Chapter 28
THEA
Owen’s warm at my back. Steady and comforting in a way I’ve never known.
“We need to get dressed,” I say, and his arms tighten a smidge more.
“Not yet.” He nuzzles into my neck, and those damn butterflies are back.
I twist in his arms so that I’m facing him, running my finger along his jaw and up to his lips, and he nips at my finger.
He grins so wide at my giggle that those three little terrifying words I’ve never said romantically spring up in my mind.
The ecstasy and terror mix inside me like a Mentos dropped into a soda bottle.
I wiggle out of his arms, rushing around to get my clothes. Owen pushes up on his elbow, the comforter pooling around his waist. He’s an erotic fantasy brought to life, all messy hair and firm body and a delicious line of hair just begging to be traced down below the blanket.
His lips kick up in a half smile. “If you keep looking at me like that, I’m going to drag you back into bed.”
“Stay,” I command, narrowing my eyes at him.
He pushes off the bed, crawling toward me with a challenging smirk. “I’m not a dog, Thea.”
I pull my bralette and dress over my head, backing up toward the door.
His smile grows, and I know I have seconds before he pounces.
I love this side of him, the playfulness that he doesn’t normally show.
Another time, I’ll indulge it all day long.
But right now, I need to get back to Addy and her to-do list. I slip on my sandals, sacrificing my ruined underwear to the cause of escaping.
I get the door half an inch open before he spins me toward him, pushing me back against it. His hand wraps around my neck, and then he’s devouring me again. I melt into the kiss, incapable of doing anything but accepting it. One more kiss, and I’ll leave.
“You’re terrible at following commands,” I mumble.
He smiles against my lips. “Guess you’ll have to stick around to train me.”
I laugh, pushing against his stomach until he staggers back with a dopey grin on his face.
I stumble out of the door, my smile stretched so wide I resemble the Joker, but the smile falls when I spot Addy leaning against the opposite wall.
“All done?” she asks with faux calm.
“Were you listening to us?” I ask, and I feel a surge of protectiveness for what I just shared with Owen.
She makes a gagging sound. “Don’t worry, I left when I heard just what you two were getting up to. You know this is a family establishment, right? I didn’t need to know what you sound like during sex.”
I cover my face with both hands to cover a laugh. When I pull my hands away, I realize the laugh I’d expected from Addy after a comment like that is missing. She looks hurt and scared and really fucking pissed.
I step closer to her. “I’m sorry, Addy. I didn’t mean for this to happen.”
“You promised,” she says, so low I hardly hear her. “You told me you’d keep your distance and wouldn’t cause problems. When you two break up again, you’ll walk away, and I’ll be left with the fallout.”
“You don’t know that we’ll break up.”
“Of course you’ll break up, Thea.” Her hands fly out to the side before slapping back against her legs. “If you didn’t make it the first time, why would you make it now?”
I bite at my lip, trying to decide what to tell her.
I think of the earnest look on Owen’s face, his willingness to deal with his mom for the chance to be with me.
It’s going to get out eventually, so I might as well tell Addy now.
We’re only a day out from the wedding. She wouldn’t have to keep the secret for long, and maybe if she knows we never broke up in the past, she’ll see our potential, too.
I glance up and down the hallway to make sure we’re alone. “We didn’t have a first time.”
Her eyes blink rapidly. “What do you mean you didn’t have a first time?”
I suck in a breath. “We faked our relationship. Owen wanted to get his family off his back, so he paid me to come to the wedding and pretend to be his girlfriend. But it wasn’t like … well, like it is now.”
Her dark eyes nearly double in size, and she drops back against the wall, sliding down slowly. “This is a disaster.”
“No, it’s okay. We were just going to keep up the ruse, but then everything happened between us, and Owen has a plan now. It’ll be fine, I promise.” I can hear the desperation in my voice, but she stares blankly at the wall.
“What’s Owen’s plan?” Addy asks, finally looking up at me.
