Total pages in book: 196
Estimated words: 186555 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 933(@200wpm)___ 746(@250wpm)___ 622(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 186555 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 933(@200wpm)___ 746(@250wpm)___ 622(@300wpm)
He nodded solemnly.
“I love you, and I love Am. I just… want to be here. With you two.”
Rhodes’s hand went to my face, his thumb under my jaw. “And that’s where you’re going to be,” he said. “Never in a million years did I ever think somebody—somebody other than Am—could make me feel the way you do. Like I’d do anything, anything, for them. I can’t even look at you when I’m mad because I can’t stay that way.” He lowered his face, so his lips hovered inches from mine. “I’ve only had a few things in my life that were really mine, and I’m not the type of man to give things away or throw them away. And I mean it, Aurora, and it’s got nothing to do with your notebooks or your face or anything other than that heart you’ve got in your chest. Are we clear?”
We were clear. We were clear all right, I told him, hugging him close.
We’d never been clearer.
Chapter 31
“Whoa, man! That was awesome!” I clapped and whooped where I was sitting in my favorite camp chair about a week or two later.
A wonderful week or two later. Who was keeping track?
Am flushed like he always did, holding the last note on his guitar, but the second he lowered it, he huffed. Things between us were back to normal, fortunately. The awkwardness had only lasted about two days before the elephant in the room decided to walk away on its own. “I thought I was off-key at the beginning.”
Crossing one leg over the other, I tilted my head. “You were a tiny bit flat, but I mean a tiny bit. And it was only once when you went into the chorus. I figured it was only because you were nervous. I can really tell you’ve been working on your vibrato by the way.”
Setting his guitar in its stand, he nodded, but I could tell he was pleased. “I was, but I did what Yuki said.”
She had happened to video call me the other day while I’d been with Amos in the grocery store parking lot, and she’d asked him how the nerves were going. “Fine,” he’d responded sheepishly. Knowing he wasn’t being completely honest, she had given him some suggestions. I wasn’t going to tell him that hours later, she’d messaged me asking for a video of his upcoming performance so she could watch too.
“And I told myself it was only you,” he went on. “You’d tell me if I did something wrong.”
My little heart ached, and I nodded at him. We had come such a long way, and his trust meant so much to me. “Always.”
“Do you think I should move around more?”
“You’ve got such a beautiful voice; I think you should focus on the singing part for now. You’re going to be nervous, so why put more pressure on yourself? There’s only one Lady Yuki anyway.”
He slid me a side look and asked, way too nonchalantly, “Did you help her write that ‘Remember Me’ song?”
I knew exactly what song he was referring to, obviously, and I grinned. “It’s a pretty good song, isn’t it?”
His squawk didn’t even insult me. “You did?”
I didn’t get a chance to answer because we both turned toward the driveway at the sound of tires on gravel, and part of me expected to see a UPS truck because I’d ordered some mats for my car. The ones that came with it weren’t meant for snow and slush. But when the pickup pulled up into its usual spot, I frowned. Rhodes had just texted me a couple hours ago saying he’d be home around six. It was only four.
“What’s Dad doing here?” even Amos asked.
“I don’t know,” I answered as the man in question parked and got out, that long, muscular body moving so well in its uniform it almost put me in a trance. The memory of him coming over to my apartment last night filled my head. I’d asked him what excuse he’d given Am, and he’d laughed and said I was going to show him my old photo albums. Apparently, from the disgusted expression on the teenager’s face, he didn’t believe him, but that was exactly what had happened.
At least until we’d ended up taking each other’s clothes off and I’d wound up on his lap, sweaty and shaking.
It had been a good night.
Most nights since the day they’d gone to find me at Clara’s had been very nice nights. On that first one specifically, Rhodes had asked me more questions about Kaden once Amos had gone to bed.
How we’d met—through a mutual friend my first semester of college. I’d been studying to get a degree in education while he’d been in school for music performance. Rhodes said he could see me being a teacher, and maybe I could have been, but my heart wasn’t into the idea at all anymore.