“Why does theIin your initials have a little heart over it?” I ask, tracing the tattoo on his chest. The sight tugs at something deep—something I can’t quite place.
His Adam’s apple bobs. He doesn’t open his eyes as the water streams between us.
“It’s…partly your signature.”
“Partly mine?” I blink. “Wait, like from my diary? The one I kept at Crest?”
He reaches past me to turn off the water. The sudden silence feels sacred. Wrapping me in a heated towel, his voice dips low. “Yeah.”
“You got a tattoo of your initials, the wayIwrote them?” My pulse stutters. “When?”
Kneeling, he glances up at me like a penitent knight before his queen. “The night before I went to your school. You hadn’t answered my calls or messages. I couldn’t reach you on video, and I—” He swallows. “I needed to prove something.”
“Prove what?” I ask, suddenly feeling emotional all over again.
“That you’d always be mine.” He presses a hand to his chest. “That I’d carry you here. No matter what. No matter who tried to tear us apart.”
The ache against my ribs is unbearable. “I didn’t know I’d be the one to do it.”
He ties the towel around his waist, jaw flexing before he speaks. “I get why you lied, Ashlyn. You thought they’d send me to prison. Or that your father would kill me.” Face serious and lips pressed firm, he threatens me with his eyes. “But you didn’t understand; I would have doneanythingfor you. And I still will.”
Tears sting my eyes. “I thought I was saving you.”
His arms gather me, solid and unshakable. “Then promise me one thing,” he murmurs against my hair. “Don’t ever save me like that again.”
Pressed to his heart, I whisper, “Never.”
His phone buzzes on the counter, making us both startle. “That’ll be Henry.”
I finish getting ready as he pulls up the camera feed from the front door. He heaves a heavy sigh, grabs a pair of boxerbriefs, and hops on one foot while holding the phone in front of his mouth.
“How many people did you bring?”
The speakerphone blares as he continues getting dressed.
“Just me. And Lan. And Scout then said neither of us could figure things out, so she came.”
Voice filled with grit, he spits out, “No one was supposed to know about this place, Henry!”
“Lan already knew! Scout was incidental.”
“Do you want actual cooked food or not, you ungrateful prick?”A female’s voice rings through the phone. Scout, my sorority sister, is here…
“Come in.” Aiden rolls his eyes at me dramatically. “Sorry, we got more company.”
“Scout…Turner. Oh. She’s Landon’s sister,” I say, and he nods.
“Yeah, sorry, she’s a bitch, but I don’t know how to cook, andyoudon’t either, so we’ll make her chef for the day, then kick her out.”
I shrug. “I actually don’t mind her. And I want food.”
Aiden’s eyes follow me as I get dressed, even as he pulls a black sweater over his head.
“What?” I ask.
“I miss your neck wearing my collar.”
The way his eyes light up with the memory pours heat between my legs. “Then buy me a better one, and I’ll wear it.”