Haven from the Storm (Storms of Life #1) (21 page)

“I came back to Kolby for one reason and somehow I’ve completely messed everything up and we’ve ended up almost back where we were.” He paced the floor in front of the bed.

I timidly stuck my finger in the air. “Are you seriously raising your hand?” he asked.

“Um, yes I am. I have a question. What
one reason
did you come back to Kolby for?”

He rolled his eyes at me. “You, Lily. My only reason for stepping foot back into that town was for you.” He reached for me and cupped his hand to my cheek, smoothing his thumb across my lips. “You really thought I’d come back for anything else?” I felt the tears welling up, but cleared my throat to push them back down and stood from the bed.

“You really have a funny way of showing your reasons,” I snapped.

He narrowed his eyes at me. For some reason I found it funny and felt a smile tug at the corners of my mouth. But he spoke before I could try and lighten the mood, “You’ve had your chance to share your feelings, it’s my turn now. So sit down and listen. No more questions until I’m done…please.”

I nodded my head and sat back on the bed. I’d been waiting for this moment and I was more than ready to finally hear him out.

“Like I was saying, you’re the only reason I came back and I’ve already done a fine job of taking things from bad to worse with you, but that’s going to change right now. Everyone is ticked off at me. For good reason I’ll admit, but the only person I care about is you. Your anger helped remind me why I came back here and to see just how much I’d screwed things up. I know I need to fix a lot of things in my life and I was going to start tomorrow with visiting Grandma Violet, then Adley and Derek. I wasn’t going to attempt fixing us until I was positive I could do it, but now you’ve changed that. You screaming and then yelling for me made me feel a loss I’ve never experienced before.”

He moved to kneel between my legs and took my hands in his. “I can’t live without you, Lily. I’m lost without you, I physically ache and I know you need me too, so things are changing right this minute. You belong to me, Lily. No more distance between us, no more wondering if we’re meant to be, no more running when things get tough…that goes for the both of us.” He raised his eyebrow at me and I smiled in return.

“Dean, I want to trust you and I want us to stop with all this back and forth. But you’ve hurt me and I just don’t know if I can go through that again.”

“I’m not asking your permission, Lily. This is how it’ll be. I won’t accept a small part of you anymore. I’ll own all of you and, in return, you’ll own all of me. Neither of us will be hurt again because we’ll be together on everything. No more secrecy. When we feel something, we talk about it. No running.” His eyes were intently focused on me, looking for any level of fear or doubt, but I knew he wouldn’t see any.

I moved in and joined his lips with mine, giving him the proof he was so eagerly searching for. He immediately returned my unspoken vows ten fold. He moved over my body until we were lying on the bed. He wrapped his strong arms around me and lifted my body to the center of the bed.

This time he worshipped my body with gentle kisses and a lingering caress. Our first time was out of desperation for a lasting connection and pure need. This time was a slow, sweet declaration of love and promise. I felt our unity solidify with every kiss, every stroke, with every ounce of pleasure. The connection we created in that moment was one I knew could never be broken.

I wasn’t sure what woke me, but I didn’t care once I felt Dean’s body pressed firmly against the back of mine. His arm was draped over me with his hand spread across my stomach. I could feel his breath as it sent loose hairs dancing across my shoulder while he lightly snored next to my ear. I smiled at how quickly things could change when we finally understood our place in the world. My place was next to Dean. It only took him reaching the same conclusion and everything fell into place. I tried to turn so I could see his face while he slept, but he tightened his grip, not letting me free. I placed my hand over his and gently stroked, feeling him immediately relax. Only then was I able to turn myself to see his peaceful face as he slept, holding me.

The dark facial hair that was non-existent only hours ago was already starting to appear. I knew he thought it was a major annoyance, but it was a favorite of mine. Not only did it give him his signature rugged look, but I couldn’t get enough of how it felt on my body. I ran my finger over his jaw line gently. I didn’t want to wake him, but I was unable to resist the feel of him. I saw the corners of Dean’s mouth form a small smile, although his eyes remained closed. I leaned into him, pressing my bare chest against his and slowly ran my tongue along the same path my finger had just taken.

“If you keep that up, no one’s gonna get any sleep around here.” Dean’s voice made me jump and he laughed.

“Would that be such a bad thing?” I questioned as he moved his hand to grip my bottom, pulling me completely flush with him. Just as he opened his mouth to respond, a knock came from the door.

Dean groaned and whispered as he began to trail wet kisses down my neck, “Whoever it is will go away. No one is taking this away from me right now.” He lightly slapped my bottom. I heard a small moan escape from my throat and a pleased groan returned from him.

