Page 29 of Come Back for Me
“You don’t have to stay, Ellie, but you’re not going anywhere.”
Chapter Nine
Connor
“Just tonight. No names. No anything. Just . . . I need to feel.” Her voice is pleading.
“Feel me.”
Her deep blue eyes stare into mine, and I swear she sees all my demons and chases them away.
Tonight, I’m not some kid who has dealt with his drunk dad, who thanked him with his fists and vitriol. I’m not the child of the man who threatened to ruin my life with the lies my brothers and I have told—to protect him.
I’m not Connor Arrowood, the youngest brother, the troublemaker who barely made it out of high school.
Right now, to her, my Angel, I’m a god. She looks at me with so much hope and honesty that it humbles me.
“Tomorrow . . .” I say as I gently brush my thumb across her cheek.
“No tomorrows.”
I want to tell her that tomorrow I leave for boot camp. She should know that, even though we are agreeing to only one night, I’ll come back for her. She just has to wait.
“There’s more,” I start, but her hand covers my lips.
“There’s nothing but tonight. I want us to get lost in each other, can you give me that?”
I’ll give her everything.
Her hand lowers, and she replaces it with her mouth. I kiss her, giving her the answer through touch.
We barely say a word as we slowly undress each other in a hotel room three towns over from Sugarloaf. I’m here to remember. I’m here to forget. I’m not even sure why I came, but maybe it was for her.
I’m eighteen years old but feel as if I’ve lived a thirty-year-old’s life. Dealing with the loss of my mother, my drunk father, the beatings, the lies, and having to make decisions I never should’ve had to make—because of him.
Right now, I don’t feel any of that. I’m a guy who is going to love a woman who is far better than he is.
“Connor!”
I look around, not knowing where the sound is coming from. No one else is here. It’s only my Angel and me.
“Connor! Connor! Help!”
I shoot up out of bed, my dream fading away as I search for the noise.
“Please! Be home!Please! Connor, I need you!”
Hadley.
I jump out of bed, throwing my shorts on as I rush to the door. “Hadley?”
When I open the door, she’s standing there, hair plastered to her face and eyes red rimmed. She grabs my hand, pulling me. “You have to come! You have to help!”
“Come where?”
“Hurry!” she screams.
Hadley is trembling, gripping my hand so tight that I can almost feel the fear inside her. She stares at me, broken, sad, and terrified. Images of what can be wrong flash in my mind because I remember that look. I remember running with my face a mess, praying I could find some help.
