I tug her back down onto me, kissing her hair, and breathing in the scent of her. Home. That’s what that smell is. My girl in my arms. Home. That’s what this feeling is. I never thought I’d get this with her again and she’s here. That’s the only thing that keeps going through my head. Over and over again as if I need the reassurance it’s real.
Emotion mists over my eyes.
“I love you. I love you so much. I’m so sorry for hurting you.”
“No,” she pushes. “You did nothing wrong. No more apologies. I love you and you’re okay. That’s all that matters to me.”
I cradle her tighter against me, cocooning her small body in my large arms.
I was ready to tear down the world to get to her this morning.
I still don’t know how to wrap my mind around this. And then that picture?
Which reminds me. “How did you get that picture of me?”
She adjusts herself so she’s lying on her side, facing me. I mimic her position, reaching over and wrapping a strand of her hair around my finger. Her eyes begin to water again, and I wipe the moisture away as it falls.
Naomi crying guts me.
“It was Florian,” she says, and my eyebrows pinch together in confusion. Florian?
“I don’t remember seeing him there.”
“The girl. The blonde in the picture is a friend or lover or dealer or whatever of his. Casper looked at the picture and recognized her. Florian was the one who came over this morning. He showed me the picture before you even called me.” She sucks in a ragged breath, her expression distraught and dismayed. “He set the whole thing up, Gus. All of it. Casper called him…” She puffs out a heavy breath, trying to rein herself in.
I lean in, pressing my lips to hers. Home.
“It’s okay.”
“No. It’s not okay. Casper put him on speaker. He didn’t know Keith and I were listening, so he told Casper everything. He knew you were at the party and I wasn’t. He had this girl slip you drugs and then stage the picture.” My eyes widen and she leans in, pressing her forehead to mine. “Nothing happened with her.”
I blow out a breath I didn’t even realize I was holding. Nothing happened with her. That’s the relief of my life other than not losing the woman on my bed beside me.
But Florian. I should have fucking known.
I might have to kill him for what he did to me. For what he did to Naomi.
“I’m sorry I didn’t trust you in that. I should have. I should have listened. But—”
“But I have a history of scewing around on girlfriends, and you saw that picture and had every reason to believe this was the same.” I cup her jaw in my hand, tilting her face so our eyes lock. “I don’t have a lot, Naomi. I have my band and my brother and Viola and Adalyn. They’re my people. They’re what matter to me. But you? You’re more than my people. You’re everything about me that matters. I would never cheat on you, beautiful girl, and that’s not because I’m afraid of getting caught or losing you. It’s because other women don’t even hit my radar. They are nothing to me because you are everything.”
She sucks in a breath and smiles. And it’s a real smile. One that says she’s right here with me.
“When we make it out of this madness intact, I’m marrying you.”
Her laugh is light. Happy. Nearly carefree. Nearly. “Is that right?”
“Damn straight.”
“And what if I say no?”
“You won’t. You want to marry me as much as I want to marry you. Think of how cute our babies will be.”
Her face falls and suddenly, I feel like a dick all over again. She’s not even sure if she can have babies.
“Naomi Kent, whether they’re through invitro, surrogate, adoption, or any other method, our babies will be cute because they’re ours. End of story, babe.”
“What did I tell you about calling me babe?” she challenges, a glimmer in her eyes.
“Yeah. I’ve been working on baby, but it just doesn’t roll off my southern boy tongue as easily.”
“Do I look like a babe?”
“You look like my babe. Like my future. Like my life. Thank you for coming. I would have come to you. I would have pounded down your door and demanded you listen. But I’m so happy you’re here. That you did listen.”
She leans in and presses her sweet lips to mine. I open them automatically, slipping my tongue inside for a much-needed taste.
“Do you think you’re strong enough to get up and come out into the living room?”
“Why? Is Ady still jumping all over my couch?”
“No,” she laughs. “I think they felt bad about that and left.”
I grin, rubbing absently at my jaw. “They didn’t have to. Listening to that girl makes all the heavy stuff lighter.”
“Jasper talked me off the ledge.”
“That’s because you’re him and I’m Vi.”
Naomi laughs. Kinda loud and yet feather-light. “I can see that. Up with you, oaf.”
“Oaf,” I bristle. “Woman, I had a rave pumped into me.”
She rolls her eyes. “You look fine to me.” She gets off my bed, helping me to stand and then we leave my bedroom together, hand-in-hand. My legs feel like Jell-O and my body is still not right, but it actually feels good to be up and moving around.
Casper Motherfucking LaCroix is sitting in my kitchen, helping himself to coffee I did not brew at my kitchen island. Keith is standing beside him and I cock an eyebrow. I get a firm nod for that and decide to let it ride. Besides, it’s easier to focus on poor Henry, sick with a nasty cold, who looks like death warmed over.
“Feelin’ alright there, Hank?”
“Fuck off, Gus. You’re lucky I love you. My bed is a far happier place for me than your ugly-ass kitchen.”
I chuckle with a wink in his direction. “Love you too, brother.”
My gaze darts back to Casper, tilting my head as I tell him, “Never forget what you are, for surely the world will not.”
Thankfully the bastard laughs at my Go-T or GoT or Game of Thrones or whatever the hell you call it, reference. “Welcome back to the land of the living, Gus. Glad to see my old buddy didn’t get the best of you.”
“He tried, didn’t he?”
I look to Keith, walking over to him and slapping him hard on the shoulder with an even harder squeeze. His eyes meet mine and he nods a ‘you’re welcome,’ in return.
“Got any more of that for me?” I ask, eyeing his coffee though I think it’s the middle of the afternoon by now. “Bet you’d never guess it to look at me, but my head feels like someone slipped me a pharmacy last night.”
Naomi rolls her eyes, completely unamused. Keith pours me a cup anyway because he’s a good man, and then I settle in front of Casper, giving him the business with my eyes.
“For what it’s worth, I’m sorry he did that to you. He is not the same Florian I once knew. I don’t know if it’s the drugs or losing Naomi or just losing himself, but I’ve tried for two years to help him and after what he did last night, I’m done.”
I nod. I can respect that. “Does this mean I can hire someone to kill him and flush the funds through your account?”