The Cab is maybe not the strongest name, though.
Then again—why not? It works for Fake Taxi.
…which is porn, not a rock band.
It transforms her entire face, splits her open with joy so pure and unfiltered it makes my throat tight, because this—this right here—is who she was always meant to be.
“Me too,” she says breathlessly. “Yes.”
I laugh quietly, the sound pulled out of me without permission, because her happiness is so simple, so undemanding, so devastating in its innocence, and I know in that moment there is nothing on this earth I wouldn’t give to see it again and again for the rest of my life.
“There are some Nike trainers in a box in our bedroom,” I tell her. “Socks in the top drawer.”
She doesn’t hesitate.
She runs to me.
Launches into my arms with absolute trust, her legs wrapping around my waist, her hands framing my face as her mouth finds mine in a kiss that is warm and grateful and alive in a way that steals the air from my lungs.
“Thank you,” she breathes against my lips.
Two words. Two words that feel like both a gift and an accusation.
Because she shouldn’t have to thank me for this.
I think she likes the idea of going down to breakfast more than the ring she picked out.
Or maybe it’s the socks?
Just think… if you asked ten minutes ago, you could have saved 1.4 mil…
Fuck off, you old penny grubbing meiser, what were you going to do with the money?
Leave it to make more money. Duh.
Or spend it on fucking FIFA points.
She slides down my body and disappears into the bedroom, her bare feet silent against the floor, her energy trailing behind her like sunlight.
The door closes.
The room feels colder without her in it.
Chace pulls out his phone.
“I’ll get security to stay out of view,” he says, already typing.
I stare at the door.
At the space where she vanished.
At the invisible line between who she was and who she might still become.
“I can’t keep her caged, Chace,” I say quietly, the admission tearing its way out of me. “It’s killing her. It’s killing me. It’s all she’s known.”
My throat tightens.
“I can’t do it.”
