Page 66 of One Lovely Lie

“Please, don’t marry her,” I beg, noting that I’ll be satisfied later that Florence is currently bawling for whatever reason. “Please. Forgive me because I can’t fucking breathe without you.”

Still silence. I start to sweat but I know, deep down that just a little bit more and I’ll have him. Just one more push and we’ll have our happily ever after.

“It’s us,” I murmur into the microphone, holding my hand over my heart. “Forever and ever. Cradle to grave.”

There’s a brief moment where my stomach sinks and I think this is the end because Daniel doesn’t get up. He continues to stare at me, dumbfounded and ignoring the scandalized looks his parents and Florence are throwing at him.

Finally, he gets up and slowly walks toward the stage. My heart is in my stomach and my stomach is in my ass as he gets closer. He’s not smiling or laughing or crying and this doesn’t bode well. He’s looking at me like a puzzle to solve when he knows I’d give him the fucking key.

“Magnus…” he whispers, angling his body to block us from the rest of the crowd, the rest of the world. He slowly reaches out and traces his finger up and down my hand and I shudder. He looks up at me through those long lashes, blue eyes so vulnerable. “You’re choosing me?”

“Yeah, baby,” I say, choking up a bit when those eyes get a bit clearer and those lips begin to tip up. “Well, you chose me first.”

The microphone is knocked out of my hand when Daniel throws himself on me, crashing his lips into mine. I open immediately, letting his tongue brush against mine as I wrap myself around him and fist his slicked-back hair.

Fuck yes.

This is what I’ve been missing. This is what I need to breathe, to live, to survive. Nothing has ever felt as good as this bittersweet reunion. Bitter because there was never any fucking reason to have it in the first place.

I’m aware that we have an audience, but I don’t care. I place my hands around his middle and hoist him up into the air. He wraps his legs around my waist and another series of gasps ring out. The scandalized high society can go fuck themselves because I got my man back.

“I missed you so much,” he cries against my lips, peppering my face with kisses, and clinging to me so aggressively I swear I’ll have bruises.

I’ll wear them fucking proudly.

“Let’s go, baby,” I mumble against his lips, carrying us to the backstage area of the event center. I can hear Daniel’s mom begin to say something to the crowd, probably some sort of apology, but I can’t be bothered to listen.

“Is this really happening?” Daniel asks, running his thumb along my swollen bottom lip.

I keep my hands around him and press our foreheads together. “I know we need to talk but I love you, okay? That’s all that matters. I love you and I choose you.”

He nods, wiping his nose with the back of his suit jacket. He snickers to himself as he looks over his shoulder. “We have about ten seconds of damage control before—”

“Magnus Atticus Black!”

“Daniel William Levingson!”

Even though the timing is horrible and we’re up for the biggest reaming of our lives, we both laugh against each other.

“Run?” I ask, pecking his nose.

He nods. “Run.”

We take off. We don’t watch where we’re going and we end up running into a million different things as we make our escape. It’s exhilarating, dashing off hand in hand, saying a bigfuck youto our parents, and reuniting in the most dramatic way possible.

We finally find a door marked as an exit, and it spills out into a disgusting alley that smells like piss and shit, but it may as well be the Four Seasons to me. I press him up against the wall and assault his mouth with mine. I can’t get close enough to him. I can’t taste enough of him, touch enough of him, even fucking smell enough of him.

I hoist him against the wall as I grind my erection against his hip. “Baby, fuck, I’ve missed you so much.”

“I can’t believe we did that,” he giggles, looking positively adorable when he’s disheveled.

“Me neither.”

“That speech…” He trails off and I’m worried for a moment until he bites his bottom lip playfully and gently shoves my shoulder. “So fucking cheesy.”

“Oh, fuck off,” I say, squeezing his ass tightly. “You loved it.”He nods and sobers. He hugs me close and rests his head on my shoulder. I can feel him trembling in my arms and whatever the cause is, I want to be the one that makes it stop.

“Baby…” I whisper in his ear. I press gentle kisses all over his face as I readjust my hold on him. “We’re together again. Everything is okay.”

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