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Fia swallows. I watch as the thick lump travels the length of her throat, and her eyes search for any reason to run inside of my own. They can look, but they won’t find it.

“I’ve held up my end, and this is all I want in return,” I plead, not afraid to whimper my fucking ass off.

I need her to say yes.

She must say yes.

“If I say yes, it still ends after our last show in Nashville?”

“Correct. Same duration, new terms.”

“I’m so going to regret this,” she whispers to herself, fighting with the internal pull that’s bubbling to the surface.

“Please.” I keep my voice low, as my hand on her neck skates around to cup her head, forcing those beautiful eyes on mine. Letting my thumb run soft circles on her cheek, I whisper again, this time scaring myself with how much emotion is clogged beneath my throat. “Please, baby.”

I’ll drop to my knees again if that’s what she needs.

“Jett…” she exhales against my mouth, but I don’t stop begging and caressing.

“Fia, please, baby. Just give me a real chance.”

With her eyes on mine, she nods. “Okay.”

CHAPTER 37

FIA

SIENNA

The plane has landed, I repeat, the plane has landed.

ME

Finally!

Speaking of planes, I have something to tell you about me and a certain pilot.

SIENNA

If it’s not PG I don’t want to hear about it.

ME

I’m kind of moving in with him during our stop back home.

SIENNA

Oh, you have so much explaining to do, neighbor.

Getting into the back of my rideshare, I chuckle as the message thread with my best friend comes to a halt. I have a shit-ton to explain to Sienna, stuff I don’t even know if I understand yet.

Being back in Tennessee feels like a reward, especially after peeling back the layers of mine and Jett’s relationship and opening more than I have in the last two years.

I hadn’t expected how freeing the new parameters of our fake, or I guess real, relationship would make me feel. Agreeing to being his girlfriend, even for a short time, felt like an experience we both needed.

While the looming thoughts in the back of my head, the ruinous ones, still pass through every so often, I know if I’m ever going to heal from my past, trying to break the pattern I was so comfortable in is going to be the only way.

Maybe once I’ve experienced relationships in a different way, it’ll be easier to allow someone to love me.