Tank (Moonshine Task Force Book 2)(58)
I love my mom, she always knows the right things to say. “That means she likes you, and she’s right. You’re totally a part of this family now.”
“It felt good, but weird at the same time. You saw how my mom is and what my life was like. Your mom is amazing and to know she approves of me in your life gave me a sense of belonging I didn’t know I needed.”
I lean in, pouring every bit of feeling, of love, of how much I need this woman into the kiss I give her. Coaxing open her lips, I kiss her with an unrestrained passion I’d normally save for behind closed doors, but it’s a must right now. Pulling away, I press my forehead against hers, enclosing us in our own cocoon. My voice is just above a whisper. “Don’t you know, Blaze? You’ve belonged to me since the first moment I saw you. You’ve owned me from the first moment I tasted you.”
She hugs me tightly, and for the longest time I think she’s not going to say anything, but then she pulls back. “I’ve always been scared to completely let my emotional walls down with you, Trevor. I can be sexual any day of the week, and I know you’re good with that, but sometimes I do that to hide how I feel. After telling you about Annabelle, I think I’ve started to let go of some of the walls and guards I’ve had up.”
“You never have to hide your true self from me, if there’s one thing you should know about me by now it’s I love all of you. Not just the good and easy parts, but the ones that force me to dig a little deeper. I lost you once, Blaze, I’m not going to be a dumbass and lose you again,” I frame her face with my hands. “No one else would have taken care of me the way you do, no one else would have put their lives on hold to be by my side. You saved me, and you changed me. I love you more than I could ever tell you, express to you, or show you. So I’ll just spend the rest of my life trying to become worthy.”
She sniffles, her green eyes wet, eyelashes incredibly long with tears spiking the ends. “I’ll spend the rest of my life trying to become worthy of you, because everything you said, is exactly how I feel, too.”
There, underneath a clear Alabama sky, holding the woman who changed my life, I’m not worried about the future, because I know we’re gonna make it.
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
Blaze
Two Months Later
I enter The Café with a huge smile on my face. Today’s been a great day. In what’s become our regular booth, I see Trevor waiting for me, wearing his hot as fuck white t-shirt with his bullet proof vest over the top. It’s too hot for them to wear their button-down shirts and this is what most of the guys look like around these parts right now.
“I’ll be right with ya, Blaze. He already ordered your drink,” Leighton tells me as she gives me a grin.
Not long ago she started waitressing here, and she seems to have acclimated well. “Sounds good.”
As I approach the booth, Trevor stands up, grabbing hold of my hand and bringing me in for a kiss. “Hey, hot stuff,” he whistles between his teeth as he sees the dress I wear with my Louboutins. “Look at you, how did your meeting go?”
“Hey, handsome,” I kiss him, gripping him around the waist as he motions for me to sit in the booth. We’re same-side sitters and everybody makes fun of us, but I love being pressed up against his hard body. I curl my hand around his bicep, grabbing for my drink. “It went well, they approved me!”
“I’m so damn proud of you, and I know Annabelle is, too.”
He hugs me to him with his arm around my neck, and I revel in the scent of his cologne. Nothing makes me feel more at home than that smell and the scratch of his beard on my forehead. “I’m proud of myself,” I admit. “I wasn’t sure if the bank would go for it, if they’d be willing to release my trust fund to me. Ya know so I could turn around and basically give it away.”
“You’re gonna change people’s lives, Blaze. I mean completely change them. People who weren’t sure if they were ever going to have a chance will have one now, because of you.”
I duck my head because it’s embarrassing to get this much praise. All I want, more than anything, is for someone besides me to have a memory of my sister, and I know the Annabelle Coleman Foundation will do just that for so many people. My goal is to give anyone with a mental illness the chance to get help, regardless of age, race, or creed. I want to make it readily available in our community. “I’m talking to the attorney tomorrow about finishing up the paperwork to make everything legal, and I’m looking at the building down the street from the EMS station for a possible office space. I’m excited Trevor, more excited about this than I have been for anything in a long time – I feel like I’m making a difference. We should be able to start talking to groups next month!”
“You are, babe, you’re changing the world, one day at a time. Hell, you changed mine just by being in it, imagine what you’re going to do when you set your mind to it.”
His unwavering faith is all I need, and it’s everything I’ll ever want in this life. No matter the trials I’ve gone through, I’m damn lucky to be where I am now.
Tank
I head back to work with a smile on my face, I’m so damn proud of Blaze. She’s taken a situation many people wouldn’t have been able to understand and is turning it into a platform to help others in the same situation. Not many people in this world would give away their money like this, but the woman I love? She’s amazing like that.