Chapter Twenty #2
“He would have lost me anyway,” Harris muttered. “After all the secrecy, after all the lies… after what he did, there’s no way I’d want anything to do with him.”
Isla got that. She would have felt the same way.
Harris shifted on his feet, the weariness plain in his eyes. “I need to go,” he said, then glanced at Anais. “Do you want to come back with me to San Antonio? We can catch up there.”
Anais nodded quickly, relief flickering across her face. “Yeah. I’d like that.”
They were about to head out when the doors swung open and the doctor stepped into the waiting area. He looked tired but calm, his expression softening as he spotted them. “Sheriff Raines is going to be fine,” he said. “Randall pulled through surgery as well.”
The news drew a ripple of tension from Isla’s chest, though it was far from relief.
“I asked Randall if he wanted to see any family,” the doctor continued. “He said no. But he did say he would give a full confession to the police.”
Isla let out a slow breath. “Well,” she murmured, more to herself than anyone else, “that’s something at least.”
Garrett gave a hard nod at the doctor’s words. “Good. That saves us from dragging it out of him.”
Anais let out a shaky breath, her arm tightening around Harris. “I don’t want to see him,” she snarled. “Not now. Not ever. We’ll get by just fine without him.”
“Same,” Harris agreed. “He’s nothing to me now. He doesn’t get to be.” His voice wavered, but he didn’t back down.
Isla’s chest ached for them both. Relief was there, yes, but it was threaded with grief and betrayal. They had been shattered in different ways by the same man. She could only imagine the road ahead for them. Recovery would take time, maybe years. Counseling, too.
But at least they weren’t alone. They had each other, and that counted for more than Randall had ever given them.
“I’d like to take you to see Trudy tomorrow if that’s all right with you,” Isla told Harris.
He immediately nodded. “Yes, I’d like that. Maybe it’ll be closure for us.”
Isla smiled, made a quick sound of agreement. She was all for closure even if it’d taken a damn long time to get it.
Anais and Harris said their goodbyes, both of them holding tight to each other before heading out of the waiting room. Isla watched them go, her heart tugging with equal parts worry and hope.
Noah lingered a moment longer. “You two should take some downtime,” he said quietly. “It’s been one hell of a run. I’ll keep you updated.”
Garrett gave him a nod, and with that, they left the hospital behind.
The rain hadn’t let up. It slicked the pavement and blurred the lights, soaking through Isla’s hair in seconds. She didn’t hurry, and neither did Garrett. They walked side by side toward the SUV, shoulders brushing now and then, the storm washing over them.
By the time they climbed inside, they were dripping, clothes plastered to their skin. Garrett started the engine but didn’t put the SUV in gear. The silence stretched, heavy but not unbearable.
Isla finally exhaled and tipped her head toward him. “It’s going to be weird not having someone shooting at us.”
Garrett huffed out a laugh, low and tired. “I don’t mind weird. I’d like a little normal.”
Their gazes locked across the dim interior of the SUV, the rain tapping against the roof in a steady rhythm.
The tension that had been smoldering between them for days flared hot again, filling the air until Isla leaned in and pressed her mouth to his.
The kiss wasn’t rushed, but it was deep, full of everything they had held back through fire, gunshots, and secrets.
When she pulled back, her forehead rested against his. “You know I’m far from normal. Most people call me weird.”
Garrett’s mouth curved, the smile soft but sure. “I like weird. Especially your kind of weird. That’s the kind I don’t just not mind—I want more of it. More of you.”
Her chest tightened, not with fear but with the sharp sweetness of finally hearing the words she hadn’t dared hope for. “More sounds good. But not just for now, Garrett. I don’t want this to end when the danger does.”
His hand slid to the back of her neck, holding her steady as his gaze seared into hers. “It won’t. I’m in this for good, Isla Prescott. I love you.”
Emotion rushed through her, raw and overwhelming. She pressed her hand to his cheek. “Took you long enough to say it. Guess it’s taken me too long to say it right back to you because I love you, too. Looks like you’re stuck with my kind of weird for the long haul.”
Garrett kissed her again, harder this time, sealing the words between them. When he finally broke away, he whispered, “Good. Because after everything we’ve been through, the future doesn’t scare me. Not with you in it.”
Outside, the storm kept raging, but inside the SUV, Isla felt the first real calm in a long time. She let herself smile, her heart pounding steady with his.
“We survived,” she said softly, her voice steady. “Now let’s live. And maybe even deck the halls with longhorns while we’re at it.”
Garrett’s grin was slow, full of heat. “First stop is hauling you off to bed. Decorations can wait.”
She leaned into him, her smile curving against his. “I approve of any and all hauling to bed.”
The kiss that followed was slow at first, deepening until the world outside the SUV was nothing but rain and shadows.
When she finally drew back, her lips brushed his, her voice husky with both laughter and want. “You keep kissing me like that, and we’ll be decking the halls with a five-alarm fire.”
Garrett only answered by kissing her again, hungrier this time, as if daring her to make good on the promise.
And in that moment, Isla knew this was the beginning of something they’d never walk away from again.
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