Page 150 of The Echo of Forever

We’d showered and eaten, but I couldn’t bear to not be touching him. Something about being in his arms felt as necessary as breathing since he came into my life. I wanted toconnect with him even in silence, as if his mere presence was enough to quiet the war that had been raging inside me for as long as I probably couldn’t remember.

His fingers traced lazy patterns on my bare shoulder, occasionally dipping down my spine before returning to their original path. The gentle touches soothed me, reminding me that I was safe here and that I belonged. That he needed me, too.

“Did you know I was following you before we met that night outside the compound?” I murmured into his chest, the question that had been lingering in my mind finally finding its way out.

His chest rumbled with a chuckle as his arms tightened around me.

“Yeah, baby. I figured it was you, but why’d you turn around? Not because of society rules, right?”

I shook my head, my cheek sliding against his warm skin.

“I had a migraine and didn’t want to pass out while driving…” I paused, lifting my head to look at him, squinting slightly as if that would help me see into his past. “Where were the three of you headed?”

My curiosity about their destination that night had completely slipped my mind until now.

Demetrius adjusted himself against the pillows, bringing me up with him so we were both semi-sitting, my body still draped over his.

“There’s a piece of unincorporated land about forty-five minutes outside of town that the family owns,” he told me. “We built homes on it and rent them out to rejectors who don’t want to live in the city but still want to be close to it.”

I sat up all the way, pulling my legs to my chest as I absorbed what he was telling me. The pieces were fitting together, helping me understand the man I’d fallen in love with…twice.

His family, too.

“I’ll let your sister-in-law tell you about the bodies she leaves in her wake whenever something doesn’t go her way.”

I stared at his lips as he spoke, mesmerized by the way they formed words.

“You could—”

Without much thought, I leaned forward and pressed my mouth to his, silencing him mid-sentence.

“I don’t care if I lose my memories ten more times, you have to tell me right away,” I whispered, feeling that shit deeply. “No matter the circumstances, you can’t leave me alone again.”

For me, he was becoming all that mattered in this life. The rest felt secondary to what we shared. I needed him to know that, to understand that no matter what happened, he should always seek me out.

“I’ll always find you, my forever,” he promised, pulling me back into his arms. “No matter how many times I have to make you fall in love with me again.”

I settled against him, content in the knowledge that whatever came next, he’d be right there with me.

Just as I was on the verge of sleep, my phone vibrated four times on the nightstand. Demetrius tried to get me to ignore it, but only Carmen sent messages back-to-back.

Now that we were working on our friendshipandmaking more enemies than ever before, ignoring her simply wasn’t an option for me.

I reached for it and immediately looked at him over my shoulder after reading them.

Millicent is dead.

Found in her office at the bar by staff three hours ago.

The trustees are having an emergency meeting to discuss whether it’s connected to what you revealed today or not.

“Is there something you’d like to share with your wife, Demetrius?”

CHAPTER 38

ECHO

I wokein bed alone to the smell of bacon and Forever’s voice carrying through the apartment. She was talking to someone whose voice I couldn’t register. I stretched, still half asleep but too nosy not to see who my wife cooked breakfast for when she could barely boil water a year ago.