Flirt: Bad Boy Romance (23 page)

Some time had passed, and we had all moved on with our lives. We were currently in California, living in a little cottage on a lake owned by Rickson, a guy who was head over heels for Aunt Caro. The two of them were so cute together. I never saw Aunt Caro so in love before. It made her even happier and more mischievous than ever.

I was out on the front porch swing, curled up and reading
Sense and Sensibility
, or at least I was trying to read. From inside, I could hear my mom playing with Penelope. My baby sister has been growing up so fast.

It had been a few months since we escaped. Aunt Caro didn’t care at all that she had left her life behind too. She said she had always planned on coming with us, “to make sure we still had fun in our new lives.” And she did that and more.

So much had happened. At first, we had all been afraid, waiting at any moment for a knock on the door, for the police to show up or for my dad—Walter, as I started to think of him as—to appear. But nobody ever did, and we stopped looking out for them and started living again.

I finished up my high school degree online and then began applying for scholarships and colleges, and I made it into Oregon State. Later on today, we were going to go shopping for dorm stuff.

But I couldn’t make myself be excited. Every moment of the day, I thought about Wes. I would wonder what he was doing, if he was safe, if he had food and a place to stay. If he was even alive. It plagued me like nothing else, and I prayed every day that he was okay.

Aunt Caro opened the front door and smiled at me. Then she glanced down the long dirt road. She had been on the phone all morning talking about directions, so I asked, “Did you get your business taken care of?”

Aunt Caro walked over to kiss my forehead. “I sure hope so, kiddo,” she said before heading back in.

Okay…that was weird, but I just shrugged and chalked it up to Aunt Caro being strange at times.

Not a moment later, I heard an engine coming down the road. It must be Rickson coming back early from his appointment, but as it got closer, I realized it sounded different. I looked up to see a huge dust cloud and a motorcycle instead of a car.

Like something out of my dreams, Wes pulled up in a newer, shiny bike and parked. His hair was a little longer, and he was wearing the iconic leather jacket all patched back together. My book tumbled out of my lap as I rushed to him. Wes grabbed me and pulled me up into his arms, and he leaned back only for a second so he could run his hands through my hair as if he’d missed doing that for so long. Looking at me dead in the eye, he cupped my face and said, “April, I should have told you this a thousand times already, so I’m gonna get started now. I love you. I am abso-fucking-lutely in love with you.”

Tears pouring down my cheeks, I found my voice and whispered, “I’ve loved you for so long I’m not even sure when it began.”

THE END

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