Page 134 of Unapologetic Obsession

She huffed. “So, you don’t care about my personality. All I need to do to make you like me is breathe?”

“All you need to do to make meloveyou,” I corrected, “is breathe.”

She was stumped. “Why?”

“Because you exist as long as you’re still breathing. And I wouldn’t exist if you didn’t.”

“That’s such an insane reason to love someone.”

Insane? If only she could crack my head open and read the thoughts inside. I loved her with a ruthlessness that bordered on insanity. In ways she would never be able to fully understand.

I would have killed myself that day if I hadn’t saved her. My entire existence hung in the balance of her delicate hands. She was my only reason for existing.

Instead of telling her that, I gave her a version she could accept. “The first time I laughed was with you on that roof. I didn’t laugh again for ten years, until the night on the boat. So, yes, I fucking love you just for existing.”

After that, she didn’t ask any more questions.

Rose

Ikept quiet as Caden wrapped his arms around my waist. There was a sudden peace in the water, the air, and between us. I leaned back, resting my head against his chest, feeling his heartbeat beneath my ear.

“Tell me you love me,” he breathed against my ear.

He didn’t askifI loved him. Heorderedme to say it. The thought made me half smile. “God help me, but I do love you.”

“You’re so romantic,” his voice was warm against my ear, trying to sound sarcastic at my reluctant admission.

Nonetheless, his arms tightened around me, and I could feel the tension leaving his body that I had finally admitted it.

“Say it again,” he ordered after a few short moments.

I laughed softly. I had a feeling he would make me repeat those three words throughout the night as if they were water after a lifetime of thirst.

This time, I turned in his arms and held his face between my hands. My eyes shone with vulnerability as I let him see all of me. “I love you. And just in case you were wondering, you’re the only person I have ever loved. I didn’t know you were the boy on that roof. That’s the person I gave my heart to, and I was never able to snap out of it again.”

I didn’t wait to see his reaction. I turned around and nestled back into his arms to watch the water instead. It was a fitting sight considering how we started.

The future stretched before us like the ocean, an unmapped territory we’d navigate together. Whatever world Caden createdfor us, I’d walk into it willingly because it had become the compass to find the version of myself I never knew existed.

Ironic. It was only after I became his captive that I finally found my freedom.