Page 108 of The Write Track
“Nope.” He shook his head. “It brought me to you, Bellarino. How could I ever be sorry about something like that?”
I didn’t know what to say. The naked emotion in his eyes touched me, and before I realized what I was going to do, I cupped his cheek. “I won’t ever be sorry either.” I meant it. “I can’t even be sorry about dating Preston.”
He made a face. “Um… excuse me?”
I laughed at his reaction. “I’m being serious. If I hadn’t dated him and had the worst breakup in history, I never would have come here and found you.”
He wrapped me tight against him and looked longingly into my eyes. “We could leave right now,” he said. “Rather than wait for Preston to spring his trap, we could leave.”
“Then he’ll just spring another trap down the line. Don’t you want to get him out of our lives now?”
“Yes, but I don’t want you getting hurt, Bella. More than anything, that’s what I’m afraid of. Whatever he has planned, it involves hurting you.”
I understood that—probably better than he realized—but shrugged off his concern. “I know how you feel.” I rested my hand above his heart. “I believe in you. Whatever he tries, if I have a reaction, just know it will be an act, because we’re in this together.”
He lowered his lips to mine. “Wearein this together. I want to crush him, though. Like a bug. I just want to stomp the hell out of him.”
I laughed, enjoying the smile that spread across his face when I did. “We’ll stomp him together.”
He gave me a long, lingering kiss and then pulled me tight against him, resting his cheek on top of my head. “It’s going to be okay,” he whispered.
Just as he said it, the sound of tires against gravel drew my attention to the parking lot. There, a bland Jeep Cherokee idled. One person sat in the front seat and one in the back.
“Uber,” Nathan mused.
I nodded, staring. As the figure in the backseat began to move, my heart moved up to clog my throat. Hope flooded my chest, and I was practically running the second I pulled away from Nathan.
“Mom!” I threw my arms around her with enough force that she rocked back.
She dropped her bag on the ground—she wouldn’t have bothered packing a suitcase because she’d booked the trip so fast—and hugged me back.
“Bella,” she said on a hefty exhale, stroking my hair. “There’s my Bella.”
Confused, I pulled back from her. “What?”
“You’re back,” she replied simply. “You were gone for so long I wasn’t sure I’d ever see this version of you again. I was wrong, though, because here you are.” She laughed as she pulled back to look me in the eye. “Your light is back.”
My breath escaped in a gust. “I…” What was I supposed to say here? I understood what she was referring to. Rather than argue or cry or even swear an oath to kill Preston, I laughed. “I’m glad to be back.”
“Of course you are.” Mom gave me one more hug then turned to Nathan. “And here is the man who brought my Bella back to me.”
Nathan started to shake his head, but it was too late. Mom threw her arms around his neck. She was small but had a lot of force behind her motions. Nathan caught her and balanced both of them.
“I didn’t bring your Bella back,” he said in a voice just loud enough for me to make out. “She brought herself back. I’m just the lucky guy who gets to take advantage of it.”
Mom laughed and slapped his shoulder as she pulled back. “Take your accolades. You deserve it.” Her eyes moved to me. “Where is he?”
“Probably in the administration building, plotting,” I replied. “I haven’t seen him in the past few hours.”
“Heather is missing too,” Nathan mused. “I guarantee she’s the lynchpin in this plan of his, whatever it is.”
“Which means they’re probably doing it tonight,” I guessed.
“I want to hear everything,” Mom said. “I need to know one thing before we settle in for that story, though. Why not just leave? Is that not an option?”
I hesitated then sighed. “We signed contracts, and Preston has been very careful not to do anything that we could point to as a reason to leave. He’s diabolical.”
“Of course he is.” Mom made an exaggerated face. “He’s always been that way. Well, if you can’t leave?—”
