Page 50

“You came prepared.” I take a seat on top of her blanket because fuck the consequences.

She’s here, and I’m ecstatic about it. I don’t give two shits that it’s going to rip me apart when she leaves tonight.

I don’t even care that I might have to start the healing process all over again.

I just want to enjoy her company while I’ve got it.

She pretzels her legs together, then hands me the box. “Would you like to go first?”

“Sure.” I pluck out a card and read it. “If you could go back in time and change one thing, what would it be?”

Arella does that cute thing where she squints at the sky as if the stars will give her the answer she’s looking for. “I think I’d stop all those people from getting onto the Titanic .”

“The Ti-what?”

She lets out a little ha! “Very funny, mister. I know you know what that is.”

“Nope. In my universe, no one has heard of the Titanic .”

“Ha. Ha. Ha,” she says with a sarcastic tone. “What’s your answer?”

“My answer is more selfish than yours.”

“That’s okay. No one said you couldn’t use your one imaginary trip back in time on yourself.”

“There are a lot of things I’d wanna change, but the biggest one is that I’d get my mom to marry my real dad.”

She cocks her head to the side. “What?”

“Long story short, I found out that the man I thought was my dad wasn’t actually my dad.

My mother had an affair with my dad’s older brother, who’s actually my dad.

So if I could, I’d go back to make sure they got married instead.

” Then again, changing that could mean I wouldn’t have met Arella.

I wouldn’t trade never knowing her for a better childhood.

“Wait... your mom had an affair with your uncle?”

“Yep.”

Her eyes go wide. “And she got pregnant with you?”

“Yep.”

“But they told everyone that your father was?—”

“Yep.

Her mouth falls open and she goes silent. It takes her a moment to gather herself. “How did you take that crazy news?”

“At the time, my life was too chaotic to think about it. I’ve had more time to reflect on it since, and I’d like to think I’m taking it well.” Finding out that Victor is my dad wasn’t the hard pill to swallow. Finding out that my aunt swapped minds with him for twenty years was.

“There’s something I’ve been meaning to ask you, but I haven’t because I figured if you wanted to talk about it, you would.”

“Go ahead and ask,” I tell her. “If I don’t wanna talk about it, I’ll just say so.”

She straightens up. “Okay. When we had that conversation about your tattoo, you said that the V is in honor of your dad because he died saving your life. What’s the story behind that?”

“My dad saw me getting attacked by my aunt. He saved me but died in the process.” I left out every important detail, but that’s as much as she should know.

“Interesting.”

I want to ask what she means by that, but if we keep talking about this topic, we’ll get into illegal territory, so I push the questions box toward her. “Your turn.”

She pulls out a card. “If you could have any superpower, what would it be?”

“Easy. I’d like to be able to teleport wherever I want, whenever I want. I’d save so much money on plane tickets.” If I actually had that power, I’d also need a lot of self-control to make sure I wouldn’t keep appearing outside Arella’s apartment every day.

“I’d like to have telekinesis.”

Ironic. “That could be handy.”

“I’d also want the ability to make fire come out of my hands.”

My eyes flick up to meet hers. Does she know? Is she trying to tell me that she knows?

What’s next? Is she gonna tell me she wants to be able to sense people’s emotions too? I can’t tell what she’s thinking from the impassive look on her face.

She hands me the box. “Your turn.”

I clear my throat as I pluck out a card. “What are your relationship deal-breakers?”

“Abuse. Gaslighting. Manipulation.”

“Damn,” I say with a chuckle. “Take a moment to think about it, will ya?”

“I’ve had a lot of years of thinking to know what I never want again.”

“I’m proud of you for that. As for me, I only have one deal-breaker.”

She gives me a second to expand on that. When I don’t, she says, “Are you going to leave me hanging, or...?”

“I think you could guess it.”

“You’ve mentioned that one of your exes is a lying bitch. Is that it?”

I chuckle because she used the word bitch . “Nope.”

