Page 120 of Antagonist

There are two places he could be, but I don’t know where his parents live, so I take my chances and head to the cabin.

It’s getting dark by the time I get there, and I punch the air when I see his car parked by the side of the cabin.

I rush to the cabin and see the door open.

“Fletcher?” I go inside.

“Fuck!” He jumps when he sees me as he comes out of the kitchen.

“What are you doing here?” he asks at the same time as I say, “Why’s the door open?”

“I’ve just got back from a walk and my hands were full of treasures. I was just going to close it.”

Him referring to his collection of sticks and rocks as treasure is a reminder—not that I needed one—of why I’ve fallen so hard for this man.

“What are you doing here?”

I close the door behind me. “Technically, you’re still my boyfriend, so the question is, why are you here without me?”

He goes to the den, so I follow him.

“I needed to think,” he says, sounding forlorn.

“I’ve been doing some thinking too.”

“You have?” He sits on the couch, but I don’t want any distance between us, so I sit next to him and then pull him so he’s straddling me. He closes his eyes and takes a deep breath, almost as if he’s in pain.

“I had the intention of spending the day with Stella and Megan, especially after yesterday’s scare—”

“I’m sorry about that. Geo—” I put my hand over his mouth.

“Me first.”

He nods, so I continue. “So I was with Stella and Megan, but then I realized something.”

“What’s that?”

“They don’t need me. They’re fine. They’re happy. But I’m not. Not fine and not happy. You want to know why?”

“Why?”

“Because I need you. I need you, Fletcher. More than I need my next breath or my next meal. I’ve been with many people, but I've only ever loved two people in my entire life, and I now realize that both were just practice for loving you.”

His shaky hand comes up to my face, and he traces my lips with his finger, but nothing will stop me from telling him how I feel. “Fletcher, I don’t care if you move to London, Australia, or the freaking moon. I will go with you. I may end up bankrupt from coming back to visit Megan, but you’re the one I want to spend the rest of my life waking up to, hunting for treasures with, and making happy.”

My thirst for Fletcher is quenched when he presses his lips against mine. I inhale his unique scent and feel dizzy from wanting him so much.

“Wait,” he says, even though he’s the one who reluctantly releases my lips. “I thought you were going to Boston.”

“Why would I go to Boston?”

“Fran said—” I stop him with a kiss.

“Baby, I think it’s safe to say now that any sentence that starts withFran saidneeds to be taken with a grain of salt.”

“More like a bucket of salt,” he says.

“Fletch, I’m not going to Boston. I never was.”