Page 160 of Meant to Be

“Say another fucking word about her.”

“She is nothing but a useless slut who can’t decide what she wants,” Brennon growls, throwing a murderous look at me.

Harley launches forward. His fist smashes into Brennon’s nose with a distinct crunch. I inhale so sharply I almost choke. Brennon flies back, hitting the ground with a painful-sounding thud.

“Harley!” I cry out when he drops to his knees. He bunches Brennon’s shirt and reefs him into sitting position. Blood drips down his nose, smearing over his lips.

“You’re dead to me,” he says coldly before releasing him.

Brennon falls back onto the grass in a sprawl. Harley pushes to his feet, and Brennon lets out a low, throaty chuckle.

“Don’t come crawling back when she leaves again.”

A muscle in Harley’s cheek spasms but he doesn’t turn back. He grips my hand harshly and pulls me after him. We walk for a long while before he slowly exhales. I touch his arm, and he hugs me to him.

“He is such an asshole.”

“He is,” I agree.

“I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be.”

He kisses the side of my head, then releases me. His hand finds mine once more.

“Does it hurt?” I ask, bringing it to my lips, and gently kiss his knuckles.

“I’m used to bruised knuckles,” he replies.

I softly trace them and kiss the top of his hand, dropping it back between us. We check the pub and the RSL, the only places that would still be open. When we still come up empty, we decide to look at the parks and popular walking tracks.

It’s warm tonight but not stifling, which is nice.

“Hey, so, I’ve been doing some research,” Harley casually says, swinging our arms, as if the last half hour didn’t happen.

“On what?”

“Jobs, houses, rent prices.”

“Where?”

“Lots of different places. I found a really beautiful town. It’s small, not this kind of small though, right on the beach. Rent is a little pricey, but there’s bordering towns that are more affordable that are only ten, fifteen minutes away.” He sneaks a glance at me. “There’s a new dental office going in. It’s being built at the moment. There’re several job openings there, and I also looked into getting my own ABN so that I can be a contract builder. Which means I pick how much I want to work and when. And the pay is really great. Also, it’s only an hour drive to the city, so we could go out up there any time we wanted.”

His hand tightens in mine and all of a sudden, my eyes are stinging.

Snippets of our future flash before my eyes. Laying on the beach, swimming every day, coming home from work, cooking dinner together.

Peaceful. Quiet. Happy.

“That sounds incredible,” I whisper. “I want that, Harley.”

“Then let’s make it happen.”

“When?”

“Whenever you’re ready, sweetheart.”

I tug him to a stop and slam into him, wrapping myself around his body. He hugs me back and kisses my hair.