Page 89 of Fighting For You
“We’re security. We shouldn’t be treated like this. I was just doing my job. Plus the fact that you’re finally boning?—”
“Stop talking.” Jess’s voice cut through and must’ve finally pressed Kurt’s off button as the police moved toward us.
Or maybe that was the little love tap I gave his kidney when my fist slipped.Whoopsies.
Hours later, we’d given our statements to the police, helped find the girls’ parents or emergency contacts before they were taken to the hospital to get checked out, and very happily watched both Kurt and Anthony Pollusk get escorted out of the house and into police custody.
It was all so dark, but we’d gotten therein time to stop at least one person from being harmed any more than simply being there at all would do. And watching Kurt be carted away… honestly, it didn’t bring me any kind of satisfaction.
At one point in my life, I’d cared about him. I’d thought of him as a brother. Even though time and distance had helped me see he’d never treated me well, nor had he been a good man, I hated how he hadn’t grown into someone better.
After we’d turned in our gear, I found Jess waiting for me on the front steps of the Saint building. The night had stayed clear and pitch black save the twinkling stars and moonlight. Fall scented the air—dead leaves, smoking chimneys, and the changing season somehow smelling comforting and soft. She stood and reached out her hand, which I gladly accepted. We walked a ways into the lot and stopped by our cars.
“Do you want to meet tomorrow before we start?” I asked, hoping we’d circle back to the very important conversation before we both dove into the last few days of this festival that wouldn’t end.
“No. I can’t wait. I want to talk now.” She squeezed my hand and released it, then tucked her arms close.
My heart began racing, trying to read her body language, the tone in her words, her expression in the moonlight.
“Okay. Yeah.” I swallowed hard, more nervous now than I had been all day, save for the moment I’d confessed my undying love for her.
She shifted on her feet, then dropped her hands, shook out her arms, and exhaled sharply. “You said you loved me… a lot.”
A gust of air escaped me, no words to make sense of it. “Yeah.”
She shook her head. “But I don’t know whether I’ve done too much damage… whether my stubbornness has ruined everything.”
Her eyes found mine and the pleading there nearly undid me.
“I could say the same. I never told you the whole truth. I was too hung up on doing what I thought was best and I never allowed you to decide—I should’ve. I’m sorry for that.”
I truly was. How much of the hurt we’d caused each other could we have avoided if I’d only been braver?
“Maybe all of this comes down to trusting each other to know what we need instead of assuming we know what’s best for the other person,” she said, her gaze searching mine in the darkness.
I dipped my head. “Tell me, then, and I’ll trust your answer. Could I ever, in some version of this story, be what you need?”
She reached up, pressing a hand over my thundering heart.
“There is nothing in this world that could make me forgive myself for failing to see you and hear you and insist I believed you back then. And nothing in this life or the next could compel me to turn away from you now.”
I swallowed hard against the hope rising so rapidly I could hardly breathe. “I do forgive you, though, and I want you to forgive yourself. As for the rest… you’ll have to translate it. Tell me what you mean.”
Her smile flashed. “I mean I’m sorry. I believe you when you say you always cared for me.” She sobered and stepped closer, clutching at my shirt. “Always loved me, even if you didn’t know how to show it. That you were fighting for me all along in some messed up way. And now Isay… I need you and want you.You,Jude Rawlins, and no one else.”
The sun rose in my chest, pulling back shadows and splaying light into every recess of my bruised and broken heart. She neededme.She wantedme.
There was no chance of holding out another second. I’d already told her and I’d tell her again—every day, if she’d let me.
“I love you, Jess. I love you so much it physically hurts sometimes, and if you don’t feel the?—”
“I literally just told you I need and want you,” she said, a baffled look on her face, a laugh sneaking out. “Don’t you get it? I love you. I love you so much, it’s stupid.”
It took her no time to react to the way I pulled her in, sifted my hand into her hair, and guided her mouth to mine. In a matter of seconds, she’d hopped, and I’d lifted her, her legs circling my hips, and backed her into my truck, pinning her there as we savored each other. This was no frantic kiss, but it was all-consuming.
She loved me.
Jessica Korbel lovedme.
