Page 98 of Fighting

“What else have you bitches planned?” The words may be harsh, but the venom is gone. Instead, I sound childish. “You planted those letters,” I huff. “I know you did.”

“Matty organized it,” Lee says as he pulls his wife close. “Did it work?”

With an eye roll, I dip my chin.

The four of them hiss a quiet cheer.

“Are you going to tell him?” Lily asks, leaning in, casting an eye-crinkling smile my way.

With a nod, I swallow thickly, my throat dry and scratchy.

As if she’s conjured it, Delia holds out a glass of water.

Maybe we are witches, I laugh to myself.

“It won’t be easy, and it won’t change overnight, but I have to take better care of myself. I’m going to look for a new job. This one is too hard on my heart,” I admit, feeling a mix of defeat and possibility.

“I think you should take a look at the final approved proposal,” Stef says, her lips tipping up in a secretive smile.

With a deep inhale, I rush into the room.

Dad is packing up the signed and notarized papers. Mateo has his back to me, chatting reverently about the town with Liam and Gran.

The papers on the table are his revised proposal. Blueprints for a community center with health and mental health services, as well as a pool. There’s also a page with a recommendation for a person to lead the facility.

I blink, my vision blurred and unwilling to trust my eyes:Dr. Nessa Rabin, PsyD, Executive Director.I’m shaken from my stupor when the girls shove me forward.

“I just wish Nessa could see this,” Mateo says, oblivious to my presence. “I think she’d make an amazing executive director for a community center. She inspired a lot of the ideas on the list of services we hope to provide.”

“I’m here,” I rasp out.

Mateo turns slowly, and I rush forward and meet him in the middle. He runs his hands through his hair, going for cool, though anxiety rolls off him in waves.

I try to apologize, getting out only, “I’m sorry. I?—”

He pulls me into a bone-crushing hug. “No, I’m sorry. I really believed I had made my intentions clear to you. When that police officer said those things.” He shakes his head. Our eyes meet, mine blurry and his filling with so much watery emotion.

“Then Delia said you went to your sister’s, and I wanted to give you space. It has been killing me, but Ness, I’m not going anywhere. I am exactly right for you.”

I bite my lower lip, trying to suppress a laugh. “Did you just quote Jacob?”

He gives me that big, goofy, grin. The charming one I used to think he wore to deflect. This time, it’s accompanied by a little flicker of fear in his eyes. “Sure did, Ivy,” he whispers. “I’m nothing without you. I need you to cling to me and grow with me.”

A breath shudders out of me and tears crest my lashes. Fuck, I hate crying. Before that fact can set in, his thumb is there, wiping away the moisture. He studies me, his irises, the color of melting chocolate, swim with emotion.

“I love you, and your poison, Ivy. I’m not going anywhere. I’ll be here to tease you, to support you, all of it, for as long as you’ll let me.”

With that, he claims my lips, and the rest of the room falls away. Our kiss starts soft and sweet, but when his tongue parts my lips, it grows fervent, our mouths dancing together making up for the weeks we’ve been apart.

Stef shouts, “Get a room you two,” startling us.

Taking me by the hand, Mateo leads me out. As we exit, Lee asks, “Should we send River to our house to make this moment really full circle?”

Back at Mateo’s place,we lock the front door behind us, then divest ourselves of our coats and shoes.

“They won’t show up. Don’t worry.” I smooth a hand down his chest, laughing at the idea of River showing up to interrupt this moment. With a hand beneath his shirt, I scratch along his chest, pressing the material upward.

He yanks it over his head, then his lips are on mine again, his hands on my arms, neck, and shoulders. His fingers thread into my hair and force my face up.

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