[h2]Esme Stirling[/h2]

When Duke met Esme’s gaze, she held it, her smile growing along with his when she used his nickname. His smile was still contagious after all this time. With her head still rested on his shoulder, she listened as he spoke and he looked up at his truck. She nodded softly to his words, being able to relate to what he had been doing all this time. She had been trying to stay out of it for the most part, but she still had her unfinished business and couldn’t fully pull out of the hunter’s life until she took care of it. At his statement and chuckle, a soft laugh escaped her as if she were being called out as he adjusted his grip and opened the truck door. She had missed him, she couldn’t lie to herself about that. She hadn’t realized how much she’d missed him until now. She had missed his laugh, his smile, the warmth in his tone when he spoke to her, and those beautiful blue eyes that always smiled and had a sparkle in them. 

“Of course I missed you.” Esme said softly as he swung the door open more and sat her in the seat. “I hope y…….” She trailed off when he brought a hand up and brushed her hair from her face and smoothed it behind her ears before gently running his fingers over the bruise over her eye. The softness from the simple action caused her breath to catch and her gaze to drop, then lifted her gaze back to his as he spoke. “Sounds good.” she replied as she returned his smile. As he stared at her and scanned her eyes, she once again became lost in his eyes until he pulled back from her. She quickly blinked her eyes and slowly released the breath she hadn’t realized she’d been holding as he pulled the seatbelt across her body and clicked it into place, then put moved the strap behind her to keep it from hurting her injured shoulder, a smile coming to her lips as he did. “Thank you.” she said warmly.

After he shut the door, she watched him as he made his way around the truck, opened the door, and got in. After starting the truck and pulling out of the parking lot, Esme looked out the windshield of Duke’s truck, her mind becoming a tangled mess of thoughts and memories. She was still having trouble wrapping her head around the fact that Duke was actually there and had been the one to pull her and Cason out of the demon situation. Not to mention, she had met back up with Dean not that long ago after hearing he was alive. Two people she cared about most had come back into her life only days apart from each other. There was no way someone could plan for this to happen. It made her head spin. Closing her eyes and loosely crossing her arms over her stomach, she took a couple of deep breaths in through her nose, slowly letting them leave her mouth to clear her thoughts. 

Leaning her head back, Esme opened her eyes and tilted her head to the side to look at Duke as he drove them to the motel. There was so much she wanted to ask him she hardly knew what to ask him first as she sat there looking at him. Then it came to her, a question that had been burning in her mind for a while after she had lost contact with him. She almost felt bad for asking, but she truly wanted to know. The smile that had been on her lips faded as she looked over at Duke, the question burning in her mind. “You said you were trying not to go back down this road.” she started softly. She fell silent for a moment, trying to find her words. “Were you……” A sigh escaped her nose as she paused again and closed her eyes. “Were you able to stay out long enough to……” She paused once more and opened her eyes to look at him again. “To fulfill that dream you told me about?” She really hoped he had or was at least close to fulfilling it.