Revive Me: Part Three (New Haven #2)

by J.L. Seegars

The only thing I learned in the time you gave me is that I was right to ask for it. I should have never let your promise rob me of my sense because this is always going to be us. More pain than happiness, more heartache than love.”

“I love you, Mallory, and I’ve never had a choice in the matter. But, even if I did, I would never choose differently. Even if I lived a thousand lives, my soul would seek yours out. No matter what form I take, what name I'm called by, or what part of the universe I'm designated to, it'd still belong to you. I'd still belong to you. I’d find you in the depths of the ocean, in the darkest part of the night⁠—”

“No, you don’t get to have me. You don’t get to say you’d find me in the darkest part of the night like we don’t both know that you’re the one who keeps leaving me there!” She’s vibrating with energy, her features a kaleidoscope of volatile emotion. “You buried me. With your secrets and your hope and your promises that you can never seem to keep and then you come back here after four years of silence and expect me to be thankful that you remembered how to find my grave?”

Chris’ hands come around my waist, and he sighs. He sighs like it’s a relief to finally touch me. He sighs like every breath before that one was a struggle. He sighs, and that one, small sound threatens to undo me, to untangle me like an errant thread of yarn on a well-worn sweater.

“Every time you walked away from one of them, you took a step closer to me, Mallory. And when you’re done running, when you finally come home, when you believe me when I say I’m sorry, and you trust that I’m not going anywhere without you ever again, you’ll agree that every man who’s touched you has only served as a reminder that you were made for me.”

“There will be nights when you wake up in our bed, remembering every time in this very hallway when the lust faded away and the disappointment set in, when your pussy was wet for him, but your heart was desperate for me. You’ll panic at first, thinking you’re back there, in that empty place, but then you’ll realize you’re in my arms, and you’ll know, princess, you’ll be certain you don’t belong with anyone else but me.”

“But what you do need to do is keep Sloane’s name out of your mouth and figure out why you’re trying to make it her fault that you couldn’t hold on to a man that never wanted to keep you in the first place.”

“I can’t say I always knew we would end up here. In fact, I honestly never thought we’d be here, but you two are proof that we always end up where we’re supposed to be, that life can be beautiful even in the face of loss.”