Chapter 32
Chapter Thirty-Two
MORGAN
M en.
They’re fucking morons.
Esky follows me back to Shane’s. I let my fingers dance over my lips. I can still feel Rhys’s on mine; it felt so good to be in his arms again.
Mrs. Anderson is out the front watering her plants. “Hello, Morgan. Cute dog.”
“Hello Mrs. Anderson. Yeah, this is Esky, the dingo I rescued when I was out west.”
She stops watering and walks to the fence. “Oh my, she is as cute as you said she would be.” And pats the top of Esky’s head.
I didn’t leave the house much in the first week, so I befriended Mrs. Anderson, and she filled me in on everything that took place while I was gone.
Which is too much for a town this small.
Just as I’m about to reply, Shane’s car approaches, and by the looks of it, Rhys is with him. So maybe they punched and made up ?
I say a quick goodbye to Mrs. Anderson and make my way inside, locking them out.
“Come on, Mo.”
“Princess.” they say at the same time.
“Don’t call her that.”
“Don’t listen then.”
Jesus they’re still fucking arguing.
They obviously get inside, because it is Shane’s house. He unlocks the door and Rhys walks past him, blood covering the corner of his mouth.
“Are you two serious? Do you know how childish it is to have a physical fucking fight, in a cemetery? Right by your grandparents graves!” I yell at them.
“Princess.”
Pointing a finger in his direction, “Don’t fucking Princess me right now Rhys.”
“I second that motion.” Shane decides to add his two cents.
I turn to Shane. “And you, you’re an officer of the law. You keep telling me how shit is so messy in town at the moment, and you’re fucking fighting with your best friend.”
“In my defence?—”
“No, no in your defence. You two are almost thirty, grow the fuck up.” I turn on my heel and walk away, telling Esky to follow. Not before hearing Rhys tell Shane I’m the second person to tell him that in the space of two weeks.
I don’t know how long Esky and I are outside, but I hear the front door close. A part of me aches at the thought of it being Rhys who left.
My fear comes true when Shane steps outside.
“Mo.” Tears threaten to fall. “He told me he loves you.” And then the tears fall freely. “Do, ah, do you feel the same? ”
“Yes. I’m so sorry Shane, I didn’t mean to. He… I don’t know. He makes me feel safe and loved and cherished and?—”
“And like home.” He nods, seeming to understand what I’m saying. He looks hurt for a brief moment. Is that what Charlotte felt like to him? I want to ask him, but I know how that’ll go.
“Doesn’t matter, though, he’s gone.” I sob, letting my heart feel the hurt all over again.
“Oh, no, he is just going to get the dog some food.”
“Dingo.” I’m so used to correcting people it takes me a minute to register what he just said. “Wait, what did you say?”
“Yeah, he isn’t leaving, just getting the dingo some food.”
I brush the tears from my face, but they keep flowing. He isn’t leaving. He loves me. He’s staying.
“I’m not okay with it.” Ah, Shane being blunt as always. “But I want you to be happy, and if he makes you happy, I promise I will stop hitting him.”
I laugh. “He makes me happy, Shane. He also annoys me, but I can live with that.”
“Well, that deal still stands: you kill him? I will cover it up for you.” He throws his arm over my shoulders and pulls me into him.
Leaning into his touch, I pat his chest. “You’re the best big brother a girl could ask for.”
We don’t hear the door so when Rhys appears I jump out of my skin, “Are you serious? If she’d murder me, you’d cover it up?”
“One hundred percent, you probably deserved it anyway.” Shane stands up, “I’ll give you two a minute. And just a minute. Mo, if you need him gone, I’ll throw him out. ”
“Dude.”
Shane stands toe to toe with Rhys, “My sister is my top priority, hurt her, and I will make it that you never existed.”
Rhys throws his hands up and back away a little. I think he is generally a little scared of my brother.
When Shane enters the house, Rhys sits next to me. Watching Esky as she continues to roam the back yard, every now and then she’ll look back to see if I’m still there. “She missed you, you know.”
“I missed her.” I tell him. “Why are you really here?”
“For you.” Two words and they make me feel whole. “Morgan. We make sense, you and me.”
“I didn’t say we didn’t.”
“Then why the hesitation?”
“Barely.” I say as I roll my eyes.
He stands up and states, “I killed a man for you!”
“So what, you want a medal?”
