Page 104 of Thunder with a Chance of Lovestruck

Drest nodded. “I’m coming too.”

“So am I,” said Stratton.

“Me too,” added Astria.

Stratton spun and caught her in his arms. “Go to my place. Stay there. You’ll be safe there. Torid, go with her.”

Torid belched loudly and then scratched his ear with his back paw.

Astria gave Stratton a look that said she wasn’t about to do anything of the sort. “I’m going to help my cousin. Try to stop me and there will be hell to pay, husband.”

My breath caught. “Husband?”

Stratton blushed. “Um, well, you know how I overreacted a lot when I first met her?”

I did.

“There is a reason for that,” said Stratton.

Drest eased closer to me. He put his hand out. “Rachael, let’s go make sure our daughter is all right.”

I stared at his hand for a second before taking it.

As I looked past him, I saw his car. The same one he’d had since I’d known him.

“Come on,” he said. “I’ll drive and you’ll ride with me.”

“Still making decisions for me, I see,” I said with a small laugh. “And no. I’m not being difficult, Drest. But Robin can’t be far from the pendant. And, well, it can’t be worn by just anyone. Demi’s able to take it without incident, but others who have tried in the past regretted it instantly.”

“Hellfire and brimstone,” said Robin with a shrug. “My father is so dramatic.”

“Father?” I asked. “He cursed you?”

He didn’t respond.

“Robin, get in my damn car!” shouted Drest. “My daughter needs me.”

Robin smirked and tossed Stratton the keys to my Jeep.

Stratton nodded.

ChapterThirty-Five

Rachael

Drest heldmy hand so tightly as he drove that I began to lose feeling in my fingers. He kept stealing glimpses at me, each time appearing astonished to see it really was me sitting next to him. It was evident that he was suffering from the same sense of disbelief that I was.

“Can you not squeeze so tight?” I asked, my tone light.

He eased his grip but didn’t release me. “I’m scared if I let go, I’ll never see you again. I don’t want to ever be apart again, Rachael. I mean that.”

Warmth filled me, hearing how much he didn’t want to be away from me. I’d spent so long thinking the opposite that it was both refreshing and odd to hear otherwise. Coming to grips with that knowledge was going to take a bit to process. I had built up so much resentment toward him over thirty-six years that it was hard to simply wish it away.

Funny how I’d been so quick to think that he didn’t want me, or a life with me, yet was slow to consider the opposite might be true. That perhaps he really did want me as much as I’d wanted him. That he might have spent all the decades longing for me, feeling empty and hollow inside, much like I felt when it came to him.

“I really did look for you every chance I could,” he said, still able to read my thoughts and moods by simply looking at me.

I put my free hand over our joined ones and rubbed his. There were too many emotions swirling around in my head to pin any one of them down for further examination. All I knew was that I liked making contact with him. That felt right. For now, that would have to be enough.

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