Page 19 of A Touch of Heaven

Chloe was nothing more than a convenience to me, a decent fuck, sure, but not exceptional. Though she can suck my dick good enough when I picture Brooke. But she was never more than that. Now I look back at it, she was awfully clingy, but I didn’t care. She kept people off my back when I couldn’t be bothered with girls.

That summer, Brooke and Nate made a bucket list of things to do by the end of it, and I was jealous, so I used Chloe to distract me. I finished with her earlier this year before I took off for a while. But if I had known for one second that she had said that stuff to Brooke, she would have been out on her ass so fast, and we would have ruined her. She would have been destroyed by the time the guys and I had been through with her.

I make a mental note to talk to the guys this evening to make sure Chloe knows her place in the world. But for now, I take my girl’s hand and pull her around the table and onto my lap. I wipe the tears from her eyes with my thumbs, slowly looking into those eyes that capture me.

“Brooke, you are the most beautiful girl I have ever seen in my life. I realized that when I first met you, no one would ever compare to you. You have the sweetest laugh, and I live to see your smile.” I tip her head to look at me. “You, Brooke, are my”—I clear my throat—“mine and Nate’s world. Don’t you see we would be nothing without you? You are the one that breathes light into us.” I run my fingers through her soft hair, and I can feel her heart racing as I press my hand to it.

“This heart you share with us, this is why you’re in our lives. You made a sad, angry kid smile for the first time in years when you met me. You breathed life into me again and made me realize the universe isn’t shit. There are people like you that are light to the shadows that plague us. The way you care about us, the way you fight for anyone in your life that matters, is why we both adore you.”

I slowly run my fingers over her bottom lip and watch her lips part. “Don’t let anyone tell you any different, Princess.” I resist the overwhelming urge to kiss her…barely, instead opting to sigh.

“I wish you had told me this sooner. Chloe was nothing, a distraction from my shit life while you were busy, and she couldn’t even compare to you, okay?”

She nods slightly, her breathing heavy, and I take her face in my hands, pressing my lips to her forehead for a few seconds.

“Okay, now eat your food before it gets cold, and let’s continue with the rest of our day. Is that okay, Princess?” She nods, and I smile at her before she stands up and sits back in her seat, dipping her fries in her ketchup quietly, not making eye contact with me.

Fuck, I was probably a little too honest there. This girl has me forgetting everything else when I’m with her.

CHAPTEREIGHT

BROOKE

It’s been an amazing day. We spent the afternoon walking around the smaller markets and stores in town. It surprises me he knows how much I love that. I always look for unique things, but I didn’t know he knew that. Come to think of it, he always bought me the most unique gifts for my birthday and Christmas. Things he had seen overseas, things he had made for me or had made himself…strange.

Lunch was…well, intense, I guess is the right word. Sometimes, I think he might like me despite him saying otherwise earlier. He pushes and challenges me and makes my body ache for him in ways I’ve never felt before. The way he ran his fingers up my inner thigh, I thought he would touch me again, but nope.

Stupid waiter.

And then, if that wasn’t strange enough, that speech at the end blurred the lines I already thought were already blurry much worse. The things he said to me, and then for a split second, I thought he was going to kiss me, but no. That man builds me up and then lets me fall on my ass repeatedly.

I know he likes me.

I’m sure of it.

You don’t say things like that to someone you don’t. The way he held me, the way he looked at me, I thought… But then he changed his tone and told me to sit and eat.

I swear he’s giving me emotional whiplash with his mood swings. He blows so hot and cold I just don’t know anymore. I’m not sure I care. I’m just here for the ride. I feel like there’s a shift between us, even though he said what he said earlier. I just don’t know whether to find out more or just accept we can’t be anything other than this.

We spent the rest of the day sitting on the beach, reminiscing about our lives when we were kids and all the dreams we still want. I wonder if he does that to remind me that Chloe’s words are meaningless. I saw something in his eyes today when I told him that. A flash of something I’ve never seen before. At one point, I thought he was going to leave and beat the first person he saw. I’ve seen him angry before, but not like that.

Why would he react like that if he didn’t have feelings for me?

He spends the afternoon lying down with his head on my lap, my hands running through his hair as I stare into the ocean. I smile at how comfortable things are between us, like old times, like how it used to be when we watched the stars together.

We’ve been doing that since we were kids. I remember the first night we did. He had this app on his phone that told us which stars were what, and then we made up stories about them. They were silly at first, about dragons and magic and knights that saved a damsel in distress, but over the years, they changed.

It’s the night after my eighteenth, and Chase has brought me to the docks to look at the stars. It’s our spot, and I love how he likes to daydream with me. We’re doing our usual storytelling, making up tales about the stars and why they’re there. He points to the star to the left of me, shining brightly. I think it’s the brightest star in the sky tonight.

“You see that star there, Princess?” I nod in response, curling into his arm. “Well, right there is a goddess that lives amongst the rest of the stars. A mortal man with all of his mundane human faults fell for her. She was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen. Her light shined so bright in the darkness that surrounded him. He knew he wasn’t worthy of her love; he was only human, and she was a gift from the heavens, but he was determined to prove he was good enough to be with her. He would go out every night and share secret promises with her about their future, and she would smile at him in response. He decided to build a bridge to reach her, something no other human had done before. Every moment, he built that bridge higher and higher but realized while he was building, another man had beaten him to it. He watched them every moment growing closer, and before he knew it, he had built the bridge right past them. He looked down and saw they were falling in love. He discovered that man was the right one for her; he wasn’t dark like him but matched her light so brilliantly it almost blinded him.”

I listen intently as he continues. I recognize how sad this story is, but not only that, how soft Chase’s voice is. It’s almost vulnerable.

“What happened to him?”

“He got lost in the stars. He’s still there, lost in the darkness, getting further and further away from her. He gets more lost and lonelier every day. That darkness infects him, making him hollow, like there’s nothing inside of him. He keeps trying to bend the bridge back to his goddess, but he can’t. He knows he could never share that darkness with her.”

I sit up and punch him in the chest.

---