“He…?” Declan stuttered. “Cal, the guy I met in the alley…and at your house, he…?”

I nodded. “He raped me.” I said it for him, the word already sounding stronger, more sure, even though I’d only said it out loud a handful of times.

“Are you serious?” Then he held up his hand. “I didn’t mean that to be a question. I know you’re serious. I’m just… That motherfucker.” His lips tightened and looked like he wanted to come to me but wasn’t sure he was allowed. Eventually, he must have realized he was or decided that he didn’t care whether he was or not and came over and sank down onto his knees in front of me. “I believe you.”

People always go on about the big three little words—I, love, and you—and I’m sure they’re great to hear. But there was no way they could be more powerful, more amazing, than these three little words. Saying ‘I believe you’ to someone who’s spent over a year not feeling heard or seen or believed in, those three words let me breathe again.

“I’m here for as long as you need me, and I’ll listen to however much you want to share.” He smiled. “As long as you don’t blame me for wanting to beat him to a pulp. I won’t do it—unless you want me to—but I want to. All you have to do is say the word. Deal?”

“Deal.” I reached out and touched his cheek, tracing the edge of his jaw and losing myself in his warmth. “You make me happy, prouder to be who I am than anyone else ever has. I thought I was strong enough.”

“You are strong enough…for anything.”

I shook my head, remembering how badly I’d frozen in what was supposed to be my big moment. “I thought I was ready to confront him last night, to tell him how much he’d hurt me, how much what he’d done had affected my life. But I wasn’t. And when he blew me off and walked away, I didn’t know what to do. Well, that’s not exactly true. I wanted to crawl into your lap, but since you weren’t there, I grabbed the only other thing I knew would help me feel better.” The rest of my explanation of the night and how my friends had helped me came out between blubbering and wiping away tears. I’m not sure how much of it he understood, but he never stopped listening.

“I did the same thing, except there was more than one bottle involved, I think. Fuck, I wish I’d picked up my phone. I’m sorry.” He squeezed my hand.

“You didn’t do anything wrong.”

“Well, that’s an argument we can have later, but for now…” He cleared his throat. “I’m going to ask you something, but if you don’t want to, don’t feel bad. In fact, to make it easier on both of us, how about you say ‘Not right now’ instead of a flat out ‘You’ve gotta be fucking kidding me?’”

“You’re scaring me.”

“I think you should bring some stuff over here. I’m not talking about putting your name on the lease or anything…yet.” He smiled. “But I don’t think it’s a good idea to stay in that house anymore. Not when that asshole can stop by whenever he wants to.”

“Wow.” Yep, that was all I could manage. I knew he wasn’t actually asking me to move in with him, but it was a big step in that direction. “Don’t you think it might put unnecessary pressure on both of us to make it official?”

“To make what official? I’m still not even sure we’re dating. But we seem to enjoy having sleepovers, have literally been as close as two people can be, and you already feel comfortable enough here to steal my coffee. Plus, I’ve walked in on you while you were taking a shower and hope to do it a lot more, so we don’t have to worry about those parts. Or did you mean that it’ll officially mean we’re exclusive? Because then, yeah, I think it will. But I’ve been okay with that since day one. Are you?”

I don’t think I’d ever get tired of his smile. “Yeah. I think I’m okay with that.”

“Good. Then you should bring some stuff over here and stay until you find your own apartment. I’m hoping to have at least another three weeks before the owner of this one finds out about Kitty being here and we get kicked out. So, maybe we’ll end up…”

In the time it took him to kiss my forehead, my mind went to all kinds of ways we could “end up”—living together, sharing a place, shopping for apartments together…

“…being homeless together,” he finished.

“Homeless?” Yeah, no one could possibly miss the disappointment in my voice. “That wasn’t the way I thought that sentence was going to go.”

“Really?” he asked innocently, his eyes giving him away. “Which way were you hoping it went?”

I shrugged. “Maybe we’ll end up being neighbors.”

“Only if you sunbathe topless and leave all the drapes open on the side facing my place.” He sighed. “But let’s not worry about the future quite yet. Let’s deal with right now. And right now, I would be very happy if you stayed here with me. For as long as you want to.”

“Are you sure you don’t mind?”

“I would never have mentioned it if I did.”

“Thank you, Declan.”

“As if I’m not getting anything out of it.” He winked. “Oh, one more thing.”

“Geez, you don’t want much, do you?”

“I want as much of you as you’ll give me, for as long as I can.” He slipped his hand behind my neck and brought my lips to his.

I kept my eyes closed even after he pulled away.

“But how about we make each other a promise? No matter what or where or whoever we’re with, we pick up our damn phones and talk.”

“I can do that.”

“Could you also forgive me for assuming the worst?”

“Honestly, I would’ve done the same thing if I were in your shoes. I haven’t exactly proven myself to be forthcoming and reliable.”

“Then let’s start over. Get it right this time. You’ll pick up your phone, and I’ll pick up mine. Deal?”

“I like your deals.”

“Good, because I have one more for you. If you stop crying all over my dog, I’ll let you kiss me. But just once, because I’m suddenly very much in the mood to hold you for as long as I can and make sure no one ever hurts you again.”

“Deal.” I nodded, not sure when the tears would start. And for the first time ever, I didn’t feel like I had to hide them. Because somehow, Declan could already see them and knew exactly the right way to make them go away on their own.

For the rest of the day, I lay on the couch between his legs, leaning against his chest. The plan was to watch a movie or two. But we spent so long laughing at all the horrible-sounding movie descriptions and comparing which we’d seen, we both fell asleep before watching anything.