I DROVE TO Ellie’s house quickly, parking down the road a little way. Luckily, the street was deserted. My heart was racing as I climbed out of my truck and walked swiftly to the house, stopping off to the side so I could call her. I felt sick doing this. This was the last thing I wanted, I never wanted her anywhere near trouble, yet here I was, bringing it right to her front door.

Pulling out my phone, I closed my eyes and pressed Call. It rang for a while, and my nerves seemed to double as I chewed on my lip.

“Jamie?” she croaked groggily.

I winced. “Uh, yeah, hi,” I mumbled, rubbing my forehead to try to relieve some of the tension headache that was building up.

She yawned before she spoke again, “Everything okay?”

Taking a deep breath, I mentally crossed my fingers that someone was watching over me and I wasn’t about to lose the best thing that had ever happened to me. “Actually … no, it’s not. I need to talk to you.”

“What’s up?” She sounded more awake now.

I flicked my eyes over to her house. “I need to see you. Can you come down?”

“Down? You’re outside?” she asked, her voice filled with shock.

“Yeah.”

The line disconnected and a minute later the downstairs light turned on before the front door opened. Ellie stepped out, immediately hugging herself against the cold. She was wearing only a tank top and what looked like a pair of my boxer shorts. Her hair was whipping about as she looked around, an adorable little confused expression on her face.

I stepped out of the shadows and waved her over, wanting a little distance from the house in case her parents heard us talking. She shivered but immediately stepped onto the path, flipping the latch on the door before closing it silently, wincing as the gravel crunched under her bare feet. I shrugged out of my hoodie quickly as she stopped in front of me.

“What happened?” she asked, smiling gratefully as I slipped the hoodie around her shoulders.

“I’m in some trouble,” I admitted.

Her eyes tightened. Even in the dim glow of the streetlight I saw the worry that was etched across her face. “What kind of trouble?”

I raised one hand and stroked her cheek, memorizing the feel of her soft skin under my fingertips, savoring it in case this was the last time I got to touch her. “There are some things about me that you don’t know.”

Her eyes darted back to the house as she shifted on her feet nervously. “Come inside, it’s cold out here,” she suggested, pulling the hoodie tighter around her body. She turned to walk away, so I grabbed her hand, making her stop. I couldn’t go inside. Once she found out the truth about me, she might not want to be near me or something. That, and the fact that when she started screaming at me that I was a worthless liar, it might wake her parents up, and they’d probably call the cops for her. I knew Ruth would for sure.

“It’s better if we do this outside, Ellie. You’re not going to like what I tell you.” Even I could hear the hopelessness in my voice.

Her hand tightened on mine as she flinched. “Did you cheat on me? Is that where this conversation is going?” Her voice wavered as she spoke.

I laughed humorlessly. Clearly she had no idea how crazy I was about her. “No, Ellie. Never.”

Her eyes fluttered closed as she huffed a sigh of relief. She was probably going to wish that I had cheated on her when I told her what this was really about, that I’d been lying to her for the last three months. “Just tell me, Jamie, you’re scaring me.”

Fuck. “I just stole a car, and now the cops are probably looking for me. I need an alibi that puts me somewhere else when it all went down,” I whispered, looking at my feet, not wanting to see her expression when she realized what a lowlife I was.

“You … You stole a car?” she croaked.

I nodded. “Twenty-five of them, actually,” I added nonchalantly.

“Jamie, what the fucking hell?!”

I looked up at her then and saw the expression that I’d never wanted to see on her face. Disappointment, shock, confusion, and horror.

“I’m not the person you think I am.”

“Not the … I don’t … It’s … What?” she sputtered.

“Please don’t freak out,” I begged, even though I knew it was too late to ask that of her. The panic had already started; I could see it building like a storm on her face.

She ran both her hands over her hair, smoothing it down unconsciously as the wind continued to whip it in all directions. Her mouth was agape; she shook her head as if struggling with her thoughts. “ ‘Don’t freak out’? Of course I’m going to freak out, for goodness’ sake; you’ve just told me that you stole twenty-five cars and that the police are looking for you. A normal person’s reaction is to freak the hell out!” she cried.

I winced as her voice echoed in the nothingness of the night. I stepped closer to her, quickly covering her mouth with my hand. “Shush, please, shush,” I pleaded, glancing around for any signs of movement on her expensive-looking street.

Her hand covered mine as she looked at me with wide eyes, taking deep breaths through her nose. When her rant seemed to have died down and some of the tension had left her shoulders, I removed my hand and stepped back to give her some personal space. She probably needed it after my revelations.

“Who are you?” she asked, shaking her head, her eyes filling with tears.

I smiled weakly, knowing that there was no chance of her wanting to be with me after this. “I’m the same guy that you’ve been hanging around with for the last three months. I’m still the same guy that holds you when you sleep, and who kisses you good night. I’m still the same guy that values you above everything else. It’s just … my past, it came back to haunt me. I didn’t have a choice, Ellie,” I replied, trying to explain everything. My knees felt a little weak, so I sat on the half wall that ran the length of the driveway.

“Your past?” she whispered.

I nodded and closed my eyes. “Yeah. When I was eleven I started working for a guy, doing small jobs for money, illegal jobs. Things got heavier; I started stealing cars to order.”

She whimpered and sat down on the wall next to me, playing with her hands as I continued to explain.

“I stopped. I was out of it. I’d given it all up before we met; I was going straight, but …” I trailed off, not knowing how to convey that I didn’t want to be this person anymore, that I wanted better for myself than this life I was sinking into.

She swiped at her face quickly with the back of her hand. I couldn’t bring myself to look at the tears that I knew I had put there. I hated myself for making her cry; I would never forgive myself for it.

