Page 52 of Make Your Save

I find a cluster of stars that reminds me of her freckles. “What do you mean?”

“There’s so much about this life and this world that we know nothing about, that we may never know about in this lifetime.” She pauses, turning her body to face me, her fingers still entwined through my own as I move my eyes to hers. “In a way, we are all insignificant, you know?”

“No, I don’t know,” I tell her, shaking my head as I pull my hand away from hers, both hands snaking around her lower back as I pull her closer to my body. “I promise you, you’re not insignificant, Hadley. Not to me, not ever.”

She lets out a soft laugh, the sound warming my soul as she lifts her arms, linking them around the back of my neck as she begins to sway to the melody shifting around us. She moves closer, turning her head to the side as she rests her cheek against my chest. “I meant in terms of the grand scheme of life.”

I hold her close, feeling her entangling herself in my soul as she listens to the sound of my heart beating in my chest. Lowering my face to the top of her head, I breathe in her scent, clinging on to the moment before it slips away.

“Can I tell you a secret?”

“Always,” she tells me softly.

“I couldn’t care less about the bigger picture, not when I already have everything I’ll ever need.” I pause, letting out a breath, my voice dropping lower. “Themoon can keep the stars and the sun can keep the clouds.”

“But then what do you get to keep?”

You. I just want to keep you.

I pull away from her, my gaze yet again settling on hers. “Everything that’s supposed to be mine.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

HADLEY

“My sister thinks I need to call my brother.”

The words that fall from Rowan’s lips momentarily have me pausing from the dishes I’m washing in the sink. I glance over my shoulder at him as he steps up beside me, reaching for a hand towel to start drying the plates, leaving the bottles and nipples to air dry.

This is the first Rowan has even brought up his brother and I’ve been wondering when this topic would finally come up. My relationship with Beau was complicated to say the least and I also know that Rowan has had a similar experience with his brother.

“Do you know what’s going on with him?”

I haven’t spoken to him since we broke up over a year ago. Even though I was upset when it happened, it was more from a place of feeling like I failed and disappointment. Beau Taylor was once my friend, but when he broke up with me, it was the clean break I needed from the toxicity and chaos that came with him.

Rowan finishes drying, putting the bottles back in the cupboard before turning to face me as I dry my hands. “Raven said he’s in rehab right now, and supposedly he’s doing really well.” He pauses, hanging the hand towel on the stove. “Honestly, I’m not sure I really care.”

“Does he know about us yet?”

He shrugs with indifference. “I would imagine so because my mother has a habit of gossiping, but what can he really say about it? At the end of the day, he fucked things up with you, and he and I barely have a relationship. He’s done nothing but take advantage of our entire family. I don’t need his permission to be with you.”

My heart stumbles over itself and I quickly pull it back into place, back into a steady beat because I can’t take those words to heart. We both know this isn’t real, he just failed to mention it in conversation right now.

“I don’t really think he would care anyways,” I admit, walking across the kitchen before heading into the living room. I start to pick up some of the baby’s things that are thrown about the couch from our mad dash to get her into the bath after she had a blowout earlier.

I accidentally kick one of Lucy’s toys under the couch. I lower myself onto my knees, glancing up as I see Rowan stopping in the doorway. He extends his arms above his head, the muscles tightening as he grips the top of the doorframe, his body leaning forward slightly.

He drops his chin closer to his chest, watching medown on my knees through the pieces of his hair that fall across his forehead. Holy fuck. I forget what the hell I’m even down on my knees for, other than for him.

What the hell is wrong with you, Hadley?

His shirt rides up, lifting from the tension in his shoulders, revealing a few inches of the bottom of his torso. I’ve seen him without a shirt on before, but I try to force myself to forget how he’s built until I’m rudely reminded again.

“Why do you think he wouldn’t care?”

I stare at him for a beat, my mouth completely dry. “What?”

“My brother. Why wouldn’t he care that I’m with you?”

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