Scooting over, I crowd her, use her jerk of surprise to wrap my arms around her, and scoop her into me. “Come here.”
“Ren,” she exclaims, struggling slightly. “What are you doing?”
I tighten my arms around her, effectively stopping her half-hearted attempt to extricate herself from my hold. Then I slowly ease us down so she’s cradled in my embrace, her cheek resting in that dip between my pec and my shoulder.
Loosening my grip slightly, I hold my breath, fully expecting her to bolt again. But she doesn’t. She sighs, shakes her head, repeats, “Seriously, Ren. What are you doing?”
I go to reply but end up choking on words I can’t string together because I haven’t the first fucking idea what I’m doing. I fall silent, hoping she’ll let the question rest, but of course, she doesn’t. She pokes me, waiting, so finally I say the only thing I can think of. “Red.”
Her body becomes tense, my response obviously startling her, and I brace myself for her jerking away from me, going for the lights, insisting I provide an answer even though she would not. She sighs again, rubs her cheek against me, her hand settling on my hip where I’m turned slightly toward her.
She doesn’t melt into me like she did earlier, but she also doesn’t pull away, and after a few long moments of silence, she relaxes, falling into a deep sleep.
But I don’t do the same.
Instead, I continue to lie on my back, holding her close while I stare up into the darkness, wondering how the hell I got here.
And where the hell we go from here.
15
NOTHING ELSE MATTERS
CASSIDY
“What the fuck am I doing?”
Staring out the window at the passing scenery, my question is muttered under my breath, meant for my own ears as rhetorical as it is.
“Well, if you don’t know by now, then I’m not sure what we’re doing here,” Issa responds, her tone cheerfully on edge.
Carolina’s face appears in front of me. She grabs my shoulders, then leans in. “Do we need to get you out of here?”
I raise a brow at her, surprised by how easily the mood in the room shifted. “What?”
Carolina’s focus moves to Jessica who is still seated across from us in the limo. “What do you think?”
“You know,” Jessica drawls. “I’m not really sure what to think.”
Carolina’s gaze flits back to mine. “What about you?”
“What about me?” I ask slowly, unsure of what I’m supposed to say.
Issa pipes in from beside me, “They’re assessing if you need to be rescued or not.”
“Oh,” I respond with a laugh. “No, that won’t be necessary but thank you.”
Issa gives me an assessing look. “You want to marry him, right?”
“Yes?” my response comes out as a question.
“That’s reassuring,” Carolina says blandly.
I shrug but say nothing. There really isn’t anything for me to say at this point. I’m here, and we are doing this.
“May I see your vows?” Issa extends a hand toward me, which I then stare at in horror as I croak, “My what?”
“Oh for the love of—” Carolina squeezes my shoulders again. “You wrote your vows, right?”
