Chapter Twenty-Six
I set my suitcase down on the ground and glanced back at my dad. “Don’t look at me like that, you knew this was coming.” People at the airport were swimming in and our around us, desperately racing to whatever gate they were flying out of.
“No, I didn’t,” my dad said stubbornly.
I sighed and moved closer to him, reaching up to kiss him on the cheek. “It’s time for me to get back to my own life, dad, at least somewhat… Carol is going to stay with you on the days the nurse isn’t with you and then I’ll come back in a few weeks myself to check in on you.”
“I don’t need a nurse,” my dad huffed. “I’m fine on my own.”
“I know,” I told him. “It’s more for my own peace of mine than yours.” It had been three weeks since the shooting in the garage, three weeks since Asher saved my life and ended another’s. There had been no investigation into what had happened since the evidence pretty much confirmed the story Asher and I had told the sheriff he hadn’t chosen to press any charges.
“Are you sure you can’t stay?” His eyes looked sad and defeated.
I inhaled deeply and forced myself to not get emotional. I wanted to stay, of course, I wanted to stay, but I couldn’t. Being here was just a reminder of everything Asher did to me, just a reminder of how hard I had fallen for him all over again only to get crushed.
I was thankful for what he had done for me, I always would be, I mean he had saved my life… but a man like Asher wasn’t capable of being honest with me, he would always have secrets and they would always come back to harm me, no matter how much I cared about him.
Trevor was out of jail, the sheriff had dropped the charges once we told him about Josh. Not to mention the copies of fake evidence they found in Josh’s rental property only added to our case. My dad was feeling better, everything was sorted out… except for Asher.
He’d tried to get in touch with me after that night but I couldn’t bear to talk to him, I couldn’t bear to face him and go through the pain of telling him goodbye all over again.
No, it was time for me to get back to my life. Back to what I had created.
“I have to go, dad, you know that.” I picked up my bags and hugged him one last time. “I’ll call you as soon as I land, okay?” I forced myself to turn away from him, not wanting to see the pain on his face again. “I love you.”
“He loves you,” my dad called to my back.
I flinched as I neared the security check and stopped in my tracks. But only for a second before I shook my head slightly and forced myself to keep moving. This was exactly why I had to leave… I couldn’t deal with my dad’s pain and mine at the same time anymore. It was bound to destroy me sooner or later.
I hurried through the security check, not wanting to risk a look back at my dad. I grabbed my shoes after I went through the medical detector and shoved them on my feet before grabbing my carry on and racing toward my gate.
Only to be completely stopped in my tracks.
Leaning against the check in desk like it was the most natural thing in the world was Asher. His eyes looked tired and were bloodshot, gone was his usual cool and collected demeanor. It was replaced with a look of hurt and confusion… and something else, something I hadn’t seen in anyone in a really long time.
The need to fight.
He closed the distance between us in a few easy strides. “You aren’t going anywhere.” He took my carry on out of my hand and threw it across the floor, startling a few people who were sitting in the seats surrounding the gate. “You’re staying.”
“Asher…” I placed my hand over my heart. “What are you…?”
He shook his head and grabbed my chin, forcing me to look at him. “Bella, I can’t… I can’t let you get on that plane.” He shook his head. “I let you get on it once and it ended up being the biggest mistake of my life.”
My eyes filled with tears. “It’s too late, we can’t work, Asher.”
“Why not? Why can’t we?”
“Because!” I said sadly. “We’re just too different.”
“Who gives a fuck?” He was yelling now, causing everyone around us to lower their voices and perk up. “We don’t need to be alike to be in love, Bella, we don’t. That’s what love is. It’s people choosing to love one another no matter what, even the parts they don’t understand or agree with.”
My eyes filled with tears. “Are you saying…?”
“Am I saying I’m in love with you?” Asher asked loudly. “Of course I’m saying it! I’ve loved you all along I was just too much of an asshole to realize it.” He looked around and motioned crazily. “Do you need me to tell the world because I will? I love this woman!”
I lowered my voice. “Asher…”
“Tell me you don’t love me,” he challenged. “Right here, right now, look me in the eye and tell me you don’t love me the way I love you, Bella. That you haven’t since we were kids, that that feeling… that feeling of being complete when we’re around each other is all in my head and it’s something you can just go on with your life without?”
Tears were openly falling down my cheeks now.
“You can’t do it,” he told me, wiping at my face. “You can’t do it because you love me just as much as I love you. Before you came back I had all this money and all this power and all this attention…. To everyone else, I seemed to be everything but inside I was empty and I couldn’t figure out why and then you showed up and I realized what it was I needed….”
“Me,” I whispered. It was the same feeling I’d had all those years away, like a piece of me was lost somewhere and I would never be able to find it again. “You needed me.”
He crushed his lips on top of mine deeply. “Of course I needed you, Bella, I always did.” He pushed a piece of hair off my forehead. “Now I can’t promise you that I’ll never fuck up, I’m human… but I can promise you I’ll be loyal, and that I’ll never intentionally hurt you… and I can promise you that I feel things for you I’ve never felt in my life.” He shook his head. “I’m fucking in love with you, Bella.”
I bit down on my lip, letting my true emotions finally spill out. “I’m fucking in love with you, too, Asher.” I leaped into his arms and threw my body around him, drowning in the touch and taste of him.
For the first time in years, I felt free.
And happy.
Cheers and applause broke out around us like the crowd was seeing a happy ending to a romantic movie where the hero and heroine were finally together and were about to ride happily off into the sunset with one another.
Luckily for me, it wasn’t a movie, it was my life.
And now that I knew love like this… I was never giving it up.
**THE END!**
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