Page 27 of Follow Me to Your Heart
“Because of the way you’re acting now.”
I winced and rubbed my neck at the jolt of pain shooting through it as I jerked it back. My brows met in the middle, and I questioned, “What do you mean?”
“Do you love me like I love you, KoKo?”
“How do you love me, Cage?”
“Beyond this friend shit. Don’t get me wrong. Our friendship means more to me than anything, but the way I feel about you is almost unexplainable. You know me. My actions speak louder than my words. Just know it’s been hard as hell to keep my feelings to myself.”
I leaned over and kissed him again. “I love you like I’ve never loved anyone in my life, Cage. I’ve loved you for some time now, so much so that I was willing to slowly break my own heart by keeping it a secret.”
“Why?”
“Because I never want to lose you. I’d rather keep hold of you in any way I can. It would break my heart to see you love another girl when I’ve yearned for that type of love from you. To have it openly with no gray area. You give it to me, but I felt one day I’d need to share that love with someone who doesn’t understand what it’s like to be fearful of losing you in anyway. Does that make sense?”
“It does. It makes all the sense in the world. Do you know how it felt watching you be with Marquis? Especially knowing he wasn’t treating you right. Shit had me messed up, but I felt the same as you did. I’d rather watch someone else love you than knowing there’s a possibility I could lose you if I poured my heart out to you.”
“Where do we go from here, Cage?”
“Wherever you want to go, KoKo. Honestly, I don’t think much will change except for us openly expressing the feelings we’ve been hiding. Other than that, we keep doing what we’ve been doing.”
I sat back with a hiked brow. “Now, you know I don’t agree with everything you’ve been doing. Not everything needs to stay the same.”
“And it won’t. You know the last thing I will ever do is intentionally hurt you. If we’re taking us further, then you already know what’s up.”
Leave it to Red to call and interrupt us again. I wasn’t even upset with it. What I thought would take a turn for the worse ended up taking one for the better. Cage and I were on the same page about our feelings, something I thought I could only dream about. While it was still a scary feeling, I was embracing it with open arms, anxious to see how things would play out.
A week had passedsince Korren and I confessed our true feelings to one another, and I’d been on top of the world. It felt as if a weight had been lifted from my shoulders. To keep something so life changing in for that long was heavy, but I had good reason. Korren did too. We were on the same page with everything even when we didn’t try to be.
As I prepared for a special evening with Korren, my phone rang. The number on the screen was one I didn’t recognize. I rubbed my jaw, debating on answering it. With a sigh, I slid my finger across the screen and placed my phone on speaker.
“Who is this?”
“You know exactly who it is,” Lorie stated, irritating my soul. “Where you been hiding at, Cage? And why can’t I get through toyou on my phone? I haven’t heard from which means you have another girl handling your dick now. Am I right?”
“What makes you think you’d hear from me, Lorie? I never reach out to you. You always hit my line, and what I have going on doesn’t concern you.”
“Oh, so you do?”
“What do you want?”
“I miss you, Cage.”
“Bye, Lorie.”
I ended the call with a sway of my head as I blocked the number she’d called from. Her ass was crazy. Girls could be something serious, especially the ones I used to mess with. My choice hadn’t always been the best, and Korren never failed to let me know it too. Maybe because they weren’t her. No girl I’d ever encountered compared to her. I found myself searching for pieces of her in other girls. It was crazy because I had all of Korren, but not in the way I desired.
While Korren and I had expressed ourselves to one another, I hadn’t properly asked her to be my girlfriend. She was at her last class for the day, so I was putting the finishing touches on the setup I had for her. All day, she’d been texting me about how tired she was and how she couldn’t wait to rest all weekend. The first week back after fall break was wearing her down, and I wanted to make it better for her.
Korren wouldn’t be done with class for another thirty minutes. After I got everything situated, I swiped my phone off the counter and hit Keith up.
“What’s good, Cage?” he answered.
“Not shit. What you up to?”
“Studying for a test I got coming up next week. Taylor said she’s going to come and help me study for it this weekend. You and Korren should come through too.”
“It depends on what’s going on in the streets. You know anything could happen at any moment, but if it’s all clear, we’ll slide through.”
