Never Far Away (The Never #2)(73)
She threw the covers off of her legs and stood in an instant.
“I’m coming with you,” she stated firmly.
“Ella, you’re exhausted. I don’t want you there anyway. I want you to sleep. You need to rest.”
“Then stay with me, please, I don’t want you to go there by yourself.” He placed a warm hand on her thigh and squeezed.
“I won’t be long and I’d rather you were here with your parents then at the apartment. It’s better for you to be here. But I’ll make you a deal,” he said as he leaned forward and kissed her gently. “You rest right now while I go get some stuff for us, and when I get back I’ll come straight to you and lie down until we both wake up rested.” She wanted to argue, to get up and follow him wherever he went, but even she knew that she was worthless at the moment. She didn’t even bother answering him; she just laid back down and pulled the covers over her face to block out the light from the window. She heard him laugh as he left the room.
When she finally woke up Sunday morning, she felt like she had been asleep for days. She opened her eyes, but only saw darkness. She waited, hoping her eyes would adjust to the lack of light, and eventually was able to make out the bedside table which had her phone on it. She checked the time and couldn’t believe it was three in the morning. She’d been asleep for nearly seventeen hours. She heard the faint sounds of someone breathing and turned over to see the outline of Porter next to her. Warmth flooded through her to know that he was near her, as he promised.
She moved towards him, wanting to be as close to him as possible. When she felt the skin of his back with her hands she found him shirtless. She wanted to feel all of him against all of her so she quickly shucked off her shirt and bra and curled up against the warmth of his back, her hand reaching across his stomach. She burrowed her head against the back of him, content to just be in contact with him. She placed a few light kissed along his spine and felt him stir. His hand came to rest over hers and he twined his fingers with hers.
“Hey,” she said against his back between kisses.
“Hey,” he answered with a sleepy voice.
“Sorry to wake you.”
“Don’t be sorry,” he said as he rolled over and pulled her into him, their faces inches apart. “Weren’t you wearing clothes when you went to sleep?”
She couldn’t see him clearly, but she knew he was smiled.
“I was. You are very observant,” she said snarkily.
“I like your new look better.”
“I’m sure you do,” she said, trying hard to sound annoyed, but her small laugh got in the way.
“Are you feeling better?” He asked as he smoothed a hand down her hair.
“I’m feeling rested, but I’m still not sure what we’re going to do, Porter. Everything is really messed up.” She could feel herself start to tense up as soon as her brain tried to start processing everything that had happened in the last two days, two months even. It was all too much to take in and her body’s natural response to the stress was panic.
“Breath, Ella. What do you want to have happen?”
“What do you mean?”
“What do you think we should do?” She thought for a moment about what would logically make the most sense. The police told her that she shouldn’t go back to Poppy or to her apartment until Kyle was caught.
“Well, I can’t go to work for a little while. And I can’t stay at my apartment. You’ve already missed so much work. Maybe we should both stay in Lincoln City until they find Kyle and arrest him.”
“Ok, we can go wherever you want. Are you sure you’ll feel safe at my house? He’s been there too.”
Ella thought about his question. Did she feel safe there? No. But she didn’t feel safe anywhere. Porter’s house was one of the places she could be that wasn’t one hundred percent tainted by Kyle. She was sure if he wanted to Kyle could find her anywhere and she refused to hide. She would be smart and safe, but she wouldn’t hide. He’d stolen enough from her already; she wasn’t about to lay down and let him win.
“Let’s go to Lincoln City. We’ve got the 4th of July cookout coming up anyway. I’ll hire private security for Poppy and I will just spend some time at the beach. I need a vacation anyway,” she said with a forced smile, trying to downplay the severity of the situation.
“Babe, this won’t last long. They’ll catch him. He’ll slip up soon and you won’t have to worry about it anymore. But I’ll do everything I can to make you feel safe. The Fourth of July is coming up, I can take a few days off and we can just relax – let the stress of the last couple days fade away. Maybe we should have some people over to the house for the holiday. We could grill and watch the fireworks.”
“Thanks, that sounds like the best idea I've heard in a while.” She said as she placed a small kiss on his mouth.
“Are you excited about the house?”
Ella knew he was trying to change the subject but felt a smile creep across her face reagrdless.
“Yes.” Truthfully, she was more than excited. She was ecstatic. The idea of having a home to share with Porter made everything seem tolerable. Knowing that the two of them would be making a home together made her stomach flip in a deliciously anxious way. She wanted every part of their life together: she wanted to argue about who was going to take out the garbage, she wanted to drive him crazy asking him what he thought about patterns for curtains, she wanted to watch him sweat through a sexy baseball shirt while he mowed the lawn. Everything about a normal and mundane life, she wanted it all with him.