In Tune (Red Bird Trail Trilogy Book 3) (15 page)

“Like always.” He rolled his eyes towards her. “But you’re one of the smartest people I know, Harper. There’s no reason for you to worry. You probably aced them all.”

She hoped so.

“Why are we still talking about this? What we
need
to be talking about is how we’re going to celebrate finishing our finals.”

This was the Cash of old, the Cash she hadn’t seen in a while. “It’s funny, you lost your playful side for a while, with the trial and all. It seems like you’re getting it back.”

He had to admit that he felt lighter than he had in a long time. He didn’t feel like the world was weighing him down, didn’t feel the pressure he’d felt so often. “Maybe he is making a little of an appearance. Now where are we going?”

She thought for a few minutes. “Wherever you go, I’ll follow.”

*

Two hours later,
Harper grinned down at Cash, her hair curtaining around his head. “How did I know you’d take me straight to bed?”

Cash wrapped an arm around her back, cupping her hip and rolling them over so that he lay halfway on top of her. They were out at the Richardsville house—a place they hadn’t visited in a while. “Because you know me so well.”

She leaned back, breathing easier. Tomorrow they would go back to working after their break because of finals, and they would resume their crazy lives. Today though, they decided they would enjoy themselves, completely and totally.

“I have an appointment with Doc Jones tomorrow,” she whispered, afraid to speak too loud. She didn’t want to ruin the mood they’d created.

“Do I need to come with you?”

Since the talk with her dad, and the visit where Doc Jones had suggested she speak with him, Cash had made it a point to make himself available if she needed it. Sometimes she did, sometimes she didn’t. Either way, he made sure she knew he was man enough to do that for her.

“No, I think I’ll be good.” She shook her head. “I’m sleeping easier and feeling better.”

“You know I’ll do that for you if you need it.”

She gave him an indulgent smile. “I have absolutely no doubt that you will.”

They were beginning to settle, and she could feel it. Their days weren’t so insane anymore; their nights not a quick rush of passion. That had slowed, but it had slowed to where they enjoyed one another. Cash was proving to be the man she’d always thought he would be. She hoped she was the woman he needed.

“Do you have any regrets?” she asked. “About forgiving me?”

It was a question she’d wanted to ask for a long time but hadn’t gotten the guts to do so.

“Fuck no,” he was quick to answer. “I had to forgive you because I couldn’t bear my life to be what it was without you in it. I had to learn what forgiveness was, and while it wasn’t exactly what I envisioned it would be, I’m glad I learned.”

“What do you mean?” she asked, sitting up in the bed, pulling the blanket with her.

“Forgiveness for me wasn’t telling myself that you did what you did to hurt me. I had to realize that you did it for yourself, and while that sucked in the short-term, because you always want the person you’re with to care more about
your
feelings, I had to realize that you couldn’t care about me until you cared about yourself. Self-preservation can sometimes be selfish; other times it’s what you do in order to give yourself completely to another person. I feel like—at this point—you’ve definitely given yourself completely to me. You trust me in a way you didn’t trust me before, and I trust you the same.” He stopped and dropped a kiss on her forehead. “Is everything hunky-dory? Fuck no, I still have doubts sometimes, but I realize that is normal in any relationship, and because we’ve fought through the hard times, we will truly appreciate the good times. I love you, and there’s not anything I can give you that means more than that.”

“I do appreciate them, and I hope you know I will never hurt you intentionally. I was protecting myself because I didn’t know what I was going to do if I lost you. I love you too.” She swallowed and glanced at him, pursing her lips.

“The reality was so much worse than I thought it would be.”

He pulled her close. “Then it’s a good thing you’re not going to have to go through that again. You’re stuck with me.”

“Good, ’cause you’re stuck with me too. Stuck like glue.”

Those were the best words he’d ever heard in his life.

‡
Chapter Twenty-Four

F
or the first
time in her life, Harper felt at peace. It was as if the stars had aligned, and finally, she was where she was supposed to be. Being honest with herself was something new; it was something she and Doc Jones worked on at each and every session. If she were being totally honest with herself right now, she would admit she was happy, the happiest she had ever been.

