Page 119 of Sins & Secrets

His expression changes as he registers my words. “Don’t you ever leave me again,” I tell him with a strength formed from panic.Please, please God, don’t let him deny me.

“I need you.” The hot tears fall to my lips and I try to swallow, but it hurts too much. Everything hurts as I stand before the man I love, knowing it’s wrong. Knowing he broke me, ruined me and then showed me how fucked up love can be. The only cruel thing left for him to do to me would be to leave me like this. To throw me away after everything we’ve been through.

“There’s hope, isn’t there?” I say. “I love you,” I whisper with complete conviction.

Just as I part my lips to confess every emotion in me to him, he crashes his lips against mine, filling my chest with a warm flow of desire and completion. My lips are hard at first, caught off guard, but I’m quick to mold them to his, spearing my fingersthrough his hair as his hand splays at the small of my back, both of us deepening the kiss, both of us wanting more.

“Mason.” I moan his name as he breaks the kiss, my eyes still closed as our hot breath mingles between us.

“Just hold me. I love you,” I tell him and bury my head into his hard chest. He wraps his strong arms around me as his warmth consumes me and kisses my hair over and over. This is where I belong, I know it is.

“I love you,” he says and it’s all I need.

I love Mason. And he loves me.

EPILOGUE

JULES

Deceit is pretty,

The truth is better than the lie.

Its beauty lurks in darkness,

It’s gorgeous in ways you can’t deny.

Although the tale is strange,

Not the ever after for you and me.

It’s broken and imperfect,

And the way fate meant it to be.

My brunette hair looks nearly black when it’s wet. The brush makes a loud thud as I set it down and reach for my makeup bag.

Looks can be so deceiving, can’t they?

We have a beautiful home, seemingly the perfect life and many days, that’s all I see. It’s all I saw with Jace too, but that was a sham and a lie and I realize now that I knew the truthwell back then. I was happy with the image, but the truth was something I hid; I wanted it that way.

What I have with Mason is the opposite. Although no one can see the truth, I know what we are. Raw and broken, but together, we’re whole.

The world will never know what it took for the two of us to come out of this alive. No one will ever realize how much strength there is between us. We’re unbreakable. Shattered to pieces, but healed together with a scar that’s so much stronger than what was once there.

It’s not a fairytale, but it’s a happily ever after suited for us both. It gives me chills when I look back at the past, but I don’t do that often. It’s much better to look ahead, at the true happiness and comfort we give each other. At the full life of trust and faith that’s been forged between us.

My phone pings with another text from Kat. And then another.

She finally told me what’s happening with her and Evan.

He’s still your Evan, I answer and stare at my phone, waiting for her response.

If anyone ever heard my story, maybe they’d say what I did was wrong. That crawling back to Mason after knowing what he did, is simply unforgivable.

Even my closest friends. I don’t think they would understand. No one would.

Love is inexplicable. It makes you do crazy things. Love is blind … that’s a saying for a reason, isn’t it?

I know, Kat writes back.He’s still the man I married. Dangerous in ways I don’t like to think about. I did this to myself. I knew better than to fall for him.

My heart hurts for her when she messages again before I can respond:I only wish love were enough to fix this …

It is.I’m desperate to write that back to her. But there are pieces to their story I’m missing. Pieces that will come out one way or another …

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