My hand closed over his on my face, and my fingers sank in between his fingers. Our hands laced together.
“Why didn’t you just say something in the beginning?”
“Because you were hiding. How could I ask you to leave your normal life?”
I closed my eyes, drawing in a breath. My God. I’d almost left him. Hearing this…an ache tunneled its way below my chest. “I’m sorry.”
“No, Jordan.” He leaned forward, his forehead resting on mine. “I didn’t tell you, and I should’ve. I should’ve prepared you for my sister, too. She’s somewhat apologized to me.”
A slight laugh left me. I looked back up to him. “Your sister’s a bitch.”
He grinned. “That’s an understatement.”
My hand tightened around his. This, right here, was mine now.
His thumb caressed over my cheek, tenderly moving up and down. “Jordan, I have some things I have to come clean about.”
I sucked in my breath, but I waited.
He started so quietly, “When I saved you, it wasn’t all about you. Some of it was about saving my sister, or at least that was why I went to your house. I saw you in that window, and something came over me. I didn’t know what it was then, and to be honest, I didn’t ever analyze it. I just knew that I had to protect you. If I didn’t, I knew I’d be losing something integral to me. It was like I’d be losing a part of me. When I went to your room, I stopped thinking, and I only felt. I was acting on a deep primal level in me.
“The trial happened then, and you came to watch. You were there most of the days. I never told you how much I appreciated you coming, but I did. You never said anything to me, but I knew you were supporting me.”
I was. He’d saved me.
He kept going, his chest rising as he drew in a pocket of air, “I was watching you when they gave the verdict. You started crying when they said I was guilty.”
More tears fell down my face.
He wiped them away and smiled up to me. “That meant more than anything to me. Honestly.”
“You gave me a life,” I whispered to him, looking away. “And they were taking yours.”
His hand tightened on my head. He tilted me back to see him. There was nothing—no resentment, no anger, no bitterness. Nothing. Only warmth. Only love. I was becoming a blubbering idiot because of it.
His eyes roamed over me. “Going to prison sucked. I can’t say otherwise. When I was in prison, I never blamed you. I stabbed him seventeen times. A part of me should’ve been there in prison. Seventeen times is excessive. The verdict was right. I’m not saying I wanted to be there, but I understood it.
“Getting released early was a gift, and it’s not one I’m taking lightly. I have bad stuff inside of me. What I did was bad. That was dark and maybe even evil, but I want to do right. I have to. That’s what the foster care building is for me. It’s my way of giving back. It sounds cheesy, but it’s true. I want to build a place where it’s better, where foster kids can go any time. It’ll be their constant when they move from home to home. I wanted your input on the building, and I was going to ask if you’d help me raise awareness for it, but then I found you and I knew I’d be asking you to ‘come out.’ I would be ruining your life again.”
“You wouldn’t.”
“Asking you to come out of hiding? You wouldn’t be normal. You won’t be now either, but somewhere down the line, it stopped being about the building, and it became about seeing you. I was falling for you more and more.
“I wanted to protect you, then and now. I sent my team away. I didn’t want their input. They were there to help protect me in case the DA tried to charge me again. They wanted to make sure I wouldn’t do anything that could incriminate me. They were never about hurting you. I swear to Snark, I never would’ve allowed it either.”
I nodded, letting his words wash over me. My lips twitched. Snark would’ve loved that comment.
“I fell deeper and deeper in love with you.”
“Really?”
He nodded, cupping both sides of my face now. “Yes. I think I fell in love with you the moment I saw you in that window.”
That moment…it was the worst one in my life. Now it was the best.
My throat wasn’t working. No words could get out. My entire face was wet from my tears. I couldn’t get them to stop either. Nothing was working, so my hands closed over his, and I just held on.
“I love you, Jordan,” he said. “I should’ve said all of this to you last night, or hell, even before then. When I woke up this morning, I felt it in my soul that you were gone. I just can’t lose you. That’s all I know. I love you, Jordan Emory.”
A baseball-sized lump was at the bottom of my throat, but I needed him to feel how much I felt the same. My hands gripped his so hard. “I love you, too. I don’t know when it happened, but I realized it after the interview. I haven’t been able to stay away from you.”
Relief showed on his face before his lips were on mine.
After that, as I wound my arms tight around his neck, pressing myself to get as close to him as possible, nothing else mattered. Everything would be fine. The public, the media, school, and even my job would all work out. It would have to because, for once, I wasn’t going to hide anymore. I loved Kian. I was going to stay by his side, no matter who came after us. There was just no other way. I couldn’t stay away from him.
I clasped on to him tighter, and I wasn’t going to let him go. As if feeling everything I was thinking, Kian lifted me. His lips never left mine. I knew where he was taking me, and my legs wound around his waist. I’d stay all day with him in bed. All day. All night. All week. Just us. That was it. Screw everyone else.
As he took me to the bedroom, laying us both down onto the bed, I welcomed his weight. I savored it because he was here.
He was mine.
When Kian told me he wanted to take me somewhere, I didn’t question the time. Three in the morning was almost normal for us now. That was when we went places, like earlier in the week. We filmed our first interview together. It was kept a secret. I was nervous, but Laura said it went great. And if Kian’s publicist approved, that was all that mattered. I was learning it was better to get along with the petite and feisty bombshell, then go against her. She proved to be invaluable. Since my own interview, when I mentioned Justin by name, social media exploded. Someone found out his full name, and outed him where he went to college. A girl came forward, saying he raped her. A second. A third, and two more. Laura sent someone from her team to the town to monitor the situation. She worried Justin would speak out against Kian or myself. He had no grounds to speak publicly against us and she had no idea what he would say, but she was waiting to see if he threw any retribution our way.
