“It’s okay. She’s at Macon visiting my aunt for the weekend,” I said quickly before turning and hurrying upstairs as if my life depended on it.

***

Later I sat on my bed, raking my teeth over my bottom lip as I stared at my cell phone. I should’ve called Momma to tell her. She deserved to know, and if she knew the truth, I know she wouldn’t be mad at me for having Nash in the house when she wasn’t here. But I just couldn’t bring myself to do it. I promised him, and my promise was all I had. Chewing nervously on my thumbnail, I glanced up from my phone as my bedroom door slowly creaked open. Nash walked in, his hair damp from the shower I’d forced him to take. He stood in the middle of the room, his duffel bag falling from his hand to the hardwood floor with an almighty thud. He looked at me a little sheepishly, and the uncertainty in his eyes almost killed me.

“I’m going to get you some Advil.” I jumped up and headed for the door.

Nash stopped me, grabbing hold of my wrist as I passed him, and I turned slowly, looking up at him. “Don’t go,” he whispered.

“I’m just going to the bathroom to get you some—” He silenced me with his index finger pressed against my lips, pulling me closer so there was no space left between us.

“I don’t want no Advil, Murph,” he said, his voice full of an unimaginable pain. “I just want you. I need you.”

At those words, all the air in my lungs escaped me, rendering me breathless. I looked up into his eyes, my eyebrows knitting together in confusion. I knew what he was saying, but I couldn’t possibly believe he was saying it. “Y-you want m-me?” I stammered.

He nodded. “I need you just to be here for me.”

A flutter in my belly made my knees weak, and something I’d never felt before surged through me like a lightning bolt, bringing with it an ache in a place I hadn’t expected, nor been prepared for.

“Please kiss me,” Nash pleaded, closing his eyes, his head dropping forward as if he was in the most immense amount of pain.

I took a stuttering breath, considering for a moment, before reaching up on my tiptoes. With our mouths so close together I could feel the warmth of every one of his soft breaths. I brushed my lips against his. In an instant, his hands moved into my hair, urging me closer until we were nothing more than a flurry of lips, teeth and tongues in a frenzied kiss so full of need, want, and desperation that we became one.

I blink hard, pulling myself from the memories consuming me, forcing myself back to the present and looking up at Harley as he continues talking.

“My best friend risked everything to help me that night. Hell, he almost broke his damn neck falling off his bike on his way from my house back to his before my father returned home …” Harley pauses, his face full of seriousness before his mischievous grin returns. “But that’s the thing about Nash. He’ll gladly go through hell and back to help the ones he loves the most. Anna, you’re a lucky woman. Make sure you treat him right, because he deserves the world.” He stops to meet Anna’s eyes before raising his bottle in the air and looking around at everyone at the table. “To Nash and Anna.”