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—Banks—
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I fumbled getting my phone from my shorts pocket and breathlessly answered Leif’s call on the fourth ring. “Hey, bro.”
“Please tell me you’re at home.”
I straightened at his harsh tone. “No, I’m out on the lake. Why?”
“For fuck’s sake, Banksy. Simone’s leaving town!”
My heart bottomed out, making me cough at the gut-churning sensation. “What! When?”
“Like right fucking now, dude. She’s literally driving out my gate after handing the cottage keys back. I think I convinced her to swing by your house first, but a fat load of good that’ll be if you aren’t there!”
“Fuck, stall her, man!” My blood pressure tripled and pounded in my ears as I flipped my cap backward, started the boat, then set about hauling in the anchor.
“Fuck, hold up.” Crunching gravel and Leif’s puffing sounded through my speaker phone. “Fuck, fuck, fuck!” he exclaimed.
“What?” I yelled.
His frustrated growl had my arms working harder. “I fucking missed her! She’s just turned at the end of the street. Definitely heading to yours.”
“For fuck’s sake, Leif!”
“Don’t bite my fucking head off,” he snapped. “Where exactly on the lake are you?”
“Central but along the west side.” I shoved the lake boat into gear and gritted my teeth as I did a tight U-turn.
I throttled on, yelling at Leif over the roar of the engine. “I’m on my way in!”
“You won’t make it, dude.”
“Not to my house, but I might down the town channel. I might be able to head her off.”
There was shit I needed to say before never getting the chance again. Hell, if I knew where she lived in Denver, I’d moor at my spot and drive the ten hours behind her. Unfortunately, I didn’t have that grace.
“Call Reed. He might be on duty, get him to pull her over,” Leif suggested.
Serious advice or not, I replied with a hasty, “Good idea. I’ll call you back,” before stabbing the red disconnect button. I motored one-handed while calling Reed.
“Hey, brah,” he answered, upbeat.
“Hey, are you on duty and are you driving?” I yelled into the phone. “I need you to pull Simone over before she leaves town!”
“What the fuck is going on, Banksy? I’m at the station.” Despite the question, I heard keys jingle.
I throttled on harder, breaking the lake speed limit thrice over. “She’s leaving town and Leif said she headed to my house, but I’m out on the fucking lake!”
“That explains the noise distortion,” Reed drawled. “Do you know if she’s left town yet?”
“I have no idea!”
The thought of losing her brought a sting of moisture to my eyes. I’d never called on Reed like this before; I was beyond desperate.
“I’ll go cruising. She still got that little red hatchback?”
“Yep.”
“Okay, I’ll call you if I see her. Do the same, yeah?”
“Definitely!” I disconnected and set my phone on the dash as I sped parallel to the shore. My heart pounded so hard. The Lakeside Pint passed in a blur, as did the cop station, where the guys no doubt witnessed my recklessness.
About two miles from the end of the lake, Gatlin Falls ended, and I still hadn’t spotted Simone’s car. I refused to give up hope, not when I still had two miles of water ahead of me.
A flash of red caught my eye through the trees that flanked the road out of town. My pulse dropped, then spiked.
“C’mon, baby. Be you, be you,” I chanted through gritted teeth.
I divided my attention between the lake and trying to get a better look at the car. One clearing was all it took to confirm it was my girl. Leaving town. Without saying goodbye.
I had Reed back on the phone within seconds.
“What you got?” he answered.
“She’s a mile out of town heading toward Gallie township. You think you’ll get her before then?”
His laughter came through. “Won’t take me long at all. I’m hitting the edge of town now.”
“Stall her!” I demanded.
“Let me do my job, and I’ll see you soon, bro.”
I disconnected on his chuckle and breathed a little more freely. With one problem solved, I now faced another: where to moor, and it was probably going to be illegally at the supply loading dock.
Said dock came into view just as I caught a glimpse of red and blue flashing lights speeding along the highway.
I grinned at my brother coming through for me.
Slowing but still approaching the dock too fast to be safe, I recklessly forced the gear into reverse, coming to a kickass mooring that quite frankly was fit for a movie.
