“Then it’s about fucking time that someone took care of you. Looked after you.” I stepped toward her, grazing the side of her cheek. “Let me be that man, let me take care of you.”
“What does that even mean?” She pulled away from my touch. “You don’t even know me, Austin. We met once at a party, we talked and shared a joint, that’s it. What are we doing here? What do you want from me?”
I was taken aback, knowing that deep down she felt what I did. “Don’t pretend like we don’t have something. I know you can feel it too, Briggs. I can see it in your damn eyes every time you look at me. I can feel it on your skin every time I touch you.” I grazed her cheek again to prove my point. “Who knows where this will lead, but I sure as hell want to find out.”
I stepped closer to her again, holding her face between my hands. To my surprise she let me.
“I can’t stop you from doing this. It’s your life but I can be apart of it. I can protect you.”
She scoffed out a laugh. “You want to be my bodyguard? Austin, I haven’t had one of those since I was fourteen,” she revealed with pain in her eyes.
Just adding to her mysterious allure that I couldn’t figure out for the life of me.
“I’ll be whatever you want me to be. As long as I can keep you safe, I don’t give a fuck.”
“You don’t know what you’re saying. You don’t know what you’re getting yourself into.” She leaned into my touch, looking deep into my eyes and whispered, “Where’s your family, Austin? Where are your parents? I can’t do that to you. I can’t do that to them.”
I nodded in understanding. “I don’t have anything to go home to.”
“You should stay away from me, Austin. I’m no good for you. This will only end badly… It always does.” Her eyes glazed over, immediately filling with tears.
“Hey…” I coaxed, pulling her toward me to wrap my arms around her.
Having her in arms felt like heaven and home. The connection we shared was like nothing I had ever experienced before. As if she was made just for me.
Only me.
“I’m going with you, Briggs. I’m not taking no for an answer.”
She took a deep breath and melted into my arms like she was trying to mold us into one person and murmured,
“Okay.”
Chapter 17
<>Briggs<>
When my phone rang, I was expecting it.
To be honest, I was expecting him to just show up at one of the places he was sending me to. He could track me down in seconds. But he didn’t. He never even mentioned Austin, not once. My uncle only called me concerning important business matters and I knew this phone call would be anything but.
Austin was working again. I hated that he had to leave me to go make money. He was adamant about paying his own way and not living off of me. It didn’t bother me to pay for everything, I had more money than I knew what to do with, but I understood.
The last three months were like nothing I had ever experienced before. Even though I was used to this life and it was all I’d ever known, Austin made it different for me. It changed me in ways I never thought were possible before. He made me appreciate the beauty within the darkness. The light at the end of the tunnel that I had been walking through all my life wasn’t just at the end anymore.
That’s what Austin showed me. He lit up my dark tunnel and brought light into my life.
Hope.
Years of being alone and only relying on myself became second nature, like a second skin. With him, with Austin, I was starting to shed through the different layers and show what lied underneath the tattoos and purple hair.
Daisy.
I laughed. I smiled, a lot. My heart felt full in ways that it hadn’t since before my parents died. I was happy. And even though the feeling terrified me, I embraced it because it was just too beautiful to let go. I knew it was only three months. Three fucking months and I got attached to him. When he wasn’t around, I missed him, like a part of me was missing.
The light was gone; he took it with him.
I hated that feeling more than anything in this world. He had the ability to look at me in a way that was so beautifully broken. Like two halves of a heart finally coming together and becoming one after years of being apart.
Which only added to my theory that this wasn’t the first time we had been together. Our souls had met before, in another time, in another place.
We were destined.
Whether we wanted to be or not.
It was fate.
We were fate.
I had an idea to present to my uncle. I was just waiting for the phone call.
“Briggs, what the fuck do you think you’re doing?” Uncle Alejandro calmly coaxed when I answered the phone.
“Hi to you too. No, how are you? What have you been up to?” I sassed. I couldn’t help myself.
“I’m in no mood for your bitchiness. I have let this go on for three months without saying a word. Three fucking months, waiting for you to say something to me. Not one fucking word. So, I will ask again and it would be in your best interest to answer my fucking question. What the fuck do you think you’re doing?”