Anywhere With You

by Stephanie Hoffman McManus

  Twenty-Nine

  Luke

  Present

  “I never should have brought you here. It was a mistake. I need you to leave.”

  Her words sounded over and over in my head on the way to the airport. I knew I’d fucked up as soon as I outed her brother, but I just lost it when he started laying all the blame at her feet and trying to make her feel like shit for showing up at the wedding.

  How she’d ever survived in that family, I hadn’t a fucking clue, but everything finally made sense. Her insecurities. Her inability to trust. Her instinct to run instead of facing the hard shit. But it didn’t matter now that I finally understood, finally accepted it, because instead of letting me take care of her, she sent me away.

  “Just go,” she’d pleaded when I tried to protest and stay. “Don’t make things worse,” she’d whispered, killing me with those words.

  Somehow, I’d become the problem when all I’d wanted was to protect her and make things better. Instead, I made them worse. I’d always had a temper, but I’d never lost it like that before. It was no wonder she wouldn’t come with me, but I hated that I’d left her behind to deal with the fallout. What other choice did I have though? The only thing stronger than the hurt shining in her glassy eyes was the determination. She wanted me out of there.

  I detoured outside long enough to tell Shae and Kellen that I’d called for a car to take me to the airport, and to ask them to make sure Ci was alright. They wanted an explanation, but I didn’t have one for them. I felt too gutted and sick to my stomach and pissed off. Ci could decide how much she wanted them to know.

  I retrieved my bags from the bedroom upstairs, leaving the keys to the Range Rover on the nightstand, and then got the hell out of there. I was going crazy knowing she still hadn’t come out of that study. If I didn’t get out of this house, I was going to end up back in that room. Probably throwing more punches and begging her again to come with me instead of sending me away.

  I had a ten-minute wait even once I’d made it down the drive to the road. Ten minutes was a lot of time to replay the last half hour and wish I’d handled it all differently. If I’d just left with her like I started to do before I realized who the man in that room with her was … if I’d just gotten her out of there so many times before everything escalated …

  These thoughts didn’t let up on long car ride that was going to cost me out the ass. The further away we drove from her, the shittier I felt. I stared at the screen on my phone, willing it to light up with her picture. It remained black right up ‘til it flashed the battery warning and then died a few minutes later. I realized my charger was still plugged into the wall back at her grandparents’. Probably better that way.

  I shoved the thing in my pocket and didn’t take it out again until I was back on the east coast. I made it out of California on a red eye that night, and touched down in South Carolina sometime the next afternoon after two layovers.

  I felt like hell. I drank too much in the airport bars and then on the flights. I didn’t get a wink of sleep, worried over Ci and not knowing how to make anything right. I felt sick not knowing when she’d even be back and I’d get the chance to try. How could shit go so wrong in such a short amount of time?

  I felt like I’d had almost no time at all with her. Two days we made it. Two days. That was it. Two days was like a cruel joke. And now I didn’t know if I’d get any more. I didn’t know if I’d get the chance to show her that she was everything to me. That I loved her more than she knew. Past her, present her and whoever she was becoming. There wasn’t a single part of her that made me not want her. Even the ugly shit she carried.

  I could handle all of her. If she’d let me. If she’d give me that chance and trust me enough not to push me away whenever shit got real and hard. And forgive me for losing it back there, although I still thought all of it was justified. Every punch and every word. She wouldn’t stand up for herself, so I had to.

  I fell into my bed only seconds after walking through my front door. I dropped my bags on the floor and my legs barely carried me to the bed. I was still pissed off and full of regret, but the lack of sleep was catching up with me. I didn’t even get my phone on the charger before I passed out, still in my rumpled suit pants and the shirt from the wedding that stank of sweat and alcohol. Dreams of my beautiful girl haunted me. Us back in that hotel in Vegas where everything was perfect for a little while.

  I didn’t wake again until the next morning and when I did, there was something off. It took me a minute to figure out what it was as I slowly came out of sleep. When I did, my eyes shot open and I was suddenly wide awake and staring at the girl lying next to me, her blue eyes soft and sleepy, but also open and watching me.

  For a second I thought I must still be dreaming, but the headache drilling between my eyes and the angry rumble of my stomach let me know I was very much awake.

  “I didn’t know you sold the club,” she whispered.

  I continued to stare at her, breathing in and out, watching her do the same as she waited for me to respond to her comment, but my brain was still going around in circles trying to figure out what her presence in my bed meant. It had to be a good sign, right?

  If she were still pissed, she wouldn’t be here. In fact, shouldn’t she still be somewhere between here and California right now?

  Yup, it had to be a good sign and relief flooded me. Faster than she could react, I hooked her around the waist and rolled so that she was flat on her back beneath me. I dipped my head and breathed her in. She smelled a hell of a lot better than I did. I skimmed my nose over her cheek and along her jaw down to the crook of her neck. She sighed and it was one of those happy ones. I rested my head against her shoulder, squeezing my eyes shut and letting out a ragged, weary breath.

