“I need to do this for myself and for Molly,” I said finally. It wasn’t going to be pretty. “I don’t want to run anymore, Cam. And I know I can never really put this behind me. What happened… well, it will always be a part of me, but it won’t be me. Not anymore.”

Cam was silent for a moment. “You know what I think?”

“I’m awesome?”

“Besides that.”

“What?”

“I think you’ve already made it that far, Avery. I think you have accepted it will be part of you, but it’s not you. You just haven’t realized that.” His hands moved to my hips. “But if you want to do this, then you’ll do this and I’ll be there with you.”

“You want to go with—” I squealed as Cam rolled suddenly and I was on my back and he was above me.

“You’re not doing this by yourself. Hell to the mother fucking no,” he said, resting his weight on his arm. “I’m going with you. And you’re not talking me out of it. When do you want to do this?”

“Got any plans this weekend?”

A silent laugh shook his shoulders. “Jesus.”

“I need to do this.”

He dropped a kiss to the tip of my nose. “I don’t think you do, sweetheart, but if you think you do, then that’s what matters.”

I loved his belief in me. It was beautiful. “You really want to come with me?”

“That’s a stupid question, Avery. And yes, there is such a thing as stupid questions. That was one of them. Of course I’m going to be there with you.”

My lips spread in a smile. “I love you.”

“I know.”

“Cocky.”

“Confident,” he replied, lowering his head to mine. He kissed me softly, but my body stirred to life. “I love you, sweetheart.”

I started to wrap my arms around him, but he rocked off me and grabbed my hand. “Hey! Get back here.”

“Nope. We got stuff to do.” He hauled me off the bed. “And if you start feeling me up, we aren’t going to get anything done.”

“What are we doing it?”

Dipping down suddenly, he picked me up over one shoulder and spun toward the door. “We got some tickets to book.”

#

It seemed absolutely insane that we were Texas two days later, but here we were, checking into a hotel not too far from my parents’ house. Not wanting to delay what I needed to do today, as soon as we dropped off our luggage, we hit the road. I didn’t tell my parents I was coming to Texas, so I had no idea if they’d actually be home.

Cam let out a low whistle as he followed the winding road around the bend and my parents’ estate came into view. “Good Lord, that’s a house.”