Page 62 of Hurt to Love
“He’s right,” Luca added. “We’ve all been fucked over by our parents. Every single one of us in this room. We’ve all had a shitty upbringing, but we’re better than them. And the thing that makes us better is thatweare better. We do better in our own lives. We use their negativity and we make it good, positive. Our job is to end their fucked up legacy, not keep it going.”
I looked at Luca, then at Jackson and Cill. Each one of them was nodding in agreement, but lost in their own, harrowing world of the past, locked up deep in the recesses of their mind. A past that for each one of them was as brutal as the one I’d just escaped. Luca was right; the sins of our fathers were just that. Not our sins to pay for.
“I don’t want to see him. I don’t want to see my father ever again,” I said with conviction.
“You won’t,” Cill replied. “You don’t have to do anything you don’t want to ever again. Come on.” He shuffled underneath me then stood with me cradled in his arms. “Let’s get you out of here. Let’s take you home.”
Homefor the night was a quiet hotel not far from where Gus had managed to dock his boat. It felt good to see the old man again, even if it was in darker, dubious circumstances. Luca’s men had taken care of the bodies on board, making sure I didn’t see a thing in the process. Cill told me that they were weighted down and lying at the bottom of the sea. Those fuckers weren’t ever going to find their way back onto land, and sharks would probably turn their noses up at feasting on their rotten carcasses. It was no more than they deserved though, to be festering in the waters. I just prayed they got their reckoning in the next life.
Once we’d all docked, Luca’s men got to work making the yacht ‘clean’, and Luca and Jackson decided to head back to their respective homes to be with their wives. Cill and I settled in for what was left of this destructive, heinous night. The sun would be up soon, and even though we should’ve been exhausted, the adrenaline kept us awake. It was as if our bodies didn’t want us to miss a moment of this new chapter in our lives. Our happy ever after started today. Sure, the pain of the past still clung onto us with its icy tendrils, but we were hopeful. We had faith that we were through the worst that any human could endure, and we’d made it out alive and together. We were a unit. A team. A force to be reckoned with.
“You do know I’m never letting you out of my sight ever again,” Cill whispered as he pulled me across the bed and into his arms.
Being together again in the warmth of a bed, knowing we were safe, was the best feeling ever. Tomorrow, we would face the demons of the past. My father, the brothers, and all the baggage of my life. But now it was all about us and the start of our journey towards healing.
He buried his face into my hair and inhaled deeply. “I always thought I’d be the fun uncle. You know, the cheeky big brother. The comedy sidekick. I never thought I’d be anything else. But you… you’ve changed everything for me.”
I smiled and held his face in my hands, giving him a peck on his cheeks, his forehead, his soft, gentle lips.
“I’m serious, Paige. I thought life before you was enough. My simple, uncomplicated, boring life. But with you, enough just doesn’t cut it anymore. You bring so much into my world. You are my world.”
I felt my heart swell and the smile on my face spread wide. Even though my cheeks were bruised, I couldn’t feel anything other than the overwhelming burn of love for this man. My man. My everything.
“You make me hopeful for our future,” he said as he rubbed his nose against mine. “I’m excited about what lies ahead for us. Weddings and babies. I want all that.”
“I do too.” I smiled. “Maybe not quite yet, but definitely one day.”
“I always thought weddings were such a cliché. A ridiculous ceremony for people to brag about, or to show off. An expensive way to tell everyone you were fucking that night.”
I laughed at him, knowing without a doubt that was exactly what he’d have thought months ago, when I first met him.
“But now? I get it. I want to scream from the rooftops that you’re mine. Jump on the sofa like Tom and be the fool everyone knows I am.”
I tutted at him for thinking so harshly of himself. “You’re not a fool.”
“I’m your fool,” he said, putting his forehead against mine then giving me another sweet little peck on my nose. “It feels good, doesn’t it?”
“Yeah, it does,” I said, snuggling closer and feeling myself melt into him.
“It’s like there’s no you and me anymore, only us. Do you think we could get a cool nickname like Kimye or Branjelina? Maybe Caige?” He looked upwards as if he was thinking of some complicated scientific formula. “Or Pillian.”
“That sounds shit, Cill.” I rolled my eyes for effect, but really I thought he was beyond cute.
“What about C and P? It’s short and snappy, right?”
“No, but I’ll let you call me whatever you want if it makes you happy. I was Wednesday for months, after all.”
“Wednesday will always be my favourite day of the week.” He chuckled. “It’s also known as hump day too, you know.”
The old Cill was starting to shine through, with a wicked smirk and twinkling, devilishly delicious eyes. God, I loved this man.
“I think I’ll call you my forever girl.” He rolled me onto my back and pressed me into the mattress with his body. “You are the forever I never knew I wanted. The forever I’d wait a million years to find.”
“You’re a soppy git really, aren’t you?” I giggled, but really, I lived for his words.
“I am for you.” He pecked my nose again and smiled. “You’re stuck with me now, baby. Cheesy lines and all.”
“And I love it.” I snaked my arm around his neck and pulled him into me, wanting to kiss him, taste him, lose myself in him totally. “I love you too,” I murmured against his lips and wrapped my legs around his waist.
