Then we’ll learn together,I say.Just…don’t shut me out.Please.
Her shoulders slump, the fight slowly draining out of her.
I’m so tired of being scared,she whispers.
I got you, Eddie.I got you,I say.
For a long moment, we just stand there, breathing the same air, the weight of the last week heavy around us.Then she moves.One step forward.Then another.Until she’s close enough to reach.
I don’t pull her in.
She grabs my hoodie and fists her hands in the fabric, tugging me down into a kiss that shatters whatever distance we’ve been trying to maintain.
It’s not soft this time.
It’s hungry.Desperate.Full of all the words she doesn’t have yet.
I kiss her back, one hand sliding into her hair, the other settling at her waist, anchoring her to me.
She breaks away on a gasp.Tell me again,she demands.
I love you,I say against her mouth.You.Joey.This.
She makes another broken sound and kisses me again, deeper, backing us toward the couch.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
EDDIE
I don’t recognize myself.
The me I’d been for fourteen years would have backed away.Would have thanked him for the speech, changed the subject, made tea, and rebuilt the walls brick by careful brick.
This me?This me is done hiding.
Grabbing his hand, I lead him down the hallway in the opposite direction of Joey’s bedroom.Opening the laundry room door, I yank him inside and quietly close it.Then, I push his hoodie up, palms skimming warm skin.He hisses in a breath, eyes darkening.
Eddie…
I missed you so much,I say, voice shaking.I want you here.In all of it.No more halfway.
His answering groan goes straight through me.
He lets me lead.For once, I don’t feel like I have to wait and see what he wants first.
I tug his hoodie off.He helps me out of my sweater.We find each other again in a tangle of hands and mouths and whispered, fractured assurances.
I’ve got you,he murmurs as he presses me against the wall.
No,I whisper back, braver than I’ve ever been.We’ve got each other.
Clothes fall away, forgotten.The world outside shrinks until it’s just this room.This man keeps showing up, even when I tried to push him away.
When he slides his hands down my sides, when I shift over him, when we find a rhythm that feels like coming home, it isn’t just about bodies.
I love you,I say, breathless, the words tearing free without hesitation this time.
His eyes burn into mine.Say it again.
