Page 13 of Forever Mine
There’s a lot of heavy stuff, personal stuff, that they’ll want to talk about regarding Liz, and I don’t want to intrude into whatever private conversations they need to have. Their world was just flipped on its axis today. A world forged in their childhoods that I wasn’t a part of. It’s hard to explain.
Paper crinkles when Fallon unwraps a stick of gum and pops it into his mouth. He started chewing gum when he stopped smoking and usually goes through two packs of peppermint gum a day.
“Fuck off with that bullshit. Jules needs you and will want you there. So will Ry and Jay. You’re their family, man.”
Feeling a little sentimental, I reach across the gap between our deck chairs and cuff his arm.
“You’re mine, too. You know I love you, right?”
Fallon is my brother in every sense of the word. It doesn’t matter if we aren’t related by blood. Sometimes the best families are ones you create, not ones you’re born into. And my family is pretty damn awesome.
He raises the water bottle to his mouth but doesn’t drink. “I know.” Averting his gaze because Fallon doesn’t do well with emotions, he mumbles, “Ditto.”
Alex appears through the French doors and plops down into one of the empty chairs, beer in hand and kicking his feet up onto the railing. The night song of insects has begun with a cacophonic chorus of noisy cicadas that drowns out everything else.
“Spring cleaning sucks.”
“It’s summer, dumbass,” Fallon quips.
Alex cocks his head, his mouth moving silently like he’s talking to himself. “I thought it was fall.”
“Fall begins next month,” I inform him.
His face pinches, perplexed. “Then why the fuck do they say school starts in the fall when it’s still summer?”
Chapter Four
JULIEN
With his ear buds in,Elijah doesn’t hear me when I step out onto the balcony. A steady breeze circulates the strong scent of honeysuckle that perfumes the evening air and helps dampen the sour, earthy stench of new mulch that management recently added to the plant beds surrounding the property. I like to come out here for the tranquil views of the campus in the distance. When it’s lit up at night, it looks like one of the LED snow globes Mom likes to collect, sans the snow.
Leaning a shoulder on the jamb of the sliding door, I quietly take in Elijah’s somber profile. He left to go see Fallon soon after we came back from Liz’s. I didn’t stop him, no matter how badly I wanted him to stay. As much as Liz’s return has taken us by surprise, I have a pretty good idea of what he must be thinking, and guilt rides me hard because my past fuckups are what put those doubts inside his head to begin with.
Sensing my presence, Elijah glances up from his phone. The blue hue from his screen gives way to the darkness when he turns it off.
“Hey.”
Shoving from the doorway, I walk the two feet it takes to stand in front of him. Gentle eddies of air lift silky curls of his wheat-blond hair away from his forehead.
“Hey,” I reply.
Bracing my hands on the arms of the wide Adirondack chair, I tenderly press my mouth to his lips, letting the feather-light kiss linger for a moment. When I pull back, his wary hazel eyes tether themselves to my face, trying to gauge what mood I’m in.
Elijah Barnes has the sweetest, most empathetic soul of anyone I’ve ever met. He’s a nurturer by nature. Kind and good to the core. I often tell him that he’s my angel. The nickname fits and not because of his gorgeous, empyrean looks. His love saved me.
“Jay said you went for a run.”
The morose mood that filled every inch of the condo felt like ants crawling over my skin. I had to get out for a while and away from Jay and Ry’s bickering over what to do about Liz. There really isn’t anything wecando, other than be there for her. Reestablish those connections. Pray that a miracle happens, and she gets her memory back. I can’t—I won’t—consider the possibility that she never will. She’s in there, somewhere. Lost. We’ll find her. We’ll be her light to guide her back.
“Needed some air,” I reply.
Elijah gives me a quizzical look when I curl my hands under his armpits and lift him off the chair. Once he’s on his feet, I sit down, pull him into my lap, and wrap my arms around him. After readjusting his legs to drape over the side, he snuggles into me, nose nuzzled in my neck.
“You smell good.” He sighs, burrowing in deeper.
I kiss the top of his head, then rest my cheek against it. “Took a quick shower. How was Fallon?”
The button of his nose brushes the day’s growth of stubble under my jaw. “How you’d expect.”
