Page 61 of Follow Me Down

“I’m starting to think your father is an even bigger ass than mine... And that’s saying something.” I smile to lighten the mood. “Seems we have more in common than I originally thought.”

“That we do,” she agrees with a small tilt of her head.

“Promise me something.” I wait a beat before continuing. “Promise me you’ll never go back there. That you’ll never let him use you again.”

“I don’t want to go back. But I may not be able to control that. I don’t have a job or a source of income. I have no home or anything to fall back on. I have no one. I threw myself off the cliff without checking to see if there was a safety net at the bottom.”

“You’re wrong. You have me. And you have Link. And this is your home now.”

“Titus.” She shakes her head.

“I’m serious, Fallon. Stay here, with us. Make your life here.”

“I...”

“I know it’s insane, trust me I do. We barely know each other. But I can’t ever imagine not wanting you here.”

“So what? You just expect me to stay here and mooch off of you? To eat your food and live in your house and not do my part? That’s not me, Titus. That’s not who I am. I left my father to forge my own path. To find what it is that I love and do something with it. To be my own person.”

“So be your own person. Go out, find something that makes you happy. Build a life for yourself. All I’m asking is that at the end of the day you come home to me. The rest we can figure out as we go.”

“You can’t mean that.” She seems taken aback, like she can’t wrap her head around the fact that I want her here.

Hell, I’m not sure I’ve fully grasped it either. But I do. I want her here. I want her with me. Like I’ve never wanted anything before in my entire life.

It’s terrifying and unnerving, yet when I look in her eyes it feels right, in a way that nothing else ever has before.

“I do mean it.” I take her face in my hands. “You belong here... With me. You know it and I know it.”

“I don’t think you’ve fully thought this through.” She seems hesitant, unsure, and I guess I can’t blame her. It’s sudden and unexpected for the both of us.

“I’m not saying this will last forever. I’m not promising you some happily ever after. I’m just asking that you give this a chance. Whatever it is.”

She kneads her bottom lip between her teeth the way I’ve learned she always does when she’s trying to fight a smile.

“You’re sure about this?”

“I am.”

“Okay,” she finally agrees. “I’ll stay.”

“Fucking finally,” I mutter seconds before my lips close down over hers.

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