Even when I'm gone

“You belong to me,” Jake sang.

“I belong to you!” They both belted in unison.

I’d stopped walking, and the two continued singing and spi

They laughed uncontrollably and turned to face me.

“Don’t tell me you don’t know that song,” Jake asked with a hand digging into his hip, catching his breath. I threw up a hand in the air. “I’ll make love to you?” he asked, growing frustrated.

“No, thank you,” I answered and walked toward the two.

“How are you with this bloke?” Jake asked Mia incredulously.

Mia recovered and jumped on my back. I grabbed her thighs, and she laughed into my neck as she tousled my hair. “I’ll introduce him to Boyz II Men,” she wrapped her arms around my neck, “when he’s ready.”

We reached our spot in the woods, and I leaned back to guide Mia to her feet. Tyler and Jude sat over the broken tree limb, and Liam sent a nod over to Jake from the ground.

“Hellos” exchanged, and I took a spot over the ground and pulled my knees up, more relaxed since the first day I’d come back.

“There’s this game Mia and me started on the last day last year,” Jake said, taking a seat next to Liam. A pit formed in my stomach, thinking Mia had spent her last day last year without me. She had a memory I wasn’t a part of. She had seven months I hadn’t been a part of. “We go around and say one thing we’d been dying to say all year but was too ashamed to say. Kind of clear the air.”

“What do you call this game?” I asked and grabbed Mia’s waist, who began to sit beside me but I positioned her between my legs. She should know better.

“Just truth. No strip. No dare. Just the bloody truth.”

“I like it,” I said, and kissed the side of her head. “What was yours last year?” I asked into her hair, immediately regretting it. Did I want to know?

Mia shifted uncomfortably, and my heart sank. It had been about me.

“Mia said Liam was a lousy fuck,” Liam blurted with an eye roll.

“Why?” Mia threw her arms up and fell back into my chest.

I chuckled and grazed my thumbs over the bare skin above her waistline.

“For that, I’ll go first,” Liam offered. “It was sex with you that made me realize I loved dick.”

The circle burst into a laugh, and Mia shook her head. “Bet you’ve been holding onto that for a whole year.”

“As a matter of fact, yes. This whole gathering was my idea.”

“Okay, okay, my turn,” Jake cut in, squeezing Liam’s shoulder. “Believe it or not, I’m glad Mia spilled her secrets in that journal. If she hadn’t, Liam would still be in the closet.”

“I suspected Jude was the prankster this whole time,” Mia confessed. “Sorry, Jude.”

Jude packed his cigarette pack and shrugged. “It’s cool. I don’t blame you. I was a wanker.”

Tyler scrunched her face. “They just didn’t know you like I do.”

“Nah, I should’ve never treated you the way I did. That’s not like me.”

“Fuck, this is therapeutic, yeah?” I laughed, seeing all the love pouring from the circle of outcasts. “Who knew we could’ve ever gotten to a place like this.”

The circle went silent into deep thought.

“Bloody truth? I’ve fantasized about fucking Ollie,” Tyler blurted.

“And then she goes and does that,” Jude shook his head.

“What?” Tyler lifted her shoulders. “This is a safe place.”

“Bloody truth? I just learned your name like a month ago,” I rushed in to save the moment.

“I wonder what ever happened to Bria

Everyone offered a wordless shrug.

“Bloody truth?” Tyler spoke up. “What’s Officer Scott’s story with you? Bria

The knot in my stomach increased to the size of an American football and my teeth clenched. Mia’s fingers circled my knee caps.

Three.

Two.

One.

Exhale.

“There is no story,” Mia said casually. “Ethan—

“Oh, he has a name,” Jake interrupted.

Mia dropped her head and narrowed her eyes in his direction. “Officer Scott is intense, but he was the only one who was there when everyone else bounced, so … ” she lifted her shoulder.

Tyler nudged her head. “Earmuffs, Ollie.” I flipped her the bird. Whatever she was about to say, she could say it. I already knew everything. “Suit yourself.” Her eyes darted to Mia. “You and Officer Scott had sex, didn’t you? Is he really a fucking monster under his uniform?”

“Ooh, does the carpet match the drapes?” Jake asked with an anticipated smile.

Mia shook with laughter in my arms, and I didn’t know if I was relieved I couldn’t see her face to catch her expression, or mad about it. “You guys are horrible.”

“Ah, keeping to your guns on this one, yeah?” Tyler shook her head. “That answers it.”

Mia turned in my arms, and I fell back to my elbows. She blinked slowly, the complete opposite of what my heart was doing. “I love you,” she whispered.

The three single words were rare coming from her lips.

She never had to remind me, but in times such as these, it was everything my body needed to relax. Mia pulled her hair over her head into a band, and stubborn strands danced in the wind. “Say it again,” I demanded, needing to hear it. It wasn’t a question.

Mia’s hands slid down my thighs, and the blood rushed to both heads.

“I love you, Ollie,” she smiled, and I pulled her on top of me to hide my hard-on growing in my joggers from the rest of the group. Her eyes bulged. My face heated, and I shrugged my shoulders. Yes, love. That is what you do to me.

“I’m telling everyone,” I whispered to her. She knew it had been hard for me to hold in the news that she would soon be my wife. “Can I tell them? Yeah, I’m telling them.”

Mia’s hand came over my mouth, and I darted my tongue out. Her jaw dropped and she quickly pulled her hand away. “Bloody fucking truth,” I called out, sitting back up and wrapping her legs around my torso. “I’m marrying this girl,” I pointed at Mia’s head who was now hiding in my chest. I pulled her head away and looked into those coffee-colored eyes, seeing the same girl I’d fallen in love with across the mess hall since day one. “And I can’t fucking wait, love. I can’t. I don’t want to.”