Chapter Twenty-Six
Harley
When I got back to Scot's room after my appointment with Doc, I was surprised to find him and Rafael alone. When Scott lifted the blanket for me to crawl into the bed, I settled between his strong thighs and carefully eased my weight back against him. I stayed quiet, snuggled up against Scott's chest until the door closed behind the detective.
"I'm still in trouble, huh?"
Scott chuckled, the sound vibrating through his chest and making me smile. "I know you don't remember, but that's really nothing new." He kissed the top of my head. "I have a little experience putting out your fires." Another kiss, this one on my cheek. "Truthfully, though, this one isn't your fault, love."
"Are you sure?"
"I am." Scott shifted, pulling me higher so he could see my eyes. "I need you to tell me something, though." His turquoise gaze was steady and his face serious. "Are you sure that you want to marry me? Without your memories of our past, how can you be sure that this is what you want?"
Oh.
I laid my palm on his cheek, stroking over the stubble I found there and shook my head. "I don't need for my mind to remember," I said softly. "From the first time we met in the woods, something about you was so familiar and every time that we're together, your presence soothes my soul." I stretched up the tiniest bit to press our lips together. "I don't know if my mind ever will, Scott, but my heart does remember."
I settled back as he tightened his arms around me. "But what about you? What if I'm always like this?" I worried my lip with my teeth. "Doc isn't sure that I'll ever be normal again."
Scott huffed a sigh in my ear. "Baby, normal's a setting on the damned dryer. Even if we had to start new every day, it would be perfect because I'd be with you."
"Do..do you think Zade will let us? He seems pretty much against it."
"I don't think it's going to matter, Har." Scott sounded pretty sure of himself. "I think that maybe it's time to take matters into our own hands and let the courts sort it out." One warm hand slid up the back of my shirt to stroke my back. "For now, we're safe here, so we might as well get some rest. We'll worry about the rest once I'm done healing."
~*~
Exactly a week after my massive screw up had gotten Scott stabbed, the doctor handed him the signed hospital discharge forms.
"Are you sure we can do this?" It had been two days since Scott had kicked Rafael out of his hospital room and instructed the staff not to allow anyone but me into the room and I totally expected Zade or the detectives to be lurking around every corner, just waiting to grab me.
Still, as nervous as I was, I was a thousand times more excited as I followed Scott out of the hospital to a waiting Uber.
"I am absolutely positive," he assured me again, tugging me into the backseat with him. "All we have to do is get the van and then we're on our way."
The van was parked in the shade of the massive pine tree, exactly where it had been when I'd snuck out for my ill-fated trip to the Oh! Club. Scott waited patiently for me to climb into the passenger seat and fasten my seatbelt before he closed my door and slid into the driver's seat next to me.
"Ready?"
"Yeah, I think so."
"You're sure that you don't need to pick anything up before we leave?"
I laughed and smoothed the wrinkled scrubs top. "Although, I guess it would be nice to have a change of clothes."
Scott snickered and winked at me as he pulled the van slowly out onto the road, raising a hand to wave to a little girl who was climbing a tree. "Don't worry about that. We can stop and pick some stuff up." He hesitated, a faint flush creeping up his cheeks. "And, ah, there might be a few of your things in the back that will still fit."
"Really?" I asked curiously. "But I thought you said I'd never been in the van before?"
"You hadn't," Scott sighed. "When we were separated, you still had some stuff at my apartment, so I brought it with me. Just in case."
"You're amazing." I reached for his hand and squeezed it.
Scott laughed self-consciously. "I don't even know what all is back there. Maybe you should hold back that assessment until after you know what you have."
"Nope," I disagreed, squeezing his hand again before reaching for the tuning knob on the radio. "It's definitely the thought that counts."
And, as it turned out a few hours later when we had stopped for the night, in addition to a change of clothes, there were definitely a few things in the drawer where he was storing my stuff that gave us both plenty to think about.
