Page 19 of Coming Home to You
I drop the box on the desk, my hands shaking and my legs weak as I call Beck’s name and within seconds he’s next to me.
“Fucking hell,” he mutters when he looks down at the box.I grab hold of his shirt and he wraps his arms around me.The fear returns, but in this moment I realize I need Beck more than I want to admit.
Chapter Eight
Beck
“Did the UPS guy say anything?”Finn asks, and I feel Kelsey shake her head.She’s still wrapped in my arms and although her body’s finally stopped shaking, I’m reluctant to let her go.As soon as I saw the package and read the note, I knew this little fucker was upping his game.I also knew that this wasn’t going to be a simple weekend trip after all and after I wrap things up with Finn here, I’m going to have to call Ryan and let him know I won’t be back tomorrow as I’d originally planned.
“What are you going to do?”I ask my brother.
“What, you don’t have any bright ideas, city boy?”Finn shoots back.
“Finn…” Kelsey says straightening in my arms.
“Don’t, Kels, I deserve that,” I tell her, pressing a kiss to the top of her head.“And you are the chief, Finn,” I say, turning to my brother.“You’re the one in charge here.”
Finn says nothing, just stands there staring at us, a look of surprise on his face.
“What?”I ask, suddenly annoyed.
“This morning you two were ready to rip each other’s heads off,” he says, gesturing to us.“And now, what, you’ve suddenly kissed and made up?”
I can hear the annoyance in his voice and even though I know it’s not because he’s in love with my girl, it still pisses me off.I open my mouth, ready to tell him to mind his own fucking business when Kelsey speaks.
“Finn,” she says softly, stepping away from me.I have an overwhelming urge to pull her back into my arms and keep her there.I know now, I was a fucking idiot for ever walking away from this woman.Of course I’m still in love with her, I never fucking stopped loving her and right now, Boston and everything I thought I’d find by moving there, feels a million miles away.
But when she says her next words, all of the blood in my veins turns to ice.“It’s not like that,” she says.
Her words stab me through the heart, mainly because I know how true they are.Nothing’s changed between us, no matter how much I might want it to.“No,” I say, staring at the back of her head.“It’s not.”
Kelsey turns to look at me and I can see the hurt written all over her face.The hurt that I put there for leaving, but the hurt I know she has because of all the reasons she knows I’m going to leave again.I suddenly want to tell her that I won’t, that I’ll stay this time.That I’m all hers because that’s all I’ve ever been.But I know it’s not as simple as that.
She swallows and the hurt look disappears before she takes a step towards me and puts a hand on my cheek.I automatically lean into it.“Thank you for being here, Beck,” she whispers.“Really.”
I’m staring into her gorgeous blue eyes and as much as our future is a complication that neither of us can sort out, in this second, I don’t fucking care.Right now, the only thing I want to do is drag her back up to the room we were cleaning thirty minutes ago and finish what we started.Make a whole new bunch of memories between those sheets.Memories that wipe away all of the shit that happened ten years ago; all of the shit that’s happening now.
Finn clears his throat, ruining the fantasy running through my head.“I’m going to have to do a sweep over at your house, Kels,” he says before turning to me.“Can you keep an eye on her while we do that?”
I stand up straighter knowing I’m not letting Kelsey out of my sight until this fucker is behind bars or has a bullet in him.“Of course I can,” I say.“And you can forget about the detail on her, Finn, she won’t need it while I’m around.”
“Beck,” Kelsey says.
“What?”
“Don’t you have to go back to Boston.”
It’s the way she says it that kills me.It’s not malicious and it’s not a question, just a statement of fact.It’s the resignation she has because she knows I left her once and can easily do it again.
“No,” I spit out, as I take a step towards the counter and the package from her ex-boyfriend.“I’m not going anywhere until this fucking asshole is caught.”
I hear Kelsey gasp and I force myself not to look at her.I don’t want to see the question that I know will be written all over her face.
But what happens after that?
Two hours later and Finn has called to say the house is clean and there’s still no sign of Jason.Kelsey has tried to keep busy throughout the day, running the inn and looking after the full load of customers she has here for the summer.The whole place is buzzing and I meant what I said to her earlier, the place does look amazing and her dad would be proud of her.She’s added a lot of extra features, along with fishing and whale sightseeing tours.I can’t help but be impressed at everything she’s done, at how successful she’s made this place.
I’ve tried to help her out as much as I can, fixing stuff that she’s been putting off or finding jobs she hasn’t even noticed.It hasn’t escaped either of our attention that this is just like when we were kids.A part of me wonders whether I really could give up everything I’ve worked so hard to achieve, just so I could stay here and be with her.