  “You done sniffing me?” Her tone was playful and the sweet sound was almost enough to make me forget about my headache. In fact, now that I thought about it, it wasn’t pounding so hard anymore.

  “What are you doing here?” I managed to croak.

  “First thing,” she sat up, forcing me to roll off of her and do the same. “Why didn’t you tell me you were selling the club?”

  “It wasn’t a big deal. Technically I put it up for sale six years ago, but then I couldn’t bring myself to sell it. Until now.”

  “Six years ago,” she repeated.

  I nodded. “That was always the plan. Buy it. Class it up. Sell it. Then you came along.”

  “Me?”

  “Yeah, but once you left, it was time to let it go.”

  “You kept it for six years, just because of me?”

  “I’ve done crazier shit than that, sweetheart. Now you going to answer my question?”

  She tilted her head, a slight grin playing with her lips. “I thought that was obvious. I’m here because you’re here.”

  I frowned. “You told me to leave. You said bringing me there was a mistake,” I reminded her in case she’d forgotten in the last thirty-some hours or however long it had been. I sure as hell hadn’t.

  Her smile slipped. “I know. I freaked out, but I thought you’d go to a hotel. I didn’t know you’d go straight to the airport and fly home.”

  “I didn’t see much point in hanging around California when you made it clear you didn’t want me there.”

  “You misunderstood me, or it came out wrong because I was upset and everything was getting out of control. You were so angry too. I knew if they pushed you much further, you’d snap again. I was afraid they would call the cops and Mr. Myer or my brother would press assault charges and it would be all my fault. I dragged you into that mess when I should have known better. I should have expected it all to go to hell, because I know my family and I know what they’re like. You didn’t know what you were walking into. I was so scared you’d wake up this morning and see me here and tell me to get out this time. I was afraid I’d pushed you too far, that it was finally too much, but then you didn’t and you seemed happy to see me and I’m s
orry because I don’t think I’ve said that yet and–”

  Fuck sorry. I grabbed her by the waist, rising on my knees and pulling her up with me. “I could never not be happy to see you, babe. And happy doesn’t even begin to cover what I felt a few minutes ago when I woke up and found you here in my bed when I wasn’t sure I’d ever get the chance to wake up beside you again.” I brushed her messy tangles of blonde curls back and cupped her cheek tilting her chin up as I slanted my mouth over hers in a slow, sensual kiss that I hoped left little doubt in her mind about how I felt right now. I only pulled back when I realized my breath was probably a combination of death and alcohol.

  “Sorry, I should probably find a toothbrush and shower. It was a rough night.”

  She stroked her hand along my jaw. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean for it to be so rough. I just wanted the chance to deal with those assholes and try to calm everyone down. It was always my battle, not yours. It was time I fought it. I planned to leave and go find you afterward, but you didn’t answer your phone and then Kellen said you went to the airport.”

  “Here’s the thing, I love you, which means your battles are my battles. That’s the way it works. I understand that there are going to be times you’ll need to fight them on your own, and when the time comes I’ll try to accept that, because I know you’re strong and capable, but I’m never not going to want to put myself between you and anything that could hurt you. Got that?”

  She nodded.

  “And as for me not answering your calls, my phone died and I didn’t have a way of charging it. When I finally made it home, it wasn’t really a priority for me since I was pretty sure you weren’t speaking to me anyway. But how did you get home? Did you catch a flight too?”

  She nodded again. “I caught a morning flight yesterday. Got back last night and I came here, but the house was dark and quiet and I knocked but you didn’t answer. That’s when I went to the club and Leo told me you’d sold it. Then I hit a few other places downtown, trying to find you because you still weren’t answering. I thought you were rejecting my calls because you didn’t want to talk to me. So, I came back here, planning to wait for you to come home and force you to talk to me, but when I used my key, I found you in here. So, I stayed. Because I told you I’d fight for us. We said we’d always fight for us even if we were the thing tearing us apart.”

  I sat back on my heels, spreading my knees and pulling her between them. “No matter what, I’ll never shut you out like that. I’ll always talk to you, even if I am mad at you, but I wasn’t. I passed out in here the second I got back from the airport and didn’t wake up until now.”

  “So, the big, long apology I stayed up all night working on, was for nothing?” She didn’t look the least bit upset by that.

  “For nothing, baby.” I smiled. “There’s nothing you should be sorry for. I shouldn’t have lost it on your family like that. I just couldn’t take the way they were treating you. And I’m sorry for outing your brother the way I did. It was fucked up. I thought for sure you’d hate me for that.”

  “Nobody has ever stood up for me,” she whispered. “Except for you. You always have. You never let anyone treat me like shit. Even when I felt like I deserved it.”

  “You could never deserve it.”

  “And I could never hate you. I didn’t want my brother to be outed like that, but you were right. He was being an asshole and trying to blame me, and he was the one lying to everyone, so he can deal with it now.”

  “Then we’re good?” I asked, having a hard time believing it could be that simple, that the fight I thought was going to end us, wasn’t even really a fight.

