“I don’t mind the rain, you know,” Ariana said, her watery smile making my knees buckle as her eyes locked on mine.
“It washes everything away,” I finished for her.
With a nod, she wrapped her arms around my neck again, pulling me into her for a longing kiss as the rain poured around us. And it was there in that moment with us — our fresh start. Our new beginning. No matter how messy it was, it was ours.
“Can we go home?” Ari asked me over the thrum of the rain. Then her expression faltered, uncertainty creeping in as reality tried to assert itself again. “Or— I mean—your home. I don’t… I don’t know what to call it yet.”
I brushed her wet hair back from her face, my thumb tracing her cheekbone, my gaze steady on hers.
“Home is what we make it,” I said quietly. “My house. Your house. A new house altogether — it doesn’t matter.” I leaned in, resting my forehead against hers. “Wherever you are, that’s where home is for me.”
It Happened to You
Ariana
Present
“I wish I could crawl inside your mind right now.”
I blinked, turning toward the deep voice that grounded me. Shane was rolled on his side, his eyes searching mine, fingers sliding up under his t-shirt that I wore and hooking around my hip. His touch was so different than the one I’d had there earlier in the night. Where Nathan’s had been possessive and cruel, Shane’s was tender and assuring.
He was rooting me in a time I could so easily be knocked over.
“It’s not a pretty place,” I muttered, the corner of my lips rising and falling again.
“Tonight was a lot.”
I nodded, rolling toward him and linking our legs together. We’d left the party with all the chaos still happening. Maven and Grace had stopped me long enough to give me a big hug and promise they’d take care of everything in my absence. They assured me they’d send a full update, but insisted I go and get away from the noise.
I was so thankful for their friendship, even if I was still amazed I had it at all.
We’d taken Georgie to a hotel before coming to Shane’s. We would spend Christmas together tomorrow, and then he was flying out on the first flight the following day to get back to school. Of course, he tried to change it after everything happened, insisting he needed to be here, but I assured him the best thing he could do for me was to get back to his life and not worry about me. I was his older sister, the closest thing he had to a parental figure, and the thought of him missing out on school for me was unthinkable. I promised him I’d be okay, and that I’d come visit him soon.
“I’m proud of you,” he’d whispered in my hair during our last hug, one I held tight and didn’t want to break.
It had made tears flood my eyes in an instant.
“I’m sorry I let it get here.”
He’d shaken his head. “You have nothing to apologize for.”
I wished I believed him. I wished I didn’t feel just as much guilt and shame as I did relief lying in Shane’s arms right now.
We’d come back to his place after dropping Georgie off, Shane running me a hot bath and playing my favorite music as he helped me undress and lower into the steaming water. He’d offered me food, but I couldn’t eat. I did drink the water he gave me, though, and accepted his t-shirt. When I slipped it over my head, I sighed, content.
It smelled like him — elemental, all ice and metal and pine.
“Do you want to talk about any of it?” Shane asked, his fingers toying with mine.
I sighed. “I know I should. I just…” I bit my lip. “Shane, I feel so ashamed I ever let it get to this point, that I ever found myself in this position. When he grabbed me tonight, when he threatened me…” I held back tears, shaking my head. “I just couldn’t believe I didn’t see it, that I didn’t realize how bad it was getting.”
Shane nodded in understanding, his eyes falling to where our fingers danced together. “Can I walk you through something?”
I nodded, swallowing past the lump in my throat.
“People like Nathan don’t pick their partners randomly,” he said. “They’re observant. They clock patterns. They notice who’s learned to survive by being agreeable, who’s used to carrying responsibility, who mistakes consistency for safety because they’ve never had anything steady.”
My chest tightened.
