Page 73 of Falling for a Killer

“Yes! Oh, fuck yes.” She hugs me quickly, then steps back and starts looking around. “Where is he then? Can he come home today?” she asks, like I have any answers at all. “Call Donna! I know sometimes defendants have to go back to prison to be processed out but sometimes they’re just let go.”

Gathering myself, I snatch my cell phone off the floor and try a dozen times to get ahold of Donna Steel. Each call goes straight to voicemail. Violet pushes me out the back entrance to get some air before I have a panic attack right there in the courthouse, but her efforts almost immediately backfire.

The transit van is leaving. “What the fuck?” I yell, racing after it on foot. “Killian?!”

“Let’s go, come on!” Violet grabs me and drags me toward the car. “I just told you he’d likely have to go back to be processed out. Let’s just go to the prison and wait for him there.”

“What if the van was empty and he’s still here?”

She huffs. “Okay. Call Donna again.”

I try twice more, but don’t get through.

“I’ll stay,” she offers. “Take the car and go to the prison, because I’m absolutely positive that’s where he’ll be. But I’ll stayhere until I get confirmation just in case, because he shouldn’t be alone when he gets out. Go.”

Nodding, I snatch the keys and take off toward the car, trying to keep an eye on the van as it exits the parking lot and gets on the road. Traffic is so ridiculous that I lose sight of the van more than once, and by the time I actually get to the prison, I’m sure it beat me here by quite a while.

All I can do, once again, is wait.

And wait. And wait.

I think the soles of my shoes wear down the pavement by the time I see any movement at the prison entrance, but when I do, I nearly sob with relief.

Killian. No cuffs, no prison garb, no shackles or chains.

Just Killian.

Immediately he begins running toward me, meeting me halfway just in time to catch me as I launch myself into his arms. “You did it,” he breathes into my hair, squeezing me tighter. “You set me free.”

It wasn’t me, but I’m so happy to be hugging him in the daylight again that I won’t argue. “They can’t come after you ever again,” I promise him, kissing the hell out of his face. “It’s over.”

His mouth presses into mine once, twice, three times and suddenly I’m being pressed against my car and he’s smiling against my lips. I didn’t even realize we had been moving. “I love you, Joey. I’ve been dying to say those words without handcuffs and now I finally can. Be my fucking girlfriend, woman.”

“Yes,” I rush out, kissing him fiercely as a relieved laugh bubbles out of me. “Yes. I’ll be whatever you want me to be.”

“Good girl. You’re gonna be my wife one day, but I’ll take this for now. Long as you stay mine. No take backs.”

I can feel happiness radiating off of him, an echo of my own.

And this time, no one can take it from us.

Thirty-Eight:

My People

Killian

The house she told me about in letters is even nicer than I imagined, but it’s hard to focus on that when all I can think about is meeting her family for the first time. These people had my back in a time I didn’t expect to have anyone, and the words “thank you” just don’t feel sufficient.

It’s been so long since I’ve been around a family that I don’t even know how to act. I feel like I need a shower to wash off prison, but thanks to the haircut Kev gave me and the dressy outfit Joey got me for court, I at least look like someone attending a dinner. It doesn’t take much for me to recognize these feelings aren’t about how I look or even how I act, I’m just... nervous to meet them.

“Go over their names for me one more time, love. The kids are Noah and Avery?”

She watches me drum my fingers on the steering wheel anxiously before reaching over to squeeze my leg. “Yes. My sister is Violet, her husband is Greg. My parents are Moses and Sheri, and not one of them will blame you if you don’t know their names by heart. It’s okay, baby. I promise.”

I nod, taking her hand in mine to bring it up to my lips. “I may not know their names, but I already love them all.”

“They love you too. You’ll see.”

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