Follow Me Down

by Melissa Toppen

  Titus squeezes my hand and winks. He wants me to play along, though I’m not entirely sure why. This woman just said I paint in Italy and Paris. I’ve never even been to Italy or Paris.

  “We’ve sold several of her pieces.” Another lie. Man, she’s really laying it on thick. “One just a few days ago, actually. And while I love all of her work, I have to say, this one is something special. I can’t imagine it’ll be here long.”

  “It’s brilliant.” Titus smiles. “How much are you selling it for?”

  “Fifteen thousand.”

  I suck in a breath too fast and end up choking on my own spit. Titus looks at me, amusement all over his face as he pats my back.

  “Sorry.” I clear my throat, finally gathering my bearings. “Did you just say fifteen thousand?”

  “Amazing price, right? I was tempted to purchase it for myself.”

  “Thank you...” Titus pauses, glancing down at the woman’s shiny magnetic name tag. “Carol,” he continues. “I think we’re just going to look around for a few more minutes.”

  “Of course.” She nods, a polite smile seeming permanently etched onto her face.

  I turn back to my painting, listening to her heels click against the marble floor as she walks away.

  “How?” I ask once I’m sure we’re alone. My gaze swings to where Titus is standing next to me. “How is this here?”

  “I sent it to Ellen the day after you left. I didn’t know what was happening for sure, but I knew how much this meant to you. I didn’t want you to lose it.”

  “So you, not knowing if I was ever coming back, sent the painting anyway.”

  “I did.” He grins. “It’s your dream. You deserve to achieve it no matter where life takes you.”

  “Titus.” Emotion clogs my throat.

  “I love you, Fallon. I’m so in love with you that it fucking terrifies me.”

  “Me too.” I reach up, wrapping my hand around the back of his neck before pulling his face down to mine. “I love you,” I whisper seconds before pressing my lips to his. “I do have a question though.” I abruptly pull back. “Why did she say I paint in those places or that she’s sold several of my paintings?”

  “Because, the more important you seem, the more people will want to buy your work. The more people that buy your work, the more important you become. See how that works?”

  “Yeah, I guess I get that. But isn’t that kind of misleading?"

  "The art speaks for itself, Fallon. It doesn’t matter what backstory the gallery spins.”

  “But fifteen thousand dollars?”

  “Believe it or not, that’s a steal. This gallery has a pretty high-end clientele. It’s nothing for them to come in and drop fifty or a hundred thousand on a painting or sculpture. If you ask me, they could have priced it higher.”

  “You’re just saying that because it’s mine.” I lean into his side, wrapping one arm around his middle as I look back to the painting.

  “No, I’m saying it because it’s true. You really have no idea how incredible you are, do you?” He cocks his head to the side, looking down at me. “Even when it’s staring you right in the face, you still don’t see it.”

  “I guess I’m my toughest critic, because yeah, it’s okay. But it’s not fifteen thousand dollars good.”

  “Money says it sells in no time. Then, you won’t have a leg to stand on. Because Fallon, it is that good.” He kisses the side of my head.

  “Thank you for bringing me here. Thank you for sending in this painting. Thank you...for all of it.”

  “There isn’t a thing in this world I wouldn’t do for you. You know that, right?”

  “I’m starting to see it.” I give him a little smile. “I love you,” I repeat again, pretty sure I’ll never get tired of saying it. And lord knows I’ll never get tired of hearing it.

  “I love you too.” His fingers snake around mine. “You wanna go grab a bite to eat or do you want to stay here and look around for a little longer?”

  “Can we stay just a few more minutes? I’d really like to look at some of the other pieces they’re selling.”

  “For you, anything.”

  “Careful now. You’re not going all mushy and soft on me, are you?” I turn, skirting my hands up to his stomach before tugging on the material of his shirt. “Because I rather like my tattooed, foul mouthed, bad ass.”

