Fireball (Cheap Thrills #1)(63)

“See ya in a bit, Sheriff,” Tabby called through it, the sound of her laughter moving down the hallway as she walked toward the door that led out to where the Townsends were waiting.

The Townsends…of fucking course they were involved. The big betraying bastards!





Four hours later…

Four hours they had left me in here on my own. And, yes, I was on my own because Raoul had let Jarrod out an hour after I’d been locked in, laughing when he’d wished me luck as he left. It hadn’t seemed so bad when I’d been on the other side of the door and Tabby had been the one in here. Now? Yeah, I wasn’t finding this shit amusing anymore. An hour I could have tolerated, even two at a push. Three I’d have been irritated at, so four? Fucking. Pissed. Off.

Just then, the window in the door opened, and she looked through it at me wearing swimming goggles. Goggles! I wasn’t going to lower myself to her level though – plus I’d been too focused on nursing my snit that it hadn’t occurred to me to use her own tricks against her. Instead, I turned my head away from her to look at the wall.

“Dave?” I wasn’t giving her anything, so I shifted my body further away from her. “You can’t be pissed at me.”

Yes, yes, I could be pissed at her.

“Right,” she drawled. “Anyway, I only came down to ask if you’d changed your mind yet?”

That had spinning around to face her in shock.

“What do you mean?” I asked, wondering if I’d finally pushed her over the edge. I knew I shouldn’t have listened to Hurst. I should’ve just put it in her drink, or asked when we were eating – both of which weren’t what I’d originally had planned either. To be fair, I’d planned on putting her in here if she said no, but I’d been so sure that she’d say yes that it had only been an option, not part of the plan.

“Well, I was just wondering if you were going to ask me properly?”

Scanning what I could see of her face and seeing that she was serious, I mulled it over. It wasn’t that I didn’t want to do it, I just wanted to do it right this time. Finally, finding what I wanted to say, I got up and stretched out, making a show of reaching up to the ceiling, and taking my time. Not being an asshole, but I’d been in here for four hours, had I said that yet?

Walking toward her slowly, I nodded. “Ok, you’re right.”

Obviously not expecting me to do it, she asked cautiously, “I am?”

Reaching the door, I braced a hand above the window and leaned into it. “You are. You deserve for me to do this properly.”

“I do?”

“Mm hmm, you do. If I get down on a knee, you won’t see me with the door shut though, so you’ll have to open it.”

Studying my face to see if I was telling the truth, she eventually gave in and unlocked it. Just as it swung open, a hand appeared behind her back and she was shoved in through the gap, the door making a loud bang as it shut behind her. Glaring at the window in it, I saw the shitheads from outside all pushing each other out the way to see what was going on. They could swing by their balls from a fishing pole for all I cared, this was about Tabby and me and the rest of our lives together.

So, getting down on one knee, I took the hand I’d put the ring on, relieved that it was still on there, and flew by the skin of my taint.

“Tabitha Newton, you’re the best thing that’s ever happened to me. Over the last eight months I’ve started making plans I never thought I’d make all of them revolving around a pink haired fireball with a love for life, who makes me feel like I’ve wasted years of my own. I want all of those plans and dreams to become a reality, to wake up every morning with your hair across my chest, to have little baby fireballs with you, and to spend the rest of my life enjoying your brand of mayhem.” The peanut gallery outside the door snorted at that, but I didn’t take my eyes off her. “You’ve already given me so much, but would you do me the honor of becoming my wife?”

She didn’t even take a second to think about it, launching herself at me, and taking me down to the floor with her arms wrapped tightly around my neck. “Yes! I love you. Yes, yes, yes.”

I was seeing dancing spots because she was squeezing me so hard as everyone outside the cell congratulated us. I tried tapping her on the back to get her attention, hoping that she’d look and see what she was doing to me, but she didn’t notice it. In the end, it was a hard pinch to her butt cheek that did it, and my face must have been either bright red or blue because she let go immediately.

“Oops!”

Holding a hand up, I gulped in some oxygen and waited for the tunnel that’d been taking over to recede. When it did, I said four words I’d forgotten to add into the proposal. “I love you too.”

The door creaked open as the men came inside to help us up off the ground, all of them pounding me on the back and giving Tabby a hug.

Just then, a voice I hadn’t expected to hear called out, “You better take care of her, you hear?”

Looking over to see Jose in the doorway holding Olivia who was clapping and giggling, I gave the best reassurance I could. “With my last breath.”

It wasn’t a lie. And if she ever put herself in danger, I knew where to put her until she had a chance to rethink her choices.

Tabby