Page 104 of Run Home

“I love you,” I sob, clinging my arms around his broad shoulders. Seconds later, he gently lowers me to the L-shaped couch. He sits in the corner with his legs stretched in front of him, pulling me to rest against his chest.

His arms wrap around me with firm pressure as he commands, “Listen to my heartbeat. Feel my breaths. Calm down your breathing before you try to talk. Match your heart to mine.”

Closing my eyes, I do exactly as he says. I focus on the sound of his heartbeat, calm and steady below my ear. I allow my body to rise and fall with his breaths, breathing in through my nose when his chest expands, out through my mouth as it deflates.

When I’m no longer trembling, Adrián loosens the grip of one of his arms around my back, moving his hand to gently scratch my neck. With my body finally regulated, I sigh and say, “Ian called to let me know that Charles was released from prison yesterday.”

Adrián’s fingers still against my neck, his other hand tightening on my waist. Every muscle in his body tenses as he asks, “What do you mean?”

Pressing against his chest, I sit up enough to look him in the eyes. He moves with me, keeping a tight hand around my waist. “His original sentence got extended several times. But he was released on parole yesterday. He’s . . . he’s out.”

Adrián’s eyes flare as he shifts forward, sitting up. “I’ll put him back in prison. Do you know where he is?”

“I don’t need you going to prison, menso,” I say, placing a hand on his chest. His eyes soften at my use of his nickname, evidence I’m out of the spiral. At least, for the moment.

Biting the inside of my cheek, I say, “I don’t know exactly where he is. Ian didn’t say. But I don’t think I want to know. But maybe I do need to know. What are the odds I’d ever see him on the street? But what if I did see him on the street?”

A new spiral threatens, but Adrián places both hands on my waist, twisting me to sit across his lap. I bend my knees, tucking my face into his neck again, hiding from the spiral. His arms are tight around me as he says, “He will never come anywhere close to you. Never. I’ll make sure of it.”

I reach a hand up to Adrián’s neck, absentmindedly twirling the curls through my fingers. I focus on the silky feeling of his hair between my fingertips, on his masculine scent in my nose, on the security of his arms around me.

When I’m sure the spiral has passed, I lean back, brushing the curls off Adrián’s forehead, smoothing my hand down his cheek. “I love you,” I whisper. “Can we go to the stars?”

Adrián nods, and we walk together to the tree at the edge of his yard. He makes sure I climb up safely before joining me, and he spreads out the blankets and props a pillow against the tree trunk. He leans against it, pulling my back to his chest as he wraps his arms around me.

I look up at the vast sky, at the innumerable stars thrown across the inky black. But as I sit here with Adrián, gazing up at the expanse that has brought me so much comfort in the past, I realize that I don’t feel small.

I feel loved.

My eyes have adjusted to the darkness, and I look down to Adrián’s arm that’s bent across my chest. At the arch of stars tattooed across the base of his bicep, at the “Ad Astra” inked below.

Ad Astra per Aspera—To the Stars through Difficulties.

We’ve both been through difficulties. Different, but difficult, nonetheless. But we made it to the stars. The earth turned to bring us closer. To join us in this dream.

Together.

Leaning my lips to his arm, I press a kiss to the stars.

Chapter thirty-nine

Adrián

Jolting awake, I rocket to a sitting position in bed and check the time. A little after eight in the morning. I’d wanted to make sure I woke up before Samantha, but I forgot to set an alarm.

After sitting in the tree house late into the night, I convinced her to sleep in one of my guest bedrooms. There was no way I was going to let her go sleep alone in her apartment the night after learning her abuser is out of prison. I’m having a hard time thinking about her staying alone ever again knowing he’s a free man. I’ll be calling Marcel today and asking him to use every avenue to make sure an iron-clad restraining order is in place as soon as humanly possible.

I’m just thankful that she came to me last night. Thankful she needed me—and that she told me so. I know I’m still making mistakes and will always have room for improvement, but I tried my best to implement some of what I’ve learned from the counselors about how to respond in those moments. To help her regulate and feel safe to share what she’s experiencing. We already had another session with our couples therapist scheduled for this afternoon, so we’ll have an immediate chance to talk through things. But first, I want to make sure she has a good breakfast to start off the day.

Throwing off the comforter, I brush my teeth but leave the bed unmade for now as I pad out to the kitchen to see if Samantha is awake. The house is quiet, leading me to assume she’s still asleep. But when I notice the door open to the room she slept in, I wander around looking for her. She’s not on the back patio, and when I check the front door, I find it unlocked and her car gone.

Panic flickers that I slept through Samantha needing me, that she may have woken up to another spiral of fear. What if I didn’t handle everything as well as I thought I did? What if she felt like she’d be a bother waking me up?

Jogging across the house to my bedroom, I retrieve my phone from the nightstand. I’m about to call her when I hear the sound of a car in the driveway. Jogging back across the house, I open the front door and step onto the porch in time to see Samantha getting out of her car with a brown paper bag in her hand.

“You scared me,” I say before thinking. Her brow furrows as she moves her sunglasses from her eyes to the top of her head. I clarify, “I was worried that you left. That maybe you were upset and didn’t want to wake me up. You can always wake me up when you need me.”

Her brow softens as she walks toward me with purpose, sets the bag on the ground, and places both hands on my jaw to kiss me. My arms are instantly around her waist, holding her tight as I kiss her back with every ounce of assurance I possess. She starts to break off the kiss, but I chase her lips, arching her back.