Even when I'm gone

My face didn’t feel it, but my heart sure did.

She stood before me, her eyes mixed with emotion and her bottom lip shaking.

“Seven months!” she cried out, “Do you have any idea what you’ve done to me?” My head shook, and I took a step forward, but she backed away from me, and that small distance she created cut deeper. “I let my guard down for you, I loved you with everything, and in the end, you…” her palms hit my chest, and I did nothing but take the beating, “I was on my knees, Ollie, then you pulled everything out from under me and for seven months I crawled through every fucking memory and every empty promise!”

Each word penetrated me, tore me open worse than her hands on me. Over the last seven months, I had been able to get by without her because I was already dead inside. Yet, I helped her destroy her walls for me only to leave her unarmed.

And the way I left stripped her of the belief I created for us.

I took another step forward, and she shoved me against my chest again.

“How dare you,” she choked, her voice defeated. Her brown eyes filled with hatred—hatred toward me. Strands of her hair glued to her wet cheek as tears continued to fall from her eyes. “I’m scared to close my eyes because every damn time, all I see is you, and when I open them, you’re not there! You were gone!”

I’d seen this side of her before, but it was during a time she fought against herself. She’d held the same terror in her eyes before when I’d taken her down in the shower room and I clutched onto her under the water.

In her eyes, I was the new enemy, but I refused to accept it.

She came at me again, but I snatched her wrist and pi

She fisted my shirt at my chest and yanked me down until our mouths collided. The rest of me turned to liquid as her soft wet lips stroked mine unapologetically, speaking her pain and unwavering love for me all at once. I inhaled a more stable breath through my nose upon her exhale, breathing her in.

Mia.

Poetry.

As if no time passed between us, our lips moved in sync while the rest of my body forgot about the sickness and caved to our needs. I spun Mia so her back was against the wall and mine fused to her where it belonged. Her lips parted for me, allowing me in and I took what I unknowingly craved for the last seven deadly months.

“I love you, Mia,” I grabbed her face and waited for her eyes to open to see this is real, “I’ll always love you.”

Lights sparked in her eyes like it did the first time we kissed, and though I never needed confirmation, it was all I needed to dive into her again.

Slowly, my tongue caressed hers, the taste of apple juice still embedded in her buds. Ignoring the tremors in my hands, I held her soaked face as she sucked my lip. Warm hands glorified my bare skin under my shirt, fighting to ease the bitter withdrawal.

For her, I fought to be strong, but I only grew dizzier from the sickening affliction. My head dropped to her shoulder, and the door to the room swung open.

“Jett?”

My head snapped up, and a red-headed security guard stared at the two of us from the doorway. Instantly, I lifted myself off her, and my gaze darted between Mia and the red-headed wanker.

Mia’s face was blotchy and wet—golden-brown eyes, battered.

Her breathing faltered from what just occurred between us.

The security guard’s eyes jerked between Mia’s condition and me, and suddenly, he launched at me. The cracking sound of my nose came from inside my ears as my head bounced back. My hands shot over my nose and eyes when another force sent my back into the sink. A weltering pain stabbed my lower back.

“Stop it!” Mia’s screams echoed in the bathroom. “Ethan, stop!”