Page 54 of Hate So Deep (Hate #4)

THREE MONTHS LATER

Lauren

I’m leaning against Dirk’s truck when he emerges from the courthouse and his lips tilt into the dirty smirk I’ve come to love.

“Ready?” he asks.

“Yep.”

Grabbing my hand, he escorts me to the passenger side and after a searing kiss I slide inside.

Once he’s joined me behind the wheel, I scoot over on the seat and lean my head against his arm.

“It’s done?” I ask and he nods, wrapping me up against his side.

With the help of my fancy lawyer, Dirk was able to make a deal and after spending a month in jail and completing community service, he’s free.

Now, it’s just us and the road and after reversing out of the spot, he puts the truck in drive and looks down at me, those dark eyes glittering.

“This is it,” he says, and I nod toward the freeway.

“Let’s go,” I say, and he grins before pressing his foot to the gas.

As the courthouse recedes in the distance and I take in our shit packed to the brim in the back, I smile.

Who knows where we will end up but for now, we’re going where the road takes us and I’ve never looked forward to anything more.

Our first stop is the beach, and I can’t wait to dip my toes in the sand with the man who freed me from my chains. Yes, it’s been a rough journey filled in some parts with anger and despair, but I think that’s what has heightened our love.

We’re not afraid to fight but we’re even more eager to make up.

Dirk is who he is but somewhere within that dark soul, he’s made room for me and that’s what it all comes down to in the end.

It’s just us now, well that but I know someday we’ll be back in this town even if it’s only to visit our family.

“What did you say to Cory?” I ask and Dirk’s brows furrow.

“That I’ll be around when he needs me. If he needs me.”

Humming under my breath, I snuggle against his chest, smiling when his arms tighten around my shoulders.

There’s nowhere I would rather be than in this car with Dirk Evans and I know to my bones that he feels the same.

At long last I’m not alone…never again.

Dirk

The black top flies by under the tires as we speed down the road. Glancing down, I smile because that beautiful head of dark mahogany hair rests against my chest, where my heart beats frantically.

I know to my soul that I don’t deserve what she’s given me, but that doesn’t mean I’m not a greedy bastard. I’m gonna take it anyway.

I guess I did find my happy ending. I just wish that I was the man that Lauren deserves.

Since the day I met her, I pushed her away while simultaneously pulling her closer. My heart wanted what she gave me, freedom from the pain constantly weighing on my soul.

However, my brain was screaming to back the fuck away because I couldn’t imagine going down the same road with Lauren, as I did Stacey. I think it would have broken me.

Thank god I took the risk because losing her would have been my greatest insanity and now, I will spend an eternity making it up to her.

She doesn’t know that I know she went to my father.

Of course, he tried to use it to his advantage, but I’m sure she brought out her Stark and shut that shit down.

If I hadn’t already, this would have pushed me from my fog, but after lingering in jail for months, I knew that if I let Lauren slip through my fingers, I would be no better than my father.

He was a coward who loved money more than his family. Maybe because deep down he knew he didn’t deserve it. Either way, I wasn’t going to be that man…although I had something to do first.

I made a promise to Hate. Thankfully, his request was fairly mundane but that’s what I skated over with Lauren when she asked where I’d been and I still haven’t told her.

If she asks again, I’ll tell her the truth but I’m hoping she trusts me enough to let it go. I did what I did to protect her and our future. I don’t regret it, but it leads back to shit that should be left where it belongs, in the dark.

In any case, it’s done now. I found Toro and brought him to Hate.

I don’t know where the asshole is now but it’s not my problem.

He asked for his fate when he put his hands on my girl and when he confessed to shit that neither Hate nor I knew about, it helped to move the suspicion over Buck’s murder into someone else’s hands.

I owe my freedom to Hate who could have kept the information to himself. Thankfully, he hasn’t asked for any more favors but if it comes down to it, I’ll gladly fulfill my end.

I also haven’t heard if Hate has used the information, I gladly gave him in exchange for our lives but that’s another story which I hope to read about some day.

Does my heart still burn for the things my father did? Absolutely, but I know in the end, this child is where he or she needs to be, assuming she carried it to term, and that’s not with me or Stacey.

We were young and stupid. I would’ve done anything had we continued on our journey to make them both happy, there’s no doubt, but I can’t regret where the road has led me.

My father chose the path for me that night and at the time, I hated him for it but on the other side, I can’t look back with regret.

I’ve said many times that I am who I am, and I will not change, but that was wrong. I will change for Lauren because I refuse to accept a life without her in it.

I would’ve stayed here with her, for her, if she had asked, but I think just like me there’s a wildness to her heart and a desire to be free of the chains of this place.

As long as she’s here and by my side, looking at me like rainbows shine out of my goddamn ass, I’m happy and maybe someday we’ll find a place to land but no matter where that ends up being, she's my home.

I will continue this life, knowing that the one person I never truly thought could be mine chose me despite the darkness that inevitably I could not hide.