One Last Rainy Day: The Legacy of a Prince(92)
She loves me.
Knowing is enough. But I refuse to recite those words unless I can act on them. As of right now, I can’t.
Her eyes search as I keep my palm in place to silence her and think of any way to offset the sting I know I’m causing. “It’s okay, Cecelia. I’m as close to happy as a man like me deserves.”
It’s all I have left for her until I sort through the debris collecting daily between us.
Chest alight with the awareness of her unspoken declaration, we stare back up at the sky, which feels like it’s peering back at us, laying witness. Getting lost, my mind wanders as I engage them, questioning whether the cosmos really has anything to do with our life path—if destiny and fate truly play a role in anyone’s life. Tobias forged our path, and I latched on. I wonder briefly if he saw me with him when he did or if it was his destiny alone that he invited us to be a part of. If that’s the case, it’s always felt right. Felt like mine, just as the woman beside me does. Wordlessly, I ask the visible galaxy comprised of sentinel stars what the future holds for us while knowing I’m stuck in limbo for an answer.
Which is fucking torment.
Tobias’s return is imminent. I can feel it with every fiber of my being. With that coming, our future remains unknown. Even so, I feel the steady beat of my heart driving me forward to face whatever is waiting on the other side of this. What Cecelia and I have is worth standing ground for, but coming clean means exposing Tobias completely and endangering the club—I could never do that. Our purpose is about so much more than our selfish needs and we have livelihoods that rely on the success of our club and lives literally dependent on it. I can’t throw that away or be that selfish.
Therein lies the crux of falling, giving merit to Tobias’s consistent warning of entanglements and this mindfuck of a situation with no viable solution I can conceive of. In this case, the truth will not fucking set us free, but damn us.
“Have you hurt people?” Cecelia asks, bringing me back to the hood, to her.
I answer with silence. That truth and those details are something I might eventually confess with time—if her place is claimed and accepted amongst us. If, somehow, she can forgive me for the lies.
“Do I make you happy? Even a little?”
Stupid question. But I answer it with a slow, deep kiss, pressing that truth into her until she’s thoroughly convinced.
Gathering her from my hood just after, I hoist her to wrap around me, carrying her toward the passenger door, ambling slightly until her breath catches.
Fuck.
“Dom, did you just sway your hips?”
Busted.
Though shrouded in the dark, I see her eyes bugging wide along with her smile. “O.M.G. Did you just dance a little with me?!”
Sighing, I press my forehead to hers. “Cecelia?”
“Yes?” She beams back at me.
“When you call me out for this shit, it stops. Haven’t you figured that out by now?”
“That you’re a closet romantic and love it,” she drops drastically. “Yes. I figured that out ages ago. You’re really not that smart nor smooth, King.”
Opening the passenger door, I dump her unceremoniously into the seat. “Date over.”
Her laughter trails me even as I slam the door on it, hiding my grin until I’m in the driver’s seat.
Sean summons us by text just as I hit the main road. Shifting, I turn in that direction catching a flash of Cecelia’s hair in my peripheral. Ripping my eyes from the vacant street, I glance over to see her head resting against the seat, head tilted toward the breeze, gaze trained up at the sky.
This is happy.
Sensing my stare, she looks back at me, a smile cracking her face, and with it, she steals the last unchartered piece of me.
As that elation scores through me, it’s muted slightly by the anxiety that’s been trickling in for the last few days. I’ll make it a point to get ahold of Tobias soon and talk to Sean about how in the fuck we’re going to sort this. I just have to believe my brother will hear me when the time comes.
When we pull up to the garage, Cecelia spots Sean’s car and hops out, tossing a look my way as I trail her, noticing his is the only one in the parking lot. I assumed his text was a summons to join whatever festivities were going on. Knowing we’re alone, Tyler absent, and wondering why he summoned us both, every step becomes heavier as I follow her into the bay. Striding in, my heart fucking stops along with my footing when Sean locks eyes with me while Cecelia races toward him.
He knows.
Dread filters through me as Sean forces a smile for Cecelia while blood pulses in my ears.
Whoosh. Whoosh. Whoosh. Whoosh.
Every bit of the contentment I just found gets ripped away as my heart thrashes with the knowledge—he knows. Sean and Cecelia’s conversations partially muted with the erratic beat.
“. . . up to no good?”
Whoosh. Whoosh.
“Always.”
Whoosh. Whoosh.
“. . . my girl.”
Those words crush me as she inquires about everyone else’s whereabouts, and Sean tells her he’s taking her home so we can talk. Her confused eyes dart between us as my insides start to rattle, feeling like they’re about to break apart.
Whoosh. Whoosh. Whoosh. Whoosh.
Cecelia reads us both easily and puts a voice to it. “Are you safe?”