by Madison Diaz
Part IV:
* * *
Love
Chapter Twenty-Three
Leah
We stumble into Nick's apartment, leaving the light off as we venture into the messy space. The sun is setting outside, casting a beautiful pink glow through the windows. We stomp all over books, bags, papers, and pens as we make our way to his bedroom, our lips never separating.
I had texted my brother on the walk over, letting them know where I would be. I told him they could go back to the hotel without me. Isaiah responded with a thumbs up and a smiley face. I love how supportive they were about everything.
I had already messaged Carrie before we arrived in town. She told me to meet her at Torchy’s only a few minutes ago, and I knew the instant I saw Nick on that street corner waiting to cross, that she had set me up to cross paths with him. Isaiah and Mackenzie had given me the whole, “As long as you’re happy,” spiel when I’d confessed to them I wasn’t exactly over Nick yet.
Seeing him brought those emotions flooding back into my system. Giving me room to breathe in a way I hadn’t in months. Yes, I could survive on my own and make a life for myself, but everything is simply brighter when Nick’s around. That’s not something I’m willing to give up.
Nick and I tumble onto the bed, giggling with our mouths tightly pressed together. His hands roam down my body, exploring, squeezing, and caressing every inch he can reach. My fingers get caught in his hair, smoothing down his cheeks to cup his face and hold it to mine. I nip at his lips, and he moans before sucking my bottom lip between his, making me groan in return.
His lips trail down my jaw to my neck, leaving a scorching path behind. It’s then that I remember the original reason we came back here. To talk. It’s my own damn fault for kissing him in the hallway once he’d opened the door for me, but now I have to switch gears again.
My hands are on his chest, weakly attempting to push him back even though he feels so good in my arms. "Nick," I whisper. His teeth graze my skin. "We still need to talk…” I moan as he bites my shoulder. "Please, I don't want any more misunderstandings."
Nick pulls away from my neck and cups my cheek as he looks deep into my eyes with his beautiful brown ones. His gaze is so intense it makes my brain turn to mush. "Okay, talk." He kisses my nose. "Whatever you say won't change how I feel. I'll still love you."
My breath catches as he says it. The words I’d been so desperate to hear when I showed up at his hotel that night. I was ready to never hear them from his lips again, but it isn’t too late for us. He kisses me once more, lingering for a moment before he pulls back. "I’m sorry for how I left things between us,” he says. “I want to make it up to you."
His hand slides from my cheek down the front of my body, between my breasts, down my stomach, landing at the waistline of my jeans. He’s doing an excellent job of distracting me from what I want to say. I clear my throat. "You were an asshole."
He nods but doesn’t smile. "You’re right. I ruined my chance with you then, and I don't deserve another one. I don't deserve you, and I'll never stop re-paying you for that night. I’ll never hurt you again. I can promise you that. What can I do to prove it to you?"
My eyes slam shut as I let his promise wash over me. The way we ended things was rough and terrible, but we survived. It gave me room to think. Room to grow on my own without believing I was doing it for him, because I was doing it for myself.
He kisses my eyelids after a quiet moment, then my cheeks. A relieved sigh leaves my lips as I open my eyes again and look into the most mesmerizing ones I've ever known. I’m giving in. I know no matter what happens from here on out I can stand on my own two feet again. I want Nick, but I don’t need him. I don’t need anyone.
"You can start by taking off all our clothes," I whisper with a small smile.
He bites back a smile of his own, looking so damn sexy and cute. "Yeah? I can do that."
His eyes stay on mine as he grabs the hem of my sweater. I lift my arms as he slides it up my body and over my head, throwing it onto his dirty carpet. He bites his lip as he pulls down the straps of my bra, exposing my breasts to him. He groans as he looks down at them before taking a nipple into his warm, wet mouth.
My eyes flutter closed as I give into the sensation. Nick sucks gently, grazing his teeth against my skin before moving to the other nipple. His fingers slide down my stomach, caressing my skin until he meets the waistband of my jeans. He pulls the button undone like it’s nothing, then lowers the zipper. His fingers slip in the front, finding how ready I am for him.
