part0017

We were in his room at his house, and he’d been sitting on the bed and just staring at something in front of him for, like, half an hour.

His gaze lifted to me, and he caught my hand, bringing my knuckles to his lips. “Yeah, I am. I guess I keep thinking that I’m going to wake up and none of this will be real.”

“I know, but it is. We’re finally free.” I gave him a small smile as I settled on the bed next to him, leaning my head on his shoulder. “I mean, I get it if you feel conflicted about it and—”

“No, actually, I don’t. I’m glad he’s gone.”

“That’s okay too.” I couldn’t pretend that Mr. Arretti had been a nice man.

“So what’s going to happen now?” I asked after a few moments of silence.

“I don’t know. I guess I have to deal with the traitors and see who’s willing to stay with me and who wants to go.” He shifted and I lifted my head so I could look at him.

“What?” I asked because there was something in his eyes that I didn’t like.

“Are you afraid of me?” he asked, and I blinked at him.

“What? No. Why would I be?”

“I just killed my own father, and I want to take his place. Doesn’t that scare you?” His eyes searched mine.

I thought about it for a few moments. “Not really. It’s more like... I don’t know. Weird?”

“So you’re not here with me right now because you think I’d lose my mind if you left?”

“Oh, for fuck’s sake.” I placed my hand on his cheek. “If I didn’t want to be here with you, I wouldn’t be, okay?”

“But are you going to be okay with the things I’m going to have to do?”

“Can we just think about all that when the time comes? I mean, I don’t know how I feel about anything right now, and I don’t think you know how you feel either. It’s been a weird night, and we need a bit more time to process what happened. But yeah, I want to be with you and I want to see where our relationship will lead us. We finally don’t have to hide and think we’re going to be hunted down.”

He nodded. “Yeah, you’re right. This isn’t the right time to think about our future or about anything else.”

“Oh, what are you going to do about my dad? He was kind of helping your father and all.”

A horrified expression crossed his face. “I’m not going to kill your dad.”

“Jeez. I wasn’t talking about that.” I smacked him on the shoulder. “I mean, are you going to keep him as your advisor or whatever my dad was doing before? I assume you’re going to need similar things.”

“Kind of. I don’t want to run things like my father did. Sure, there will be some similarities, but I want to secure our town and make sure there’s no more bloodshed.” His brow furrowed. “Are you sure you want your dad to be a part of it? I thought you wanted him free of it all.”

“Well yeah, but it’s complicated. I think that my dad has a dark side, which is attracted to all of this stuff you’re doing.”

Cole’s eyebrows shot up as his lips quirked up. “So I’m your dark side, eh? Do you expect me to give you cookies too?”

“Yeah, of course I expect cookies. All the fucking time. But that’s not what I’m trying to say. I just think that, since my dad got caught up in this stuff more than once and since I don’t think he was exactly forced into it as he wants to make everyone believe, he actually likes it.”

“Are you afraid he’s going to find another bad guy to work for if I fire him?”

“First, you’re not a bad guy. But yeah, I think that even if he doesn’t get involved with some crime lord, he might still end up involved in some shady scheme. And I’d rather if he had your protection. Of course, I don’t want you to force him into it. Just ask him. Offer him to stay and see what he says.”

“All right. If that’s what you want.”

Maybe I was making a wrong decision, but the ultimate choice would be in my dad’s hands. If he wanted to keep working for the Arrettis, he should do it.

And yeah, it might feel weird for me, but I was sure Cole would keep him in the office and away from anything too dangerous.

“Wait, are you going to go back to school?” I asked.

“Maybe. I don’t know.”

“Oh, come on. We’re so close to graduating, and now you can torment that principal of ours all on your own.” I grinned.

“You want me to torment the principal for you?”

“No, silly.” I pouted. “Okay. Maybe a little, yeah. If she was your father’s pawn, then I don’t see why she wouldn’t be yours as well.”

We both burst into laughter.

“You’re special, Ava Morris,” he said, dipping his lips toward mine.

“I don’t think so. I still don’t know how to use a gun.”

“When you got in front of me like that...” He shook his head. “I didn’t even know what to think.”

“You figured it out quickly.” I winked.

“I’ll do everything in my power to make sure you’re safe,” he said, his face serious. “You shouldn’t be in a situation like that ever again.”

“Aww, that’s really sweet of you.”

“But I need to warn you. My enemies will be coming for me, especially if they think I’m not ready or good enough to keep control over our town. It’s not all over just yet.”

“Don’t ruin my mood with that.” I made a face. “I know. There’s always going to be someone, but you defeated your father when all the odds were against you. I’m sure everyone will hear about that too.”

“I guess.” He shrugged.

“Let’s just not think about that right now.” I snuggled closer to him again, letting the warmth of his body seep into me.

For a few moments, we should be happy and worry about nothing.