Page 80 of Forever Yours

“I love you.”

What else could I say?

“I know you do, and that’s part of the problem. I never doubted your love for a single fucking second, but I have made you doubt my love for you, and for that, I am so incredibly sorry. I’ve failed in every way a man can fail his soulmate.”

My blood quickened. I liked soulmate even more than Angel.

“You’re it for me, Elijah. I don’t want Liz or anyone else. I only want you. It fucking killed me when you left. It was my fault because I pushed you to that point. Liz was… is my best friend, but you, Elijah Barnes, are the love of my life.”

That thread made of his words looped the final stitch in my heart.

“I found a grief counselor through the student wellness center. Something I should have done months ago. I see her on Thursday.”

Holy shit, that was huge. I squeezed his hand, showing my support. I was so proud of him, I didn’t know how to respond.

“I’ll get the tattoo removed. It was stupid, and I was drunk, but that’s no excuse. I didn’t think how you would perceive it, and that should have been the first thing I thought when Jayson suggested we do it. It was a betrayal, and I’m ashamed of myself.”

Did I want him to do that? I found the answer to be no. Liz was a huge part of his life and who he was as a person. Without her friendship, love, and support, Julien would be a completely different person. Without her, he and I would never have been. She was important. His best friend. He wanted to honor that.

“You don’t have to remove it. But next time you want to do something like that, include me in the decision. I hated that I wasn’t a part of the experience with you. I would’ve loved to have been there.”

He nodded yes against my shoulder. “Could you do me a favor as well?”

“Anything,” I replied. I would do anything for him.

“Talk to me. Hit me. Yell at me. Whatever you need to do, just don’t keep things bottled up. If I fuck up, call me on it. Let’s talk about it. Fight about it. Whatever it takes. Just please don’t leave me again.”

My throat burned with tears that shouldn’t be possible because I had cried too damn much the past week.

“You come first, Elijah. Always. And I’m going to make abso-fucking-lutely sure you never question that again. Get ready, baby, because I am going to woo the hell out of you.”

Laughter bubbled up, full of happiness to have my Julien back. Fallon was right when he said things were about to change.

Julien nuzzled into me. “I’m dying here. Say something.”

I was just so happy in that moment, it was impossible to articulate how I felt. Okay, maybe four words could do it for me.

“Make love to me.”

Julien lightly sunk his teeth into the muscle between my neck and shoulder, erasing any remaining dregs of sleep away. I arched back into him.

He brushed a hand across my hip, then my stomach, inching his way down to where I was aching for him.

“How are you feeling? Sore?”

My dick was throbbing.

“Not really.”

I could be on that stupid pain scale at ten, and I would still beg him to fuck me.

“You sure?”

His fingers slid lazily up and down the base of my cock, and the moan that escaped me was pure need. I checked Ash’s side of the room, forgetting that Julien had said he would be sleeping over at Mei’s.

“So sure.” I ground my ass against his dick, hard and ready for me.

“One last thing,” he said, thrusting his hips forward. “We can skip if you want and spend the day right here doing nothing or doing whatever as long as it’s together. I’m not leaving you today, so wherever you go, I go.”

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