I start to squat down so we’re level, then remember my pantiless existence and go to kneel in front of her instead. “He’s going to tell Diana while you’re on your honeymoon, so it’ll all blow over before you’re back.”
She points down the hallway like Diana will magically manifest. “Have you met that woman? There’s no way she’s going to get over something like that in years, much less in two weeks.”
I flinch.
Addy clutches my arm, and it’s so reminiscent of the way she clung to me as we moved from home to home that my heart squeezes.
“I get why you like him. He’s great, and you have chemistry, but do you think that’s enough to build a relationship on?
It’s all secretive and romantic now, but what about when you get home? ”
She pushes to stand, and I scramble up after her. Is she right? Am I just caught up in the beauty of the mountains and the freedom of a new place? Will I destroy Addy’s relationship with her new in-laws for something that will go bad before the milk I bought last week?
Addy rubs at the skin under her eyes, like preemptively swiping away tears. “I can’t have Diana hating me.”
“She won’t hate you,” I say, desperate for an excuse to cling to.
“She barely tolerates me now! I think the only reason she does is because of you, so what happens when she decides she hates you?” she asks. “She’s emotionally reactive and unstable, and you’re gambling with my future.”
My body goes numb. “I … I’m not…”
She takes my hands between hers. “Please, Thea. I’m not above begging. Please don’t take this from me. There are billions of men on this planet. Why does it have to be him? Please just leave me this family.”
My heart bellows, furious that she’d equate Owen to anyone else. No one could compare.
Before I can conjure up the words, she continues. “I love Harrison so much, and I want to build a life with him. A family. One that includes a grandmother who doesn’t hate the mother of her grandchildren. Something happy and stable, like we never had.”
Tears escape her eyes, speeding a few inches down her cheeks before she swipes them away, and suddenly she’s a child again.
Three years old and sobbing for our mama.
Six years old and crying because she’s being forced to leave a home she’s finally comfortable in.
Ten years old and begging me to play nice with our foster parents so we aren’t moved because a teacher believes in her for the first time.
A few months later, on the walk to school, trying to hide her tears over having to say goodbye to her because I couldn’t keep my promise.
“Addy, dear,” a voice calls from down the hall, and I get another gut punch.
“Maria! Gary!” Addy calls, swiping away the tears as that perfect smile slides into place.
Maria and Gary Fischer are the type of foster parents the system always hopes for.
Kind and loving, in it for all the right reasons.
While they are nowhere near wealthy, they both have jobs and don’t treat the kids they foster like a paycheck or unpaid labor around the house.
In the six months we lived with them, they never raised a hand to me, even through our worst arguments.
And even they—the archetypes for the perfect foster parents—couldn’t bring themselves to put up with me.
Maria shifts on her feet. “You look well, Thea.”
This is only the second time I’ve spoken to Maria since I left her home at eight years old.
When Addy was reassigned to them a few weeks after I aged out, I came to the house to ask permission to spend time with Addy.
I got a forty-five-minute lecture about how this was a chance for Addy and that I’d only be allowed to see her if I didn’t lead her into trouble.
After that, I’d wait outside for Addy to come to the car.
I hit every schedule they set in the fear that one missed curfew would make them rip her away from me.
“Thank you, Maria,” I say, turning my awkward smile on Gary. “I’ll let Addy get you two settled, and I’ll see you at the rehearsal tomorrow.”
I turn to leave, nausea churning at the reminder of all the things I’ve stripped from Addy over the years. I’m almost to the end of the hallway when Addy calls to me.
“You’ll think about what we talked about?”
There’s no need to think about anything. I already know what I need to do.
My tears start falling before the door of my hotel room swings shut. I can hardly see the screen of my phone, but somehow navigate to the name I need. It rings a handful of times before he picks up.
“How’s my girl?”
“Vaughn,” I choke out through the sobs. “I fucked up.”