Page 96 of Complete Me
Liam: That one doesn’t even make sense
Me: What is wrong with you three? Don’t come over. Ivy and I already have plans this morning
Dallas: Too bad, we’re crashing it then
Me: I’m sure Sawyer is loving having his phone blowing up while he’s trying to focus
Dallas: He put our group chat on DND, duh
Deciding I’m done entertaining my crazy siblings, I drop the phone back on the end table and decide to take a long, hot shower. The hot water beats down on my shoulders and chest, and I’m suddenly overcome with worry. I hate that they left to take care of this. I hate that we just found each other, and he’s out there fighting to end something that started long before I was taken. I hate that Sawyer is away from his wife and daughter. I just want everything to be behind us so we can all move forward.
My tears mingle with the water and stream down my face as I allow myself a moment of weakness, knowing that I don’t have to be strong all the time. What I went through was nothing compared to what Lena experienced before her death, what other women have experienced before me, but horrific and terrifying, nonetheless. I’m proud of Hell’s Heathens for standing up and ending this. Reid’s right, these people have no regard for how precious human life is, so they don’t get to continue to live theirs.
After pulling myself together, I unpack some of my belongingsonto his bathroom counter, setting up my blow dryer and drying my thick hair. I haven’t styled it in what feels like weeks, and the process is actually making me feel a little more human.
The black and blue of my cheek has faded to a light green. My skin is healing, and not so incredibly alarming to look at. I don’t bother putting on makeup, and throw on a pair of denim shorts and a tank top. As I’m walking out of the room, I see Reid’s plain black T-shirt lying on top of the hamper. Picking it up, I lift it to my nose, inhaling him deep into my lungs. The oxytocin hit it gives me is exactly what I needed, and without giving it further thought, I pull it on over my tank, bunching it around my waist and twisting the fabric into a side knot.
The house is quiet, and as comfortable as it is to be in his space, I’m eager to fill it with the noise of my siblings. I thought I would want to be alone, but it turns out that’s the last thing I need right now.
I wander aimlessly around Reid’s house, making my way through the rustic yet homey living room and taking a seat on the couch. In the center of the coffee table sits a single book, with Reid’s handwriting on a piece of paper lying on top of it. I pick up the note first.
My little fighter,
I didn’t want to leave you with nothing to do for however long I’ll be gone, so read this and think of me. Chapters 24, 36, and 42. You mean the world to me, Kinsey, and I’m coming back to you. You’re my whole heart, the reason it beats in my chest, the reason I pull air into my lungs. I will come back.
This is your home now, I dare you to snoop.
I love you, sweetheart.
R.K.
Can a heart melt? It feels like it can melt. This man. What did I do to deserve him? I pick up the book he left me with shaky hands, running my palm over the top of it. But before I can open it to read, my eyes flick back to the coffee table, and my mouth falls open.
Looking back at me are several sheets of drawing paper, the first one is so blatantly and realistically me that it feels like I’m looking in a mirror. With trembling fingers, I pick up the stack to sift through.
In the first one, I’m sitting on the leather couch downstairs in his office, my legs crisscrossed in the seat, looking forward with a smile on my face. I remember that moment, it was when he asked me to stay for pizza. I didn’t want that night to end.
The moment I realized you were something more to me. Your smile made me forget the constant pain for the first time in ten years.
The second causes tears to sting my eyes and my heart to catch in my throat. It’s me lying in his bed at the clubhouse. My hair is fanned out across his pillow, the blankets covering the majority of my body, my hand outstretched to reach for something, my face pleading and desperate. It was the first night there, and I asked him to sleep next to me. It was the easiest thing I’ve ever asked for because I had never wanted or needed anything more than I needed to be wrapped up in him. He was safety. Comfort.
The moment I realized I was in love with you. My heart started beating after being dead for so long.
The third and last is of me completely naked, lying sensually on my back in the center of his bed at the clubhouse. My hands are stretched out above my head, gripping the bedsheets, head turned to the side, eyes closed. I look beautiful. My eyes flick to the bottom of the sketch, reading his words, my breath catching in my throat.
The moment I realized you were wholly mine and I’d do anything to keep you.
In each one, I realize, it’s how he saw me in those moments, his point of view. With tears in my eyes, I hold them to my chest, sending up prayers to whoever will listen to please bring my man and my brother back to us.
Dallas, Blaire, and Ivy pull into the driveway one behind the other, an hour later. Ivy jumps out of Sawyer’s huge, red Ford truck that he’s been driving since our grandfather gave it to him when he got his license. I know it’s sentimental to both him and Ivy.
“Hey, sis. You doing okay?” Dallas asks me, his arm draped over Blaire’s shoulders as they walk up the small porch of Reid’s house.
“I guess? Pretty sick to my stomach knowing what I know and where they’re going. I’m terrified of something going wrong.”
“They’re smart, and they both have something precious on the line; they’ll come back.”
“You’re really okay with me being with him?”
