Page 55 of Sweet Doe
One of the search team members, a woman with graying hair, looks directly in my direction. For a moment, I think she recognized me. But her gaze slides past without registering.
This is my chance. My moment ofchoice.
All I have to do is step forward.
Show myself.
Say my name.
In thirty seconds, this nightmare could be over. I could be safe, surrounded by people whose job it is to protect me, on my way back to a life where this fucked up shit happens tootherpeople.
But my feet refuse to move.
Because going back means leaving him, never again feeling the way I felt when he looked at me, when he touched me, when he whispered my name while his dick was buried deep inside of me.
The search team finishes their conversation with the desk clerk and heads toward the exit. Soon they'll be gone, the opportunity lost, and I'll have chosen him over being found.
I wait until their voices fade and the lobby is empty again except for the bored-looking clerk, before I finally move. My legs feel unsteady as I make my way back down the hallway, the half-full ice bucket forgotten in my shaking fingers.
Asher is waiting for me around the corner from our room, pressed against the wall like he's hiding. The moment he sees me, relief floods his features, followed quickly by something that looks a lot like awe.
"You saw them," he says quietly. It's not a question.
"Yes."
"And you..." He swallows hard, like he can't quite believe what he's about to say. "You stayed."
"I stayed." The words make it feel more real. It sinks in.
For a moment we just stare at each other in the dim hallway, the magnitude of what just happened settling between us. This wasmychoice, pure and simple. I had a chance to be rescued, and I chose him instead.
"Why?" His voice is raw with emotion.
"Because they wouldn't understand."
"Sloan..." He says my name like he can't quite believe I'm real.
"They'd want to fix me. Force me through therapy until I’m gaslit into believing none of what I feel is real." I step closer, close enough to see the hope in his eyes. "But itisreal. What we have is real, and I'm not willing to give it up."
"Even knowing that there's no going back from this?"
"Especially knowing that." I reach out to touch his face, feeling the slight tremor in his jaw beneath my fingertips. "I made my choice, Asher. And I choose you."
He wraps me into his arms, pulling me in for a sweet kiss.
"You're mine," he whispers against my lips. "You’re really, truly mine."
"I'm yours," I agree, smiling up at him.
His hand finds mine, intertwining our fingers as he eagerly leads me back toward our room. But just before we reach the door, he stops, turning to face me.
"I love you," he says, the words raw with emotion. "I love you more than anything in this world, and I'll spend the rest of my life proving that you made the right choice."
"I know." And I do know, with a certainty that should terrify me but it doesn’t.
Heis the right choice.
Chapter Eighteen
