Alison walks over and pulls me into her arms. “I’m glad you’re okay.”
The back of my nose burns. “Thank you.”
She pulls back, gives me a reassuring smile, before hugging her brother. “Love you.”
“Love you too,” he tells her before she leaves, her husband pulling her into his arms.
We head back to the car and I stop at the door, grimacing. “I’m sorry.”
He presses my back to the door, brushing my hair over my shoulders. “Don’t ever apologise because of them. This has been a long time coming.”
I grip his waist. “Still, that was a lot.”
“I’ll get over it,” he tells me, before leaning down, pressing his forehead against mine. “What I won’t ever unhear is that you wanted to die.”
I tense, my blood freezing. “I couldn’t stop the thoughts.”
“Promise me,” he croaks out before clearing his throat. “Promise me if you ever feel like that again you’ll come to me.”
I smile, running my fingers through his hair. “You’ll never have to worry about those thoughts again.”
“Yeah?”
“Yes, because the morning after, I realised I had a lot to live for, even if I didn’t know what that was.”
“Good,” he breathes out.
I hike my leg up, running it up his leg. “Now we have the night free, what should we do.”
His eyes darken as he runs a hand up my thigh, stopping to cup my arse. “We have most nights free.”
I pout. “But we’re all dressed up.” His muscles tense as I run my finger down his hard abs. “It would be a shame for that to go to waste.”
His fingers tense on my arse as he leans down, his lips a breath away from mine. “What I have planned doesn’t involve clothes.”
I grin, glad the disaster of tonight has been somewhat washed away. “Oh yeah?”
“Yes,” he replies, his voice like silk, rich and dark. “Get in the car.”
I drop my leg and turn to pull open the door, and before I can get in, Drew pulls me back, running his hands over my stomach. “Thank you.”
“For what,” I whisper. His breath against the sensitive area under my ear has the tiny hairs standing on edge.
“For what you said, for how you see me. Thank you.”
“You never have to thank me for telling the truth.”
He runs his nose along my neck, a small groan passing through his lips. “No, but I will.”
He helps me into the car, and before he can shut the door, I see the appreciation on his face. It’s deep, strong, and it makes the back of my throat burn. My words hadn’t just meant something to him, they had meant everything to him.
And I realise, I’m not the only one who has insecurities. He has them too.
People see my size and find me intimidating.
Women are sometimes scared of me.
I remember him saying those words; how he hated that he couldn’t get them to see him differently. I close my eyes, stopping the tears from flowing. For as long as we are together, whether that is for a day or forever, I promise to make sure he knows how special he is.
Because he isn’t just my hero, my saviour.
I swallow deeply as it hits me.
He’s the man I was searching for.
He’s the one.
The love of my life.
My forever.
My dream.
CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
MADISON
Life.
It isn’t just the babies birthed or the essence we breathe. It’s all around us. Life is in the air, in the trees, in the weeds that grow in your garden. It’s in your home, in your work, and in those around you.
For as long as I can remember, the earth has fascinated me. How a flower blossoms from a meagre seed, how fruit and vegetables grow from the ground or from a tree.
All of it.
And with each plant, each flower or piece of food, I became more fascinated, wanting to learn everything I could about them. Flowers come first. My aunt Teagan had taken me to the flower shop when I was little and seeing all those vibrant colours come to life, made into bouquets or arrangements, I had to know more. From there, I studied every one of those flowers. Some I remembered, some I didn’t. Either way, they all held meanings or sentiments.
When Charlotte first admitted about the flowers she had been receiving, my attention to detail screamed at me to find out what they meant and where they had come from. It has been an obsession of mine since that day, and it’s killing me that I can’t find out where these plants have been coming from.
Hayden turns down the radio that has been playing some crazy rap song. “Are you going to sulk all the way home or are we going to hash this out?”
“Stop making it sound like you have hours left of the drive. We are going to be back within the next thirty minutes. If these arseholes learned how to drive, we’d have been back way before now.” I honk the horn when another dickhead cuts in front of me, forcing me to put my foot on the break sharply.
Hayden grabs the dashboard, breathing heavily. “I love my life and I don’t want to die.”
“I’m not the one driving like a race car wanker.”
Throwing herself back into the chair, my feisty cousin lets out a breath. “I’m sure we’ll find someone willing to speak to us.”
She’s on about the flowers again. I’m still searching for the person who purchased them, to no avail.
“It’s pointless. No one is going to tell us. Maybe they’ll tell the police. I don’t know. It’s the only lead we have on who is doing this.”
“Landon has gone with Aunt Kayla to visit that last girl.”
“The one who kept putting it off?” I reply.
“Yeah. Apparently, she saw the news with his picture and recognised him. She wants to help Charlotte.”
“Help her how? They can’t stop the police looking at her as a suspect; not now they know who he is. We wanted their help searching for him, or at least to find out his real name. None of us knew he was fucking dead while we were searching for him.”
She glances down at her phone. “He said it’s the same story as the others and she wasn’t much help with any clues as to who it is. None of them received any flowers after.”
“Didn’t he say weird shit happened to them after?”
She nods as I maneuverer the car into the next lane. “Yes. One lost her job. One of them were disowned by their family after a picture of her stripping was revealed. And I’m sure the last girl said she was broken into the week he left her.” I watch as she grips her knees, her breath shuddering. “He did the same thing to each girl. Charming, sweet, and attentive but the minute he got them in that bed, inside them, he turned into a brutal prick. He didn’t stick around after, leaving them lying there, broken and hurt as he hurled abuse at them, saying they were dirty and unclean.”
“Charlotte said he didn’t do that. He tried to—”
“Control her,” Hayden interrupts. “With Charlotte, he had a hold on her that I think he didn’t get with the others. I could be wrong but that’s my thought on it. He hurt her, I’m not disputing that, but it wasn’t the same as the others.”