He moans. "Fuck, Leah, you're already so wet." I nod, unable to form words as he rubs circles around my clit. "You feel so good, baby," he whispers, laying kisses all along my chest and down my stomach.
I lift my hips as he grabs my jeans and panties, rolling them down my body and onto the floor. I hoist myself onto my elbows, so I can look down at his beautiful face, his big lips curl into a breathtaking smile. His eyes drifted down my body to my private lips. My legs spread open for him, wanting to feel his mouth on me again.
"Please," I whisper, catching his eyes again. They stay trained on mine as he leans forward and closes his lips over me. A gasp escapes as I push my hips up and he meets them with his eager mouth. His tongue works its way through my folds to find my clit. His lips clamp down on it, sucking so hard I can’t hold back my groan.
"Fuck," he breathes out, licking and sucking again. His eyes pin shut as he places one forearm over my pelvis, holding me down. Two fingers of his other hand find their way to my entrance before he plunges them in, making me buck off the bed.
My body turns to fire. Every inch of my skin screaming for his touch. I’m already so close to coming undone. I want him inside me as I fall apart. "Nick," I plead, making his eyes fly open. "Inside. I want you. Inside."
He pulls back, his lips and chin glistening, fingers still moving in and out of me. "Come for me, baby."
I shake my head. "No. Inside. I want you."
He bites his lip before pulling his fingers away. I lean forward and rip his shirt up and over his head, making him chuckle. He unbuttons and zips down his jeans before throwing them and his underwear to the side. He climbs on top of me, keeping eye contact as he covers my body with his.
One arm balances his weight next to my head as the other guides his dick to my entrance. He rubs it up and down, wetting the tip, teasing me as I sigh and squirm. "You're so fucking sexy," he whispers, watching me as he finally forces himself inside, all the way to the hilt.
A loud groan rushes through my lips as I wrap my legs around him. His arm joins the other near my head as he thrusts out then back in. We both moan, staring into each other's eyes, then he covers my mouth with his.
We move together, kissing the life out of one another. My fingers scratch his back, pull at his hair. He licks all inside my mouth, pulling away enough to nip at my neck before returning to my lips again. He grinds his hips against mine, tingling my clit with his pelvis. I love it all so much. I still love him more than anything. The months away hadn't changed that.
I cry out against his lips. He pulls his head back and watches as I lose myself, coming all over his cock. Moaning, groaning, and shuddering under his body. "Fuck," he breathes out before his mouth gapes open and he follows right behind me. His shoulders shake as he emptied himself into me with a loud groan.
Our lips are rough as they crash together again, Nick milking himself with a few more thrusts. Our breaths are heavy as we pull apart, hands on cheeks, eyes intense. "I love you," he says, so clear and sure.
"I love you too," I say with equal conviction. "What does this mean?"
He doesn’t skip a beat. "This means we're gonna make it work." He pulls out of me but stays hovering over my body, keeping hold of my face in his hands. "Tell me everything. Whatever you want. Whatever happened over the last few months, and I'll listen. I'll listen to anything and everything, and I'll love you for it. You're here, and I don't want to lose you
ever again."
I keep nodding at his words, holding back my stupid tears. "I'll never keep anything from you again. I'll continue to be better. I want to make this work, and I wanna be good enough."
"You were always good enough. You deserve better than me, and I'll spend the rest of my life proving to you how much I need you. You're everything to me, Leah."
A tear finally breaks through. "I've never been someone's everything before," I whisper.
He smiles. "There's a lot of things you've never experienced before, and I’m gonna make sure you experience it all."
Epilogue
Nick
"Nick's here!" Penelope shouts once Leah and I walk through her brother's front door. Leah's niece runs down the stairs, almost tripping on the third step, then leaps into my arms, as per her usual ritual.
