Loving Me, Trusting You(66)

From his pocket, he pulls out a ring. It's wrapped in tissue paper and rusty as hell, but the red jewel in the center shimmers with secrets.

“I got it a long, long time ago,” he tells me, voice soft, catching a ride to my ears on the gentle breeze that salts the air and stings the eyes. I wipe the liquid from my face and try to stay still. My hands shake, but I pretend not to notice and so does he. “When I first told you I loved you. I bought it then, and I've been cartin' it around ever since. It's a little worse for wear, but I couldn't think of anything else worthy enough to take its place.” Gaine reaches out and takes my hand, and I let him. He uncurls my fingers with his and sets the ring down gently, like it's worth a million bucks.

I stare at it for a long while, listening as the group gets closer, moving in towards us in a drone of revving bikes and howling spirits. I think of Tray, but only briefly, just enough to know that this is different, that Gaine and I are meant to be in ways he and I never were.

I should think long and hard about this. Lord knows mi abuela is probably spinning in her grave now, clucking her tongue at me and telling me that no man is worth it. But this one is. This one is more than just a man. This is Gaine Kelley, and I'm in love with him.

“I love you.” The words burst from my mouth before I can stop them, before I can overanalyze my feelings and come up with something different to say, something bitter, something that isn't half as truthful. I've f*cking fallen for him, after all this time. Or maybe I've been in love all along and never knew it? Whatever the case, his hands find my hips and lift me up, knocking the helmet to the ground where it clatters in the silent, still air. His lips find mine and we kiss a kiss that can never be topped, that tastes like self-discovery and fresh beginnings. It isn't sour, doesn't reek of old, and best of all, it means something. No, not something, everything.

“I love you, too,” he says before sealing the deal with a sizzling tangle of tongues and hands that rove too much for this wide open parking lot. I push back with a gasp and look him in eyes that sparkle. “I sure as shit hope that's a yes,” he whispers against my lips, dark hair teased by the breeze, body hot as coals against mine. “Because if it's not, I'm going to look like the world's biggest f*cking * when the rest of Triple M shows up.”

I think for another second, just one more second to be sure, but I don't need even that. My heart is beating now, climbing faster and faster with each passing second. Warm blood flows through my veins and heats up my thighs, teases my nipples, warms my chest. I'm ready for the road, for the future, and I'm finally f*cking ready for Gaine Goddamn Kelley.

“Yes.” That's all I have to say, and that's enough. He knows. He smiles; I smile.

By the time our MC pulls into the parking lot, we've already said I do.





If you enjoyed this, try the Never say Never Series.





Excerpt Included!





1





Rick is a perfectly nice guy.

But not for me.

Rick is the kind of guy you can take home to your family, show off, and know that at the end of the day, he'll be there for you. I'm not into guys like Rick. I should be, but I'm not. I think there's something wrong with me. I need a guy like Rick to put me on the straight and narrow, to help me stop doing the things I shouldn't be doing and start doing the things I should.

Right now, my back is to a wall and I'm kissing the neck of a guy I don't know. My therapist says it's because I have 'daddy' issues. Like that's supposed to mean something to me. How can I have daddy issues when I barely knew the prick? He didn't walk out on me and mom like my therapist thinks. She thinks that because I've never told her the truth. My dad died right in front of my eyes, called out my name seconds before the light went out of his face and left him cold. That's all I remember about him. Other than that, my mind is a blank, a series of shadowy pictures without words. They don't make any f*cking sense.

The guy I'm kissing unbuttons his pants. I think about telling him to use a condom, but I just don't feel like it. I'm on the pill anyway. He thrusts into me while I'm watching Rick through a crack in the door. He's drinking punch, not alcohol, and smiling with big, wide teeth in a face that's handsome, but not too handsome. Rick's the kind of guy that your friends compliment you on, tell you he's gorgeous, but they never try to sleep with him. The ones they really want, the dangerous ones, the ones with pasts that burn like fire and melt everything around them … Those are the guys that I always seem to fall for. The one I'm having sex with right now is one of those. I don't even know his name.

“I love you,” the guy says over and over, and I roll my eyes. I've heard it before, a hundred times, and I just don't want to hear it anymore. I pretend to have an orgasm, moaning and groaning and scratching his back, and all the while, I'm watching Rick. We have a date tomorrow night that I think I'm going to cancel. I thought maybe I'd take Rick out, see how chivalrous he really was, but tonight, he's wearing khaki pants and a red sweater. I don't date guys like Rick.

The guy I'm f*cking finishes and tells me how great I am. Then he disappears and I don't see him again, not that night or any other. I light a cigarette and leave the room before any of the drunken idiots at the party stumble in and find me there with my panties around my ankles. I step out of them and stuff them in my pocket, aware that my skirt is too short and that my ass is hanging out. I just can't seem to find it in myself to care.