I’d trade the last breath in my body to proclaim it. I should have told you that weeks ago, when I had the chance. I’ll say it ’til infinity: I love you. Bee, you are the love of my life.”
Was she dreaming? No. This was happening, and she was ready. She loved him. She absolutely did.
“I love you too,” she said, laughing, a release she felt like she’d waited years for. “I want a career that fulfills me, and I want to build that on my own merit. I want to be happy. And I want it all—with you.”
It would have been a convenient coincidence that the bright lights caused the overflowing warmth behind her eyes. His own tears shimmered in the bonfire’s glow.
Even the man’s tears were stunning.
This moment, however, was anything but convenient; it was inevitable. Like him.
When he wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her close, her stiff body melted into his tenderness. She draped her arms around his neck, delighting in his hypnotic scent. Neither of them gave a damn about the microphone and cameras.
Her lips curved into a playful smirk as she thumbed a tear from his cheek. “All this time, we could have been doing this instead of me watching 10 Things I Hate About You, alone in my underwear.”
Jamie tipped his forehead to hers. In his hickory baritone, he whispered, “Sounds like we got a lot to catch up on.”
He pulled her into a slow kiss, and tingles zinged from her head to her toes.
For a change, the good ones that signaled she was safe, loved, and exactly where she was supposed to be.
She was so caught up that she almost didn’t hear the chorus of applause and whistles.
Gratefully, he smoothed his hands across her back.
“Well,” she said, breaking their kiss but running her hands over his cheeks, relishing the soft bristles of his beard. “It looks like we gave the whole world quite the show. Again.”
Eyes alight, he smiled down at her. “Mm, yeah. That sounds like us.”