A door slams, stomping vibrating down the hallway. My dad appears in the doorway, glancing at Cullen and me. His face twists, jaw tensing as he turns and storms down the stairs. The front door slams with enough force to shake the frame.
“I have faith in your dad.” Cull holds me tighter, the pressure both comforting and suffocating.
“He’s right, you know.”
Cullen stiffens, then pulls back to meet my eyes. “Your dad is wrong about a hell of a lot.”
Too late. The words already carved themselves into my bones.
“The last time I had a major panic attack, he carried me inside like a baby. My legs gave out from crying and not being able to breathe. I couldn’t even stand. That wasn’t the first time, and it won’t be the last. Is that really something you want to take on?”
“Yes,” he growls. It’s not sexy, just fierce. Protective.
“You say that, but I’m difficult, Cull. You’ve seen what it looks like when the dark wins. You’ll exhaust yourself trying to fix me, and I’ll exhaust myself hiding it. That’s not how a relationship should be. We should just—”
“Don’t you fucking dare finish that sentence.” He storms to my closet and snatches my duffel off the ground, throwing clothes in without looking.
“What are you doing?” I ask, drained.
“Packing your shit so you can come stay with me.”
“Cull,” I sigh. I’ve already resigned myself to ending this, to protect him from me.
He doesn’t respond. Just keeps packing like a man on a mission.
“Cullen, would you stop?”
“You stop, Hudson!” he shouts, flinging the duffel on the bed, clothes tumbling out.
“Stop trying to be some fucked-up version of a martyr. You don’t get to decide what I am or am not willing to do for you. You don’t get to tell me what’s best for us while ignoring what I want. Don’t you dare diminish how much I love you by pretending I’d be better off without you.”
I just stare. Torn between running away and collapsing into his arms.
Cullen steps in close and cups my neck, all fury gone. “I love you. I told you, and I’ll keep telling you. I will give you every ounce of my energy, every day, if it makes you feel one fraction better. You aremine.” His eyes penetrate my soul, soft but determined. “You can try to scare me away, but I’m not going anywhere. Do you hear me?”
My chest caves under the weight of everything.
I begin to cry.
Again.
I’m seriously in danger of losing my man card at this point.
He pulls me into his chest and strokes the back of my head. I grip his waist, never wanting to let go. “I’m sorry. I love you so damn much. I just… I feel like I’m going to hold you back.”
“Baby,” he murmurs, “you can’t hold me back when you are my finish line. If we have to walk through hell to get there, I’ll do it with a smile.”
Fuck, I love him. I don’t know what I did to deserve him, but I’ll find out and do it again and again until I get him in every lifetime.
“Let’s get your stuff and get out of here.”
I nod and check the bag. He did a decent job, though it looks like he was packing for me to move out permanently.
“I just need my toiletries, underwear, and—”
He holds up my meds before I can finish, like he read my mind. I take them, shove them in the side pocket of the bag, and exhale the last of my anxiety.
With everything packed, we head out. I lean my head against the cool glass of the passenger side window of Cullen’s truck, watching the road blur by. I didn’t feel like driving, so I’ll have to get my car later.
