Page 18 of Forever Golden
It feels like there’s a knife twisting in my stomach, pressing deeper with every second that passes.
“Hey,” West says quietly. He tilts my head back until I’m focused on only him, but my eyes blur with tears. “It’s only temporary. Only until we sort this shit out.”
I nod, hoping like hell he’s right about all this. Even if I don’t believe a single word of it beyond the fact that he will do absolutely everything he can to make things right.
“Okay,” I manage to say.
He holds my gaze for a moment, reading me in that way only he can do. “Okay.”
Eventually, he leans away and I feel stronger than before, empowered even. All because, for the first time in a long time, I’m not doing things all on my own.
Joss and the guys are coming our way, but they seem to notice this moment between me and West is intense, and just head into the cafeteria.
West’s stare lingers there a moment, at the empty doorway where his brothers and Joss just disappeared.
“I know you don’t know them as well as Ido, but I really think they can help us sort things out,” he suggests. “Even Joss. She’s not blood, but she’s like family.”
My chest rises when I breathe deep.
“I’m not really in a position to turn down help,” I say, chuffing a humorless laugh, not realizing one of the tears has slipped down my cheek. West brushing it away with his thumb is what signals me that it has.
“With the five of us working together, Vin’s ass won’t know what hit him,” he adds with a faint smile.
“Actually, you should probably make that six,” I hesitate to say, which has West casting a questioning look toward me.
“Six?”
“You forgot Ricky.”
The look he gives next says he couldneverforget Ricky. Seeing as how his permanent place of residence seems to be just under West’s skin.
“I know he’s not your favorite person in the world, but he’s one of the few I trust,” I add.
West could not be unhappier with what I’ve just proposed, but I believe he knows I’m right. Ricky may be stubborn as hell, and a little cocky, but he’s also the most resourceful person I know. Plus, he’s a friend, and I don’t have many of those.
“Six,” he repeats with a nod, but as a statement this time, instead of a question.
I don’t know what’ll come of us all working together, but I can say for sure that we’ll accomplish more as a team than I would on my own.
A team.
Feels so weird to say I actually have one of those, but this guy standing in front of me today is proving to be a rock. I don’t know, maybe it’s not so crazy to think we’ll actually figure this out.
It’s obvious I have enough faith in us that I’m willing to give it a shot, which has to mean something, right?
Deciding to give someone my heart is hard enough, but giving someone mytrust… that almost never happens.
I guess if a girl’s going to be blindsided by a guy, being totally knocked off her feet by how amazing he is would be the best possible scenario.
* * *
@QweenPandora:You’re so vain you probably think this post is about you.
Well, I suppose they usually are, but today I’ve got a bit of a treat for you lovelies.
This one’s about me.
It seems I’ve ruffled the wrong feathers somewhere along the way and there’s a rumor going around that someone’s using their power for evil. In short, there’s a witch hunt in Cypress Pointe and guess who these misguided souls are hoping to find.