Page 26 of The Secrets Behind Us

“I can’t promise he won’t cause other problems but I’m going to do my damnedest to keep him away.”

Our eyes connect and shit, she is fucking gorgeous. I lean down to kiss her and as I start to deepen it, there’s a knock on the door. “Hazel? Are you and Dexter done? Would you like to come down for dinner?”

Her face reddens with embarrassment, but when our eyes connect, we both let out a laugh as Hazel sits up from the bed, “Yes, Mom. We’ll be down soon.”

“Sounds good. See you soon.”

Hazel throws her head back down against the pillow. “Ugh. That is so embarrassing."

I move my hand down to her boob and squeeze, “I don’t know. Maybe it means you should move in with me."

Her eyes glisten with moisture, "You want me to move in with you?"

"Sugar Lips, we've already wasted so much time. Yes, I want you to move in with me." Leaning over her, I give her a chaste kiss. She pulls back with a huge smile on her face.

“Of course I'll move in with you. Come on, hot stuff. Let’s get dressed and go. If not, she’ll be back up here," she says as she gets up from the bed.

With a little help from Hazel, we both get dressed and make our way down to dinner. It smells delicious, which is great because I just worked up an appetite.

Chapter fifteen

Hazel

As we enter the dining room, everyone starts hooting and hollering. My face burns with embarrassment. I try to move out of the room, but Dexter's grip tightens around my hand and pulls me back into the dining room.

Looking around the table, I realize it's the whole gang. Everyone we love.

My dad sits at the head of the table, my mom to his right. Across from her is Ashley and her husband Simon. Ashley is grinning from ear to ear, but Simon is so engrossed in his phone, he’s the only one who hasn’t even noticed that we came down. I bristle a little, but I don’t want it to interrupt this joyous feeling, so I ignore him. At the end of the table sits Alex and Mateo.

I look back over my shoulder and see Dexter smiling so big that it even reaches his eyes.

Alex gets up as soon as we're both in the room and walks over to us, wrapping both of us in a hug. “It’s about time. Now that you're getting laid, maybe you won’t be so grumpy.”

Dexter’s smile drops and he glares at his brother, “Fuck off, Alex. Don't worry about my sex life."

Alex just laughs at Dexter and goes back to his seat. I grab Dexter’s wrist pulling him closer to me and whisper, "He's just trying to get under your skin. That's what siblings do."

"I know but that doesn't mean I have to like it."

We head to the empty seats between my mom and Mateo. We sit down to full platters of food on the table and my stomach lets out a big growl.

My sister laughs. “Well, it sounds like someone is hungry.”

Dexter takes that as his cue and reaches for the plate sitting in front of me. He stands up and starts piling my plate up with food, then sets it down in front of me. “Eat.”

He doesn’t have to tell me twice; I dive in and eat like I haven’t had anything in years. Now that Dexter and I are back together, everything just tastes so much better. Everyone around me serves their food and starts to eat. I take a moment to take everything in and can’t help but feel the warm glow of happiness settle over me.

It's only been a few days but feels like it's been months since I've been in California, sitting in my apartment alone, not wanting to bring my family into my mess, hoping that my actions were keeping Dexter safe. I’m so glad that my sister forced me back home.

In such a short period of time, I’ve been able to reconnect with my sister, be here for my mother and commit to my soul mate.

I glance at Dexter and he’s talking with his brothers, whispering. I can tell by the stiffness of his body that he’s telling them what went down with his dad. I can’t even imagine what it must feel like to have you own dad betray you.

I know his family has always been complicated, but I never expected this. I always assumed the unknown texter was someone involved in The Wolves, which I guess in a way it was, just much closer to home than we realized.

“Hey, Hazel. Now that you’ve been home for a little bit, have you thought more about what you want to do for work?” Ashley pulls my attention to her.

“I’m not sure. I actually haven’t even thought about it yet.” I inwardly cringe, thinking about how tight money is about to get.

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