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His eyes widen. “Really? I thought?—”
“When we were younger, I fought to protect you, but a part of me always…enjoyed it.” I can see now as an adult that I could have easily stopped what I was doing. There were other waysI could have taken care of Skylar, but I always chose to make things physical. “It sounds so wrong.”
“Right or wrong, I don’t care,” he rushes out, moving onto his knees so he can carefully straddle me. Cupping my bruised face in his hands, he gives me a watery smile. “Cassy, you accept me for everything I am. You’re there for me. I’m just hurt that you didn’t think you could tell me.”
“Maybe it was something for me. Something that was just mine.”
That’s something else I hadn’t considered. I want Skylar to be in every part of my life…but maybe it was a little nice to have thisonething I didn’t share with him. Something to remind me that I’m a full person outside of my love for him. I’ve still been in love with him, of course, but during those fights, I didn’t liveforhim.
“Do you need that?” he asks, and when I tentatively nod, he smiles. “Okay. Well, this can be your thing.”
I raise an eyebrow at that. Skylar is very intense—in the best way—and he loves being in people’s business. Again, not in a bad way, just in that sort of endearing manner that makes it hard to say no to him. So, I’m shocked. “You’re okay with that?”
“Of course!” he yells, throwing his hands in the air in exasperation. “Ugh, and to think I thought you were a genius.”
I laugh alongside him and drag him back onto my chest. “So, we’re good?”
“We’re good. Don’t lie to me again, though,” he snaps and presses a delicate finger against my nose. “That wasn’t very nice.”
I chuckle. “I’m sorry, sunshine.”
“I forgive you.” He rests his head on my shoulder again, but something’s not right.
“Sunshine?” I ask, feeling the way his shoulders are too tense. “Are you sure you’re okay with it? Really? I could?—”
“I decided I’m going to therapy,” he blurts out, almost like a little squeak.
Treading lightly, I exhale a slow breath. “Yeah?”
“Yeah.” He looks up, giving me a crooked smile, and shrugs. “It’s… It’s time.”
I’m so fucking happy to hear that. I’ve never pushed for Skylar to go to therapy, but it’s an awesome idea. There are things he has to deal with. He’s been fine. Nothing’s happened, but that doesn’t mean everything from his past can magically be erased.
I want to pry and ask him what caused this sudden decision, but I decide to table. Now, I just want to enjoy being here with him. “I’ll be here for you in whatever way you need.”
He smiles that breathtaking grin that always sets my heart alight. “I love you, Cassy.”
“I love you too, my sunshine,” I whisper, brushing my lips gently against his, hissing when he shifts and digs his knee into my side. “Ouch.”
“Oh, I’m sorry,” he apologizes with a wince as he slides off me. “Are you really okay, though? Do we have to go back to the ER?”
“No,” I say truthfully. “I’m good. Just sore as fuck.” Suddenly realizing the room seems…different, I wrinkle my nose. “Were you cooking?”
He throws his head back with a laugh and, against his protests, I go to the kitchen to help him clean up the mess he made. It warms my heart to see that he was preparing my favorite dinner, and we compromise by making pancakes together. I won’t tell him that his eggs are horrendously dry or that his hash browns are bricks.
I just enjoy this feeling.
Like everything is clicking into place.
Like everything is finally turning out the way it was always meant to be.
CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
Skylar
“So,do I just have to, like, blurt it out?”
We’ve been sitting here in silence for twenty minutes. It’s not that Davis’s kickass health insurance doesn’t cover my therapy sessions, but I feel like we should have saidsomethingby now. It seems like a waste to just sit here and stare at my therapist while we could be making groundbreaking realizations or something. That’s what happens in therapy, right? You’re…fixed?