  “Well lucky for you he’s right here.” He pulls me flush against him before laying a hot, wet kiss on my mouth.

  “Titus.” I giggle against his lips. “We’re kind of in a public place.” I push on his chest.

  “And?” He kisses me again. “Isn’t this what a tattooed, foul mouthed, bad ass would do?” he grumbles, humor in his voice.

  “Point made.” I laugh against his mouth, pressing one more kiss to his lips before he releases me.

  I didn’t think this was possible. Any of this. And as I look up at Titus, all sexy with his messy hair and stormy eyes, I can’t help but wonder how I got so lucky.

  In just a matter of weeks he has completely changed my life. Hell, he’s changed me as a person. He’s made me stronger. He’s shown me a life I want to fight for and gave me the courage to fight for it.

  I don’t know what the future holds. I don’t know what will happen tomorrow, let alone a year from now or five years from now. And that’s okay. Because with Titus, I don’t have to be ten steps ahead. With Titus, I get to live for the right now.

  And the right now is looking pretty damn incredible...

  Epilogue

  Fallon

  Six months later...

  “Why are you hiding out in here?” Titus enters the bedroom where I’m stretched out on the bed, doodling in my notepad.

  “I’m not hiding out.” I shut the sketch book, leaning to set it on the nightstand.

  “I figured you’d be out there with Ellen.” He closes the door behind him and crosses the room, a stack of papers in his hand.

  “She was on the phone with your father so I figured I’d give her some privacy.”

  “How she puts up with him I’ll never know.” He stops next to the bed, dropping the papers in my lap.

  “What’s this?” I look down at the stack and then back up at Titus.

  “Floorplans.” He takes a seat on the edge of the bed.

  “Floorplans?” I ask, looking back down. I flip through the first few pages, each one displaying a different layout.

  “For our new house.” He smiles at me, the sight making my stomach flip the same way it always does.

  “Our new house?” I give him a confused look.

  “We’re going to build it up on the hill at the back of the property.”

  “We are?” I gape at him, having not heard him mention anything of the sort until this very moment.

  “Well, if you want to.”

  “Titus.” I look back down at the floorplans. “A house?” I question. “Can we afford to do that? And what about the cabin? You love this place.”

  “I do, but it’s small and lacks the privacy we need. Besides, we’re going to need more room for when we start a family.”

  “A family?” My gaze swings back to him.

  While we’ve discussed a lot of things over the last few months, children is a subject we haven’t talked much about. Mainly because it’s so far off my radar right now. I just turned nineteen. In a lot of ways, I still feel like a kid myself. I’m certainly not ready to have one.

  “When we’re ready, of course.” He nods.

  “I didn’t know you wanted kids.”

  “I do. Two, maybe three.”

  “Three.” I choke.

  “Don’t worry, we’re talking distant future here. I’m in no rush. I want you all to myself for as long as possible. But yes, one day I would love to have little Fallons and Tituses running around.”

  “Me too.” The thought of having a little, messy haired boy that looks just like his daddy warms me from the inside out. “But you still didn’t
answer my question. Can we afford this?”

  “With how well you’re doing at the gallery and the increase in business at the shop, yeah, we can.”

  I think on that for a minute.

  He’s right. Business at the shop has picked up with a large influx of bikes coming in recently. And I have been doing really well with my paintings. I’ve sent the gallery six so far and all six have sold. Each one going for more than the last. It still feels surreal to me, that the career my father preached would never support me has paid me more in six months than most jobs pay in a year.

  It’s not lost on me how lucky I am, or how much I owe Ellen. If not for her, none of this would have happened. And she barely even knew me at the time.

  “And what will happen to this place?”

  “It’ll still be here. Link can have it. He’s always loved it here way more than me.”

  It seems he’s thought of everything.

  “A house? That’s a big step,” I finally say.

  “No bigger than getting married,” he reminds me, tapping the end of my nose. “Unless you’re getting cold feet.”

