Adore Me

“Marry you?”

“Yeah, at the top of the Eiffel Tower, at sunset.”

“It sounds like something you would’ve scripted.”

“It’s way better than anything I’ve ever scripted,” I reply, hugging myself and trying not to have a total crying breakdown.

“Don’t cry,” he says, lightly punching my thigh. “Close your eyes and listen to this.” He starts singing, “You’re my faith and inspiration. You’re the ink in my tattoo. You’re the water in my desert. All I can think about is you. You’re the sun in all my sunsets. You’re the wind in every breeze. You’re the moon on my horizon. You’re the one that makes me breathe.”

“That’s beautiful, Damian.”

“I need a chorus. Something about fate. And us being here. I’m go

I feel his words resonate in my heart and when he finishes, I sing, “It’s sorta like fate that we’re together. It’s sorta like fate that we’re both here.”

He continues, “It’s sorta like you and me forever.”

“My destiny is clear.”

“Holy shit. That’s it,” Damian says. “That’s exactly it. You’re a genius.”

I give him a smile, then bite my lip so I won’t start crying again.

Damian turns off the recorder and puts his hand on top of mine. “You still pla

“Yeah.”

“Keats, I think that might be a mistake.”

“You know I don’t have a choice.”

“Are you sure about that? I mean, have you really thought it all through?”

“Yes, there’s no other way.”

“What if I help you find another way? No one knows I’m here. If I went back with you, I could help.”

I shake my head. “If you go back with her, I can’t go back. And you can’t help me.”

“So, you’re going to make me choose?”

“Yeah, Damian, I am. And your choice should be easy. If you love her like I think you do, don’t you dare let her go.”

“I love you too, you know.”

“I know, but it’s not the same.” My eyes fill with tears. “Damian, will you promise me something?”

“Okay,” he says tentatively.

“That didn’t sound like a promise. I’m completely serious about this. I need you to promise that you’ll do this for me.”

“Okay, I promise. What do you want me to do?”

“If I don’t make it through this battle with Vincent. If I die. I need you to tell Aiden that I loved him.”

Damian’s eyes get huge and he lunges toward me, knocking his guitar into the sand. He grabs both my arms and says sternly, “Don’t say that. Don’t you dare say that.”

“Just promise me, please. I can’t do this if you don’t promise.”

He lets me go, looks into my eyes, and nods. “I promise, Keats.”

“Thanks. I’m go

Sunday, November 27th

I wish none of us had to leave.

6am

I dozed off at some point, but the clock is still ticking in my brain and I can’t lie here any longer.

I wander down to the beach and find Damian still out in the cabana, asleep.

I go up to the house and grab a few of Inga’s homemade oatmeal cookies and two cups of coffee and carry them out to the sand and wake him up.

“Shit,” he says. “I can’t believe I fell asleep out here.”

I look out at the sky brightening as the sun rises behind us. “I didn’t tell you, but something happened last night.”

“Besides the call from Brook?”

“Yeah. I saw the green flash.”

“You always say that.”

“No, for real. We both saw it.”

“You’re totally in love with him.”

“Yeah, pretty much.”

“So why would you even want to give B a chance?”

“Because I promised.”

“But why did you do that?”

“Because, Damian, he’s the boy I’ve always dreamed about.”

“And now, if they were both standing in front of you and you had to choose, who would you pick?”

“I had a dream like that. You were in it, but you were a wolf. We were all humans trapped in wolves bodies and I had to choose between the Brooklyn wolf and Aiden wolf. And I think you helped me somehow, because when I kissed one of them, I chose right. It was true love’s kiss, it broke the curse, and all the wolves turned back into men.”

“But you don’t know who you kissed?”

“No.”

“So what does that tell you?”

“I don’t know.”

“I do,” he says confidently. “It tells you that when the time is right, you’ll make the right choice. Maybe that’s the momentous decision you’ll have to make. But still, I think you’re making a mistake right now. I think you should be looking forward, not looking back.”

“I am looking forward. I have to get my life back.”

“I think you should go back to school.”

“If I do that, you can’t date Peyton.”

“This sucks,” he says, ru

“I have to, Damian.”

“So where are you going?”

“I’m going to stay here for a few more days, if that’s okay. I’ll spend some time online looking at farm properties that I can lease quickly. I had originally thought I’d go somewhere in the Midwest, but now I’m leaning toward Texas. Did you know that in Texas if someone comes on your property, like trespasses, you can legally shoot them? Well, at least I think so. I need to look and see if it’s an actual law or if it’s just Grandpa’s bullshitting, but I do know they are a very gun-friendly state.”

“So your plan is to learn how to shoot, then lure Vincent to Texas, where you will then shoot him for trespassing and it will be over?”

“Oh, I never thought of that. That’s a really good idea. And one that wouldn’t require the mob or jail time.”

“Do you have other ideas?”

“I have a whole lot of ideas. One of which is just walking into Vincent’s office and telling him I want to audition for his movie. See what happens.”

“Keatyn, fuck! You can’t do that!”

“I love you, Damian, you know that. But, in this, only I have a say about what I can or can’t do. When I saw Vincent in Vancouver, I wasn’t so much scared as I was pissed.”

“You weren’t scared?”

I roll my eyes at him. “Fine. I was scared. Really scared. But I was really mad too. And the mad is starting to take over.”

“You’re mad because you want to be with Aiden.”

“My life is unsettled because of Vincent. I’m mad because I can’t see my family. I’m mad because my mom is freaking out scared. She’s losing weight. Won’t ride anywhere with Tommy. Thinks Vincent is going to kill them both. My own family was afraid of me. They were afraid I brought Vincent to them.”

“But you would never do that.”

“But, yet, I almost did. He was headed there. He had men on the plane with him. Men who looked like Garrett.”

“Garrett scares me a little.”

“He’s been really nice to me. But tough, you know. And I love Cooper.”

“He’s the bodyguard?”

“Yeah, he’s a badass. And it’s really sad. His older sister was killed by a stalker—in fact it happened at Thanksgiving time.”

Damian looks like he just got the wind knocked out of him.

“I would seriously die if anything happened to you. You always have been and always will be my best friend.”

“I thought about faking my death. Even about killing myself.”

Damian’s eyes get huge and he grabs my shoulders and shakes me. “Tell me that is not part of your plan.”