What I Should Have Said (Anchors and Eagles #1)

by R.L. Atkinson

“Obviously, smart ass. I’m asking why you choose to wear glasses when you ...

“Well, they, um…look cute on you.” His lips didn’t twitch into a smile, and he didn’t break a single emotion onto his face, so I couldn’t tell what he meant by that.

Haha awkwarddd🤭

There was my dad’s smiling face, that cheesy grin that always made me laugh. Despite his busy schedule, he’d never missed a major milestone of mine.

“Fair enough,” he quietly said and lowered his right arm from the steering wheel. I scooted even closer, and he wrapped his hand around my waist to hold me steady. For

“Miss Barlow?” Her voice quivered. Griffin quickly jumped off the rung and rushed to her while I slowly pushed myself toward the ladder and began to descend. “YOU ARE ENGAGED TO DAYTON’S TEACHER?” she screeched and grabbed Griffin’s ear.

We love a good ear grabbing haha

More words, but they were muffled, and then gone with her footsteps as she finally left the room, leaving us alone. Alone.

And he noticed, unleashing whatever animal he’d had on restraint. His hand wrapped around the back of my neck, and he jerked me toward him, crashing his lips against my mouth.

Ahh he’s been waiting to do that 🤭

I couldn’t seem to fight anymore. It was like something inside me had died the day my father had. It was as if whatever strength I had to stand up for myself withered away the moment it had sunk in that he was never coming home.

Grief is such a hard concept for everyone

“He taught me everything. He knew more than me, and it still didn’t keep him alive. How am I supposed to feel safe if it didn’t protect him and he was stronger than me? What am I supposed to do without him?”

I heard a heavy sigh, but no answer. Not for a moment, and then a soft bump pressed against the frame. “Keep going. That’s what you’re supposed to do. Because he wouldn’t want you to live in fear,”

“But I don’t know how to anymore,”

“Me neither, Jane. Me neither.”

“YOU SHITHEAD!” I shouted again as he wiped the water off his face and looked up at me, chuckling. “You were worried about me.” He grinned.

“You jumped off the edge of a cliff! Of course I was worried!” I responded, appalled. “Well, are you going to join me?” “Uh, no thanks. That water has got to be freezing.” I swung my legs over the edge of the cliff as he laid onto his back to float.

“Your tattoo is pretty,”

“Flattery won’t work,”

“No?” he teased,

“Not even if I say that your eyes are the most beautiful shade of gray I’ve ever seen. They’re like the sky right before...

“That might...

“Or if I told you that I can’t help but smile when ...

“And, despite the fact that you sat on my face at the gym, I’ve secretly looked forward to seeing you there every day. I knew that whatever sass was co...

“I told you not to talk about ...

“Jane,” he whispered, cautioning me.

“What are you doing?”

“What I ...

“Don’t,” he hissed through his teeth and smashed ...

“Why ...

“Don’t ask that ...

“Griffin.” I placed my hands against his cheeks, and his brows stitched t...

“I can’t.” “Ho...

“Because, Jane,” he paused, and his fingers dug into my back. “Because if I do, I will lose any self-control that I have, shove you against the edge of ...

“So, do it.” Honey dripped from my words, and hi...

“You told me th...

“And I’m telling you what I...

“I want you. Right here. Right now. I want you to have me.”

AHHHHH

I’ll tell you exactly what I should’ve said that day. What I wanted to say. I’ll give you the world if you’ll let me.

Anyway, I think that’s it. I miss you, smart ass. Yours, Griffin

THIS MANNN😩💕

What I’m trying to say is that I don’t really know what love feels like, but what I felt, and still feel for you, sure seems a lot like what I imagine it to be. Those

intensely. I closed my own eyes and felt myself fall once more for the very face who was passing through my mind. So perfect.

Even his voice. Deep, touched briefly by smoke that caused a grittiness to it. I could hear him so clearly, as if he was in this very room. My eyes shot open in shock. That’s because he was in this room.

I was proud of myself for sticking up to her. For every girl who ever felt anything less than. For the girl I once was and the woman I had become.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” I quickly said, as the stumpy man grabbed the rod from his companion’s hand and then shoved one end into the fire. “I don’t even know who you are.”

“Well.” The man in the suit began to unbutton his jacket. “Let me introduce myself personally. My name is Alberich Riku Schnur, and I—”

“Killed my f...

“How long was I there for?”

“Three days,”

Pulling away his balaclava, he gave me a boyish grin as my mouth opened, and I slowly turned to Griffin.

“It took you three fucking days to come find me?” I snapped, hearing some of the men’s suppressed laughter.

LMAOOOO

“Three days? You’re pissed about three days? I was halfway across the world, in the middle of an op, when I learned about what happened. Exactly how fast is appropriate in your worldly opinion?”

“The day of,” I stated matter-of-factly. My heart raced with excitement at his closeness and his sweat-t...