“I’m starving.” Cash rubbed his hand over his stomach, navigating them on the road towards the Heaven Hill clubhouse.

“You’ve been whining since Harper started the cookies hours ago,” Remy piped up from the backseat.

“Whining? I am not whining.”

Harper smiled and looked back at Remy, winking. “You are definitely whining, but you’re gonna have to wait. We can’t ruin our first Christmas dinner together, and we definitely can’t disappoint the Heaven Hill crew.”

She couldn’t believe it, spending Christmas Day with the MC, but that’s what they had decided to do as a family. This wasn’t about the gifts they could give each other—because after all they’d gone through to get the money for a nice Christmas, the gift they’d decided to buy themselves had been the biggest surprise of all. The fifty-two-inch TV took up most of one wall of the apartment, and they had to sit way too close to it to make sure it fit, but that was the epicenter of their lives. That was the one thing they could always do. Remy could watch TV while they did schoolwork, or they could watch TV as a family.

“I hope some of those cookies are left over when we get home,” Remy told her. “You’ve never done oatmeal before, and I think those may be my favorite.”

She lifted the lid off of them, inhaling deeply. “They did turn out much better than I thought they would.”

It had snowed the night before, and Cash was being quiet and extra careful with the people he had in his car, but he chanced a glance when he smelled the container open.

“I can’t wait,” he declared, reaching his hand over and snatching one before Harper realized what he was doing.

She smacked his hand. “Seriously, Cash?”

“Seriously, Harper?” he fired back.

She reached over and gave him a chaste kiss on the cheek. “Later on, you can have all the cookies you want.”

“I really hope cookie is a euphemism.” A bad-boy grin covered his face, and his eyes shone.

Looking at him, she could no longer tell how stressed he had once been. Granted, things weren’t perfect; they were still struggling, but they both realized that they would always struggle. Anything worth having was worth fighting for, even if that fight was hard. They were willing to put in the work.

“What’s a euphemism?” Remy asked.

“Nothing.” Harper reached over and smacked Cash on the arm.

They pulled into the parking area, and Remy scrambled out, squeezing himself between the seat and door before Cash even unbuckled his seatbelt.

“Remy,” he yelled after him.

“He’s excited,” Harper shushed him. “I bet this is the best Christmas he’s ever had, doesn’t even matter that the present he got was a big one for all of us.”

They got out of the car, meeting in the middle of the front.

“I seem to remember us stopping at my car a few months ago and having a conversation about how we should mess around—ya know, have a fling.” Cash took the cookies from her, put them on the hood, and turned so that he leaned against the front, pulling Harper into him.

The smile she gave him was soft. “I was an idiot to think it could have ever been like that with you.”

“If you’re an idiot, then I’m an idiot, because I thought the same thing. I had no idea that the chick who let me steal her parking spot was about to change my life forever.” He bit his bottom lip, brushing her hair back from her face.

Leaning into his caress, she closed her eyes, enjoying their moment. “I had no idea that the asshole who stole the parking spot would change my life forever either.”

Cash broke apart from her and grabbed the container of cookies, pulling her towards the front of the clubhouse with him. “We’re gonna make it, right?” he echoed the thoughts that she’d asked him not too long ago.

She giggled. “Damn straight we are. We are in tune.”

He stopped, his eyebrows raised. “And look at that, the cute girl who doesn’t know how to pop her hood just used car lingo.”

“You’ve taught me a lot.”

He opened the door to the clubhouse, observing the people he now called friends and family. “You’ve taught me a lot too. They’ve taught me a lot.”

“What’s your most valuable lesson?” Liam asked as he came up to them, hearing their conversation.

“Family isn’t blood; family isn’t what you’re born into. Family is the people who care when the going gets tough and have your back no matter what.”

Liam grinned widely. “You’ve figured it out, my man. You got it.”

And Cash knew without a doubt that he did.

‡
Epilogue