She stepped outside and pulled the door shut behind here, shaking her head.
"So," she said. You were saying?"
"Here's the thing," I said. "You can tell me to go to hell, or call me crazy, or whatever the fuck. I haven't known you long enough to be saying this, and I am acutely aware of that fucking fact. But I've been close to dying, and I've seen enough death in my life to know that when something - someone-knocks me on my ass because she's so fucking different from anyone else I've ever known, that...well, it's just really fucking important."
The words just poured out of me, this rush, unstoppable.
"So, I'm saying I want to be with you. I fucking love you. That's all I've got. You can tell me to go to hell or whatever you want. But I've said my piece."
"All right," she said.
"All right?"
She nodded. "All right, to all of it. I want you too, Elias."
I pulled River close, my mouth coming down on hers. With her lips pressed against mine, the world was set right again.
"Are you really sure all of this is going to fit?" I stood with my hands on my hips, surveying the apartment, my boxes stacked neatly in towers in the middle of the room. I'd donated most of the things from Viper's place and this one in anticipation of the move to West Bend.
"You saw the house," Elias said. "It'll fit. Are you sure you want to fucking move into a farmhouse in West Bend? It's not exactly Hollywood."
I slid my arms around his waist and looked up at him, the man who had made me so happy. "It's completely crazy," I said. "And not like Hollywood at all. I'm totally, a hundred percent, over the moon sure."
"You think you're going to be happy there with me?" Elias asked. "Might be too tame for you, being a movie star and all."
I laughed. "Tame is nice," I said. "And I'm not going to be a movie star in West Bend, anyway - just a regular old college student, taking classes so I can become a teacher. Besides, you're not tame everywhere."
Elias slapped me on the ass, hard. "Don't forget it, either," he said, circling around me, his breath on my ear. "If you need a reminder before we leave, though..." He pressed his hardness into my ass cheek. "I can take you in the other room and -"
One of the movers walked in. "I think we've got everything inventoried."
Elias groaned. "Perfect timing, thanks."
Later, I settled back in the car and watched in the side mirror as I left Hollywood behind.
Left behind the life I knew to start a new one with this man.
Elias drummed his fingers on the steering wheel as he drove, and I leaned back against the seat. I felt calm, totally at peace.
"Where the hell is he?" I asked. "I should be taken to the looney bin for letting Silas take my Mustang back here so I could stay with you out in California."
River ran her hands over my chest. "Oh, but then you wouldn't have had all that time alone with me the past few weeks," she said.
I kissed her, letting my hands roam down her hips, cupping her ass. "You're right," I said. "Maybe you can remind me of why I stayed out there alone with you."
River moaned. "Gladly," she said, taking my hand. "No furniture yet, so I guess it doesn't matter which room we christen first, right? Besides, I'm sure Silas is just running an errand or something."
"Yeah." That was probably it. But River didn't know everything, Silas' disappearances and shit, his erratic behavior.
A motorcycle engine rumbled, growing louder as it approached, and River and I went to the door.
Killian dismounted the bike.
"River, this is Killian, one of my brothers."
Killian stuck out his hand, and grinned. "Pleased to fucking meet you."
"Classy, dude."
"Need to talk to you real quick, Elias." Killian gave me a look, and River kissed me on the cheek.
"I'll just make myself useful bringing stuff inside," she said.
"Look," Killian said. "I've been doing some thinking on it, and I think Silas is right."
I groaned. "Jesus, not you too. Come on. You know Silas is smart as shit, but sometimes he's crazy smart. Emphasis on crazy."
Killian shook his head. "No, I think there's more going on in this town than just a developer coming in. I think he's right about what happened. I don't think the asshole's death was an accident. And I don't think mom overdosed."
River looked up from the trunk as she pulled out two bags, and smiled at me. "Everything okay?" she asked, as she walked past.
"Yeah," I said. "Everything's just fine."
River and I would be just fine, I knew that. More than fine. All this time I'd been a big fucking cynic, convinced there were no happy ever afters, no movie endings for me. The universe had a big fucking sense of irony, giving me a movie star - who starred in romantic comedies, no less-to fall in love with.
Things happened for a purpose-I was starting to believe that. So maybe our parents' deaths were the universe's way of bringing my brothers and I back together, unifying us for a common purpose.
Even if I had no idea right now what the hell that purpose was.