Page 31 of Finding Fate
I stare into the open closet, seeing our clothes mixed together in one central space, and I smile. I didn’t think this day would ever come. The boy that stole my heart is wrapped around me, finally, and I refuse to go back. My dad will have to bring me back in a box. That’s the only way I’m going. “I don’t mind getting a job. We can build a lifetogether.I’ll do anything as long as I can come home at the end of the day and do this with you. For a long time, this only existed in my dreams.”
“When I need you to get a job I’ll let you know. I’ve been saving for a long time with very few bills. I hated not getting to graduate from my school with my friends, but at the same time, by the time we got caught I was almost done with high school, and you had not even started. Then you had to sit out a year, alone, while you carried and gave birth to our baby. Then had to mentally deal with that. I still had freedom, just not with you. Give yourself a second to be happy, Gab. To be a normal fucking twenty-one-year-old. To do shit for yourself. To not have to worry about money. Look at me.”
I lean back. “I’m not going to lie. Some of it is for my own personal gain and selfish reasoning. For a while, at least, I want you readily available the second I need you. I still go to sleep with a fear you’ll be gone when I wake up.”
I press my lips against his and close my eyes, unmoving for several seconds, trying to calm my erratic heartbeat. “I’ll never willingly walk away from you.”
“Me either.”
A knock sounds at the door. “Gabby, are you ready? I was able to get you squeezed in with my hair girl, but we need to go now,” Sayler says.
I rub his bottom lip, our eyes on each other. “You sure you don’t want me to cancel?”
He smiles. “It’s your birthday. Go do girl stuff. Get you something new to wear tonight, just make sure you bring back something for me.”
I get off of him and turn my hand over, grabbing his chin in my grasp, laying one more kiss on him for the road. “I’ll never understand men and their love for lingerie. What’s so good about something you’re just going to take off?”
“It’s hot.”
“Whatever you say, lover boy.” I grab the credit card off the floor and get my wallet, placing it inside so that I don’t lose it.
When I open the door, Sayler is waiting a few feet away from the door, by the top step. “I wasn’t sure if you were . . . busy.”
My lips curl as I wink at her. “Hey, Maddox? What do you think about me getting my clit pierced?”
Sayler’s eyes widen with a hint of a smile, her cheeks flushing quickly. Such an innocent one she is. I glance back at him with my hand on the door, so much pride at how fast I can draw his jealousy out. Lord, he’s hot when he’s mad. His whole upper body expands and his muscles tighten, like his arms. One of the things I’ve missed the most. “I think I’ve got a Glock in the truck that needs some target practice for anyone stupid enough to try.”
“Just making sure you were still in there. Things were getting a little sappy.”
And with that, I close the door, leaving him on the bed, and the two of us walk down the stairs. “You do realize he’s a totally different person without you in the picture, right?”
I smile, linking my arm with hers. “If he is, I’m doing something right.”
Twenty
Maddox
Riggan leans against the doorframe as I stand in front of the bathroom mirror, staring at the skull painted on half of my face that Presley did with costume makeup, rolling up the sleeves of my solid, black button-down to my elbows. With the circle of black around my eye to make the socket and the crazy contrast of the black against the white to make it appear three-dimensional, it looks wicked. The lines running down my lips look like real teeth in a skull. I’m surprised she pulled it off. I was going to do my full face, but I had a better idea.
I look at Riggan in his pinstripe suit and hat, already smiling. It’s rare to see Riggan in a suit—even costume—and the last two times have been because of Blondie. “Gangster looks good on you.”
He rolls his eyes with the hint of a smile present. “I tried to talk her into doingKiss. She wanted to be a flapper.”
“Did you really expect anything less glamorous? You do call her princess.”
He glances at my black slacks that are blacking me out between them and the tucked in black shirt. “I would say it’s been awhile since I’ve seen you so dressed up but that’d be a lie. You dressed like this every Sunday for church.”
I laugh. “Shut the hell up. You know my parents still believe in Sunday’s best for service. They’d never let me leave the top two unbuttoned.”
“You’re at least one step closer to the right idea for Halloween than me. Costumes are supposed to be scary. Princess doesn’t grasp this concept. Konnor and Presley would win this little contest. Zombies. Wait ‘til you see them. They look disgusting. It’s great.”
“You think Blondie is going to be able to pull this off? Get her here matching me? Gabby is stubborn, and she was acting weird this morning about her birthday. She used to love that her birthday was on Halloween.”
“She’ll be here. Everything will go as planned.”
I lean over the counter on my palms. “I’m so damn nervous. That’s why I had to unbutton the top. I felt like I was suffocating. What if she thinks I’ve lost my fucking mind proposing this fast? I haven’t had her back long.”
“Does it feel right?”