Hugging the cute ten-year-old close to my chest, I give Leah a wink as she rolls her eyes and sighs. "Penny, how come you're never that excited to see me? I'm your aunt. He's just some hobo off the streets."
Penny gasps as I put her back on her feet. "Don't say that about him!" She puts her hands on her hips, attempting to look angry before a grin breaks through. She wraps her arms around Leah's waist. "I missed you, Auntie."
Leah's eyebrows scrunch together as she glances at me. "Oh, my God, she's too cute."
"Agreed," I answer in return as Seth and Levi rush down the stairs and into Leah's arms next. She smiles, scrunching down to meet their eyes as they fill her in on what she's missed over the last few months.
Watching Leah interact with her family is an amazing gift. There’s a huge difference from the lonely Leah I'd first met to the one in front of me now, doting on her nieces and nephews. She didn't want to leave them when we first got back together. We traveled back and forth to visit each other and saved up enough money to move into a new place a year later.
We re-signed our next twelve-month lease about a week ago, and we planned on staying a while since Leah is graduating with an associate degree soon. She’s studying music, and I couldn't have been prouder. She said our band had opened her eyes to something she never realized she wanted. And I love how dedicated she is, putting school first a lot of the time.
Shoot, we learn from her as much as she learns from us. We all chose other degrees to make our parents happy, but she didn't have to worry about that. Having the freedom to choose what she wanted to study and work hard at it was more than she ever could have hoped for.
Carrie finally got her in front of the microphone shortly after she moved in with me. She blew us all away with her natural talent, but she still insisted on taking voice lessons. She learned to play some guitar and piano, but she still had a long way to go. I loved watching her play, and especially enjoyed watching her sing. Convincing her to join the band was something I had to thank my sister for.
Mackenzie comes from the kitchen, smiling at all the Jackson clan standing in the foyer. "Well, come on in," she says, waving us through. She kisses Leah's cheek, then gives me a tight hug.
I was thankful her brother and sister-in-law were so supportive of our relationship. The first time I came here to visit, Isaiah gave me a talk, man-to-man. I was to never hurt his baby sister again. I promised I wouldn't, and I planned on keeping that promise.
"We got a surprise for you," Mackenzie warns Leah.
Leah rolls her eyes, picking up the three-year-old Leah, whose arms were up. "You guys don't have to get me anything."
"Oh, come on," Mackenzie scoffs. "We've already missed too many of your birthdays."
"I'm used to going without," Leah informs her. It’s the same damn speech she gave me the other day on her actual birthday when I took her out to dinner. "No need to make a fuss."
Isaiah joins us with an apron on. "Plenty of need to make a fuss, sis."
She scoffs again, but she’s smiling as he pulls her into a tight hug. "How'd I get so lucky?" she asks, looking over at me.
"Pretty sure I'm the lucky one," I say, causing her to not only blush, but roll her eyes again.
We all settle into their large dining room. Isaiah and I sit at opposite ends of the table, the children and our beautiful women filling up the rest of the spaces. Leah holds Little Leah in her arms, running her fingers through her hair and staring down at her with a smile.
"Presents!" Levi screams as Mackenzie brings in a few bags.
"Oh, you guys," Leah says, getting choked up this time. "You didn't have to."
"We know we didn't," her brother responds, joining his wife to start handing things off to her. The first is a small box. "This is from the two of us."
Leah's eyes get watery as she opens it to reveal a beautiful silver necklace. The pendant is a dolphin, something Isaiah swore was her favorite animal at some point. Leah's eyes water as she takes it out. Isaiah offers to put it on for her, kissing her forehead once he'd finished.
"This one's from me," Penny proclaims, shoving a bag onto Leah's lap.
"Thanks, sweetie," she replies, opening it up and pulling out a notebook. "What's this for?"
"Mommy said you needed a place to write music."
"Oh, you thoughtful little girl." She pulls Penny in for a hug and kisses her forehead.
