“Always, Nix.”
Always.
“Holy shit, this place is… in dire need of some furniture. But I’m digging it,” Kye said as we walked through Jessa and Nix’s new trailer.
“We’re bringing some of our stuff from the old place,” Nix said. “But Jessa wants to go shopping together once she’s out. She had a bit of cash stashed away for a rainy day.”
“Which room is going to be yours, B?” Kye waggled his brows and I narrowed my eyes at him.
“I haven’t decided anything yet.”
“I give it two weeks, tops,” Chloe said.
“We have some self-control, you know.”
“No, you had self-control when you had nowhere to get it on. Now you have this place, there’s no way you’ll be going back across the res much.”
“I…”
“Hey, it’s okay.” Nix dipped his mouth to my ear. “Whatever you decide, you know I’ll support you.”
It wasn’t that I wanted to stay with Michael, I didn’t. Sabrina had made her feelings about me quite clear. But I didn’t want to impose on Jessa and Nix’s space either. Maybe I could move between the two. Avoid Sabrina as much as possible. But I didn’t want to leave Celeste. She was important to me.
“Are we meeting the others later?” Chloe asked, as Nix gave us the grand tour.
It wasn’t anything special. But it was a fresh start, somewhere to make brand new memories. Good memories.
They walked ahead and Nix snagged my hand, pulling me into an empty bedroom. He pushed me up against the wall, closing the door and locking it.
“Nix.” Laughter spilled out of me. “We’re supposed to be giving them the tour.”
“They’ll survive.” He caged me in with his arms, leaning in until we were nose to nose. “So what do you think?”
“About what?”
“Your room.” He glanced back at the light and airy space.
“Nix…” I swallowed over the lump in my throat.
“Just hear me out, okay? It doesn’t have to be official; it doesn’t even have to be a big deal. But we want it to be yours. Even if you want to stay in my room, which I really fucking hope you do, we want you to have a place you can call your own. A safe place.”
Tears welled in my eyes. “What happens if we break up?”
My heart ached just thinking about it.
“Number one: never going to happen.” He didn’t even look pissed off, as if the thought was simply too preposterous to acknowledge. “Number two: even if we did ever break up, and we won’t, you’d still be my best friend. That will never change. And number three: I think Jessa would kick me out first before she ever kicked you out.” He grinned and damn him, I found myself grinning back.
“You don’t even have to stay here; it can be for emergencies only.”
“Emergencies, huh? And what about the mill? I kind of love that place.”
“We can still go there.” He ran his nose along my cheek, kissing the corner of my mouth as I wound my arms around his neck. “It’s off the grid. No one will hear you scream my name out there.”
My heart fluttered at his words, at the dark promise in them.
“You’ve really got this all figured out, haven’t you?”
“The way I see it is, it’s simple. I love you, B. I want you in my life, in my space, in my bed…”