Page 107 of Dirty Rock

All the concerns she had rested in the small scowl she was wearing—the one that contradicted her rosy cheeks and pounding heart. I was convinced she didn’t know how to be happy without feeling guilt. She had so much responsibility for the band. As the one who was in charge of our public image and the way the world saw us, she was the one who could make or break us. But she wasn’t just that person to me now. She was more. She was the woman whose skin I couldn’t get enough of. The woman who fit right. The woman who made sex more than sex ever had been before she came along. She was the lazy smile I woke up to, the soft breaths I fell asleep with, and she was the one I wanted to hold… just like this. She may have been responsible for so much, but I was responsible for her now, and it didn’t scare me. Not one bit.

“You want to get out of here?” I asked quietly.

Jules peeled herself from me, grabbed my hand, and began to drag me across the bar. I caught a glimpse of Molly as I left, and she offered me a sly wink and a raise of her freshly filled champagne glass. I owed her a song the next time I was in her company.

Julia’s fingers squeezed mine as she came to a stop in front of Dex, Hawk, and Presley, who now had a very dreamy looking Tessa clinging to his side.

“In case you were wondering—” Julia began.

“I think we got it,” Tessa cut her off, beaming brightly.

Jules looked around the four of them as if seeking some kind of approval. Stepping in beside her, I wrapped my arm around her shoulder and pulled her into me.

“So, yeah, Jules and I have been fucking,” I said bluntly. “And I’m going to need you all to be okay with that because there’s going to be more of it. Fucking. Kissing. This.” I squeezed her shoulder.

“Happy for you.” Presley nodded.

“You are?” Jules asked, sounding surprised.

Tessa reached out to touch her hand. “Of course we are. As long as you’re happy. That’s all any of us want. To see both of you happy.”

“Yeah.” Jules looked up at me, smiling before she looked back at Tess. “We are. Well… for now. This is Rhett I’ve somehow fallen for. Who knows what’ll happen with this one?”

The two of them laughed, and I tried not to take the hit personally, but I couldn’t help it. That stung.

Could I really blame her? After everything she’d witnessed, after all the lows she’d endured alongside me. After everything she’d heard, the stories I’d told, and the way I’d made sure everyone and their dogs knew I wasn’t ever going to settle down… could I blame her for holding onto me with delicate fingertips instead of a tight, white grip?

It wasn’t down to Jules to make me certain of us.

It was down to me to make her certain of our future.

“We need to go,” I whispered in her ear.

“Need a ride?” Dex asked.

“No, man.” I shook my head. “You stay. Have fun. I’ll call a cab.”

“Where are we going?” Jules asked.

“I have something to show you.”

* * *

“Rhett, this taxi is costing a fortune,” Jules said with her eyes on the meter while I clung to her thigh.

“I’m good for it.”

Her body was turned towards mine, while I faced forward, feeling a weird satisfaction in my chest.

There was more than hope living there.

Destiny or some other bullshit had settled right around my heart and was now tickling the little bitch with assurances of everything being just how it should be. How it was always meant to be.

This was what had always been missing. The need to make someone I loved happy, not myself.

After a long, long taxi ride, we hit the Strood that led to Mersea Island, and Julia’s face lit up in the back of that cab.

“You’re taking me home?”

---