Page 65 of Accidentally Forever
“I get the concept of that. I really do. But you yelled at me because I didn’t know how to tell you about the texts from Travis. And I was wrong. I should’ve told you. He hasn’t texted again thankfully, but I would tell you. So I need you to tell me when bad things happen. We can’t make this work if we’re afraid of hurting the other person with our own burdens.”
“I just want you safe,” I whispered.
“I’m safer with information. You were with me when I made the wrong decision. And I’m with you.”
“Good. Because I love you,” I blurted.
“Well I love you too,” she shouted.
And then we stood there, staring at one another, a smile slowly covering my face. “You love me?”
“You love me too. And it feels kind of apropos yelling it at each other for the first time.”
And just like that, all thoughts of anger, denial, and pain backed away for the moment. And I cupped her face. “I love you. So much so that it’s hard for me to remember when it started. And I have no idea how to love someone, Aria. You’re going to have to help me out, okay?”
Tears slid down her cheeks as she nodded. Then she slid her fingers in my belt loops and pulled me closer. “I can do that. Because I’ve never loved someone either. Not like this. And it’s really scary. Terrifying even. But I’m not going anywhere, Crew. Even when we are scared that something in our lives could hurt the other. I’m in. All in.”
And with that, I crushed my lips to hers, ignoring the rest of the world.
And just this once, the world let me.
Chapter Fourteen
Aria
Shoulders back, focus ready, I snapped the photo. The shutter clicked, a scene frozen in time. I repeated the action, sucking in a breath as the fawn moved slightly to the left, and its twin took center stage.
Another shot. Another.
The doe lifted her head, as if allowing the breeze to slide over her face. She had to be exhausted. Dealing with newborn twins in the wild while protecting them from predators and humans, while also nursing and trying to find food, had to take every ounce of her energy. But her babies looked healthy and moved around on near wobbly legs as they danced through the meadow as if they hadn’t a care in the world.
I did my best to capture that magic. The moment where the doe could finally feel relaxed enough in order to check on her babies. Thanks to where I had situated myself, the deer couldn’t scent me, and I hoped there were no predators around for all of our sakes.
I loved walking through the forest in the mountains, taking photos of what lay beneath. It wasn’t a sunset, not just mountainous peaks that looked purple after a deep rain. Instead, I tried to take snapshots of life that crawled through. Of the fallen log that had rotted from the inside out, with life persevering.
Another tree that had been split in half by lightning, the dark brand of fire creating a scar.
The rocks themselves created their own beauty, with the wildlife that belonged in these lands making the mark.
I hadn’t gone too deep into the forest, and was still on the trail, but part of me wanted to go deeper. To spend weeks within the Rocky Mountain National Forest. I was on my way to working in every single national and state park I could find my way to. I wanted to travel the world and see what struck.
Because while I didn’t take photos of people often, my goal was to capture what humanity was slowly taking away.
The litter that dusted the canyon. The stream dry from a change in climate. The broken tree limbs and craters left behind from a mudslide thanks to the erosion our deforestation and building had created. Countless marks upon the earth from humanity. Because we all left scars and carried some of our own. In this moment, however, I snapped a photo of life. And then I turned to the side and took one more shot.
Crew didn’t look up, but I saw his brow raised. He sat on a rock, booted foot over his knee as he sketched whatever was on his mind. I knew he wanted to get a few ideas for a showcase, and so we decided to take our date on a hike. He had packed a lunch because he was better at sandwich making. I hadn’t known that was a thing until he had mentioned it offhand. The ensuing fight reminded me of the good old days where we spent more time fighting with each other only to make up, than we did laughing.
I pressed my thighs together at the memory, though that didn’t help much.
“What is on your mind?” he asked, that deep voice of his sending shivers down my spine.
“Just thinking about lunch.”
“I did have a damn good breakfast before we headed out.” He smirked and I rolled my eyes considering what his breakfast had been. He had laid me out on hiskitchen counter, my hands on my breasts, and had his fill. My thighs had been around his face, legs wrapped around his head.
He had licked, sucked, and speared me with two fingers so quickly that I had come once, and then another time when he continued his motions. I loved the way that his beard scraped the inner silk of my thighs. There was just something about Crew that always kept me on edge. Whether it was the tension, or just Crew.
“I suppose I had my breakfast as well,” I said dryly.
