Total pages in book: 133
Estimated words: 128156 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 641(@200wpm)___ 513(@250wpm)___ 427(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 128156 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 641(@200wpm)___ 513(@250wpm)___ 427(@300wpm)
My brow furrows, and I flip it over, moving the little tabs to pull the back free, and my breath catches in my throat, my hands trembling as I stare down at the picture that should not be there.
It’s the photo of me and Chase, the one that should be sitting on the dresser in my dorm. I pull it free, my heart aching at the sight of his face, at the feelings shining back on it.
He hadn’t even admitted he liked me yet here, but it’s so clear to see where we were headed. He’s looking at me like he wants to show me the world and I’m looking at him like he’s already mine.
And then I flip it over, and a choked sob tears up my throat at the scribble on the back.
I stop breathing. The words hit me like a freight train. It’s almost as if I can’t process them fully, like they don’t belong.
But they do.
I can feel them.
I can feel him…
“Freedom is the soul’s journey, where love transcends time and space. I will always love you, no matter the distance. I will always be yours, no matter the lifetime. Love, like a butterfly, always finds its way home. You are my home, Angel.” I read it aloud, my eyes snapping up to the quote on the wall.
“Of course.” I remember reading the line I once spoke to him.
It was him.
This… My eyes slide across the space. This gorgeous, beyond-my-wildest-dreams space was done by him.
Chase.
I start to shake, tears welling as I catch sight of the little jar of glowing butterflies lights, and those tears fall without fail.
But…how?
I—
“Hi, Angel.”
My lungs squeeze, and I whip around.
And there he is, standing just inside the door, the expression on his face that of a broken-down man full of fear and desperate for hope.
I don’t understand it. I don’t understand any of this, and when I open my mouth to say that, all that comes out is a broken sob.
My hands come up, my eyes close and then strong arms are around me, hauling me in to a warm chest.
I don’t mean to melt, but every inch of me does and I clutch his shirt, holding on for dear life.
Chase
God, she’s even more beautiful than I remember, if that’s possible, even as she cries.
She grabs on to me like she’s afraid I’ll disappear, her little fingers clutching my T-shirt like a lifeline, and it breaks me. She starts to sob, and I tuck her in tighter.
“It’s okay,” I whisper, fighting back my own emotions, my breath uneven as I struggle to hold it together. But it’s harder now with her crying against me, her familiar scent swirling around me, the warmth of her grounding me after so many weeks without her.
This isn’t how any of this was supposed to go.
I was going to surprise her the day she got home, drive her here and show her. I was going to explain everything, let her know that never, not even for a fleeting second did I not choose her.
Everything I did from the minute I left that restaurant that day was for her.
I didn’t expect it to be an easy conversation, considering, but it never crossed my mind that she would…that she would doubt me. But how could she not?
I’ve kept secrets that affect our relationship, hiding the truth about my future at AU, or lack thereof, I guess I should say.
Of course she’d have reason to question me. Question us.
But I never left her. I messaged and called while she was away so she knew that I was here, waiting for her to come back to me.
I never expected her grandfather would tell her the truth about what he did and what he had thought I did, if he even told her the truth about all of it. He said if she knew the deal was off, so I thought that meant I was safe to handle things here, and then when they got back, there would be nothing he could do. The money would be gone, her studio would be fixed, and she would be free. And mine.
How could I be so foolish?
How could I chance that, even for the shortest moment in time, this beautiful woman might be forced to doubt my love for her?
She lifts her head, those blue eyes shining as they lock with mine, and the words pour out of me before I can even think twice.
“I didn’t leave you,” I rush, taking her face in my hands with the gentlest of touch. “I would never, ever leave you. I would die on your doorstep, just waiting for you to let me in if you decided you didn’t want me one day, but I would never fucking leave you. For no one. For nothing. I need you to understand that. You can question any and every move I make in my life, I will welcome it, but please, never ever question my love.”