I look up into his eyes and cup his face in my hands. Looking at him makes it hard for me to breathe. The pain I put him through kills me. “How could you even say that, Hemy?” I can’t hold my emotions back anymore. Being here in his embrace makes me lose all composure. The tears rush out as I wrap one arm around his neck and hold on for dear life. “I hurt you. I walked out on you when you needed me the most. I never stopped loving you. I thought about you every day and not one day went by that I didn’t fear for your life. I was so damn scared.”

“I know,” he breathes. He rubs both his thumbs under my eyes, wiping the smeared mascara, before cupping my face and hovering his lips above mine. “I was a fool for the way I acted and I should have done the right thing by you. I should have been the one to let you go. I hurt you so damn bad and I’ll never forgive myself for what I put you through. You did the right thing. You had to for the both of us, because I was too weak. Watching you walk out of my life and waking up alone is what woke me up. I realized that you were more important than the drugs. No high is better than the high I experience when I’m with you. I’m a different person and I have you to thank for it. Don’t ever question what you had to do. Do you hear me?”

His warm breath kisses my lips as he presses his body closer to mine and waits for me to nod. “Hemy,” I manage to get out. “I love you so damn much. I’ll never-”

Hemy crushes his lips against mine, cutting me off. My body feels weak in his arms as he pulls me as close as possible, kissing me with so much passion that the tears start falling for a whole different reason. I love this man with all my heart and after all that we have been though, I know he feels the same way.

Pulling away from the kiss, Hemy searches my eyes before kissing my tears. “I love you more than life itself. I promise to never hurt you again. All I want is to be with you. I’ve never wanted anything else besides having Sage back in my life. I have Sage now,” he pauses to give me a deep look, his eyes glassing over, “Let me have you. That’s all I ask. I need both my girls.”

Looking into his eyes makes me weak in the knees. There is so much promise behind them that I know being with him would be different this time. I’m just not sure I can get over me hurting him and Sage. It’s myself that I’m angry with now, not him. I’m mad at myself for leaving.    

“Are you sure you want me,” I ask, my heart pounding.

He kisses me softly before pulling away and smiling. “More than life itself.”

We both stand here in the rain just looking each other in the eyes before Hemy sucks in his lip ring and smirks. “Stay here with me tonight. Do you remember those nights?”

I let out a little laugh and nod my head. “How could I forget, Hemy? I can’t even count how many people’s trucks we had sex in the back of.”

“Twenty three,” Hemy says with a grin.

I slap his arm. “You kept count?”

He laughs and picks me up, throwing me over his shoulder. “Fuck yeah. Those were twenty-three of the best nights of my life.” He bites down into my ass, making me squirm as he pulls out a key and unlocks the door. “I counted a lot of our good memories. Now, tonight will be number one that I undress you out of those wet clothes, put you in my shirt and take care of my future wife. Promise me you’ll be mine, forever. Say it. Let me hear you say it.”

All the breath leaves my lungs hearing those words leave his lips. I want to cry, but I don’t. All I want to do is be close to Hemy and let him back in. No holding back this time.

“I’m yours. Forever,” I whisper.”

“I’ve been waiting four years to hear those words,” he breathes as he walks us through the dark garage, pulls down the back of a truck bed and carefully sets me down.

He doesn’t hesitate undressing himself from his jacket and shirt before pulling off my wet close and replacing them with his dry shirt.

He holds me close to him, whispering in my ear and rubbing the back of my head. Here, right now. I feel safe. I feel loved. This is the feeling I want for the rest of my life and can’t live without.

It’s him and it always has been. Tonight I’m making a promise to never let him go again.

The rest of my life starts tonight . . .

Chapter Seventeen

Hemy

Three weeks later . . .

We’re all sitting around in Fortune – a normal bar, eating dinner and having a few drinks. The whole crew is here: Slade, Aspen, Cale, Stone, Sage, Onyx and myself. It’s the first time we have all gotten together since me and Onyx worked things out. I have to admit it feels good.

It took a bit of convincing, but I finally got Onyx to move in with me. I knew she would eventually cave in. The only downfall to that is that it left Sage needing a new roommate. As you can guess, Stone was quick to jump to fill that spot. I’m still keeping my eyes on that slick fucker, but he’s grown on me. Plus, he seems to be crazy about her and she deserves someone to treat her the way she should have been all along.

“Dude!” I feel something hit me upside the back of my head. I pull away from kissing Onyx to look over my shoulder. Slade flicks a chicken wing at me. “Stop that shit. You’re making me want to take Aspen home and fuck her. My cock does not appreciate you right now.” Aspen elbows him in the side and laughs. “What?” he questions with a laugh.

“You and your dirty mouth.” Aspen grins.

Slade throws his hands up. “My bad.” He bends down and kisses her neck before biting it. “You can just punish me later.”

“Alright, dicks,” Cale says annoyed. “You all can stop your shit now. You’re making me sick. I’m trying to eat.”

“Shut up and go get your dick sucked, pussy,” I say teasingly, causing Cale to toss a fry at my head. What’s with the fucking flying food?

Onyx grips my thigh from under the table, causing me to instantly go hard. She always does it, letting me know what she wants. She knows exactly what she’s doing to me and as soon as I get her alone, she’s getting . . . fucked, and hard.

Aspen smiles over at Cale before taking a sip of her beer. “So . . . Riley gets home next week.”

Cale turns white in the face, but quickly tries to shake it off. “Yeah? That’s nice,” he says, nonchalantly. “Next week, already?”