Page 147 of True Blue

Demetri hugs me then, “You need us, you call, and we’ll come running.”

“Thank you,” I whisper.

They give me one last look before Demetri wraps an arm around his wife’s shoulders and they head home. They pass by Teddy, who gives them a nod. Demetri returns it after a moment of hesitation, but Petra just hisses at him like a cat.

Amusement strikes me briefly at that, my protective little friend, before Teddy turns to me with those big green eyes.

Turning, I continue walking down the street, my hotel in sight. I feel more than hear or see Teddy following me, like he’s tethered to me.

He’s watching me, and in the light from the hotel, I can see that there’s hope in his eyes now. I stare at him for a long moment, wondering if I’m truly ready for this conversation. My mind answers for me with a resounding yes.

I nod toward the hotel, and Teddy’s eyes widen, his expression giving everything away—relief, love, hope, fear. I then spin on my heel and walk inside, feeling him follow me into the lobby, up the stairs, and toward my room.

My spine straightens with every step I take, determined and resolved.

Let’s see if he can actually listen to me.

29

TEDDY

SEPTEMBER

“Sit.”

Indie points to the chair she had dragged from the corner of her hotel room, and I obey instantly, my ass dropping to the seat with a thunk. I keep my eyes on her, and a brief hint of amusement passes across her face before she flattens her expression.

My fingers dig into my knees.

She looks fucking gorgeous, especially seeing her up close after a month. She’s always been stunning, but there’s something different about her. Less tension in her shoulders, a brightness to her face, and her skin is sun-kissed with freckles dotted across her nose.

She looks… happy, and that makes me happy.

But fuck, I’m close enough to smell her, surrounded by her scent in this hotel room, and it’s the most wonderful torture. I almost dropped to my damn knees in shock when she nodded to follow her, and I almost crawled after her, feeling unworthy.

She chose to speak to me, and after a month of watching her from afar, treating her from afar, and leaving behind the drawings because that was the only way I could communicate within her boundaries, it felt like salvation.

I know it’s just one small step, though, and it’s what she’s owed.

Answers.

The last two weeks have been… some of the hardest I’ve ever gone through in my life. Dr. Meyer has been ramping up our therapy sessions, really digging in deep and making me take a good look at myself in the mirror—metaphorically speaking.

Unfortunately, with the time difference, I’ve been running on very little sleep, combined with how emotionally drained I usually feel after our sessions, and the reckoning of realizing how deeply these issues go has completely emptied my tank. I push through as much as I can.

Indie is worth it.

And I’m worth it too.

That took a while to admit. To let myself believe that just because I treated Indie terribly, I can change and fix things. I don’t have to be defined by past cruelty and mistakes. That I can atone and make things better in my life.

But I have to want to change, not for anyone else, but for me. Indie deserves to be with a whole person, not just someone leaning their mental health on her. She’s a caretaker at work; she doesn’t need to be one at home, too.

Indie walks over to her suitcase and pulls out clothes. She walks—a little unsteady—into the bathroom, and I hear the shower running.

I spend the entire fifteen minutes she’s in the shower trying and failing not to picture her in there, naked and wet.

When she emerges from the bathroom, I still don’t look up. I hear her pull on her clothes, then walk toward me, stopping right in front of me, and I keep my gaze on her feet, her pink-painted toes that look so pretty against her tan skin.