The only thing I did properly was tie the boat securely to the dock before running hell-for-leather over the wooden boards, through the parking lot, and up the side road toward the highway.
I flagged down the first car I saw and ran to where they’d pulled over.
The guy wound his driver’s window down as I came to a skid beside it. “The fuck you doin’ on the road, kid?”
“It’s an emergency,” I puffed. “I need a ride a couple of miles down the road. There’s a cop up there who’s just pulled over someone I need to speak to.”
A merry grin spread across his mouth. “This doesn’t happen to involve a female, does it?”
I growled in frustration. “Yes, it does. Can you please give me a lift?”
The man’s attention drifted in the direction we both headed. “Two miles you say?”
“Roughly.”
“Yeah, alright. Get in.”
Not giving him a chance to change his mind, I ran around the hood and all but threw myself into the passenger seat. My driver understood the assignment: he put the pedal to the metal as soon as my seatbelt clicked into place, then glanced at me.
“You’re one of Russell’s boys, aren’t you?
“Yep,” I replied, focusing ahead and holding the overhead handle.
The old guy next to me chuckled. “I knew it. You’ve got Gatlin written all over you.”
I glanced at him. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Reckless,” he barked. “I went to school with your dad, and you’ve got the same look as he did when he was hell-bent on getting his own way.”
I snorted. “And here I thought I got all my personality traits from my mother.” My short-lived amusement became forgotten the instant flashing lights and two cars came into view.
I leaned forward and pointed. “There! That’s them!”
“Calm your teats, kid,” he heckled, chuckling to himself while pulling off the road.
I patted down my pockets for my wallet, then thrust a hundred dollar bill his way. “Thank you. You have no idea how much I appreciate this.”
“No need for the money.” He nodded at the scene before us. “Now go get your girl.”
“Thanks again!” I called as I launched from the car.
Jogging over to Reed, nervousness rushed back with full force. He glanced over his shoulder and grinned.
“Well if it isn’t The Kisser. ’Bout damn time, bro; she’s getting cranky, and I was running out of excuses.”
“Shut up. And I owe you big time for this!”
“Yeah, you do!” He laughed, stepping away from Simone’s driver’s door to reveal her tear-stricken face.
My heart lurched when she looked at me and burst into tears.
I tore the door open and fell to my knees on the gravel verge. “Don’t leave, baby. Please don’t leave,” I begged, feeling my own emotion sting at the back of my nose. “I don’t know how, and I don’t have a plan, but we can work this out. Please.”
~
I searched her gaze, silently imploring her to give me a second chance. To give us a second chance.
Her tears overflowed, echoing the silent sobs gripping her chest.
“Please, Simone. Please,” I implored with every single fiber I possessed.
Her cries racked through her body harder, fracturing me in two.
I pressed a hand to my chest in an effort to hold myself together. “Babe, you’re killing me. Please say something.”
She shook her head and pressed her hands to her eyes. “I can’t. I thought I could, but... but I can’t.”
My hand found her thigh and smoothed back and forth. “Can’t what? Talk to me, baby. I need to know,” I pled, desperate for any kind of explanation, no matter how bad.
A shuddering breath filled her lungs as she lifted her head. Her gaze, swimming with sorrow and apologies, lashed my already raw emotional state.
“I thought I could leave, but...”
I straightened, feeling a pinch of hope filter through the desolation. I feathered my fingers down her stricken face. “But...?”
She snagged my hand and pressed it harder to her cheek. “But I don’t think I can,” she whispered. “I want to be with you, Banks, but I’m scared.”
I hung my head as overwhelming relief swept through me. I still had a chance—a big one. One I wouldn’t let slip through my fingers again.
Rising from my knees, I gathered her from the driver’s seat and eased her to standing. I caged her against her little car and pressed my forehead to hers.
“I was so fucking scared of losing you.” Wrapping my fingers around the back of her neck, I held her to my chest while squeezing my eyes shut. “You’ll always be Reagan’s just as you’ll always be mine, in his lifetime, my lifetime, and into the next. You don’t have to choose, baby. You never did.”
Rivers of tears cascaded down her face, dampening my shirt and making my entire body ache for her approval.
