I smiled. “You have such faith in me.”
“I know you can handle yourself.”
I smoothed my thumb over his bottom lip. So soft… I took it in my mouth and sucked on it a little, making him groan. “I’m yours, too, you know,” I told him.
“I know,” he said, and kissed me back.
“Asses in seats, people!” one of the guys called out, and Ashley took my hand with a smile, leading me over to find our seats.
Chapter Forty
Ash
The wedding ceremony was simple and mercifully short.
Jesse and Katie walked up the aisle, followed by Zane and Maggie, then Jude and Roni. Baby Nick was carried by Katie’s niece, and then Brody and Jessa walked up the aisle together.
He wore a white shirt and pants, and she wore a long but simple white dress. They could’ve gone all-out with a flashy wedding. Brody had more money than probably anyone I knew.
But this wedding wasn’t about that.
It was about two people who loved each other finally coming together.
And seeing all these people together, here to support them… it really hit me. That this was the first time I’d been together with this whole group of friends, since Dylan and Amber broke my heart, that I didn’t feel the residual discomfort. That weird sense of shame in myself… like I’d fucked up.
I didn’t feel like a fuck-up anymore.
I knew that had a lot to do with the woman at my side.
Not because I felt validated that Danica was with me.
I mean, I loved that she was with me.
But because she lovedme.
I knew she did, even before she said so. She’d told me so a few nights ago, for the first time.
But for once in my life, I justknew.
I felt like I’d finally found something that fit. I didn’t have to chase Danica for her love or try to be something I wasn’t or wait around for her to decide how she felt about me.
She loved me.
She’d told me so, and more than that, she’d showed me.
I finally felt like I had that gorgeous thing I saw in some of my friends’ relationships. Love and connection, for sure. But also… acceptance.
Security.
For the first time in my life, I actually felt secure in a relationship.
I didn’t even know, maybe, how insecure all my other relationships made me feel until I was in this one. I’d never felt assafewith any other lover as I felt with Danica.
Maybe, before this, I didn’t think I deserved to feel safe, or some such fucked-up shit. Residual bullshit from my mom taking off on me.
But that was behind me now.
It would always be with me, that loss, but I didn’t have to let it affect my relationships, how I felt about myself, or how I felt about other people.