  “Are you kidding me?” I run my teeth over my bottom lip as I push up to my knees, crawling into his lap moments later. “I can’t wait to be your wife,” I tell him, wrapping my hands around the back of his neck seconds before my lips press to his.

  The day Titus asked me to marry him was hands down one of the best days of my life. He took me out to the old pond, the one where, in my opinion, man eating creatures are lurking. He’d walked me out to the edge of the dock, talking about the first time we had come there and how much things had changed since. Then, he did the very Titus thing to do. He turned, slipped a ring on my finger, and demanded I become his wife.

  He knew he didn’t have to ask. I’ve been his since the moment I climbed onto the back of his motorcycle all those months ago. He only needed to make it official.

  We decided on a private ceremony. Ellen and Link will be there as our only witnesses. And really that’s all we need. Our family. And that’s what we are. A family. All of us.

  So tomorrow, at six o’clock in the evening, I will become Mrs. Titus Driscoll. God, just the thought makes me feel like a giddy kid.

  He really has changed my life in the best way possible.

  After everything my father tried to pull, I’m happy that he took my threat to heart. A part of me worried he wouldn’t, but he hasn’t tried to contact me once. Although, I think part of that might have to do with the news that broke a few weeks after I left.

  Turns out, I wasn’t Austin’s only victim. Apparently, he raped two different woman within two weeks of each other, roughly a month before he tried to do the same to me. One of them came forward and the second followed shortly after. Since then, two more girls have spoken out, claiming that he attempted to assault them as well. I nearly fell off the couch when I saw his picture on the evening news.

  Of course, this halted his father’s career in its tracks. My father has no doubt cut ties with him and, unfortunately, will live to fight another day. The same can’t be said for the newly appointed Mayor, who bowed out weeks after winning the election. I feel bad for the guy, but I can’t say I’m sorry to see Austin go down in flames. He deserves to pay for what he’s done.

  It also doesn’t hurt that this strengthens my power against my father. If I were to break the news of my attempted rape now, it would have ten times the effect it would have had six months ago. Now there are more women who have been victim to Austin to stand with me. Four other females who all suffered at the hands of that monster. I’m more confident now than ever before that my father’s control over me is over. I hold all the cards. And damn does it feel good.

  I’m still holding out hope that one day we can mend our relationship. I haven’t forgiven him for what he did to Titus, but at the end of the day he’s still my father. And if we never repair our relationship, that’s okay. I have all the family I need right here.

  “So.” Titus pulls back, his hands running up the back of my shirt. “Should we pick a house?” He smiles up at me.

  “Later,” I purr against him. “There’s something else I’d rather do right now.”

  “God, I love the way you think.”

  ——

  “Well, Mrs. Driscoll, how do you feel?” Titus nuzzles his face into my neck as we lay, limbs tangled, in bed.

  “Perfect.” I smile. “Absolutely perfect.”

  And I do.

  I couldn’t imagine a more perfect day if I tried. The ceremony. Watching Titus’ eyes glaze over as we said our vows. The minister pronouncing us husband and wife. It’s all been like a fairy tale.

  I went from being stuck in a life I felt like I had no control over, to living one I could have only ever dreamt of. And it’s all because of the man lying next to me.

  He’s not perfect. He’s moody. Stubborn. And challenges me constantly, but I wouldn’t have it any other way.

  From the moment we first met, I knew I’d follow him anywhere. And I will. For as many days as I get on this earth.

  Because he is mine and I am his.

  And together, we are home.

  The End

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  ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

  Melissa Toppen is a USA Today Bestselling Author who specializes in New Adult and Contemporary Romance. She is a lover of books and enjoys nothing more than losing herself in a good novel. She has a soft spot for Romance and focuses her writing in that direction; writing what she loves to read.

  Melissa resides in Cincinnati Ohio with her husband and two children, where she writes full time.

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  elissa Toppen, Follow Me Down