He held his phone out and snapped a picture of her. “Here, take a look.”
She took his phone and groaned. “I look like a hippo.”
“No, you don’t.” He finished pulling on his tux. “You look sexy.” He took hold of her arms, drawing her close to him.
“You cheated. You’re wearing a standard tux.”
“I know, but they didn’t have any costumes for me. How do I look?” he asked.
“Like a butler.”
He laughed. “Good. At least I look like something.” He took his phone back and snapped a picture.
“Don’t post them. We’ll be seen as crazy people.”
“You don’t want to be seen as someone who is crazy?” he asked.
“I don’t want to cause any more trouble than we already have. This could possibly get us thrown into a psych ward.”
He gasped in mock horror. “We’d have to talk about our feelings.”
“Exactly. Let’s keep the whole truth telling to a minimum.”
“Yes, boss,” he said.
“So, dressed as a princess and her butler, where would you like to go?” she asked.
“I want to go back there.”
She didn’t even have to ask where “there” was. She knew. “Noah, I don’t think that is a good idea.”
“I know you’re afraid, but I need to see it.”
“You do remember that the guy who took us, abused us, is still out there. He’s still waiting.”
“We don’t know if he’s still waiting, but if he is, I hope he fucking shows himself. I’m tired of his cowardly shit. Come on. Do this. For me, Skye. Please, I promise I won’t ask you to do anything else.”
She pressed her lips together, trying to think. Of all the places they could go, going back to where they were hurt, it seemed like a really bad idea. What good could come from seeing that place?
Yet, she couldn’t think of a single reason why not to.
“You’re sure about this? I don’t know if I can handle this.”
“I can,” Noah said. He took both of her hands. “We need to do this. It may give us closure.”
“Or open up all those old wounds that are slowly closing, you know. This is … it’s dangerous.”
“I need to do this. I can take you back home.” He went to let go of her hands, but she wouldn’t let him.
“No, you’re not doing this on your own. There’s no chance of that.” She sighed. “We go together.”
Even though she truly believed it to be a bad idea, she found herself sitting in the passenger side as Noah took the wheel.
This couldn’t be all bad, could it? They had spent a lot of time there.
For the most part, it had been burned down. They may only get to look at the building. Noah took her hand as he drove them toward their past. Whatever happened, they had each other and for now, that was all that mattered.