Truly

by Carmel Rhodes

wonder if my brother would care that his little purple-haired princess is trapped by the big bad wolf.” His hand drops lower still, curving over the soft swell of my ass, and my heart stutters in my chest. “I bet he’d care if my tongue was in your mouth—between your lips—between your other lips.”

It’s not about blindly following. It’s about trusting the process.

“I contemplated slashing your tires,” he says nonchalantly,

His voice is low, and calm as if he’s trying to coax a scared kitten from its cage. “Tonight is about good memories, remember?”

Tru, Noah is obsessed with you.”

he tempts me with a six-three wall of muscle.

Damn... I need some of that

“It’s only settling if the bad outweighs the good. I can search my whole life for the perfect man and never find him. I want a real man who loves me, one who may not be everything I want, but who’s willing to be what I need.”

“Truly—” He opens his mouth, then closes it, choosing his next words carefully. “I have always noticed you. You just noticed him first.”

“I want you to kiss me until I forget how to breathe without you.”

“He said, and I quote, the one with the purple hair belongs to me.”

Noah looms over me. “Can we make up now?”

“Goddamn girl, I might have to put a baby in you tonight.”

“Because I’m in love with you,”

“In a perfect world, what would you want?” I answer without hesitation. “To be happy.”

tucking a strand of hair behind my ear and bopping me on the nose. “Hoodies are for girlfriends. You can have it back when I can have you back.”

He wraps both of his arms around me, hugging me from behind. “Please, Tru.” His voice is sincere and melts a little of the ice away from my heart. “Just talk to me, and after, if you still don’t want me back, I will back off. But give me a chance to make it right.”

“You deserve someone better than me,”

“I don’t even know if I ever really told you how much you mean to me.” He sucks his bottom lip into his mouth and looks down. “How much you helped me see my worth. Not just as a ballplayer, or as the kid with the party house. Not this persona, but the man. I started writing this after Graceland because you had your pictures and I wanted to commemorate our time together too. It’s not as poignant as your mom’s, but maybe it will help you see my side.

To him, crying is a sign of weakness, a lesson he’d beat into me when I was younger. But seeing Tru cry, I know he’s full of shit. Her tears weren’t weak. They were breathtaking. Ok, that’s all I guess. Tedesco out.

when I saw her that day in her dad’s office...I can’t explain it, but Truly was made for me.

“But I am alone in this world, Little One. You were all I had. It’s not an excuse. I should have been honest. I should have trusted you with all of my scars.”

“I am a work in progress, Truly, but I am in progress. I know I haven’t given you much of a reason to forgive me, but you told me I needed to decide if I was the boy from the treehouse or the man you fell in love with on the road.”

“You told me you couldn’t keep bending yourself to make me comfortable, and I realized I don’t want to be the kind of man who makes you bend. I don’t want to change the person you are, Truly. I only want to change your last name.”

“First, present number twenty-seven. Let’s drink this whole bottle and spend the rest of the night working on baby number two.”

“That’s more like it.” He grabs a handful of my ass. “I love you more than I ever thought possible. I know you think I go too far with your birthdays, but you deserve the world, and I won’t stop until I give it to you.”