“What happened?” she asked. “You said you didn’t have a choice.”

I shook my head fiercely. “I didn’t have a choice. My stupid mother, she borrowed some money from some bad people and couldn’t pay it back. I had to help her out,” I explained. “But I couldn’t afford it either, it was so much money, and I didn’t have it. I had to go back to my old boss and ask him for a job or two so that I could help my mom. The people my mother borrowed from, they’re not exactly a normal lending bank. If I hadn’t done this, then they would have killed her eventually, for sure.”

She gulped; her breathing quickened the more I spoke. “So you had to do this to get money for your mom?”

I nodded. “I’ve just finished paying off her debt now, but Brett, my boss, he wouldn’t let me just do a couple of jobs, I had to agree to work for him for a certain amount of time. I agreed to do it for three months. I have just under two left.”

“Three months of stealing cars?”

“Among other things.”

“Like what other things? What else have you been doing?” she asked, frowning.

I took it as a good sign that she was still sitting next to me, asking questions. Wouldn’t she have run by now if she was going to? “Lots of things that I don’t want to tell you about. It’s best if you don’t know in case anything bad happens because of it.”

She snorted at my answer. “Anything bad, like being wanted for grand theft auto?” she snapped. She groaned and put her head in her hands. “I knew you had a bad past but that you didn’t want to talk about it. I knew that something awful had happened to you, but I never suspected that you were in a damn car-stealing gang.”

“Ellie, I’m so sorry. I—” I started, but she cut me off.

“What do you want me to do?” she interjected.

My mouth popped open in shock as my pulse quickened. Is she being serious right now? She’s accepting my past, just like that? “Brett said we needed to get alibis. One of my crew got in an accident tonight while we were on a boost, and the police will be asking questions about the car soon. Everything should be fine. Brett will take care of him and get him out, but just in case one of us gets linked to him, we need a backup plan that’s not connected to anything illegal. You’re the only one I have,” I replied, hating to put this pressure on her.

She nodded, picking up a stone and rolling it around in her hands as I spoke. “So you want me to say I was with you tonight?”

I nodded silently, having no words.

“My parents were with me tonight. They went to bed just after ten. I could say that I snuck you in after they went to bed so that you could wake up with me on my birthday. They’ll see you in the morning too which will strengthen the story. Is that good enough?” she asked.

“Ellie, why would you do that? You’re going to get in trouble with your parents in the morning when they see me. Why would you do that for me?”

She stood, dropping the stone at her bare feet, turning to face me. Her eyes locked onto mine, and I felt the hair on the back of my neck prickle because of the intensity of the look she gave me.

“Because I love you, Jamie,” she replied simply.

Air rushed out of my lungs in one large burst. Until then, I hadn’t even realized that I was holding my breath. She loved me. Ellie Pearce was in love with me. I had never heard sweeter words in my life.

I forced myself to stand even though my legs felt weak. She didn’t move as I stepped closer to her, so close that I could feel her breath as it blew across my chin. Her eyes didn’t leave mine for a second.

One of my hands cupped the side of her face as I just marveled over her perfection. I needed to say it back quickly before she thought that I didn’t feel the same. This wasn’t how I’d pictured this moment happening at all. I’d planned on telling her that I loved her on her eighteenth birthday. I guess, technically, it was her birthday right now anyway—but I had planned to make it romantic and special, complete with picnic, cheesy music, and flowers.

Standing with her in that second, though, with her beautiful gray eyes burning into mine and my hoodie wrapped around her body, I realized that we didn’t need music and flowers or candles and expensive food, all we needed was us.

“I love you, too,” I whispered, bending slightly so I could lose myself in her gaze.

A beautiful smile stretched across her face as her arms looped around my waist. I didn’t move, not wanting to ruin the moment. I wanted to live in this perfect moment forever. The sound of her soft laughter brought me out of my happy daze.

“Usually now’s the part where the guy kisses the girl,” she teased, squeezing my waist in a prompt. “I thought you were the king of corny stuff.”

Chuckling, I stepped closer to her, pressing my body against hers. “I guess I’m not as corny as you always make me out to be,” I joked. “I love you, Ellie.” I repeated the words for good measure and then bent my head and captured her lips in a kiss that showed her exactly how true those words were.

By the time I pulled back we were both a little breathless. “Let’s get inside then.” She nodded over her shoulder toward the house.

“You sure? You don’t have to do this. I hate that I’ve asked you to. You deserve better than this.”

She smiled and trailed one hand up my body, setting it against my chest, hovering above my heart, which was still hammering wildly from the confession that she’d made.

“Jamie, I know you. I know who you are, in here.” She tapped on my chest with one finger. “If you tell me that you only went back into this stuff to help out your mom, then I believe you. You said you wanted to go straight; well, in two months, when your agreement is up with this Brett guy, you’ll be able to. I wouldn’t love you any less for this. Your past is the past. Hopefully, after this, it’ll stay there, and you’ll get a second chance. Everyone deserves a second chance,” she replied. “Besides, who else would put up with my sleep-talking that you claim happens?” she asked sarcastically.

I laughed and kissed her again, clamping her against me tightly. The heavens must have been smiling down on me after all. “I love your sleep-talking.”

She pulled away from me, taking my hand. “Come on, let’s go to bed,” she suggested. “And, by the way, my mother is going to hate you even more when she finds out that you snuck in last night.” She nodded knowingly.

I groaned. Her mother was going to throw a fit tomorrow when she saw me, but I guess it needed to be done because people would need to think I stayed the night for the alibi to hold. I pulled Ellie to me, bending and sweeping her into my arms so that she wouldn’t hurt her feet again on the gravel driveway. She smiled up at me and pressed her lips to mine as I carried her into the house, wondering just how I’d gotten so damn lucky.