Page 33 of Shattered Reign

Once we were on the road, neither one of us said a word because the tension from dinner hung between us as we processed what we’d just experienced.

“Shit, Bianca,” Easton muttered under his breath. “That was... intense.”

“Intense doesn’t even begin to cover it,” I said, gripping the door handle as if I could somehow escape this whole fucked-up situation. I wished I’d been mentally more prepared for the heated words that were thrown at me just minutes ago.

I stared out the window, watching the scenery passing me by when I noticed something. The route he was taking wouldn’t take me back to my apartment.

“Where are we going?” I asked and I somewhat patiently waited for an answer.

Easton glanced at me, but his main focus was on the road. He didn’t say anything for a moment. The only sound that could be heard was the humming of the engine.

“Easton. Where are you taking me?” My patience was almost nonexistent at this point.

“Somewhere you can have some space after what just happened,” he replied.

“Fine,” I sighed at his non-answer. But it was anything but fine, really, and Easton apparently knew that as well.

“Alright, you want to know where we’re going?” Easton’s voice was calm, but I could hear the underlying annoyance in his tone.

I didn’t know if that was directed at me or because of what my father had almost done.

“We’re going to my parents’ house.”

“Your parents’ house?” My heart skipped a beat. Was this what it felt like to be punched in the face? Why would he take me there? “Why?”

“To give you some downtime and some festive cheer after that debacle. You don’t need to worry because they already love you, Bianca.” He glanced over at me again. “You don’t have to worry about anything.”

“Um…” My voice trailed off as all my emotions took over. “Do you really think that’s a good idea? Because I’m not so sure it is.”

“Trust me, okay?” His hand reached over and grabbed mine. “You already know each other.”

“Yes, but that was in my capacity as the mayor’s daughter. Not being their son’s…” I couldn’t think of how to describe us since we hadn’t discussed a label for whatever this was.

“What do you want to be to me, Bianca?”

“This conversation wasn’t on my bingo card tonight.”

That made Easton chuckle. “Were any of tonight’s events on it?”

“I mean, I did expect my father to still be pissed about his private affairs being made public. I didn’t expect to snap at him about how he was treating us, but I can be a wildcard at times. Heading to your parents’ and you asking me how I wanted to define ‘us’ most definitely wasn’t.”

“Honest answer. I like that. But I already knew you were mine the moment I met you, even if it took a while for me to pull my head out of my own ass. Whatever you want to call yourself, whether it’s my girlfriend, my lover, my everything, it doesn’t matter. All that matters is that you’re mine.”

“Fuck,” I muttered, but it was obvious he’d heard me because he’d turned to glance at me before focusing his attention back on the road. His words had shaken me to my core.

I agreed with him. He was mine and I was his.

“You can introduce me as your girlfriend then. That’s probably the easiest.”

“That’s what we’ll do then.” He brought my hand to his lips. “It’s going to be fine. I promise.”

“Okay. It’s going to be fine,” I said as I turned my attention toward the window once more.

The drive was a blur of darkness and light. Night had fallen in Brentson, but the town was lit up by shop signs, streetlights, and car lights. I tried to focus on the soft music that Easton had turned up slightly on the SUV’s sound system.

“We are almost there,” Easton said, as his hand still held mine.

I knew we were getting close because we’d left the city limits and were now on the outskirts of town and I’d heard that was where Easton’s parents had purchased their house a couple of years ago.