Page 39 of September’s Tide (Island Tales #2)

Chapter Twenty-Nine

“Taylor, what’s wrong?”

David’s voice was soft but it held a note of concern.

Taylor didn’t answer right away. He shifted closer on the sofa, pressing into David’s side, needing the warmth of his body, as though the fire burning behind the grate didn’t produce enough heat. Outside, the wind sighed through the eaves. Inside, the clock ticked quietly toward midnight.

Sunday was slipping through their fingers.

The fire crackled, casting shadows across the walls, dancing across David’s face as he stared into the flames. His arm was around Taylor, holding him close, but it felt less like comfort now and more like a countdown.

Taylor swallowed past the lump in his throat and spoke into the hush.

“I don’t want to say goodbye.”

David’s breathing hitched.

“Oh, baby. I don’t either. You’ve gotta know that.”

“I do.” Taylor sat up and turned to face him. “But you don’t understand. I’ve never felt this way before. I didn’t expect it. And now…” He let out a bitter laugh. “Now I keep asking myself why I had to lose my heart to someone who lives on the other side of the world.”

David frowned. “It’s hardly that. A ferry to the mainland. A train. Seven hours from London. I’ll pay for your flights. Anytime you want to come see me, you just say the word.”

He reached out to touch Taylor’s arm, but Taylor leaned away, not much but enough, David’s departure looming ever nearer, growing larger on the horizon, darker, blocking out the light.

It’s no good. I can’t do this.

“Listen to me,” Taylor said, trying to keep his voice steady. “I can’t face saying goodbye in the morning. I’m sorry. I’m a coward, maybe. But I can’t stand watching you drive away from here. I’ll fall apart, and I don’t want you to see that.”

David stared at him for a moment, open-mouthed, his eyes wide. “So what are you saying?”

Taylor’s voice was a whisper now. “Let’s say goodbye tonight.” The words nearly broke him. “Let’s not drag it out. Let’s just... hold each other, put everything into it, and then you can go back to the Lighthouse. And I’ll deal with waking up alone.”

David’s expression tightened. “You seriously think I can walk away from you that easily?”

Taylor didn’t answer.

David leaned in, his voice low but sharp with emotion. “Do you have any idea how I feel about you? How much it’s already killing me inside to leave?”

The iron band that had been squeezing Taylor’s chest all day finally cinched too tight. He struggled to draw a breath.

David reached for his hands, wrapping them gently in his own. “Okay,” he said, his voice raw. “If this is what you need, I’ll do it. But don’t you dare doubt it for one second—I will stay in touch.”

Taylor nodded, barely trusting himself to speak. “All right.”

David’s gaze dropped to Taylor’s arm, to the curve of black ink half-visible beneath the cuff of his T-shirt. His thumb brushed the snake on Taylor’s wrist.

“Take me as I am,” David murmured. “Cartoon snake and all.”

Taylor let out a watery laugh, blinking fast. “You remembered.”

“Every word. Every mark. Everything that made you you. ” David lifted Taylor’s wrist to his lips and kissed the snake tattoo, then leaned in to press his lips to Taylor’s bicep. “You were always enough, Taylor. From the second I met you.”

Taylor looked down too, and then away quickly, the words blurry through the sheen in his eyes.

David’s voice dropped to a whisper. “It’s not just a tattoo. It’s a declaration. And I want you to know something before I go.” He swallowed thickly. “I take you exactly as you are, Taylor. No edits. No conditions. No halfway.”

Taylor made a choked sound, somewhere between a laugh and a sob.

David pressed on, his words fierce and full of tenderness. “You showed me how to be honest again. You reminded me what it’s like to feel everything and not run from it. You didn’t ask me to be anything I wasn’t—and you deserve the same in return.”

Taylor looked up, his eyes wide. “I didn’t think you remembered.”

David gave him a crooked smile. “I remember everything. ”

Then he lifted Taylor’s arm, kissing the tattoo again as if it was something sacred. Taylor’s breath hitched at the warmth of his lips against that inked skin.

When David looked up again, his eyes were wet. “I love that part of you,” he said quietly. “The part that got hurt and kept going. The part that made you who you are.”

Taylor’s throat tightened, so many words he couldn’t give voice to.

David pulled him close and held him, the fire crackling quietly behind them, time grinding down to their last moments. The world beyond the house was dark and wide and waiting, but for now, all either of them could do was hold on, breathing the same air, feeling the same ache.

Taylor buried his face in David’s neck, breathing him in one last time, the scent of his soap and sea air and warmth. He clung to him, trying to press the moment deep into his memory. Every second felt impossibly precious.

At last, David pulled back.

“Okay, let’s say goodbye.”

He stood, taking Taylor with him. Their fingers stayed laced, and David kissed him, slow and tender, his lips warm and searching. When he pulled away, he cradled Taylor’s face in both hands.

“Thank you,” David whispered. “For all of it.”

Taylor’s throat burned.

David went upstairs, and Taylor listened to the creaking of the floor above.

When he returned with a small bag, he came up to Taylor and took his hand.

Together they walked slowly toward the door, their fingers laced until the last possible second.

He opened it, and a chill spilled in from the dark outside. Taylor shivered.

It wasn’t from the cold.

David turned back at the threshold, his eyes shining in the moonlight. “No matter what happens… I’ll never forget you.”

He kissed him one last time, gentle and lingering. Then he let go.

Taylor watched him walk down the ramp, each footstep on the gravel path echoing inside his ribs like a drumbeat. At the picket fence, David paused and turned back. He raised his hand in farewell.

Taylor lifted his own, swallowing hard. They stood like that for a long breath, a still life of parting.

