Page 71 of The Echo of Forever
Even if I wanted to keep the joke going, I couldn’t. His hands on me changed everything.
“My heart can’t take you walking away anymore,” he murmured against my ear. “Stay and talk to me. You came for a reason, right?”
I turned and looked up.
“You spent our first anniversary without me,” I complained, feeling and sounding like someone other than myself. “I’m sorry I’m hurting you.”
“Don’t apologize again, Forever…” He gently gripped my chin. “I’m sorry it wasn’t me you heard it from.”
I frowned and shoved him a little to make a point.
“We were reckless in having a judge sign a marriage license, Echo. My parents could’ve found out had it not been for Lucien.”
Not like I gave a fuck now that the words had left my mouth.
“You didn’t care, baby,” he argued, sadness replaced with amusement. “I made my case, and you shut it down. Who am I to argue with the love of my life over our commitment being solidified in the legal sense?”
Thatsounded like me, at least.
“Carmen gave me the certificate. It had Lucien’s stamp on it.”
He hummed and guided me to the couch by my shoulders.
“I don’t mean to wear my emotions so openly in front of you,” he said, pushing me down and then sitting on the coffee table. “My intentions aren’t to make you feel bad, Forever.”
He took my hands in his and stared at them.
“You’re allowed to process however you see fit. There’s nothing that’ll make me want to give this up.”
I snorted on accident and he lifted his gaze.
“There’s a bunch you’d probably leave me over.”
He smiled and tipped his head.
“You have no faith in yourself, my forever. I can guarantee everything you’re thinking of, I know about.”
Forever, please tell me you didn’t bare all to this man.
There was something I hadn’t known before I met him, according to the timeline I had so far, but that didn’t mean anything for the things I didn’t remember.
“So, I told you my mom was the one who killed your dad?” I asked, the urge to throw up spreading through me.
I like him.
Losing this feeling might be my thirteenth reason.
His eyes were smiling, even though his lips were pulled into a frown. So, I was close.
“We assumed it was your dad,” he revealed. “I’m shocked to learn it was Quinn, but then again, I shouldn’t be.”
He had those pretty whites on display now as he leaned forward.
“Did you know your ma has had a standing spa appointment for the last three years?”
I nodded.
She’d tried inviting me along right after the accident, but I’d been too paranoid to accept at the time.
