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Not a single person?
A harsh breath rushes out of me, echoing his own.It’s not so hard to believe, really, when I haven’t been with anyone else, either. The want, or the need to, has never been there. Jude is all I think about. All I want, and all I need. “I haven’t either,” I tell him.
The relief shared between us is palpable. Felt in the lightness of our breaths, and in the tension that eases from our bodies, and from the corners of our eyes, too.
“Then what the fuck are we doing here?” he asks, and the words are constricted inside his breath.
“What do you mean?”
Inked hands meet my shoulders, grounding me. “This wholeno labels, no expectationsshit has got to go, Little D. Out the fucking window. Because I want the label, and I’ll tell you, I’ve got a shit-ton of expectations, too. Starting with the fact that there is nobody else for either of us, and ending with you agreeing to be my girlfriend, because I’m in love with you.” His chest is heaving, and his cheeks are pink, his eyes begging me to understand how much he means every word.
“I’m so fucking in love with you,” he says again. “I started falling two years ago, and I never stopped.”
Through the tears surging behind my eyelids, the relentless patter of my heart beating beneath my ribcage, the dozens of fears attempting to take root, I smile. I smile so wide it feels like sunlight is cresting over the horizon of my soul.
“Sebastian Jude Carter,” I muse, shaking my head with that smile. “I can agree to that. I can agree to all of it—happily.”
“Fucking finally,” he says, and the words are a breath of pure relief. Shifting closer, he slides his hands upward, framing my cheeks between his palms in the way that I’ve always loved. Like he’s attempting to contain every inch of what he holds precious,caught between his fingers so it won’t slip through his grasp. “Did you just first-middle-last name me?”
“Yeah,” I laugh, “I guess I did.”
“Such a girlfriend thing to do.” His smirk hitches higher. “You’re catching on already.”
The smile that tilts his lips as he dips his head down ignites a flurry of butterflies in my stomach. He drops small kisses along the side of my neck, and the soft sounds echo in the hallway.
Jude is, finally, officially, my boyfriend.
And I have no regrets about that whatsoever.
Mirroring his hold on my face, I look deep into his stormy gray eyes, kiss him, and say, “I love you, too. I can’t even remember a time when I wasn’t in love with you.” And I’ve never felt lighter.
Chapter Thirty
Declan
I sit on my bed, watching Addy pack her things.
And I feel… numb.
We can’t handle the distance anymore, Dec. It’s killing us.
I’m trying to pay attention to her words, but they filter through the chaos going on in my brain and all I’m left with are pieces and fragments of what she’s saying.
Been so hard.
Make everything easier.
He’s it for me.
Miss home.
Hundred-acre fields.
Cicadas buzzing.
Annoying tornado sirens.
Mom and Dad.