Page 132 of Renascence

“I just talked to Emily,” Raven says when I sidle up next to her.

“Yeah?”

“Yeah. She’s going back to Atlanta with her parents tomorrow. Quit her job and everything.”

I pile food on my plate, trying to seem indifferent. “Okay.”

“Okay? That’s all you’re going to say?” she asks, sounding like her husband.

I shrug. “I told y’all it wasn’t serious.”

“Mm-hmm.” She dismisses my answer. “I drew something for you.”

She scrolls through her phone until she finds what she needs, turning the screen to me. It’s an image of a snake eating its tail, its body curved into a heart. The heart is shaded red, mine and Emily’s names inside it in bold, black letters. Mine is on top, theeextending down to form the one in hers. Shit. I hate to admit it, but it’s badass. I knew she was talented, having designed the tattoos for her and Gage, and Einstein and Ellen, but this? My back itches with the need to get it inked on my skin.

“It’s good, but not necessary.” I shovel a forkful of food into my mouth.

“Why you—ooh!” She stops, grabbing her belly.

“Raven?” I turn to her, now on alert. “What’s wrong?”

Without answering, she takes both my hands, laying my palms on her belly. I want to yank them away, knowing what these hands were involved in last night. However, the movement against them makes me pause.

“Wow.” My breathing picks up. “The babies?”

“Yeah. Feel that? They’re both moving.”

The smile she gives me conveys nothing but happiness. What’s even more shocking is that it gets brighter when Gage walks up behind her and she looks up at him over her shoulder.

“Get your hands off my woman,” he says good-naturedly.

His hands replace mine, and suddenly I feel as if I’m intruding on a private moment. The unburdened looks in their eyes, the smiles, laughs… the love between them. Gage is living a life I never thought men like us could. They share something so deep; they’ve persevered and are happier than ever. There’s no resentment in Raven’s gaze, only love.

My heart contracts, thoughts of Emily bombarding me. I want what they have.

With Emily.

I can see it more clearly than that Jimmy Cliff song. She’s mine. Always has been, always will be.

I back away, stomping toward the exit.

“Hey, where you going?” someone shouts.

“To get my woman.”

There are hoots and hollers, but a voice rises above the noise. “Wait, you’ll need this!”

I turn around, watching Razor jog to the chapel, coming back with a cut. I inspect it, throat closing up at the words on the back—“Property Of Venom.”

“How… when…?”

“Don’t mind that. Just go get her, brother.”

I nod to my best friend, clutching the cut to my chest as I move as fast as I can to my bike.

I’m coming, Emily.

I just hope I’m not too late.