"Did you sleep with her?"
"Don't bring that up."
"Where you with her the night I left?"
"I wasn't with her."
"Are you here for us or you?"
"Brooklyn!"
"Look at me and tell me the truth."
"I love you. That's all I can say to you. I thought all the other stuff was talked out."
"I trust you. But I can't trust her."
"I love you. I never loved her."
"That's a lie."
"I never loved her like how I love you Brooklyn. I see my future with you. I see tomorrow with you. You wake up next to me. She doesn't, she never did. She broke me in more ways than one."
"Then what...what are we?"
"A couple. I want you in my life Brooklyn."----
12 hours earlier.
Brisbane Airport, Brisbane AustraliaChris pushed his hat up when Sebastian came around with his bag, "You seriously always lose a bag."
Harlow rolled her eyes as she walked up to them, "No, he lost my bag."
Chris grinned back at Sebastian, "We have been flying for over 18 hours. I kinda wanna punch you right now."
Harlow nodded her head, "I want to too."
Sebastian looked at both of them, "We have another 3 hour car ride out to the Hemsworth Ranch."
Harlow checked her phone, "Elsa left us a jeep here in the car lot. She said the GPS will take us right to their house."
"Is that where Brooklyn is at?" Chris asked fixing his bag on his back.
"She will be there. Lord, I will get you over to her." Harlow pulled her hair up heading out to the car lot. "I promise you, I will get you to her."
Chris grinned back at her as they walked over to the four door Jeep. "So Harlow, how much can I get out of you about this place?"
"You mean Byron Bay?" Harlow reached under the back tire getting the key. "Like where the houses are?"
"Yea, you didn't really say much about any of it." Chris tossed his bag into the back.
Sebastian flipped his hat around, "You don't know about this place?"
"Do you?" Chris shot back.
"Ok no, I don't." Sebastian got into the front seat while Harlow climbed into the driver's seat.
"Hemsworth's family is from the area. Like 8 years ago he went off and got a bunch of land and built the house that they are currently at. There is also like 4 smaller houses around the property that family uses all over the year."
Chris looked back at Harlow as she backed out of the parking spot.
"Hemsworth and Elsa meet through friends in LA. But of course Elsa is from Spain and Brooklyn is only half Spanish because of her mother." Harlow hit the home button on the GPS to take them to the compound. "Brooklyn of course is Swedish where her mother meet her father. But of course a year later, her parents were killed in a car crash, leaving Brooklyn with Elsa and her mother's family that honestly hated Brooklyn. They lived in Madrid up until Brooklyn was like 10."
"So how did you two actually meet, I mean aren't you from Montana?" Chris asked her.
"Brooklyn's mother moved Brooklyn to a boarding school in lower Montana where I was learning horseback riding. She was going to school and I was learning how to ride a horse. But we ended up doing a lot more together since she was so close and we got a lot closer as friends."
Sebastian glanced back at Chris, "Are you as hungry as I am?"
"I will stop and get food." Harlow barked back at him.
"I love you." Sebastian rubbed her leg making Chris shift in his seat.
"But when she graduated from the school, she wanted to do something different. She wanted to leave the area. She grabbed her bags and we were off to LA. I was not about to have her have this amazing life without me."
"Her parents were killed, do you know anything else about it?"
"Brooklyn remains silent about it. She doesn't want to really talk about a thing that breaks her heart all over again. I mean that's why when Hemsworth came into the picture, Elsa got closer to Brooklyn. Bringing them back together."
Chris just looked back at her, "Part of me doesn't believe that."
"Believe what you want but that is much of it." Harlow slowed down for a red light.
Sebastian turned around to him, "What are you gonna say to her?"
"I don't know yet. I just wanna see her. It's been like 3 weeks." Chris placed his head back against the seat. "I just want this week to be perfect. I want her to come home with me."
Harlow glanced up at the rear view mirror to look at him.
She looked back at the road as the sun was just starting to come up over the horizon.
---
Hemsworth Ranch.
Sebastian reached back shaking Chris's leg. "We are finally here."
Chris rubbed his eyes as Harlow drove under the ranch sign. "Have I been sleeping the whole time?"
"You snored a little too." Sebastian smiled back at him.
"Whatever." Chris shook his head back at him when several horses ran away from the truck. "God, we really are in the outback." Sebastian commented.
Harlow slowed down as she turned a little revealing the main house on the hill. "I always thought it was bigger."
"That looks kinda huge to me." Sebastian glanced back at her.
It was a two story house with light siding that allowed for the dramatic view of the ocean to be the main focus. With a wrap around porch decorated with luscious greens and perfect summer swings the House was a perfect oasis.
"OK, can you two not talk about his dick or your sex life for about 10 minutes." Chris closed his eyes shaking his head.
