Page 10 of A Step Too Close
“Are you sure, Levi?” I ask. “I am needy sometimes. I snore when I’m sick. When I get overstimulated, I might rage and throw shit like a toddler. I cry during sappy commercials, and I am paranoid. I am so goddamn paranoid that I will pick a fight for no fucking reason just to try and prove to myself that you are a piece of shit. I’ll feel bad when I’m wrong and sob like a baby. I’m a lot, Levi…”
“Arden, no one is perfect, baby. I don’t want a perfect wife and perfect children. I want to be pushed every day to grow. I want someone who will keep me on my toes and encourage me to be a better man tomorrow than I was today. I don’t need a picture-perfect life because nothing about my life has been picture-perfect. If you want to rage and throw shit, baby, I will be right beside you with a broom to help clean up the mess. If you cry, I will wipe the tears away and lie when you ask if your face looks like a tomato,” he says, making me laugh as he wipes away my tears. “Baby, I want you. I want all the flaws and all the passion. I want every fucking pound of your baggage because I know we can carry ours together. If I have learned anything from you over the last seven months is, it’s that you never stop fucking fighting. You push until you get what you want, but you keep fucking pushing to see how far youcanget. No matter what the goal is, you keep. Fucking. Pushing… I want you, Arden. Give me yourabsolute worst, because we both know we have already survived the pits of fucking hell.”
“Let’s get married then,” I say with a grin.
Levi kisses me hard as he picks me up in a hug and spins me around. “Call Macie and have them meet us for lunch,” he says. “We can tell our parents after.”
“Then you have to call Jett,” I say with a sweet smile. “I’m going to go clean up and change into new panties, since these are full of your come now.”
“You do that and then call Macie. I’ll have Jett meet us,” he says, kissing me again. “We can go to the house and work from there after.”
“Okay,” I smile.
I am fucking giddy as I grab my bag and go to the bathroom to call Macie. “Hey, girl,” she says.
“Are you still with Wilder?” I ask.
“I am. You’re on speaker now. What’s up?” she asks.
“Y’all want to meet for lunch?” I ask.
“Sure. We were going to go to The Red Tulip. That work?”
“Yeah,” I say. “So… I am going to tell you something, but I just want you to support me, okay?”
“Okay,” she says.
“Levi and I are getting married,” I say carefully.
“Oh my God!” she squeals, and I relax. “That is so amazing. Wait… today? After lunch?”
“Yeah. Levi is calling his brother to meet us,” I say. I turn to the door and Levi is smiling at me.
“Where are we meeting them?” he asks.
“The Red Tulip,” I say.
“I heard the squeal. I assume she approves?”
“Sounds like it,” I laugh.
“Good. Jett cried,” Levi laughs.
“Wilder, you are too quiet,” I say.
“Give him a sec. He is crying too,” Macie giggles.
“I am so fucking happy for you, Arden,” Wilder sniffs.
“Fuck you,” I say tearfully. “Why’d you have to go and cry, asshole?”
Macie and Levi laugh as he wraps me in a hug. “You have grown into an amazing woman, Arden. I’m serious,” Wilder says. “We have watched you two fall in love over the last seven months and it’s been incredible to see.”
“Levi,” Macie says seriously.
“Yes, ma’am?”
“If you hurt her, they will never find your fucking body,” Macie says seriously. “She deserves to be treated like a princess, so I better never fucking hear from her that you have been anything less than amazing to her.”
