Page 140 of Vicious Desire (Fallen Royals 4)

I watch her. She fidgets for a moment, picking up the glass and setting it in the sink.

“Why do you say that?” I finally ask.

“Because… I don’t know. I love you, but I feel like maybe I hurt you too much.”

I go to her and lift her hands. “I trust you. Got it? And all this stuff you think is between us…” I shrug. “We have scars between us. What we did to each other left marks.”

“Ugly marks,” she whispers. She wipes at her eye, then shakes her head. “I’m sorry, I don’t know why I’m bringing this up now—”

“It’s okay. We can talk about this stuff on the eleventh hour of the biggest change in our lives. We’re starting school soon. Literally everything sort of feels up in the air.” I squeeze her hands and draw her in closer. “Except us. You’ve been my constant.”

“You’ve been mine, too.”

“Those scars between us are already fading. But even if they don’t? It’s a roadmap to our relationship. I love them. I love the highs and, well, I don’t love the lows.”

I crack a smile, and she mirrors me.

I continue, “This whole journey has made us who we are. And we’ll just keep adding to the map.”

There’s college, and the police academy—if, in four years, I still want to go that route. A proposal and engagement, then marriage. We can buy a house or a condo, or live as nomads.

Our whole lives are up for grabs.

It’s funny that I can so clearly remember knowing I had a future set in stone and dreading every minute of it.

Everything has changed.

I kiss her forehead and hold her close.

Our future is uncertain—but the fact remains that it’s our future.

To discover together.

THE END

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