Page 76 of Finally Forever
Riley yawns and covers it with his fist. “I think I’m going to call it a night.”
“What time is it?” I haven’t checked in a while.
Riley glances at his watch that must be waterproof. “A little after one.”
A yawn pushes up my throat, and I realize I’m tired all of a sudden. “Wow. Time flies when you’re having fun.”
“I need to call Nova too and make sure she’s not stressing over her upcoming launch. She puts a lot of pressure on herself.”
“I can imagine.” I also love how caring he is toward her.
I probably wouldn’t have noticed these things before. Riley’s concerns for his fiancée and how cute Nathan and Kensie are together. I had that with Sebastian. When it’s gone, you notice what you lost in others.
“See you in the morning,” Riley says and swims away, leaving Sebastian and me alone in the grotto.
“Are you tired?” he asks, his gaze on my face.
“Yeah.” I remove my hand from his thigh. “You?”
“I don’t require a lot of sleep.”
“No, you don’t.” I nod and can’t keep from frowning at how he felt he had to tell me that about himself.
“Are you okay with this?” he asks, his tone serious but also filled with concern.
“What exactly do you mean by ‘this’?”
The darkness of the space makes it too hard to see the colors in his eyes. “Being here? Hanging on to hope? Suffering the way you are?”
I lower my head and focus on the swirling water. “I thought I was hiding it better.”
“It’s hard to hide things from me.”
I laugh. “Isn’t that the truth…”
“If you want to leave, I could help you.”
“Leave?” I stare at him aghast, my heart shattering. “Do you want me to leave?”
“I… don’t want you to have to suffer. I see it in your eyes every day. You deserve better than this.”
“I deserve you. I deserve what we had,” I blurt, my chin trembling as tears fill my eyes.
He stares silently at me for a long moment, but I refuse to meet his gaze. “I want you to be happy.”
“I wantyouto be happy,” I fire back.
He focuses on the waterfall concealing us from everyone, although I don’t hear Kensie and Nathan anymore. Did they leave, too?
“I’ve never been happy,” he murmurs, tearing at my heart for the umpteenth time.
I sniffle, fighting not to cry. “Youwerewith me. You just don’t remember.”
“What if I never remember?”
“It’s only been a few weeks. A month? I’ve lost track. I feel like I’m living in a…” I stop myself from saying nightmare. “Where is this coming from? Has something changed? I thought we were…moving forward. You moved into my room.”
“I’m hurting you,” he says without looking at me. “I know pain. I can deal.”
