Page 46 of Phoenix

“Mia, baby, you know my mom and I will have you live here for however long you need,” Ruth says, prompting the poor girl to look up to face her. “You’re one of us now.”

_____

It’s been a month since I last saw Mia, and I know she’ll be angry at me for missing her birthday. Eighteen is important for a person; it means you’re officially an adult. I turned eighteen five years ago, and I can still remember how freeing it felt, not to be caught up in the foster care system anymore. I would still be a lost figure but on my own terms. Mia is now a woman and truth be told, that terrifies me. I know she wants more from me, and I could so easily fall into my growing feelings for her. Feelings I began to realize six months ago when she was showing off her prom dress. She was so beautiful, and I had wanted to rip her date’s arm off. But what on earth can I offer a girl like Mia? She deserves a regular life after all she’s been through. I am nothing more than a cold-blooded killer, traveling around the state collecting debts that people were stupid enough to fall into over the poison they like to inject inside of their bodies.

“Diesel!”

She’s seen me, there’s no going back now. What will be will be. Her infectious smile comes charging toward me where I am perched against my bike. Her arms wrap around my shoulders as she leaps forward and embraces me like she always does. I cannot help but inhale her scent of honey and coconut shampoo.

“You missed it!” she grumbles as she gets back onto her feet with her arms folded, her right foot tapping, and her lips pouting; she looks breathtaking.

“I’m sorry, Mia, truly. But I’m sure Mom gave you a special day with all the money I sent?”

“Na-ah!” she says with a mischievous smirk on her face. I instantly frown, knowing that Mom would have gone to town on Mia’s birthday, so I can only assume Mia found out and intervened.

“She made me wait,” the woman herself says with a smile that reminds me of all the kindness she has shown me over the years. Clara was my last foster mom. She tried to put me on the path of morality, attempted to dissuade me from falling into the line of work I’m in now, however, by the time I reached her, it was too late for me.

Mia was different, and Clara knew this. She also knew the way Mia and I had been looking at each other was more than platonic. I think she believes she can be the one to save me. But what if I’m the one who destroys her?

“Come on, Diesel,” Mia whines with a full set of pouty lips, “you can’t say no to me after missing my birthday! Clara’s made a delicious dinner, Ruth made her specialty chocolate cake, and I’ve rented every single Die Hard film I could find. Please?”

“You know I can never say no to you, Mia,” I smile a little sadly, for in the end, I know I won’t.

_____

On Mia’s twentieth birthday, I was a bundle of nerves. Not only had I spent an absolute fortune on the tiny box resting inside of my suit jacket, but I’d also already planned the whole ceremony. Was I confident or just plain stupid? I was hoping I was the former. Clara was sitting beside Ruth, both waiting with small smiles as they watched me pacing around in the front room. Mia made her intentions clear on the night we had celebrated her eighteenth birthday. Shy, nervous, completely beautiful, and as clear as day. She wanted me to love her like she loved me. She wanted me to give her what she had been searching for her whole life, and while she seemingly held her breath in anticipation of my answer, I realized I wanted that from her too. I kissed her rather than verbally answered her at first, but when she began to release tears of relief, I kept repeating the same word over and over again – yes, yes, yes!

As we held each other on top of her bed, fully clothed, she admitted that she wanted to wait until marriage before she gave herself to another. It was a shock at first, but giving Mia a promise to stick to her boundaries became just as special to me. Though I’ll admit, I want her badly. To the point where I worry, I won’t be able to last long enough to give her a very exciting first time.

“Hello, you,” I hear her sweet voice say from behind me.

Clara and Ruth both take an audible breath as I turn around to see her dressed in a beautiful violet dress, her hair all curled to one side, and wearing just a hint of makeup to bring out her mossy green eyes. She’s…breathtaking.

“Marry me,” I blurt out, not even thinking about it and completely ruining the proposal I had planned.

“What?!” she gasps, bringing her hands to her mouth as if in prayer. I can hear Clara and Ruth laughing from behind me, but I can’t move from where I am currently losing the ability to breathe.

“I-I-I mean…God, I ruined it!” I stutter and fall to my knees while flustering about to try and get the box out of my suit pocket. “Shit, Mia, you deserved the best, and I—"

“No, baby,” she says as she flies down to meet me on my knees, her hands stilling mine in an attempt to get me to look at her instead. “This is perfect, this is real!”

“I was going to surprise you in the restaurant and everything!” I almost cry, suddenly overcome with emotion. “You mean the world to me, and I want nothing more than to be your husband.”

“This is you…us, Diesel, and I want that more than anything too!” she says with a huge smile taking over her gorgeously tanned features.

“Is that a yes?” I ask, urgently needing clarification on the matter before I pass out from heart failure.

“That’s a hell yes, Diesel Flynn!”

“She said yes!” I barely whisper as I turn to face our audience in happy disbelief. “My baby said yes! YES!” I shout before turning back to see her laughing over my theatrics. It’s enough to take her inside of my arms and give her the most delicious kiss I’ve ever had. “I love you, Mia!”

“And I you,” she whispers back.

This, her…it’s everything.

_____

“Negative,” Mia says with so much disappointment in her voice, it physically hurts to hear it.

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