Page 59 of From Us, Forever

“I love you more,” he mumbled against my lips before tucking my head in the crook of his neck.

And we stayed like this while time slipped away, content and warm and safe. I could feel all the emotional turmoil that I held for years dissipating from my body.

In the end, I was right where I was supposed to be.

In his arms.

Home.

I was back home again.

“You sure you want to do this?”

“Yes, Jay. It doesn’t matter if you ask me a thousand times, the answer is still going to be the same.”

“Okay,” he mumbled before he answered his ringing phone, stepping away from the room.

Yes, I was sure, but I was a nerve-racking mess inside. It didn’t matter how often I wiped my palms along my pale blue dress; they were still clammy.

I wanted to be dressed decently for what I was about to do, something I’d never imagined I would do—go live on social media.

Over the past couple of days, my temptation got the best of me, and my curious self went on a deep dive through theinternet to read what they’ve been saying about me. Anger wasn’t the emotion I felt. It was confusion and sadness—confused by their over-the-top lies and sad because they didn’t know the love between Jay and me.

A mere statement from Jay stating the allegations were false and that he valued our privacy wasn’t going to cut it.

Yes, his fans supported him, but questions still lurked. Questions that needed to be extinguished before they could even get the chance to burn.

They needed to know we were the real deal. I wasn’t going anywhere, and I was always going to be by his side, no matter what.

Jay wheezed out a breath, fiddling with the settings on his phone. “We’re going live in five. Micah set everything up for us.”

I nodded. Whatever coffee I had this morning was lurching in my stomach.

“Hey.” Jay’s soft touch whispered along my cheek. “You don’t have to do this if you don’t want to. I can do it on my own. I know how much people make you nervous.”

I licked the dryness off my lips. “You don’t understand. I need to do this. I don’t want to hide anymore. I don’t want to hideusanymore. I want to scream from the middle of the streets that you’re my man and not give a fuck about it. So even if I hate this, I’m doing it.”

He smiled brightly. “Okay. Just tap my knee if you get uncomfortable, and I’ll switch it out.”

“Is my hair okay?” I asked, brushing the long strands through my fingers.

His brows furrowed. “It’s a bit out of place here,” he muttered, plucking around the hair on my crown before he smoothed it out with the pad of his fingers. “Yes. Now, it’s perfect.”

“Thank you.”

In. Out. In. Out. In. Out.

“Ready?” Jay held the phone to his face.

“Yes,” I replied, scooting closer to his side.

“Here we go.” He pressed a button on his phone, and both our faces popped up on the screen. His with a casual, easy grin and mine pale and stricken.

Too many things were going on at once: the comments came in at light speed, the view counts were increasing by the thousands, and a bunch of emojis were flying over our faces.

“Hey, everyone. It’s J.J. here,” Jay announced in the voice reserved for his fans. “I’m here with my girl, Evelyn.” His eyes slid to mine. “Evelyn, do you want to say hi?”

I mustered a smile, trying hard to tone down the tremble in my hand as I waved. “Hey, everyone.”

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