Is it selfish for me not to trust him now? Apart from leaving without telling me, he has never done a thing that wasn’t in my best interest.
Shit. Why does this have to be so hard?
I kick my jeans off and pull my shirt over my head before I feel Rivers hands at my back, helping me to unhook my bra before his arms circle my waist and he pulls me in hard against his bare chest.
My head falls against him and I raise my chin to kiss his jaw. “How are you feeling?” I question as his thumb trails back and forth over my hip.
“Alright,” he murmurs. “I don’t know. I keep feeling as though I’ve forgotten something.”
“You haven’t,” I promise him. “Your mom has everything she could possibly need at home. You made sure of that.”
His face scrunches up as he gently shakes his head. “Maybe I should go back. I don’t think she should be alone tonight.”
I turn in his arms and look up into those dark, intense eyes that have completely captured me. “Your mom has gone eleven years without a shred of privacy. Trust me, she probably needs to be alone more than you could possibly know.”
“Yeah, but…”
“No,” I tell him. “She has your number if she needs anything and something tells me Henley is going to be stalking her for the next few weeks. You’ve done everything you could have possibly done to make sure she’s comfortable. She has somewhere nice to sleep, she has food, and electricity, and you even made sure she has a car and a job. She has the world at her feet and now it’s time for you to step back and let her live her life the way she wants.”
Rivers lets out a deep breath. “I just worry about her. I have so much to make up for.”
“I know,” I tell him, resting my hands against his chest. “And you will, but it’s not going to happen overnight. You’ve already spent all day with her. We can go back in the morning, cook her a nice breakfast, then take her shopping for a new wardrobe. Trust me, with you as a son, she’s never going to go without, but she needs tonight to just…take it all in.”
Rivers’ head falls to mine as he let out a deep breath. “I really hate it when you’re right.”
“You better get used to it,” I laugh. “Something tells me you’re going to spend the rest of your life hating on me for being right.”
He rolls his eyes as a devilish grin rips across his face. “You wish. If anything, I’m just telling you that you’re right because I’ve got a lot to make up for, and from the looks of it,” he says, running his fingers down my waist and watching as goosebumps rise on my skin, “my plan is working.”
“You’re an ass,” I laugh, pulling myself out of his arms and finding my sleep shirt. I pull it over my head before trudging to my bed and sliding in between the sheets.
It’s been a huge day. We were up at the crack of dawn. I had to go into ‘Read my Tulips’ this morning to complete a huge order and had all hands on deck. Henley and Rivers both came along to help Candice and I get it done so we could all be there when Gina was released at 9 am. Since then, it’s been all about helping her settle in.
We took her grocery shopping to get the things she liked in the house and took her to find some home décor so she could make her space her own.
It’s just past eight at night and we’ve been with Gina all day. It’s been such a long road getting to this point. Four years ago when Henley first put her mind to getting Gina out, I thought it was a lost cause, but she stuck to her guns, and we finally made it. Though we wouldn’t have gotten where we are without Anton’s confession.
Apparently, he’s all about righting his wrongs now, but I can guarantee that there’s no way in hell he’d be able to right them all. After all, he’s murdered countless of people in cold blood. I think Rivers has done the right thing by avoiding that trainwreck. I won’t allow him to get caught up in his webs ever again. We’ve all come so far since high school and it’d be a tragedy to end up there again.
Rivers walks over to his side of the bed and digs his keys, phone, and wallet out of his jeans before letting the weight of his undone belt buckle pull his jeans to the floor. The buckle clatters against my floorboards and he steps out of his jeans before sliding in beside me.