Page 74 of Demise

“Stay here,” he says. “Live here with me.”

I look over at him, scanning his expression to see if he’s serious. “You’d move out of the apartment?” I ask.

“I’ll sell the whole fucking bar. I want to be with you.”

I feel my lips lift as I think about it. Living with Danny? Hmmm, waking up every morning with that sleepy sexy man beside me. Why wouldn’t I?

Danny stands before bending down on both knees in front of me. He places his hands on my thighs, looking at me.

My heart accelerates. He looks into my eyes, as he seems to contemplate his next words. He gazes down, rubbing my thigh with his thumb.

“When my day is long and my mind is tired, you’re the one I want to come home to.” He pulls a box from the pocket of his blazer. “You’re the one I want in my bed, the woman I want my children to look like, laugh like.” He licks his lips, his eyes crinkling at the sides.

“I’ve asked you this in the past, when both of us weren’t ready, when time and circumstances were different, but there’s nothing keeping us from one another now. I’ll love you forever, my love.” He opens the box.

“Marry me.”

Chapter Fifty-Two

Sweep

I knock on the door to Trig’s house, needing him to meet our heroin guy down at the shipyard because I got a doctor’s appointment to get my fucking eyes checked. I’m assuming they’re the cause of these headaches I have. I stand outside waiting, but he doesn’t come to the door.

I knock again, turning the handle. “Trig,” I call out. I walk on in, looking around the kitchen counters covered in beer bottles and leftover boxes. This place is a fucking mess. I kick a beer box out of my way, covering my nose at the smell of rotting food. I walk into the living room, tripping over a shoe and catching myself on the table. Trig’s laptop lights up.

I squint my eyes, seeing a familiar room on the screen. There’s a pause on it, so I press play.

My spine tenses, my stomach twists.

“Goddamn,” I mutter.

Chapter Fifty-Three

Bones

Bexley looks at me with tears in her eyes. I know it wasn’t long ago when she lost Samuel, but she has to know this is different. This is what was always supposed to be. I’m slightly nervous when she doesn’t respond right away, but then she looks at the box and back up at me.

“I always said if you ever asked me again, I’d say yes,” she says. My worry increases. Is she questioning it? Is she going to turn me down? My throat dries, and I’m about to fucking beg when she says, “Are you going to put that ring on me, or what?”

I laugh. “Goddamn, you had me nervous.” I take the ring out and toss the box. Grabbing her finger, I slide it on and then I kiss her. I kiss the living shit out of her because she just made me the happiest man on earth.

I smile against her lips, holding her face between my hands as our foreheads rest against each other’s. She sniffs and looks down at the ring on her finger. “It’s beautiful.”

“It was my mom’s. Ma gave it to me with hopes I’d give it to you.”

Bexley looks up at me with a crease in her brow. I’m sure she’s wondering how long I’ve had it. I went to Ma’s a few weeks ago and got Paul to meet me over there. I told them both I was going to ask Bexley to marry me. Paul wasn’t shocked; he knows how I feel about her.

Ma cried, and then she went into her room and came back with the ring. “Bexley should have this,” she said. “Your mom would have loved her, just as I do.”

I wondered why she didn’t give it to Samuel to give Bexley. A part of me believes my family even knew she was always supposed to be with me. I thanked her, and then I did something I never thought I would.

But I was a man who honored respect. It was in my code, so I drove over to Hale’s house and knocked on the door. He’d stared at me for a moment, and then he sighed heavily. “You’re going to ask her, aren’t you?”

“I am. I was hoping to get your blessing.”

“What’s my blessing mean to you? I’m sure you’ll do what you please either way.”

I lifted my chin. “It’ll mean a lot to her; therefore, it means a lot to me. I know I don’t deserve her, but I’ll never do her wrong. I’ll make sure she has a good life with me. I promise you.”

---