I’m given a blanket to keep warm, and Lucas never leaves my side as they ask me questions and do some basic tests. My dad is getting the same treatment nearby, and I can see Emmett being hauled off into an ambulance across the way, shouting obscenities at the EMTs.
A female police officer comes over with a notebook and both Lucas and I give her our statements. She tells us that we’ll be needed back in San Diego at the station to go over more details, but for tonight, she has all she needs.
My eyes start to get heavy, and I think my adrenaline is crashing because I feel extremely tired all of a sudden.
“Let’s get you back home,” Lucas says and takes my hand in his.
“What about my dad?”
“Give me a second.” He goes over to where my dad is, and I can see them talking and nodding and then shaking hands. “He’s going to get a ride back with one of the police officers. Do you want to go with him?” he asks. I can tell by the way he’s looking at me he’s trying to be polite, but I know he wants to drive me back himself.
“No. I want to go with you. Let me say goodbye to him though.” I shed the blanket and get up to walk over to where my dad is finishing up with the EMTs. “We’re heading out and I just wanted to say goodbye.” I wrap him in a hug.
He squeezes me extra tight before he lets me go. “I’ll be right behind you. We have a lot to talk about, don’t we?” he asks, looking at Lucas and then back at me.
“Yeah…we do.”
“Drive safe, okay? I’ll call you tomorrow.”
I give him one more hug and then head back to Lucas, who is now talking to the man who called himself Mike Miller.
“I’ll debrief you tomorrow. Bring your girlfriend by the station too. We’re going to need a more detailed statement.”
“Yes, sir,” Lucas says and then shakes his hand.
“Ma’am,” Miller says to me and then walks away.
“Are you ready?” Lucas asks.
“I’m ready.”
He steps in front of me and then bends down. “Get on my back.”
I look down at my feet. They’re still bare, and I do as he says and hop on his back. I wrap my arms around his shoulders and my legs around his waist and he grips me under my thighs.We head away from the warehouse and walk down a few streets to where his SUV is parked. Lucas opens the door for me and lifts me onto the passenger seat so I’m facing him at eye level.
He cradles my face in his hands and says, “I am so sorry about today, baby.”
I lightly grab his wrists and rub his pulse points. “There’s nothing to be sorry about. Everything turned out fine.”
“Yeah, but it could have been so much worse.” He leans his forehead against mine.
I breathe him in. “I know. But it all worked out. It’s over. We don’t have anything to worry about anymore.”
He tilts my head and plants a soft kiss on my lips, gently sucking my bottom lip into his mouth.
“I love you,” I say when he pulls away.
When he looked at me and said he loved me in the warehouse, I thought for certain that was going to be the last words he ever said. It would have killed me to have never said those three little words back to him. And I don’t want to waste another second not telling him.
If today has taught me anything, it’s that life can turn for the worse in a split second. Between losing my mom and almost losing Lucas, I don’t want to waste any more time.
“I love you so fucking much,” he says back and tilts my head to slant his mouth over mine. This time he devours me, his tongue tangling with mine, tasting every inch of my mouth.
I wrap my legs around his waist and pull him closer. I know this isn’t the time or the place to get heated, but after everything that happened today, I don’t want to let him go. I can feel his hardened length against my inner thigh, and I try to rub myself on him, getting any type of friction I can.
He pushes his erection into me one last time and then pulls away, leaving me all hot and bothered. “We have a longdrive home,” he says and plants one last lingering kiss on my lips.
I don’t say anything as he puts the seatbelt on me, something I’m perfectly capable of doing myself, and then rounds the car to climb into the driver's seat.