“You don’t want someone who’s after your money?”

“No.” I don’t want someone who’s not you. “Let’s talk about something else.”

“Fine. How about we talk about the fact that you have yet to ask me why I came here tonight.”

“I don’t question miracles.”

She giggles as her face lights up. “That’s what you think this is? A miracle?”

“Why else would you be here? Honestly, a part of me is questioning if you’re even real.”

“I’m not. This is actually a simulation.”

I let out a real laugh for the first time in two months. “If this isn’t real, does that mean anything goes?”

“What would you do if you could?”

Take you home with me. Kiss you until you’re breathless. Make you mine again. “Things I shouldn’t.”

“Aren’t you even the least bit curious why I’m here?”

“Yes, but at the same time, I don’t care why you’re here. I’m just glad you are.”

I’d like to think she came here tonight because she missed me. I’d also like to think she’s going to keep coming on Sundays again, but that’s probably wishful thinking. If she does, I’ll do better about mentally preparing myself for the impending end. Maybe this time, it won’t hurt as much.

“Whose turn is it?” she asks.

“Yours.”

She lifts the box, picks out a card, and reads it. “Will you take me home with you?”

My body tenses. Did I hear her right? I’m not sure, so I say the most intelligent thing I can. “Huh?”

“I said, will you take me home with you?”

There is no way she just said what I think she said. “That’s the question on the card?”

She slams the card against her chest with a grin. “Word for word.”

“Lemme see.”

With a laugh, she sticks the card down her shirt. “Answer the question first.”

“I . . . I don’t understand the question.”

She pulls the card back out of her shirt and stares at it. “The card says, ‘Will you, Trey Grant, take me, Arella Rance, home with you?’”

I blink at her as all the blood rushes from my head. “What?” I snatch the card from her and read it. What the card actually says is, What are your biggest strengths?

I’m about to ask her what’s going on when something hits me. She just called herself Arella Rance . Isn’t her last name...? My attention flicks to her left hand.

No ring.

My breath gets lost on its way out as my eyes lock with hers. Where’s her ring? What does this mean? Did she leave him? When? Why? How?

She answers all my silent questions with “Our divorce was finalized on Wednesday. I’m officially?—”

I launch myself at her, toss the card in my hand somewhere behind me, then pin her back to the blanket. She laughs beneath me as I straddle her.

“Are you coming back to me?” I can barely get the words out through my shaky breaths.

“If you’ll have me.”

I’m getting light-headed. “Are you planning to stay with me forever?”

“Forever,” she says with so much conviction, it doesn’t feel real. She wasn’t lying earlier; this really is a simulation, and I don’t give a fuck. I’d rather live in whatever this fake world is than the real one.

“Yes, baby, I’ll have you.” I lean down and plant a hard kiss over her lips. She kisses me back with a breathless sigh as she claws at my shirt to pull me closer. I snake my arm around her back and hold her tight against my chest.

I must be hallucinating, or I’m dead and somehow made it to heaven. She’s kissing me. She’s letting me touch her. She said she’s going to stay with me forever. I don’t deserve this. I don’t deserve her, but I’m taking her anyway.

It takes me a minute to gather enough willpower to pull away. “Tell me you’re mine.”

“I’m yours,” she says with dazed eyes.

“Tell me you’re going home with me.”

She doesn’t hesitate. “I’m going home with you.”

“Tell me you’re never leaving me again.”

“I’m never leaving you again.”

An overwhelming wave of tears takes over my body. I lean back down to kiss her as they drip from my eyes.

“I love you so much, Arella.” I trail kisses down her throat.

She arches her head back. “I love you too, Trey.”

I suck on her neck, pulling moans from her that make my dick ache.

I’m throbbing to be inside her, but I won’t make that mistake again.

There’s no way I’m going to make love to her until she’s got all her shit in my house and is lying in a bed that’s ours .

I need some sort of guarantee that this is it.

Panting, I flop onto my side and tug her against me. “How did this happen?”