The next gift is a new leather jacket from the boys. "So you can look cool," Seth explains as Levi nods along. She shakes her head with this small smile on her face as she hugs them both.
My palms are sweaty as I worry over what she would say to my gift. Mackenzie brings out a cake with candles, and we all sing 'Happy Birthday.' Leah sits with an awkward smile, staring straight at the cake, not sure of what to do with all the attention. Isaiah has his camera phone out as she blows out her candles, then I bring myself to one knee.
Leah's eyes are slow to open once she blew them out, then she turns to me and notices my position. Her eyes widen as I pull a small black box out of my front pants pocket. "Shut up!" she shouts, covering her mouth in shock. "Does Carrie know about this?"
I can’t help but smile. "Yes, baby, everyone knows about this." I open the box, revealing the ring I'd worked doubles over the last six months for. Leah knew I was saving money, but she assumed it was for another new instrument. She had no idea it'd be for this.
I take her left hand, and she lets me. Tears spring from those pretty grass-colored eyes. "Leah, I know the way we met was crazy. Like insane and totally unexpected. It was as if fate had brought us together and neither of us was ready. I never even knew what it meant to love someone so much it made your stomach hurt until I met you.
“You put me under your spell, and I knew I'd want to be with you forever. I wanted to protect you from the world, but you showed me you didn't need my protection. The only thing you wanted from me was my love, and you got it. Forever." I take a deep breath, staring into those beautiful eyes I'd fallen so hard and quick for. "Will you marry me?"
"Yes, of course," she sobs. I smile as I take it out of the box and slide it on her ring finger. She takes a moment to look at it. It isn’t much, but it’s still everything I had. I could always get her something better down the road, but I want to make it official now. I want to take that next leap and let her know I was in this for the rest of our lives.
She leans forward, wrapping her arms around me as her family claps. She pulls away and places a hand on each of my cheeks. "I fell under your spell too, and I know it'll never break. I'm yours. Forever."
The End
About the Book
Thank you for reading my second novel!
The idea for Escape came to me over a year and a half ago when I first thought it would be a young adult novel about kids in high school. Leah’s sad backstory had always been front and center in who I wanted her to be, and Nick’s leg was always meant to be broken, but the way they knew each other was going to be completely different. Ethan was either going to be another student at the school or an older boyfriend who had already graduated. Leah’s parents were going to be more prevalent, and Isaiah wasn’t even on my mind yet.
The YA element didn’t exactly work unless they ran away because my intentions for Ethan to be dangerous were always there. Keeping the story restricted to one town, specifically one high school, would have killed the story very early on for me. Also, the option to add in explicit sex? Yes, thank you very much.
So that’s when we turn to the dark romance element, just a bit. I don’t actually consider Escape to be incredibly dark, but I know there are some dark themes in Leah’s past and when Ethan is involved. I actually made her much more sexual in my first draft, thinking a past of sexual violence might have been essential to her character, but later, I cut it out. It wasn’t needed. She’s suffering from a repressive relationship after being raised by repressive parents and wants to escape that life. She wants to live for herself and Nick is the gateway to the shiny, new life she had never previously felt she deserved.
Nick’s character came to me first and very easily. I wanted him to be half-Korean and half-white. I wanted him and his sister to have a military background. His backstory is actually stolen from my friend of mine, but I got her permission to use it. I wanted him to be talented in many ways and too sweet for his own good. Originally, I thought it would be interesting to make him a virgin but decided it would be best for him to have some experience, and best for his later transformation if he’s been burned by a beautiful girl in the past. His innocence is very important for his character.
This novel has taken me almost a year to finish. I started the first draft in April of 2017 and finished the draft June of 2017, but then I spent the rest of the time editing. No Expectations wasn’t as difficult for me because the story wrote itself. I love the story, but everything that happened felt natural. This was something very different for me. This story became more about Leah’s journey than it was about their relationship. I loved the fact that Part I was so heavy on Nick’s side of the story for that reason.