“Dean, it might be something important. It’s not even five yet.”

There were louder knocks, followed by the sounds of a voice on the other side of the door. “Lily, is Dean in there? He won’t answer his phone and he’s not in his room. It’s about Violet, please answer the door.”

Dean leapt from the bed, pausing only momentarily to grab his pants before jerking the door open. Adley sat in the middle of the hall, silently sobbing while Derek knelt beside her, both still wearing their pajamas. Derek looked from Dean to me and then back.

“The hospital called. It finally happened, Violet’s gone.”

I watched helpless as Dean sank to his knees with more pain on his face then I’d ever seen in my life. I wrapped the sheet around myself as best I could and went to him.

He looked up at me. “I didn’t get to fix it. I didn’t get to tell her how much I love her and that I’m sorry for not being there when she needed me the most.”

I knelt in front of him as I felt the warm tears stream from my eyes. “She knew, Dean. She knew you loved her and she understood better than anyone. I promise she knew.”

He hugged me tight while we mourned the loss of someone we both loved. Someone who’d been there to help pick up the pieces when the rest of the world had forgotten about us.

That night will forever be the best and worst night of my life. I lost someone I loved dearly, but I also got my soul mate back. It’s almost like Grandma Violet held on until the moment Lily and I got everything figured out, which is exactly something she would do.

The days leading up to the funeral were extremely hard. Grandma Violet touched a lot of lives in this town and they all wanted to help Adley and me during this time. While their gesture was appreciated, it also kept me from Lily. I honestly didn’t care if our being together got me into trouble with the school, but I did care that it would hurt Lily so we were rarely together alone.

Grandma Violet had everything prepared with the local funeral home. She had already made every decision and paid for the entire thing so all we had to do was show up and say goodbye, which of course was the hardest part. Actually, not being able to keep busy with the funeral arrangements felt like it only added to our sadness. Since everything was so well planned, we were able to have the funeral a couple days following her death.

I made Lily stay at Grandma Violet’s house with us the night before the funeral because I knew I would need her support. I knew I’d need her by my side if I ever wanted to make it out the front to door to head to the church. Even though she was hurting just as much as me, she had her usual stoic demeanor and that was exactly what I needed right now. The funeral hometown car picked us up first thing that morning and dropped us off right in front of the church.

We stood at the front of the church, waiting to make our entrance into a room filled with everyone that loved my grandmother and wished to say their goodbyes. I noticed Lily was hanging back behind Adley and Derek. I grabbed her by the hand and moved her to the front next to me. She gave me a confused look.

“You’re going to sit with me so stop trying to run off,” I said as I squeezed her hand tight.

“Dean, are you sure? Of course I will, if you need me, but I don’t want it to cause problems.”

“Lily, right now I need you by my side more then I care about any consequences that could possibly come from it.”

She agreed and took her place next to me just as the doors opened and a tall, thin man - who looked strangely like I’d picture the Grim Reaper - signaled for us to enter and take our places at the front of the church.

As we walked down the aisle, most of the people standing were looking forward or down at the ground. But some of the bolder individuals, who didn’t appear to be uncomfortable staring at the grieving family, watched every step we took.

As we neared the front of the small church, I saw Mindi’s long red hair before I ever saw her face. Mindi was in the church pew almost directly behind where she must have known I’d be sitting. The moment she saw that Lily was with me, her compassionate expression quickly turned to surprise. Lily dropped her hand out of mine and I turned to see her looking at Mindi. I entered the church pew and sidestepped my way to the other end, unfortunately sitting directly in front of Mindi.

The funeral droned on as the preacher talked about how Grandma Violet was a God fearing woman and how she was a perfect example for all the people here today. He seemed to skim over the parts of her life while she was married and my father was still alive, but spent a great deal of time mulling over how she took in Adley and me and raised us as her own. He mentioned how she took in other young people that were not her blood but who had lost their mothers, gesturing our way.

The tension coming from Mindi when Lily was placed in the spotlight made the air feel thick and sticky. I watched the tears begin to streak down Lily’s face as she tried to wipe them away. She let a small sob loose that had me wiping rogue tears from under my eyes as well. I felt a hand on my shoulder. I turned my head slightly and saw Mindi’s face. She had moved to the very edge of her seat and was trying to stick her head in between Lily and me. I ignored her and turned my focus back to the front, so she reached an arm between us and dropped a tissue on our clasped hands. I looked back toward Mindi to see her narrowing her eyes at the back of Lily’s head.