“I really am sorry,” I try again. I don’t want this guilt on him. “They said they had Ryan and I couldn't find him.” I ball my hands into fists, trying to get the shaking to stop.
“He was with me.” Miles’ thumb brushes along my cheek. “Can I take you home now?” Tears start to run down my cheeks. The adrenaline is starting to wear off. The events of the day are finally settling in.
“I don’t have a home.” That’s my reality now. At least Ryan is safe.
“Bullshit.” He kisses me softly before he gets out of the car. He puts me into the passenger seat of his vehicle before shutting the door. “Bach, can you take Ryan home for me?” I hear Miles shout as he jogs around to the driver's side.
“Sure can,” the man shouts back.
Miles takes off, heading back toward his place. I stare out the window. There is this sense of freedom that washes over me. I’m not chained to The Daily Drip anymore. I have no option but to make myself move forward to something else.
The silence stretches between us as we drive home. Miles is oddly quiet. Is he pulling away? I’m too shook up for him to tell me this is all too much. He’ll handle me with kid gloves until I get on my feet and then he’ll probably drop that bomb on me. I can’t blame him. The Daily Drip being torn apart sucked, but losing Miles would be devastating.
We pull up the long driveway to his house. My hands finally stop shaking when the gate of his home closes behind us, locking us in and keeping us safe. I’m beginning to understand Violet more and more. This place does give you a sense of security.
“Miles.” I say his name as the car rolls to a stop at the front door. I can tell he’s still worked up about everything. “I’ll understand if you want to break things off with me. I mean—” He opens his car door, slamming it behind him before I can even finish. He yanks my door open a second later. He unclicks my seatbelt quickly, pulling me from the car. “My legs are okay. I can walk.”
“I’m carrying you for my own sanity.”
“Oh.” I see Violet as we enter the house. She gives us a bright smile but says nothing. Miles heads straight for our bedroom. He kicks the door closed, carrying me into the bathroom. He strips me down before leading me into the shower, where he washes every inch of me.
He doesn't say a word as he dries me off and brushes my hair out for me. Then he slips one of his shirts over my head, and it falls almost to my knees. He’s taking care of me.
It takes everything inside of me not to burst into tears. It’s been a long time since someone actually bothered to take care of me. Since my mom died, I’ve been the one to take care of everyone else. Finally he sits me down on the side of the bed, dropping to his knees so he’s eye level with me.
“You can keep trying to push me away, Eden, but I’m not going anywhere,” he says when he finally speaks again. “The same way you have that need to take care of Ryan, I have the same for you. Let me take care of you for once. Let me show you things you’ve never seen. Let me love you.”
“You love me?” I sniff. Everything he says sounds so good. I want everything that he’s offering and decide I owe it to myself to let him take care of me. I want it so badly.
“More than anything in this world.” I can see the sincerity in his eyes.
“I love you too,” I tell him, letting the last of the walls I built up around myself crumble and deciding to let him in completely.
Chapter Twenty-One
Miles
After giving an anxious Violet a summary of events after I got back home, I left Eden sleeping while I went back to get a taste of my own revenge. I gave her father till the end of the night to have his sorry ass out of this state. Eden doesn’t need to know about that or what happened to the rest of them, but she can sleep without having to worry about them ever again.
I step into our bedroom at the same time that Eden is waking up.
“Hey,” she says, giving me a sleepy smile. “What are you doing?”
“Bringing you some food. You’ve had a rough day.”
“Haven’t we all?”
“Nope. You and Ryan have had it the worst, and so you get ten minutes to feel sorry for yourself, and I want you to do a good job at it. No making excuses and saying others have it worse. I want you to wallow for ten minutes.” I want to show her that I will always take care of her.