“Just some recognition, that I’d do anything for you,” He isn’t picking up that I’m just toying with him, too focused on giving his speech I’m confident he practised, he must have forgotten we’re outside, because his next line is a bit too loud.
“Like, oh I don’t know, disposing of the body of a man you killed! ”
My eyes grow wide, and I stand up getting closer to him so I can whisper yell at him. “Oh my god, want to say that any louder? Don’t think Mrs. Anderson heard you.”
He then yells, “Morgan killed a man! She killed her abuser!” Turning it down and talking at a regular volume.
“And she has never been so beautiful, taking charge of her life. Reclaiming a piece of her.” He then wraps his arms around my waist and pulls me closer.
“And I’d gladly clean up all the bodies she leaves in her wake. ”
“What did happen to Ethan’s body?”
“The less you know, Princess.” He says, his hand cupping my cheek.
I narrow my eyes, but hum. I guess he has a point.
His hand moves from my cheek, and brushes my hair behind my ear. “I missed you, more than you know. According to Brent, Beau, and even Dani, I was a miserable fuck to be around.”
“Not Davis?”
“No, I annoyed him as well. But you know what he’s like, doesn’t speak unless it’s important.”
Davis reminded me of Shane when I was there; both talking exclusively in grunts.
Rhys leans down so our lips are almost touching. “You took a part of me when you left.”
Then his mouth is on mine, in a searing kiss, making up for the three weeks we have been apart. When we pull away, I tell Rhys, “You have a way of making me feel whole. Like I’m worthy of love.”
“Princess, you are worthy of love.” He cups my cheek, once again. I lean into his rough palm, missing the way his hands feel. “I love you; it took you leaving for me to realise that. I’m an idiot for letting you go.”
“You love me?” It comes out softer than I intended.
“Why are you surprised?”
I look at his chest, not wanting to face him. “Because you let me go...”
“You told me to call your brother.” His finger is under my chin, lifting my gaze to his.
The tears are back. And I hate them. “You should have put up more of a fight, for me, for us.”
He might have let me go, but I pushed him to that point.
“Hey,” he clears the tears from my face. “You’re right, I shouldn’t have called Shane. When you left, you took something with you.”
“Oh, yeah?”
“A place to call home.”
I rest my forehead on the centre of his chest, and silently allow a few more tears to slip free.
My arms tighten around his waist, not waiting to let him go.
He wraps his arms around me, holding me to him, and I feel his lips kiss the top of my head.
I close my eyes and take a deep breath in.
I have missed that one simple gesture so much.
It was subtle, but had a way of making me feel cared for. Like I was safe and loved and...
“You’re my home, Rhys Donovan.”
“And you’re mine, Morgan Elliot.”
We start to slowly sway, as Rhys hums something, a song. “Is that the song we danced to at the rodeo?”
“Yes.”
I look up at him, and I see my future with him. But as much as I love it up there; I can’t live there. So, my next words are going to hurt me just much as him,
“Rhys,” I drop my hands to my side, and he releases me. “As much as I love you, because I do. I really do love you, I just can’t—” Hurt etched into his features, and I hate that I’m the cause. “I can’t live so rural.”
I turn and walk away from him.
But his hand clasps my wrist, halting my movements. I look from his grasp to his face. “I have a plan. But the plan involves you.”
“What?”
“Agree you’ll move west with me, and I’ll tell you.” Why would he ask that when I’ve just said I can’t live on the station?
I try to move from his grasp. “I can’t.”
“Do you love me?”
“Yes.”
“Do you trust me?” He wraps his hands back around me.
“Yes.”
“And you want to be with me?” He pulls me impossibly closer.
“Yes.”
He leans down and whispers. “Then agree to move west with me.”
I chew on my bottom lip. Maybe I could learn to love living up there. And we could always travel.
He is standing at his full height now. “Morgan.”
“I’ll move west with you.” I say with more confidence and conviction then I thought I could muster. He pulls me into his embrace and hugs me, before kissing me. “Okay cowboy, what’s the plan?”
“Do you know how much I love it that you call me that?”
Yeah, I can feel how much he loves it, “Rhys, the plan?”
“Right, yes, okay. I’m buying some property, south of Perth. A space for me and you.” Esky growls, making her presence known. “And Esky.”
I laugh as he rolls his eyes.
“You are my future Morgan.” And then his lips are once again on me, taking my breath away.
“I missed you,” I say into his mouth. “Don’t ever let me go again.”
“Never.”