Page 64 of Grip Me Tight
“Social media is funny. Sometimes you can feel like you’re always with someone even if they don’t know you’re there.” He scrolls down, way down and opens an old photo. One of me doing cartwheels across the lawn of the university. I had actually just learned how to do them because when I was sick, I couldn’t jump and play, let alone have the strength in my arms to hold me up while I tumble head over heels.#reborn.Tanner flicks his finger down through the comments, until he comes to one, from an account I don’t recognize. I don’t always read all the comments and this one is simple, just a message cheering me on.
“What are you showing me this for?”
He grabs his hoodie from a hook by the door and pulls out his phone. He unlocks it and hands it to me. “You have access to all the official Kingmaker accounts, but this is my personal one.”
I look, then I look again. It’s the same profile as my commenter. “Why didn’t you ever let me know?” I meet his eyes. “Why did you stay away?”
“It felt like a betrayal of everything your family did for me. I wanted you but I was so afraid of hurting you, and losing not only you, but them. Noah really is my brother, even if he’s pretty mad at me right now.”
I’m hypnotized by the emotion I hear in his voice. “I can’t trust this.”
“You can trust that my heart is yours if you want it. The only music I hear is when I’m with you. Help me be as brave as you are so I can face whatever I need to with you by my side.”
For as long as I can remember, I’ve wanted this man. Before I even knew what it meant, my heart was tied to his.
“I need you, Silver. You are my heart. My music. The light to my darkness.” His eyes are bright. “When I heard my mother was dead, the music stopped in my head. That’s when I got really scared.” His big hands come up and hold my face. “But when I went to the lake house…” He clears his throat again. “When I came home, the music started again. Little threads, here and there, and only when I was with you.”
“You wrote a song this morning,” I say.
He slides his hands around to my hair. “I did. A really great fucking song.” He bends to kiss me but stops. “Wait, how did you know about the song?”
I brush my lips against his. “Noah told me.”
“Oh, yeah? What did he say about it?”
My heart clenches. “He says you love me,” I whisper.
“He’s right.” His mouth captures mine and I taste the salt of my tears as our tongues twine together. He pulls away. “I love you, Silver. I thought I was weak for wanting you, that a good man would let you go, but I see it takes true strength to live one day at a time and face it with hope instead of fear.” He kisses me again. “I can’t wait to wake up every day with you.”
“Noah said something else too.”
He pulls me to my feet, pushing the hair back from my face like he can’t stop looking at me. “Oh, yeah? What?”
“That if you make me cry again, he’ll punch your teeth out.”
He laughs, and a glimmer of joy snakes its way through me. “Well, I’d like to see him try.” He lifts me into his arms and carries me to the ladder. “Do you think the threat holds if I simply make you cry out my name?”
“Oh, I think I’m okay with that, but just to be on the safe side, let’s not tell him.”
He lets me slide down his body and presses me back against the ladder, his big body crowding me in all the best ways. “Get that sweet ass up the ladder, Silver. I’ve got to make up for lost time.”
I touch his face, seeing the vulnerable teenager in the strong, beautiful man he’s become. “Let’s pretend we have all the time in the world.”
* * *