Then David stepped inside the Lighthouse, and he was gone.

Taylor stood alone at the open door, staring after him, hoping for one last glimpse, but the light from the windows had gone dim. The night had closed around the house. Taylor stood with his arm cradled close to his chest— Take me as I am —still warm from David’s kiss.

Still alive with the promise of being truly seen.

Finally, Taylor stepped back inside. He closed the door behind him with a soft click and leaned against it, eyes shut.

The fire had burned low. The warmth was fading.

And that was that.

His heart ached, sharp and hollow. All he wanted was sleep, a long, dreamless sleep that would carry him straight through to morning, when it would be real. When he’d wake up to silence, to cold sheets, and to the ache of missing someone who’d carved a space inside him without even trying.

Because when I wake up, he’ll be gone.

And then, somehow, he would have to start the long, slow work of living without David.

What in the hell was that?

Taylor blinked into the darkness, disoriented. The LED clock beside his bed glowed 3:04 a.m. The room was still, the air thick with the hush of the sleeping cove. He held his breath, listening.

Tap.

There it was again, except now he recognised it. A soft rattle against glass.

He pushed back the covers and padded barefoot to the window. Moonlight spilled across the floor, cool and silver. Outside, the sea shimmered under the weight of the moon, gentle waves curling against the shore.

Tap-tap-tap.

Pebbles.

Taylor opened the window cautiously, and before he could even lean out, another handful of tiny stones pinged off the frame. He ducked in time.

“ David? ” he whispered.

There he was, standing in the moonlight, wild-haired and barefoot in jeans and a hoodie, his arm still cocked with another set of pebbles. He dropped them quickly when he saw Taylor’s face.

“Let me in!” David whisper-yelled. “Before I wake the whole damn cove.”

Taylor didn’t hesitate. He flew down the stairs, flung open the door, and David was there , stepping inside like a storm. Taylor closed the door, and before he could say a word, David grabbed him and kissed him, fierce and hungry.

Taylor let out a startled noise, the heat of David’s mouth stealing his breath. He pulled back, his chest heaving. “Jesus, David… what are you doing?”

David’s eyes burned in the moonlight filtering through the pane of glass set into the front door.

“I couldn’t sleep. God help me, I tried to go.

I tried to walk away, and all I could think about was you.

The way you looked when I left. The way it felt.

Like I’d just made the biggest mistake of my life. ”

Taylor’s heart kicked into high gear. “David?—”

“No, wait.” David pressed a finger to his lips, gently silencing him. “Let me say this.”

He took a breath, steadying himself. “Leaving tonight made something crystal clear. I’ve been moving through life thinking I was doing fine on my own.

Writing, hiding out, managing. But then you came along, and everything suddenly got louder and brighter and…

well, more. And I realised…” His voice caught.

“I don’t want to go back to that quiet, lonely version of life.

I don’t want to lose this. To lose you. ”

Taylor stared at him, his entire body vibrating. “What are you saying?”

David gave a crooked, breathless smile. “I’m saying I want a life with you. Wherever that is. I’ve got a laptop, a plug, and an unhealthy relationship with coffee. I can write anywhere —and I want to write here. With you beside me.”

Taylor’s mouth parted. “But… the movie deal?—”

“We’ll go to New York. We’ll go to LA. I’ve got an apartment in Manhattan we can use. But this?” David gestured vaguely around the house. “This is the place I want to come back to. Not a hideout—a home. ”

Taylor’s legs suddenly felt unsteady. “You’re serious.”

“As a heart attack,” David said. “If your parents would sell this place, I’d buy it tomorrow. If not, I’ll find something else, right here. Something with a sea view, obviously.” He grinned. “Because I already know the most important part of the view is you. ”

Taylor’s throat closed. The words hovered, impossible to contain.

David stepped closer, his voice dropping. “I’m asking you to live with me. To build something real. Something lasting. Because the truth is…” His hand came up to cup Taylor’s cheek, and Taylor’s heart lurched.

“I love you, Taylor.”

It landed like thunder and sunlight at once, heavy and blinding and an echo of what lay in Taylor’s mind.

Taylor’s breathing hitched. He touched David’s wrist where it cradled his face.

“I love you, too.”

The words spilled out without hesitation because they were already true. They had been for a while now, but saying them, breathing life into them, made everything make sense .

David’s mouth found his again, slow, melting kisses, and Taylor clutched at him, already dizzy with the weight of it all. Disbelief gave way to joy, a glorious, powerful feeling that surged through him, alighting every nerve, cell, and fibre in his body.

They kissed until Taylor couldn’t remember who started what, until they were breathing each other’s names, until the world outside fell away.

David finally pulled back, his eyes shining. “One thing hasn’t changed. I’ve got a flight in a few hours.”

Taylor let out a soft laugh. “Then we’d better not waste a second.”

David smirked. “Exactly what I was thinking.” He slid his hands down, gripping Taylor’s hips, pulling their bodies flush. “I can sleep on the plane.”

Taylor didn’t want to sleep at all. Not now. Not tonight. A hint of disappointment crept into his voice, however.

“You’re still going?”

“Yeah,” David said, quieter now. “I have to. There are meetings, contracts, all the grown-up crap. But I’ll make it quick.

I’ll do whatever it takes to get back to you.

” He kissed the tip of Taylor’s nose. “We’ll deal with immigration and logistics.

We’ll figure it all out. Because when it’s done… I’m coming home. To you. ”

Taylor’s heart hammered like a drumbeat.

“Together,” he whispered.

David smiled. “Together.”

That word felt like a beginning.