Tyson (Broken Hill Boys 4)

I lay awake, unable to find the unconsciousness that my body is so desperately craving. I’m moments from raiding my mother’s medicine cabinet in hopes that she still has a few sleeping pills when a noise sounds at my window.

My head whips around, staring into the darkness as my heart begins to race. My bedroom is on the second story so the only time I ever hear noises is when there’s a storm, and right now, the moon is out and the stars are shining brightly.

I hear the noise again and not a second later, a shadow appears at the window.

Oh, hell no.

I throw my blanket back and begin scrambling out of bed as I hear the window sliding open. Fuck, fuck, FUCK. What do I do? Do I stay and fight or run? Yeah, I’ll fucking run until my feet fall off.

“Freckles, it’s me.”

That voice stops me in my tracks as tingles sail down my spine. My hand whips out faster than lightening, turning on the lamp on my bedside table, unsure if I should be believing my ears or not, but there he is, standing in front of me and looking like the man who I see in my dreams. Not the pathetic one who pushed me away tonight.

We stand in complete silence, simply staring at one another, both unsure of what to say or where to even start when a tear spills over and rushes down my cheek.

Tyson breaks. He runs to me, collecting me in his strong arms and crushing his face into my neck. His momentum has us crashing back into my bedroom wall. “I’m so fucking sorry, Freckles,” he says, desperately clinging onto me and making the tears start all over again. “Please don’t tell me that I’ve lost you.”

I hold onto him, letting all the agony I’ve felt over the last two weeks come to the forefront. It weighs me down, but with Tyson’s arms around me, I’ve never felt stronger.

I don’t know how to answer him, so I don’t, I just keep holding on, hoping to God that he doesn’t pull away. This is where I need to be. I need to stay right here in his capable arms, letting him hold me until my feet can’t hold me up any longer.

I’ve never felt such desperation as I cry into his shoulder. “Baby, please. Don’t cry. Your tears kill me.” I shake my head, trying to wipe them away but the second I do, they’re replaced with more.

Tyson lifts his head from my neck and as his tortured gaze meets mine, I see down into his soul. He needs this just as badly as I do. “I fucked up,” he tells me. “I was angry and hurt and I know that’s no excuse. I should never have talked to you like that. I’m so fucking sorry, Bry.”

“I hurt you,” I tell him. “I deserve to be yelled at. I didn’t even give you a chance.”

“No, Freckles, no. You never deserve to be treated like that. You’re my fucking queen and I should have fallen at your feet. I was a fucking coward. Instead of hearing you, I shut you out because feeling numb and angry is so much easier than the hurt of having you walk away.”

I shake my head. “But I wasn’t walking away.”

Tyson runs his fingers down my face before holding me again. “I know that now,” he murmurs. “I hate myself for talking to you like that.”

“I hate myself for not realizing that I was in love with you a whole lot sooner.”

Ty closes his eyes as his forehead drops back to mine. “I tried telling you,” he says, his voice filled with adoration and affection.

“You know I’m too stubborn for that.”

A soft smile lifts the corners of his lips. “Trust me, Bry. I know.”

Tyson’s arms travel down my body until their firmly planted on my ass. He effortlessly lifts me off the floor and I wrap my legs securely around him as my arms curl around his neck. He walks over to the bed and sits up with me straddled in his lap.

I meet his eyes, never feeling so unsure in my life. “Tell me that you forgive me,” he begs with his heart on his sleeve, making me want nothing more than to take away his worries and press my lips to his.

“Only if you can forgive me. I hurt you, Ty. I put you through two weeks of unnecessary bullshit, just because I wasn’t ready to admit something to you that I’ve felt since the very beginning.”

He pulls me in against his chest and I close my eyes, feeling completely at ease as his hand rubs up and down my back. “You know I can’t stay mad at you, Freckles. I fucking love you.”

His words rock through me and I never realized just how badly I needed to hear that again. “I love you too, Ty.”