“Why didn’t you just say something in the beginning?”
“Because you were hiding. How could I ask you to leave your normal life?”
I closed my eyes, drawing in a breath. My God. I’d almost left him. Hearing this…an ache tunneled its way below my chest. “I’m sorry.”
“No, Jordan.” He leaned forward, his forehead resting on mine. “I didn’t tell you, and I should’ve. I should’ve prepared you for my sister, too. She’s somewhat apologized to me.”
A slight laugh left me. I looked back up to him. “Your sister’s a bitch.”
He grinned. “That’s an understatement.”
My hand tightened around his. This, right here, was mine now.
His thumb caressed over my cheek, tenderly moving up and down. “Jordan, I have some things I have to come clean about.”
I sucked in my breath, but I waited.
He started so quietly, “When I saved you, it wasn’t all about you. Some of it was about saving my sister, or at least that was why I went to your house. I saw you in that window, and something came over me. I didn’t know what it was then, and to be honest, I didn’t ever analyze it. I just knew that I had to protect you. If I didn’t, I knew I’d be losing something integral to me. It was like I’d be losing a part of me. When I went to your room, I stopped thinking, and I only felt. I was acting on a deep primal level in me.
“The trial happened then, and you came to watch. You were there most of the days. I never told you how much I appreciated you coming, but I did. You never said anything to me, but I knew you were supporting me.”
I was. He’d saved me.
He kept going, his chest rising as he drew in a pocket of air, “I was watching you when they gave the verdict. You started crying when they said I was guilty.”
More tears fell down my face.
He wiped them away and smiled up to me. “That meant more than anything to me. Honestly.”
“You gave me a life,” I whispered to him, looking away. “And they were taking yours.”
His hand tightened on my head. He tilted me back to see him. There was nothing—no resentment, no anger, no bitterness. Nothing. Only warmth. Only love. I was becoming a blubbering idiot because of it.
His eyes roamed over me. “Going to prison sucked. I can’t say otherwise. When I was in prison, I never blamed you. I stabbed him seventeen times. A part of me should’ve been there in prison. Seventeen times is excessive. The verdict was right. I’m not saying I wanted to be there, but I understood it.
“Getting released early was a gift, and it’s not one I’m taking lightly. I have bad stuff inside of me. What I did was bad. That was dark and maybe even evil, but I want to do right. I have to. That’s what the foster care building is for me. It’s my way of giving back. It sounds cheesy, but it’s true. I want to build a place where it’s better, where foster kids can go any time. It’ll be their constant when they move from home to home. I wanted your input on the building, and I was going to ask if you’d help me raise awareness for it, but then I found you and I knew I’d be asking you to ‘come out.’ I would be ruining your life again.”
“You wouldn’t.”
“Asking you to come out of hiding? You wouldn’t be normal. You won’t be now either, but somewhere down the line, it stopped being about the building, and it became about seeing you. I was falling for you more and more.
“I wanted to protect you, then and now. I sent my team away. I didn’t want their input. They were there to help protect me in case the DA tried to charge me again. They wanted to make sure I wouldn’t do anything that could incriminate me. They were never about hurting you. I swear to Snark, I never would’ve allowed it either.”
I nodded, letting his words wash over me. My lips twitched. Snark would’ve loved that comment.
“I fell deeper and deeper in love with you.”
“Really?”
He nodded, cupping both sides of my face now. “Yes. I think I fell in love with you the moment I saw you in that window.”
That moment…it was the worst one in my life. Now it was the best.
My throat wasn’t working. No words could get out. My entire face was wet from my tears. I couldn’t get them to stop either. Nothing was working, so my hands closed over his, and I just held on.
“I love you, Jordan,” he said. “I should’ve said all of this to you last night, or hell, even before then. When I woke up this morning, I felt it in my soul that you were gone. I just can’t lose you. That’s all I know. I love you, Jordan Emory.”
A baseball-sized lump was at the bottom of my throat, but I needed him to feel how much I felt the same. My hands gripped his so hard. “I love you, too. I don’t know when it happened, but I realized it after the interview. I haven’t been able to stay away from you.”
Relief showed on his face before his lips were on mine.
After that, as I wound my arms tight around his neck, pressing myself to get as close to him as possible, nothing else mattered. Everything would be fine. The public, the media, school, and even my job would all work out. It would have to because, for once, I wasn’t going to hide anymore. I loved Kian. I was going to stay by his side, no matter who came after us. There was just no other way. I couldn’t stay away from him.
I clasped on to him tighter, and I wasn’t going to let him go. As if feeling everything I was thinking, Kian lifted me. His lips never left mine. I knew where he was taking me, and my legs wound around his waist. I’d stay all day with him in bed. All day. All night. All week. Just us. That was it. Screw everyone else.
As he took me to the bedroom, laying us both down onto the bed, I welcomed his weight. I savored it because he was here.
He was mine.
When Kian told me he wanted to take me somewhere, I didn’t question the time. Three in the morning was almost normal for us now. That was when we went places, like earlier in the week. We filmed our first interview together. It was kept a secret. I was nervous, but Laura said it went great. And if Kian’s publicist approved, that was all that mattered. I was learning it was better to get along with the petite and feisty bombshell, then go against her. She proved to be invaluable. Since my own interview, when I mentioned Justin by name, social media exploded. Someone found out his full name, and outed him where he went to college. A girl came forward, saying he raped her. A second. A third, and two more. Laura sent someone from her team to the town to monitor the situation. She worried Justin would speak out against Kian or myself. He had no grounds to speak publicly against us and she had no idea what he would say, but she was waiting to see if he threw any retribution our way.
