Thief (A Bad Boy Romance)(9)

“What the heck is he doing home is the real question.”

It’s the only question. It’s the question making my damn head spin as I stare out the window, totally lost in it as we pull through my parent’s neighborhood.

Stella coughs.

“Hmm?”

She gives me a look. “What’s he doing in Shelter Harbor?”

“You’re not going to believe it.”

“Try me.”

“Dad’s dedication.”

“Pop-pop!” Carter crows from the backseat.

Stella balks. “You’re sh-” she catches herself. “You’re s-h-i-t-t-i-n-g me,” she spells out.

“Oh,” I smile thinly. “It gets better. Rowan invited him.”

Stella whistles lowly. “Remind me to kill our brother.”

“Me first.”

“So that’s going to be fun with Blaine coming,” Stella says dryly. “Wait, he doesn’t know about-”

I shake my head, looking out the window.

“You haven’t somehow fixed that thing and forgotten to tell me have you?”

“It’s on my to-do list.”

It was never going to be a “forever” secret. But we were young, and in love, and what started as a silly conversation in the back of his pickup under the stars one summer night turned into reality. Because when you’re eighteen and head over heels madly in love, you don’t think about the what-ifs, or what-may-comes.

You only know one moment, sharing one heart with the boy you know without question is the one - the only one who’ll ever matter.

“Distance is going to suck.”

His arms are around me as I sit between his legs, leaning against his chest and staring up at the starry night sky.

“It’s only New York.” His lips brush my neck, sending a glow through my body as I sink back into him. His arms growing a little tighter - the move protective and comforting, and it makes me grin. Because it says that even as tough and as brave as the boy holding me is - even as fearless as he is with everything he’s gone through in his life - the thought of me leaving has him holding on to me, like he’s afraid to let me go.

“Besides, you know I’ll be down there all the damn time.”

“It’s an all-girl’s dorm,” I pout, my hands sliding over his arms and entwining in his.

“Then I’ll dress in drag.”

I giggle, turning back to press my lips to his. My eyes flutter open halfway through the kiss, flitting over his serene, happy face as he kisses me, and drinking in this perfect moment.

“I just want this to be forever,” I say quietly, pulling away.

“It is forever, Ivy-girl,” he murmurs, those eyes of his darting across my face, that roguish grin stretching across his face.

I sink back into his arms as we both look up at the stars again.

“What if it really WAS forever,” he says after a moment.

I rake my teeth across my lip as the grin pulls at the corners of my mouth. “What do you mean?”

He chuckles, the sound rumbling through his chest. “You know what I mean. What if it really was forever? What would you do if I asked?”

I can feel this feeling of pure euphoria exploding through me, my eyes shining at the corners and the glowing feeling of his embrace buzzing through every nerve in my body.

“Well, you’d have to get me a ring first,” I say primly, surpassing the giggle that comes to my lips.

“What if I already had my eye on one?”

I smile hugely as I turn back over my shoulder to look up into his face. “Does it come with a receipt?”

He winks. “You really want to know?”

I shake my head side-to-side.

“So, if I got you a ring, and I asked-”

“I’d probably have to say yes,” I manage to spill out before I turn in his arms, wrap mine around him, and kiss him with everything I have.

Two weeks later, we’re saying I do in the rectory of a church two towns away before Sunday mass.

Three days after, my whole life changes.

When it all blew up, I finally caved and told my older sister, because keeping it inside after all that may have killed me.

Him leaving like that almost did.

Suffice it to say, that little piece of trivia has never made it past Stella.

We pull around the corner, and suddenly I’m right back in my old neighborhood - right back where we grew up.

It’s strange being here - so familiar, with everything exactly how it was.

Hell, even Silas is back.

“Your to-do list?” Stella spits out as we pull into my parents’ driveway. The huge old farmhouse-style with the wrap-around porch brings a smile to my face despite the run down memory lane.

“Uh, maybe bump that to the top of your list, Ivy.” Stella frowns. “You don’t have to tell Blaine about him, but if things between you get more serious, it’s going to come up. I mean, legally-speaking.”