I gently took her face between my palms and smoothed the wetness away.
Gazing down at her, I melted. “If you want to leave Gatlin Falls that’s fine, but I’ll be coming with you.”
Her eyes sprang wide. “You’d do that for me?”
“In a heartbeat.”
She shook her head. “No.”
The single word pulled my eyebrows low in confusion.
“You won’t be leaving Gatlin Falls. Tell me to stay,” she murmured.
I pressed my lips to hers. “Stay, baby. Stay with me. Move in with me. Be mine—officially.”
This time, she nodded, and I angled her face up with a gentle forefinger hooked under her chin. Her lips brushed across mine, taking the lead when mine remained paused. The sweetest hum flowed from her tongue onto mine when I opened for her.
Smoothing my hands from her face to cup beneath her ears, I tilted her head further and inhaled as I claimed her mouth good and proper.
Her arms wove around my waist, grabbing my shirt and pulling me close. I pinned her against the car with my hips and kissed the life out of her.
Simone’s soul forever called to mine. Whenever she was close, our surroundings dulled and faded until it was only me and her in the entire world.
“You bring me to my knees, new girl. Always have, always will,” I murmured.
A police car siren cut through our bubble, jerking us apart with a scream from Simone.
My brother’s booming laughter followed. “Not even sorry. I’ve seen way too much and so have the multiple passing cars. Wrap it up, Banksy. Some of us have real police work to do.”
I scoffed at him. “Sipping coffee all day doesn’t count as real police work, bro.”
Despite laughing, he flipped me off, saluted two fingers off his brow at Simone, then slid behind the wheel of his patrol car.
With a final siren, he checked both ways up and down the highway, then peeled onto the road, spitting gravel behind him as he headed back to Gatlin Falls.
Simone and I snickered and shook our heads before looking back at each other. The world fell away again, and my breath snagged.
Despite the sadness in her red-rimmed eyes, they held a hint of happiness. And damn, it looked good’n pretty on her.
“So... now what?” she whispered.
My attention dropped to her mouth briefly. “Now you drive home to my house, and I’ll meet you there.”
Simone’s expression crinkled. “How will you get back?”
I laughed awkwardly and adjusted my cap, twisting it around from its backward position. “I uh... moored at this end of the lake when I saw you driving out of town.”
“Wait—” She snapped up a hand. “You saw me leaving? How’d you know?”
I smirked. “My brothers have my back, baby.”
Understanding lit her face. “Leif.”
“Initially. Then Reed.”
“I knew he didn’t have a legitimate reason to pull me over!”
Snickering, I ran my hands over her hair, then cupped her face. “Yeah, that was me. I’d be sorry if it hadn’t worked, and even more sorry if I hadn’t tried. I literally couldn’t breathe knowing you were driving away without getting a final chance to hold you again.”
Simone worried her lower lip with her teeth and more tears threatened. “I went by your house, but you weren’t there. I said goodbye to Pepin, then left.”
Gratitude and disbelief crushed me from the inside. I gathered her into my arms again and squeezed. “I was terrified I’d lost my chance. It made me feel so sick. But now... fuck, I can’t believe we caught you.”
I peppered kisses across her forehead and down her nose before reaching her lips. “Let’s go home, babe. I want your hair clogging my shower again and your dirty coffee mugs left in the kitchen sink every morning.”
She giggled a little. “And my feminine products in the bathroom?”
“Pick up the goddamn wrappers and we won’t have a problem, new girl.”
Her snicker lit my soul. “Want me to drop you off at the boat?”
“I can think of other things I want more...” I drawled before stealing another kiss.
Simone kissed me back, then gently pushed me away with her hands on my pecs. “If you want a ride, get in my car, Banks.”
“Yes, ma’am.” I rounded the hood before she changed her mind, then paused with the passenger door wide open.
She slid behind the wheel, then grimaced at the items haphazardly stacked on the front seat. “Sorry, I wasn’t expecting to have a passenger...”
“Hey,” I said gently, snagging her hand to stop her frantic attempts to reorganize her belongings. Her eyes lifted to mine and softened when I murmured, “I’d fit myself around your life every damn time, Simone. Always.”
