Page 121 of Come Back To Me

“After what?” he whispers.

I frantically dry myself, trying to wrap the towel around me at the same time. Feeling last night come and smack me in the face, my hands slow to a stop. “After Travis came by. Whatever he was going to tell me. He couldn’t do it. He left, and not long after getting back, I sent Lauren out again to stay with a friend.” She didn’t need to see me in the state I was in.

“Babe,” his voice cracks sensing my sadness. He steps closer, taking my face in his hands.

I look up to him, then hear Lauren approaching. I hold my finger to my lips, begging Dean not to say anything.

He smiles, a cheeky grin smearing over his face.

“Shh,” I mouth.

He bites his lip on another grin, and it’s the single hottest thing I’ve seen him do. It melts my insides.

“Mads?” Lauren shouts.

“Be right out,” I shout back.

“Want a tea?”

“Please.”

We hear her feet pad away from the door, descending the stairs. I let out the breath I was holding, leaning back against the door. “Thank God for that.”

“What’s the big deal?” Dean says. He steps back, walking to the sink, grabbing his toothbrush and squirting on the paste.

The big deal? “Don’t you think everyone will have questions when they see you?” I say hushed.

Dean turns. “Do you?” The brush stills in his mouth. I nod, and he sighs turning back to the sink.

Does he really expect everyone to accept his arrival home like he only went away for a day? He’s been gone a month and a half. People don’t just get let out of prison for no good reason. Part of me wonders if he’s committed a great escape.

Spitting into the sink, he dries his mouth then looks back to me. He steps closer, stroking the sides of my bare arms, stopping his hands at the back of my hair. He tilts my head to look up to him. “I can’t give them the answers they’ll want yet.”

My eyes flicker. He knows how much I want to ask. “That doesn’t fill me with confidence.”

“It’s not meant to.” He drops the words like any other.

My eyes widen, inspecting him. “And me? What about the answers I want?”

With a heavy breath, he says, “You are not to worry about anything I have going on. You are my priority. I will not have you stressed, worrying about me.”

Does he know me at all? Rather than argue, I contain my growing frustration. “What will you tell everyone?”

Dean kisses my forehead, then lets go of me. “As far as everyone is concerned, the trial has been dropped. I’m a free man.” My eyes scrunch at his insinuation that he isnotin fact, a free man. He sees, regretting his choice of words. “I’ll makethings right. You have my word.”

Again, that doesn’t fill me with any sort of confidence. I should just be grateful he’s here—that he’s home. But the subtle movement from within is a reminder that it’s not just me I’m thinking about anymore.

With a smile, I gesture towards the door. “She’ll have breakfast then probably crash in her room. Let me talk to her first, before you come down.”

“She has a room now?”

“I hope that’s okay?”

He turns looking at all the girly products spread across the vanity unit. “It’s more than okay.” He winks but I know he’s going to tidy it as soon as I walk out the room.

Opening the door, I grab my dressing gown then head down to Lauren. “Something smells good.” The waft of sugar and sticky, sweet pastry floods my nose.

“Breakfast,” Lauren says pushing a bag from the local bakery towards me.

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