Page 153 of Meant to Be

Shoving to my feet, I glower at him.

“You were the one who chose not to be in my life, Josephine. Not me.”

With my fists curled, I march from the house. No one bothers to stop me.

* * *

I’ve spent the last hour sprawled across my lounge with the fan on high speed. Reaching for my phone, I bring up Belle’s contact, calling her number. She answers immediately.

“I need a drink.”

“Pub?”

“Yeah.”

“Be there in twenty,” Belle replies before the call ends.

After sitting down and breathing for a minute, I gather my things and walk to the pub. I feel some of the anxiety riddling in my chest fade as soon as I see those gorgeous smile lines and stunning blue eyes. His face splits into a genuine, warm smile when he sees me and suddenly I forget we have a front-row audience watching us.

I rush towards him and he gathers me in his arms, kissing me hard. I loop my arms around his neck, tightly clinging to him.

He leads me out the back and I lean onto the brick wall. He looks at me in concern. He pulls out a cigarette and offers it to me. I take it and he pulls one out for himself. He lights the end of mine and then uses it to light his own before stepping back.

“What’s wrong?”

His lips close around the cigarette and the end glows orange in the dark. I do the same, taking a long drag, I fill him in. It wasn’t that big of a deal, but not being in good graces with my family really unsettles me. Which sounds ridiculous after I left them without so much as a goodbye.

Harley moves so that he’s standing close to me. He pushes a bit of hair back from my face and tilts my chin so that I’m forced to meet his eyes.

“He just needs time to process everything. He will come around.”

“I’ve been home for months. He hasn’t.”

His hand sinks lower, his thumb grazing down my neck and rubbing circles just above my collarbone.

“It won’t matter soon.”

“How’s that?”

“We’ll be gone.”

I smile. “I still want to be on good terms, regardless of where I live.”

Nodding, he takes another long inhale before turning his head and exhaling the smoke downwind of me.

“I know, baby.”

Standing on my tiptoes, I press my lips softly to his.

“I better get back out there, I’m meeting Belle here for a drink.”

We hold hands right until we can’t anymore. Harley moves around behind the bar and when I look up, Belle is watching us, eyebrows raised.

“Woah. What have I missed?” she asks.

I grin. “A lot. You better take a seat.”