Page 107 of Before Now

“I’m sorry you lost so much. I’m sorry anyone made you feel like you had to make such an unfair choice. I’m sorry—fuck. I’m just sorry.”

I watch the fountain, the water cascading, the light and shadow.

“I would have hidden with you.”

“I wouldn’t have let you,” I whisper.

He sighs, standing up. “Yeah, but I wouldn’t have cared.”

I know.

After he walks into his room, he shuts the sliding glass door. “I need to go. I have something to do.”

I fight the dip in my stomach. “Okay. Night, Foster.”

The call ends, and I lift my face to the sky, feeling less raw. Not better enough to run and tell the world and plaster my name on billboards with my coordinates, but a little more healed with him knowing I didn’t want to leave him behind.

I gather the comforter, staying wrapped as I go inside. I haven’t even reached the doorway to the bedroom when Foster texts.

Fuck, I missed that. Missed him.

The video shows a carpet matching mine, gliding over it until Foster opens a door, steps into the hall, then he walks down it, turns to stop at another door.

“Let me in, Remi.”

Flutters. Tingles. A reemerging fever.

When I swing it open, Foster looks up, his forearm braced on the doorframe. He straightens and steps over the threshold until he’s right in front of me. His fingers hook under my chin, tipping it up, and his lips lower to mine.

A relieved breath escapes me, and he kisses me harder in response. Like he’s been as desperate for this as me.

Because nothing feels different about us this time. Instead, we’re how we were always meant to be.

He shoves his hand into my hair, backing me farther into the room. The door slams shut behind him as his tongue dives into my mouth. I let the comforter spill to our feet so I can run up his chest to the back of his hair, pulling him deeper.

His chest vibrates in a husky groan, and he frames my face with his hands. Cool blue eyes draw me in even more when Foster rests his forehead on mine, his body pressing closer. Skin hot against me.

“I need to make sure you understand how sorry I am, Remi. I’ve acted like a dick, and you haven’t deserved any of it.”

“I thought you hated me,” I say softly.

“I thought so, too, before.”

“Before what?”

“Before hearing your name again. Before I looked offstage and saw you. Before I touched you, kissed you, breathed you. Before now, when I can finally admit to both of us what a fucking liar I’ve been every second since I lost you. The truth is, I’ve been wrecked over you all along.”

He kisses me again, swiping the fresh tears away with a sweep of his thumbs.

“Christ, I missed you,” he mumbles against my mouth. “I knew something was missing. It was you. It was always you.”

Then his tongue’s dominating mine, and I slide up his shirt. He rips it over his head and crushes his lips back to mine long enough to grasp the bottom of my top. He breaks away while he pulls it off.

His hungry gaze rakes over me. He grips my sides, brushing the pads of his thumbs over my peaked nipples, and my eyelids flutter closed.

Foster’s mouth drags up the column of my neck, and his teeth graze my earlobe. “Say no, and we?—”

“Yes.” I tangle my fingers in the back of his hair. “The answer’s yes to everything. Yes, yes,yes,” I hiss the last one as he pinches both nipples.

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