47. Elton

CHAPTER FORTY-SEVEN

Elton

This is exactly what I needed.

As Everest and I pull up to our parents’ private beach house in the Keys, I think that a weekend away from it all sounds perfect. After a few hours in the car together, any animosity I had toward my little brother has completely faded. Everest is just too fucking precious to stay mad at. He’s my family, and I know he never meant to hurt me, so I’ve forgiven him easily. I’ll still give Rhys shit about this whole situation when we get back to Miami, but I can plan how I’m going to make him squirm later.

No, I want to spend these last few weeks with them on a good note.

I still haven’t decided where I’m going to go, but I put in my two weeks with Davis this morning. To say he was disappointed was an understatement. He even offered to pay me more if I stayed, telling me the club’s business has grown by thirty percent since I started, but I kindly turned him down. Call me spoiled, but money has never been my prime motivator. I’m not making this move because I want a better job, but a better life.

A new life away from…

“So, what do you want to do first?” I ask Everest, hauling my duffel out of the trunk. “Want to take a nap and then head into town for a bite to eat?”

Shaking his head, he takes my duffel from me. “How about you head down to the beach and test out the water? I think I want to swim.”

“You going to carry all this in for us? I have a broken heart, not a broken arm,” I joke, which causes Everest’s face to flush with discomfort. “Just kidding. I’ll check it out.”

He gives me a shaky nod, and my brow furrows at his twitchiness. I’ll have to ask him why he’s being so sketchy later. I take off my shoes and make my way down the sand dunes. One nice thing about this vacation home is that it’s attached to a private beach, so there aren’t any tourists visiting Florida for the first time or any sorority sisters here for spring break. My plan is to head straight to the water and back, but something out of the corner of my eye catches my attention.

I gasp, and for a minute I think I’m seeing things, but when I give myself a solid slap on the cheek, I realize it’s not some sort of sadness-induced delusion.

Because Knox is standing just a few feet away from me. He’s wearing the same red satin tuxedo he wore to the Angels and Sinners theme night, surrounded by red rose petals and… Are those plastic flamingos?

“What the fuck?” I breathe as I take a step closer, not daring to cross the line created by lit candles of all different shapes and sizes. “Knox?”

He gulps, dark eyes misty behind his devil mask. “Elton, it’s good to see you.”

“What is all this?” I ask, waving at his display. “How did you even know I would be?—”

Oh, those fuckers didn’t.

When I turn, I spot Rhys and Everest, caught red-handed at the top of the dunes, staring down at us. I flip off the nosy bastards for helping Knox plan this behind my back.

“Elton,” Knox says again, getting my attention. “There’s something I need to say to you.”

I suck in a sharp breath at the conviction in his voice. Trembling, I shake my head. “Look, this is sweet and all, but I don’t want to talk to you.”

“I know you’re planning on moving,” he blurts out, taking a step out of this weird plastic animal throne. “I think it’s a mistake.”

“They told you?” Oh, yeah, I’m going to annihilate those two. I shake my head again and wave at him to back off. “It’s none of your business what I do anymore.”

He stops in his tracks, eyes sad as he nods. “I know. But please, just hear me out. Listen to what I have to say, and if you still want to leave after, I’ll understand.”

I bite down hard on my bottom lip, questioning whether it’s worth it to give him this chance. I decide that, no matter how shitty it ended between us, he deserves to say his piece. Not like it’s going to change anything. “Okay.”

“Okay,” he repeats to himself, wetting his lips as he clears his throat. “Elton Hill, I know I hurt you, and I know I lied to you, but I’m truly sorry. When we first started this thing between us, I never expected I’d fall in love with you, so that’s why I never said anything about Everest. I thought that it didn’t matter, and when it mattered that I hadn’t told you, I was too scared to. I’ve never…” he trails off, cursing under his breath as he rips off his mask. “Fuck, sweetheart, I’ve never had something as incredible as you in my life before. I didn’t know what to do with it.”

There’s a ball in my throat, and fuck me for getting emotional as tears blur my vision. Still, I hold my ground. “That’s not an excuse.”

“And I’m not trying to make excuses,” he insists. “I’m just telling you the truth. You are the best thing in my life. You make me happy, yeah, but you make me want to believe in the world again. You taught me that I was worth something when everybody else told me I was nothing. It would be the biggest regret in my life if you didn’t know that I love you more than anything.”

It’s everything I wanted to hear from him. Everything I’ve always wanted. I try to fight the way my resolve weakens, shaking my head lightly. “Knox?—”

“And I see you,” he rushes out, not giving me a chance to stop him. “You’re more than the life of the party, you’re more than the golden boy, you’re more than anyone thinks you are. You’re never too intense for me, never too much, and I love all that makes you so unique from anyone else. I love you because of everything you are, weird fascination with flamingos aside.”

