Page 101 of Jagged Line Paradise

Andrés

“YOU CAME AFTERme.” Her words are quiet, a whisper between us as I hold her on the bluff.

I pull her to standing from the dipped position I held her in, but I don’t let go. I keep her close. “I needed to see you. I need to look in your eyes while you tell me what you really think.”

She blinks and shakes her head, her mouth opening and closing.

“Oh, now you’re speechless? Now that I’m standing here in front of you, you’ve got nothing to say?” I tuck her hair back behind her ear and give her a good-humored smirk.

Avalon smiles and blushes, and I could just fuck the cuteness right out of her.

“For the record,” I tell her, “I want a relationship with you, too.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah, sunshine.”

I watch her olive eyes as they scan my features. “But how do we do that? How can we even be together when you go back to LA? I don’t even…” She pushes my arms away from her waist and takes a step back. “There’s so much I have to figure out. I don’t even have a job. I don’t know how I’m even going to—”

“I’m not going back to LA.”

“What?”

“I’m staying here. I’m not leaving you again.”

Her mouth drops open. I think I’m as surprised by the revelation as she is, but the moment the words come out of my mouth, I know they’re true. I can’t go back without her.

I can’t leave her again.

She’s everything to me. She was ten years ago, and she still is now. My feelings for her never lessened, and I only feel more intensely for her now. If she can do what she did today—face her worst trauma head-on, opening up to me with such raw honesty, and finally asking for help—then I can give up everything for her.

I had my time. I built my business, helped hundreds through our foundation, and did my part to right the wrongs of men like my father. I did it all while neglecting what I really wanted, what I truly needed.

I needed her.

I need her in my life forever.

I can’t imagine going back to the way things were before, and if it means taking a fucking leap of faith and leaving my company behind in LA, then so be it. I can do my work from anywhere, but I can’t be with her if I leave. I know how much it means to her to stay here, to have her sunsets in her jagged line paradise.

Her eyebrows dip as she looks at me with confusion on her face. “What do you mean you’re not going back to LA?”

“I mean, I’m not going back to LA. I’m staying here with you.”

Her chest rises and falls and her eyes narrow in scrutiny. “I can’t ask you to do that. I can’t ask you to give up your life for…for me.”

I nod my head toward the bluff’s edge before I move toward it, sitting on the ledge in the same spot I always had. I wait for her to follow and join me. The heat of her beside me is comforting as she scoots in closer, touching her hip to mine.

“You’re not asking me; I’m telling you. We’ve had our time apart and it didn’t serve either of us. I can only speak for myself, but I think I’ve done more healing in the past few weeks spent here with you than I have in the last ten years. And it’s not because of this place or the documentary or the reminders of our past.” I reach over and grab her hand, pulling it onto my lap as I lock our fingers together. “It’s because of you, Lonnie. We need each other to heal. I want you. Not just for right now. I want you forever.”

She whimpers softly and leans her head on my shoulder. “How can you know that? You’ve only been here with me for a few weeks and most of it has been bad.”

“None of it has been bad. None of it. Just challenging.”

“I’m afraid of you leaving me again.”

I’m struck in the chest by that admission. I don’t know how to make it clear to her exactly how deep I’m in. I don’t know if there’s a way to build that trust again entirely, but fuck, I’ll do whatever it takes.

“I know you’re afraid; I would be, too. But I’ve made up my mind. I wanna be your man.”

---