“What’s that?” Ivy asks as I hold Zoë’s favorite college sweatshirt out in front of me.

Turning, I show her the faded navy blue hoody and it brings a smile to her face. “Oh that’s definitely a keeper. I can picture her wearing it.”

“Me too,” I say and pass it to Ivy, so she can pack it in one of the boxes of stuff that we are keeping in storage. This is all a lot to mentally process. But after struggling for days regarding when we would get back over here, we decided to schedule it, rented a moving truck, and are just getting it done…or trying to, at least. Even though it’s hurting like hell right now, we have to – Zoë wouldn’t want me struggling to pay for an empty place to keep a bunch of materialistic stuff.

“It was nice of the guys to help,” Ivy says from the bathroom. She’s been talking a lot. I think to keep her mind busy and me too. It’s a nice distraction, as I often find myself off in a daze of nonsense.

“Yeah, it was.” Logan and a couple of buddies from the gym came by earlier today, they moved all the big stuff out of here for us and into the storage unit. Finishing up the last of the bedroom, I head into the bathroom to check on Ivy. She is sitting on the floor, surrounded by a mess of stuff.

“How’s it going?”

“It’s okay. You have a lot of hair products.”

I smirk running my fingers over my shaved head and she smiles at me. “I’m gonna run these boxes down and check the meter.”

“Okay.” She looks back down going through the rest of the stuff from under the sink. Grabbing two boxes from the kitchen, I take the elevator down and let out a breath of air that I seem to have been holding.

The sun has set and today has exhausted me, probably more than I’ve realized. Loading the boxes into the back of the U-Haul, I’m spent. To think of unloading everything into storage and then making the trip home is unbearable, so I’m grateful I booked a hotel in the city.

I haven’t had a lot of extra money lately after the underground fights have slowed, but a night to decompress after a hard day is just what we both need. Plus, it will be a good surprise for her. I pop a few more quarters into the meter and check the tires to make sure the meter man hasn’t marked them. Heading back upstairs, Ivy has the bathroom all cleared out. “You want me to take these?” I ask.

“Yeah,” she responds, gathering the rest of the trash leaving the floor bare.

After a few trips, the U-Haul is loaded and as I stand in the middle of what was once my home, I look around at all of the nail holes in the walls from Zoë’s paintings. She was an amazing artist and had covered these walls with so many colorful pictures that had her personality shining through them.

“We did good,” Ivy says intertwining her fingers with mine.

Bringing her hand to my lips, I respond, “Yeah…yeah, we did.”

“Are you gonna miss it here?”

I think about all of the memories that were created in this place and am so glad that those are forever mine and locked in my head. With an honest expression on my face, I look at Ivy and respond, “No, I won’t.”

She tilts her head, perplexed by my comment and I let go of her hand removing the door key from my key ring. As the silver key spins around and around, I say to Ivy, “This hasn’t been my home for quite a while. I’m ready to let it go.”

“Where are you going?” Ivy asks, as I miss the exit for the turnpike and continue towards the hotel.

“You’ll see.”

I can see her looking at me out of the corner of my eye. She yawns and I ask, “You tired?”

“Uh huh.”

“Did you ever talk to your mom about helping with the apartment?” I ask her a little too late, but the thought that she wasn’t involved just popped into my mind. She doesn’t answer and I look at her. “Ivy?”

“No.”

“Why not?”

“Every time I talk about you, she…she clams up.”

“I don’t give a shit, don’t you think she would have liked to have been given the chance to be there? Besides, I told you she hates me.”

She chuckles. “Well, it’s a little too late now.”

I glare at her, turning deeper into the city and she asks again, “Where are we going?”

“Be patient.”

“Uhhhh!” She rests her tired head back in frustration. “Well, the bag of stuff that I’m keeping of Zoë’s has a lot of things in it for my mom. I’m sure she’ll understand.”

“Will you just make sure she knows I wanted her there and that we didn’t not ask her intentionally. Say we did it on a whim or something?”

“I’ll handle her, Krane.”

Her mom already has a bad taste in her mouth where I’m concerned and now that we did this without consulting her, although it was my apartment, it will elevate things if she doesn’t take it well. Pulling up to the hotel, I put my truck in park and am greeted right away by a valet guy.

Ivy looks at me surprised.

“Come on, let’s go decompress.”

“And shower,” she adds, looking down at her jeans insinuating they are dirty. I sling an arm over her shoulder and kiss the top of her hair on the way inside. “You do stink a little.”

She tries to pull away from me, but I hold her close.

“Thank you for doing this for us.”

“Anything for you,” I tell her.

Check in is a breeze and come to find out I went to school with the guy that works the counter. As we enter the hotel room, I can see that he hooked it up for us tonight. This place is massive, everything is open and lit up. There is an expansive wall of windows that overlooks Central Park. Flipping on the fireplace as I enter the bedroom, Ivy says, “Did you book this room? I thought you told the guy at the counter you wanted a king room?”

I flop back on the bed, looking at the ceiling and respond, “This is a king’s room.” She lies on top of me nuzzling close, and even though today was unbearable at times, we did it. “Thank you for everything,” I tell her, kissing the top of her shoulder.

“I can’t believe we got it all done.”

Going though the apartment and leaving it empty was a lot of work, especially to do it all in one day. But it also let me release a part of my past. Looking down at Ivy resting so peacefully across my body, it’s all worth it. Her breathing is even and I hate to get up, but we need to shower.

“Stay here,” I tell her and slip away. Walking into the bathroom, which is mainly made up of granite, I turn the water on to the huge soaking tub, knowing she’ll love to relax for a bit. Going back out, I lift her off of the bed. “Come on, baby, up you go.”

The endearment slips out of my mouth and we both look at each other. I’ve never said it before, and she grins as I cradle her tired body against my chest. Walking her into the bathroom, I set her next to the tub. The room is starting to fill with steam and I adjust the water before I remove her clothes, taking extra time to pay attention to all her sensitive places.

“Aren’t we going to rinse off first?” she asks.

“Probably smart,” I respond and turn the shower water on before I undress. Quickly we wash off and then as I hold her hand, we carefully walk on the slippery floor and she asks, “Will you just hold me?”

We both step foot into the tub and I slide down first, sitting in the hot water, which stings my skin. She stands in front of me and leans down cupping a handful of water that she picks up and runs down her body. As she bends forward, her ass and pussy are spread directly in front of my face.

“Do that again and you’ll be riding my cock in here.”

She looks back at me, bracing her weight on the sides of the high walls of the tub and sits in front of me. My cock is stiff and wants her, but I respect her wishes and fold my arms around her, pulling her close to me.

“Do you think you’ll ever tell your mom about us?” I ask, thinking about our conversation from earlier.

“Sure, when the time’s right.”

“You should give your mom the picture Zoë painted of Long Beach.”

She turns in my hold and blinks a few times before turning back around.

“Why?”

“Because it would make her happy.”

I cannot change the animosity that Brenda has for me, or make her understand what Zoë meant to me, especially once she finds out about Ivy and I, but what I can do is follow my gut and do what I think would make Zoë happy. I remember hearing her on the phone with her mom after she painted it, she was so excited and proud. She couldn’t wait to share it with her. It might be a small gesture, but right now, I’ll take it. Anything I can do to show the woman who hates me most that I am not a monster after all.