I turned just before I got in, and smiled. “No. What you did that night was more help than I could’ve ever asked for.”
Max nodded after a few seconds, then slowly backed up to let me get in my car. He and Spartacus stood at the end of their driveway and watched until I left a neighborhood I had no intention of ever setting foot in again.
I drove to the address Knox had given me that morning, and found his brand-new truck parked a few houses away, out of sight from the house that was my second stop. He opened the back door to my car as soon as I stopped, and a crooked smile crossed his handsome face when he pulled the boxes out of my backseat.
His smile fell, and he looked at me earnestly. “You’re sure you want to do this?”
I tried not to roll my eyes; he’d asked the same question for almost two weeks now. “Knox. You already know what I decided. I’m keeping the leftover money from the cars, and that’s it.”
“You could still keep whatever you get for the house,” he offered.
I bit my lip. That was the only thing I couldn’t decide on. “I know, I’m thinking about it.” As much as it would help to start a new life in a new house, it still felt like dirty money. Just like the money did that I was using now, but I was forcing myself not to think of it that way. “Anyway, yes, I’m sure I want to do this. Are you sure they’re here?”
“Positive.” Knox’s lips spread into another crooked smile, and he dipped his head to kiss me thoroughly. When he pulled back, pride shone through his eyes, but it didn’t match the mischievous grin now on his face. “Be right back,” he whispered, then took off running across the street with the boxes in hand to leave them on the porch of the house.
The larger box held a pink Superman cape and a large blanket covered in thousands upon thousands of stars for little Natalie—the girl I’d mistaken as Knox’s daughter. Once he told me about the night of the fire and saving her, and seeing her again in the grocery store, I knew we had to do something for their family. And seeing the ruined side of their house from the fire now under construction as I’d driven up, I was happy with what the smaller box held for them.
It’d taken time to get the bank to get all of the cash, but it was the other half of what had been left in our bank account. The note on top of the money said: “Hope this helps—Richland FD.”
I smiled as Knox came running back toward me, and braced myself when he barely stopped in time to pull me into his arms and press his mouth to mine. He tilted me back so I was against my car, and I fell into that kiss.
“You’re incredible,” he whispered against my mouth. And with one more lingering kiss, he straightened us just in time to see Natalie’s mom walk outside and look down at the boxes, then around the street. After another moment passed, she picked up the boxes and carried them into the house. With another smile, Knox opened the door to my car and whispered, “Let’s go.”
Knox
Present Day—Thatch
AFTER SWINGING BY Harlow’s apartment to drop off her car, we’d driven to Thatch to have dinner with everyone at Grey and Jagger’s place, and had spent so long there that we’d decided to stay at my house instead of going back to Richland that night.
Everyone had welcomed Harlow into our little family in a way they never had before, and even after three weeks, there were still times I would catch Harlow staring at one of them with a wide-eyed look—like she didn’t know how to handle them being so nice to her.
Graham and Deacon were now normal around her, if you didn’t count how often they were shoving food in front of her. Grey and Harlow had quickly become close, and while it felt like she was trying to take Harlow from me, I hadn’t mentioned anything, just enjoyed watching Harlow slowly piece bits of herself back together.
Harlow’s smile had slowly become a normal sight, and watching it go from polite and reserved, to genuine and free had been a beautiful thing. Her blue eyes were something in itself to look at. They were haunted, and it was hard to stare into them and wonder what she was thinking, seeing, or feeling at that moment. But at the same time, there was a piece of them that showed the bits of the Harlow I’d fallen in love with all those years ago. It was like both sides of her were fighting each other, and neither was winning yet.
The most noticeable change to everyone else was her weight—which Graham and Deacon were taking credit for. Her face had filled out enough that she almost looked healthy, and while she said she was still two sizes smaller than what she’d been before she’d married Collin, it was a huge difference. She looked more beautiful each day.
For me, it was everything else. It was the way she always found a reason to touch me, the way she no longer had to hold herself together—like she might shatter if she didn’t—and the way it was becoming less often that I had to beg her to come back to me after she woke up screaming in fear. More often than not over the last week, she reached out for me, and brought herself back.
I tilted her head back and passed a brief kiss across her lips as she grabbed a shirt out of one of my drawers to put on, then I walked into the bathroom to take a quick shower so she could have a few minutes to herself. I heard her come in at one point to brush her teeth, but she didn’t say anything, so I didn’t, either.
I knew whenever she got done seeing anyone now, whether it was her family or my friends, she needed time to just breathe and unwind since she was still getting used to people talking so freely about how Collin had been. But I’d also learned not to offer to give her the entire night to herself. She said she wanted me near her, and I didn’t want to be anywhere else.
My heart pounded faster when I walked out of the bathroom and saw her sitting on my bed. I didn’t know if I would ever get used to seeing her there, waiting for me, but I knew I didn’t want to. I wanted to always be overwhelmed by how beautiful she was, and always wonder how she could still want me after all the bullshit we’d endured.
Harlow’s head dropped, and she stared at where her hands were twisting together. “You don’t call me yours anymore.”
My lips twitched in amusement, since I’d just been thinking something close to that, but there was no humor in my voice when I declared, “You are mine.”
She lifted her head to look at me thoughtfully. “You said it a lot when I was married. It took me a while to realize it, but you haven’t said it since Collin died.”