Page 72 of Quietly Falling
MONTANA: See you assholes tonight
Sighing, I look up from my phone at Ella only to find her watching me with the hint of a smile. We’d spent all last night tangled up in each other, and I can honestly say that I finally get it. Being with Ella isn’t something I imagined for myself, but now that I have her, I can’t imagine letting her go.
I feel like I’ve been walking through a tunnel, the promise of light visible but always out of reach. And then it’s right there, a cacophony of colors, overwhelming and so beautiful it’s likely to bring me to my knees.
Now the fear of never having it has been replaced with the fear of losing it.
Losing her.
Just be in the moment.
“You’re scowling,” she teases as I hand her my phone, her gaze scanning over the messages. “Do you not want to go?” she asks, her brows furrowing.
“It’s not that, I just…” Trailing off, I drop down onto the couch next to her, unsure how to arrange my thoughts into something coherent.
“I think,” Ella starts, tangling our fingers together, “that it’s important to your friends to see that you’re doin’ all right. We still have a lot to talk about,”—she says it casually, but my heart beats a little faster knowing I still owe her some truths—“but I think this is important for themandyou.”
“It’ll be chaos.”
“Are you worried about me, Bodhi Maxwell?”
“No, I just have to make sure I refresh my browser history so I have all thefree to a good homepet pages ready when the fuckery starts.”
“How much fuckery are you expecting?”
I chuckle and lay my head against the back of the couch and stare up at the ceiling. “It’s just a lot.”
“The best families are.”
“You’re right. I just never had one until Mason and I landed here—still doesn’t seem real sometimes.”
“It is and you’re allowed to enjoy it. They’re supposed to make you crazy. I mean, you met mine, right? Roman told you theI accidentally applied to the town strip club for a summer jobstory the same day we got there.”
I grin and she blushes. “Wouldn’t mind seein’ you dance for me,” I tell her, raking my gaze down her body, my own acutely aware of how she felt under me this morning.
God damn, I’d missed out.
But Ella more than made up for the years I’d waited, the rightness in waiting forherresonating in my soul.
Throwing one leg over my lap, she straddles me, my hands falling to her hips, incapable of not touching her. “How about now?” she purrs, her fingertips teasing the hem of her shirt.
Woof.
Moose’s low bark sounds from the kitchen, his nails clicking across the floor as he takes a running leap and jumps onto the couch next to us.
Cockblocker.
Shaking my head, I pet the mutt while Ella laughs and kisses my cheek, climbing off and resuming the spot next to me as Birdie jumps up and makes herself comfortable too.
“Thanks, guys,” I mutter, picking up my phone as Ella squishes Birdie’s face and coos at her. Resigned to my fate, I type out the message they already knew was coming.
BODHI: We’ll be there
I’m just aboutto put my phone down when another message comes through
ELLISON: I have the details
ELLISON: And what did you do to my husband? He’s wandering around muttering “fucking goats”
