Page 84 of XO

“And break your heart for a second time?”

“It can’t be any worse than the first.”

“I wish that were true,” he replies solemnly. “In this case, the truth could easily destroy us all.”

“You said you wondered all this time whether you should tell me. The universe pulled us back together ten years after you drove out of my life, so I’m certain, if ever you were to tell this… truth that will destroy us, the time is now.”

~

Jacob

THEN

I gently kiss Rosie’s nose, careful not to wake her. This is the first time she’s slept peacefully in a long while, and I smile as she lays holding my hand, softly breathing, one leg hooked over mine. I can’t help myself and brush the few strands of hair off her cheek, feeling silky smooth skin beneath my touch.

Rosie Reign is the most beautiful girl I’ve ever seen.

Last night, she’d given herself completely to me, and that’s now an image permanently etched in my brain—vulnerable, seductive, confident, and innocent—a raw mix she wore well, like a fucking goddess.

Slowly moving my leg and hand from under hers, I slip out of the makeshift bed and slide on my pants. The fairy lights above still intimately shine a golden hue on her jet-black hair that cascades over her naked back. Pulling the blanket over her shoulders, I look at the time. It’s only two in the morning, and I’m thirsty as all hell. Finding my collared shirt, I leave it unbuttoned and go in search of drinks.

Knowing we’re dry on the rooftop, I take the fob key with me and head down the elevator to my father’s floor where I know he keeps a stocked fridge. The hall is dark as are the offices straight out of the elevator, but a light at the end casts enough glow for me to see. It also happens to be where I’ll find my stash. I round the corner ill-prepared for what is awaiting. I stop dead in my tracks, the sight rendering me dumb and mute. My father’s office is walled by floor-to-ceiling glass because “transparency is key to success.” But as the cold chill sweeps over my skin the same time my blood boils, I feel the urge to vomit becausetransparentis not what these two have been.

“What the fuck!”

I want to run.

I want to run back up to the rooftop and get Rosie far away from here.

I want to be sick in the trash bin next to me.

I want to tell my mother for the two-hundredth time that she should have left my father years ago.

I want to erase this vision from my memory.

I want to gut my father like fish.

But I don’t, and can’t, do any of that.

Instead, I watch as my red-faced and sweating father thrusts angrily into a woman who could easily be Rosie in two decades. The long black hair flowing over her back before being twisted in my father’s fist as he fucks her from behind. The same pale, snow-white skin that my beautiful Rosie inherited hers from.

I’m sickened by the sight.

But if Rosie witnesses this, it will destroy her.

I flee, needing to put as much distance between them and me before I explode. Running, I take the stairs two at a time until I’m back on the roof and watching Rosie, still with the same peaceful disposition.

I can’t tell her the truth.

I can’t tell her I just saw my dad and her mom fucking in the office only a few floors below us.

I can’t breathe a word of this to her.

Shaking, I unlock my cell and dial the one person who can put an end to this.

“Pick up, Mr. Reign,” I plead under my breath while pacing back and forth like a crazed caged animal. “Fucking pick up!”

When it goes to voicemail, I end the call and stare at the girl I love. The girl I’ve loved since freshman. The girl who I hoped one day will be my wife. If she says yes.

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