  “We’re more than good, although I still feel like I need to apologize for dragging you along with me for that shit show. I bet you can’t wait to go on another road trip with me.”

  I grinned and touched my nose to hers. “Pookie-bear, I’d go anywhere with you.” And then I kissed her again.

  “Oh, Shnookums, I love you,” she murmured against my lips.

  We both laughed and then a few seconds later we were both horizontal on the mattress before I remembered again that I needed to freshen up before I did all the things I wanted to do to her.

  “Shower,” I rasped against her throat as I laid kisses all over her skin.

  “Yes,” she replied breathlessly, hooking her arms around my neck.

  I’d meant me, but I was all too happy to scoop her up. Her legs wrapped around my hips and she already had my shirt unbuttoned by the time I stumbled into the bathroom. The rest of our clothes flew off in a hurry and then the hot spray of the shower was like magic, erasing the lingering aches and stiffness in my muscles and limbs. I let the shower wall hold me up, tipping my head back and closing my eyes.

  I was pretty sure this feeling inside me was bliss.

  Last night I’d thought we were over quicker than we began, and now here she was, waking up in my bed and naked in my shower. I never wanted her to leave. In fact, I planned to have her ass moved back in by the end of the day.

  But first, we washed each other and then enjoyed a bit more than washing each other, which led to me taking her against the shower wall. Hard and slow, then nice and soft as I worshipped her and then hard and fast and then soft and slow before hard and fast again. I just couldn’t get enough of her and wanted to drag it out, make it last as long as possible.

  When we were both finally spent, we slid down the wall and just sat under the spray of water for several minutes, catching our breath. When I found the strength to stand and shut off the water, I pulled her up with me, and then wrapped her in a big fluffy towel before drying myself.

  Then something else occurred to me. “You’re here, but where are Kellen and Shae and my car?”

  “Somewhere between here and California. She said they should be home by the end of the week.”

  “Well then, I think we should spend the next week in bed, only leaving it for food and shower breaks, and then when they’re back with my car, I think we should drive over to your apartment, pack up all your things and bring them here.”

  She stopped squeezing her hair with the towel and blinked at me. “You want me to move in with you?”

  “No, I just want all your shit and then you can live in an empty apartment.”

  She grinned and then snapped the towel at me. I caught the end of it and dragged her to me. “Yes, I want you to move in with me.”

  “Okay.”

  “Okay?”

  “Yes, okay. It might seem fast to anyone else, but I actually think six years is taking it pretty slow.”

  “Too slow. We’ve got a lot to make up for.” I pressed a kiss to the top of her wet hair. “But first, finish drying off, and then I think food of the breakfast variety is in order.”

  We spent the rest of that day, and most of the following week, eating, watching TV, having sex, making love, and fucking all over my house, soon to be our house as soon as we filled it up with her shit.

  On Thursday, I was in the kitchen preparing to grill burgers for a late dinner when Ci skidded into the room, sliding in her socks on the tile floors and just barely catching herself on the counter. “Oh my gosh, I just got off the phone with Shae and you’re never going to believe what happened!”

  “Tell me they didn’t wreck the Range Rover.”

  “No, forget about your car,” she dismissed it with the wave of her hand. “They got engaged. Fucking engaged! Kellen popped the question! They stopped in Atlanta tonight and Kellen took her out to a fancy dinner and told her he couldn’t wait even another day to ask. He already had a ring and everything. They’re getting fucking married!”

  Ci was barely breathing she was so excited, jumping up and down in her socks and underwear and one of my tees like a total nutcase, a completely different picture from the girl who said true love was for suckers and weddings were a sham.

  “Calm down,” I laughed, putting my hands on her shoulders to stop the jumping before she slipped again and landed on h
er ass.

  “But they’re getting married! Liked do you even get how big of a deal this is? Did you read the book? Do I need to go get it for you right now?”

  I laughed again. “No, I didn’t read it, but no you don’t need to go get it. I know it’s a big deal, but you still gotta breathe.”

  “I can’t, I’m too happy for them.”

  It seemed Ci was a full-fledged romantic now, but then again when did she ever do anything half-assed once she made up her mind? I also suspected that deep down, she’d always been this and was finally letting it out.

  “I’m happy for them too, but you think you can stop bouncing long enough to follow me outside so I can grill these burgers and we can eat them down on the beach. I hear sunsets on the water are pretty romantic and since it seems your sort of into that kind of thing now,” I teased and she smacked me.

  “I’ll eat burgers with you on the beach and watch the sunset because it is romantic, but do you think you can handle going with me to another wedding?” she smirked.

  “Like I said, anywhere, babe. Anywhere.”

  That’s all for now, but don’t worry, this story isn’t over yet …

  More happy endings to come in book 3!

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  Acknowledgements

  I fell in love with Luke and Cici in the beginning stages of Anywhere But Here and knew right away they had to have their own story. I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed bringing them to life on these pages. Thank you all for sticking with me and for the love and support you’ve shown me. My journey as an author has been an incredible one and I’m so thankful you all are a part of it. Your messages, reviews and crazy stalking on social media bring a smile to my face every time.