I actually chuckle at that, my fingers subconsciously brushing the tattoo under my arm. “I love you too,” I whisper. The salty breeze nips at the tears that are now freely falling down my cheeks. “But you really hurt me.”

He nods, his dark eyes just as misty as mine. “I know. I know I did, but you can’t move. If you move, I won’t be able to spend the rest of my life proving that I’ll never do that again.”

My eyebrows pinch in confusion. “The rest of your life?—”

But I cut off my own words when Knox falls onto one knee and holds out a black box, sliding it open to reveal a simple golden band.

“You’re afraid that we don’t want the same things in life and that’s not true. I want a future with you, Elton. I know we haven’t been together for long, and we’re not even together now, but I’m certain that you’re it for me. You’ll always be my first choice, my first love, and my first savior.”

“Knox,” I cry, placing my shaking hand over my mouth. “This is…”

“Stupid? Embarrassing? Romantic?” he chuckles out through a sob. “I’d make a fool out of myself a million times for you.”

I go to say…something, but it’s then that my eye catches something it missed before. Without even thinking, I’m crossing the candle line and kneeling in front of him, taking his jaw roughly in my hands, shoving it up so I can see the skin of his neck just beneath it. “You did not.”

“I did,” he says, his eyes fluttering shut at just my touch alone. “Damn, it feels good to be held by you again.”

I don’t answer him because I’m too busy seeing the elegant script inked into his skin.

Sweetheart.

“What if I say no?” I question, snorting lightly. “You would have this on you forever.”

Dropping his forehead against mine, he reaches up to cup my cheeks. “Then I’d have a reminder every day to be a better person, a kinder one, someone who gives other people chances. You might not want me anymore, but you’ll always be my sweetheart. I know I’m worth it now because of you, and even without you, I’ll still believe that.”

I was so adamant that I wasn’t taking him back, so sure of my decision, but his declaration of love and commitment chipped away at my conviction. I was already swaying, questioning if I should take one last leap into faith, but this tattoo breaks my resolve.

Because what kind of psychopath would get this inked on their skin if they didn’t mean it?

I slam my lips against his with all the desperation in the world, yearning to taste him again. He sobs into my mouth, clutching my face even tighter as we fall clumsily into the sand. I laugh through my tears as sheer joy makes the world feel so much lighter and brighter. Rolling around, we knock over candles, and I vaguely register Rhys screaming at us to stop before we light ourselves on fire.

“Is that a yes?” Knox asks when he finally pulls away, fully on top of me now. “Will you marry me, Elton Hill? Force me to forever rub your feet and grovel?”

“Oh, you’ll be doing a ton of groveling,” I somewhat tease.

Nodding, he kisses me again like he just can’t help it. “But we’ll do it as a married couple? You’ll marry me?”

I take a deep breath, knowing that it’s the biggest decision of my life, but it’s also surprisingly the easiest.

“Yes.”

Yes, I’ll marry him. My time apart from him has been torture. I’d rather fight with him until I forgive him than be without him at all. True love means being with each other through all the times—good and bad—and finding it in your heart to move past mistakes. It’s recognizing the imperfections in each other while still treasuring all the parts of them that make them, them .

And, since Knox is my soulmate, I know we’ll get through this.

Together.

Because, not only has he changed because of me, but he’s finally recognized that he’s worth the love I’m going to give him freely.

“Really?” he gasps, scrambling off me to retrieve the ring. “Fuck! I lost it!”

I can’t help it. I throw my head back with a loud laugh. “Of course you did.”

“This isn’t funny, Elton. It’s somewhere in all this goddamn sand. Fuck!”

“Baby, it’s okay,” I tell him as I rest my chin on his shoulder, making sure to kiss his new tattoo. “It’s just a ring.”

“It’s not just a ring,” he argues, hands searching through the sand to find it. “It’s a symbol . Fuck, get those two to get down here and help us.”

I continue laughing as I do what he asks, calling Rhys and Everest over. Knox doesn’t even let them congratulate us before he’s barking orders. All in all, it takes us about two hours to find the ring. When we do, Knox looks incredibly relieved as he slides it onto my finger, showing me only then that he kept the one that was meant for him. We take each other’s hands and admire the visible proof of our commitment to each other. And, while it was a rocky one, I wouldn’t trade our love story for anything.

But, when we tell the story to our kids one day, we might leave out the part about the Blue Nipples.

THE END