Now open your eyes

“I know, I am too,” she admitted, then moved back to give me room. I peeled off my hoodie and tee then slipped out of my jeans before sinking over the couch beside her. She immediately warmed me, and my fingers pushed through her hair as she shook her head. “I’m not leaving you, Ollie. There’s nothing you can say or do to make me leave. I’m staying with you. No matter what happens, I’m going to be right here with you every step of the way.”

The right thing to do was tell her I was a dead man—to prepare her for the inevitable, but I couldn’t find it in me. It was better off anyway, Mia not knowing. She’d only do something incredibly stupid like beg me not to take the call and run away from it all. But we couldn’t force Travis, Summer, Jake, and the rest of them to take off with us. If we ran, Dex would be out for blood. He’d take away everything that made my heart beat inside my chest, most importantly, Mia. And if dying meant she’d be safe, I’d die a thousand deaths.

“Promise me something, Mia,” I said as her shallow breaths hit my lips. Mia lifted her eyes to mine, and she nodded once. “If one night I don’t come home, don’t wait for me. Instead, close your eyes and go to sleep, that way, no matter where I am, I can still be with you,” her eyes bounced between mine, and I swallowed, “dream of me, alright? Promise me you’ll do that.”

Mia’s lips parted and eyes glazed over. “I promise.”

I abandoned the couch and picked her up, carrying her in my arms back to our bed. She didn’t say anything about the hole in the wall, the broken drawer lying beside our bed, or the clothes draping over our wooden headboard. Mia only kept her eyes on mine as I laid her over the mattress and slowly undressed her.

The only way I could get through this moment was to keep myself together when all my body and emotions wanted to do was break apart at the thought of this being our last time. Her ivory skin glowed against the white sheets of our bed, and I took my time, ru

My fingers grazed down her stomach, and it slightly rose and fell beneath my touch. I flicked my eyes up, and her bottom lip caught between her teeth, her eyes closed. “Open your eyes, love,” I whispered, and her thick lashes blinked open.

I continued my journey, her entire body shuddering when my fingers brushed her sex, and her thighs broke apart under my silent command. Mia’s eyes fluttered, and a breath caught in her throat as my eyes drifted down her torso. My heart hammered, and her tender core starved to be kissed.

I crawled between her legs and up her torso until my nose grazed hers. My mouth moved down to her neck to kiss the spot below her ear just once. “The first time we made love,” I whispered over her throat. “I asked something of you before it happened. What did I ask you to do?”

Mia’s back arched, and her nipples grazed my chest before she said, “You wanted me to remember the moment and the way you made me feel.”

“Yes,” I gri

And we made love that night like every other night, and though I was unable to hide the way my heart danced to our last song, she would never notice or see the difference. I’d never held back when it came down to the two of us, and Mia always had the power over me. My other half—my strength.

The girl was a design, a form of art. Painters, musicians, nor novelists could capture or mimic the way she lit galaxies beneath my flesh or make my heart beat to the tune of River Flows in You. Even the most talented would be jealous of the way she moved like paint across my skin into my bloodstream. For over two years, I’d poured her through every line, word, and syllable of poetry, but could never get it just right.

An absolute wonder.

I’d spent the last few years falling in love with her, and I could die easy knowing Mia Rose was strong enough on her own. She never needed anyone. It was true, I’d pushed her to bring her back, but she’d always been the one to save herself. Perhaps that was my purpose in this lifetime with Mia, to remind her the struggle and fight along the way could be just as beautiful as the freedom she’d find once I was gone because … we were once together, and it was beautiful.