Sebastian smiled back at Chris, "Not gonna happen bro."
"We are at their house, so seriously keep that shit out of our conversations." Chris snapped back.
Sebastian nodded his head back at Chris. "Done."
Harlow placed the jeep in park when Elsa walked out of the front doors coming down to greet them. "We are their guests, just keep it PG."
Chris tossed the door open as Elsa smiled back at him.
"Welcome to the ranch." Elsa tossed her arms open to Harlow.
Harlow hugged her back, "God, it is so good to be back here."
"Having you back is good." Elsa kissed the top of her head. "Come on in, we made some fresh lemonade from our lemon trees. The kids are so excited to have people around."
Sebastian skipped back Harlow, "They make lemonade."
"I need a beer." Harlow mumbled out.
Elsa laughed back at them as Chris was standing infront of the Jeep looking around.
"Looking for her?" Elsa stepped down to him.
The air was thick around them.
"Yea, I am ready to get this over with. I am ready for us to just talk." Chris said back to her kicking a rock away from him.
"Take the jeep down that road. There is a fork. Go right. The house is at the end." Elsa smiled back at him. "You will be happy when you get there."
Chris smiled back at her, "Thank you Elsa."
"Be happy I know you, be happy Chris knows you. Because if you had been a random guy, this wouldn't be happening." Elsa remarked.
Chris nodded his head as he pulled away from the main house.He drove down the road taking the right.
The road was long and it curved back to the waterfront.
He slowed the car as the little house had curtains blowing in the ocean breeze.
He sat in the car for a moment taking it in.
He was finally about to see her again.
He was finally about to be with her again.
Chris turned the jeep off stepping out of it.
He kept his eyes on the little house waiting for something. Waiting for some sign of her.
"Hey stranger."
Chris's breathing caught in his throat when he heard me.
For the first time in weeks, he heard me.
I smiled down at him as his bottom lip was shaking. "You just gonna stand there or are you gonna come up here and hug me?"
Chris nodded his head as he ran up the steps scooping me up. "God, I can't believe we are back together. I have missed you so much."
I squeezed him back taking in the deep musk that was his. The sweet little smell of vanilla that came from his shampoo but also some sweat from the Australian heat.
Chris kissed my neck, "I have missed you."
His voice cracked breaking my heart.
I closed my eyes pushing my head into his neck.
"The scariest thing about distance is that you don't know whether you were going to miss me or forget about me."
I finally broke down as Chris dropped to the ground. He pushed my hair back from my face. His face was red from holding it all back. From holding what should have been said back.
"Chris?" My voice was shaky.
"I can't do this again. I can't watch you walk away from me."
"I won't, I won't do that."
"I love you. I have loved you since that night. That night at the bar you grinned at me. The night you pushed me against the wall in the elevator. You always had me."
His eyes were darker than normal.
The bright emeralds that use to make me weak in the knees have faded. They lost their light, their flare for life.
"I fucked up, I fucked up when I went to her. I love you, God I love you."
I cracked a little smile, "I can't hate you anymore for that. I can't sit here and harbor on that anymore."
"What?"
"Elsa got me into the realization that if I love you then I love your faults. But I also have to come to respect your past. She works with you and she used you."
"I am so confused right now." Chris pushed back from me.
"I talked to some other people."
"What?"
"I was basically thrown out in the middle of the outback for a couple of days to get my mind back together." I said rubbing the back of my head.
"You thought this all over?"
"You came all the way down here for me."
"I did because I can't stop thinking about you. I can't stop thinking about us."
I looked back at him, "I never meant to hurt you. Everything that did happen, it was because of what I went through with Theo. I was scared, I was worried that something like that could happen again."
"I am not Theo."
"I know that. I saw that when you just cared for me. You let me laugh. You let me have some fun with you. You didn't try to control me. You wouldn't judge me." I wiped the back of my hand across my face. "You actually loved me for me."
Chris stepped closer to me placing his hands on my face. "I will always love you for you. I want you to be the best you can be. I want to step back and just smile at whatever you become. I never want to hold you back, unless we are doing something else."
I started to laugh at him, "I hate when you do that crap!"
He laughed back at me, "I know we are having a serious talk but I just wanted you to know that I am still here. The guy you fall in love with that night is still here. The guy that watched you dance around the room in your underwear and drink vodka from the bottle. The one that made sure you were covered up that night when we actually went to sleep."
"You have always actually cared for me."
"Because I love you."
I narrowed my eyes at him as I headed back into the house.
Chris waited outside when I realized he wasn't behind me.
"CHRISTOPHER! Come on!"
Chris ran up the three steps into the house. He came up behind me scooping me up with his breathtaking smile.