More on this book
Community
Kindle Notes & Highlights
But in that moment, I wanted her near. Then she touched my arm, and I nearly gave in.
Her voice was violet blue. I closed my eyes. It was my favorite color to hear.
Look away, arsehole, I told myself. I did. Only for her laughter to make my eyes snap back in her direction. Her laughter was pale pink.
But then I had to look at her…and I couldn’t bring myself to look away.
I looked up, and I saw bright greens and lilac purples dancing around us—the color of our kisses.
And like before, he held out his hand for me. He held my hand until he brought me to the door of the dorm.
I’d lost my mind, I must have, because I wanted to reach out and hold her hand.
She looked so damn cute.
“If you don’t want me to take your mouth right now, I’d stop looking at me like that.” “Like what?” she whispered, cheeks flushed. “Like you want to feel my tongue ring in your mouth again.”
I held my hand out for hers, and this time, Easton or not, I was going to hold her hand.
“But your music made me see you, Cromwell. It called me to you. The boy who hears color.”
“But the way he was fighting for you, didn’t want to leave you, tells me everything I need to know. Obstacles in life sometimes make you look at the world in ways you never did before.” “And what did it tell you?” “That he’s fallen for you.”
I knew I wasn’t giving her up.
I stopped at her seat. Not giving one shit about the other students in the class, I leaned down and pressed my lips to hers. Bonnie didn’t even try to pull away. She just melted into me like she knew where she belonged.
I kissed her nose, just because I could and it was there. “I’m not going anywhere. If you haven’t learned by now, I’m stubborn and pretty much do whatever the hell I like.”
A slam of pain crowbarred into my stomach as I did. A rush of anger seemed to singe the bones in my body. Because Bonnie Farraday was perfect. Perfection with an imperfect heart.
“Let’s make a deal right now. You ever need to rest while you’re at school, you come to me. You need anything at all, you come to me. And you don’t get embarrassed. Deal?”
“And I see the way you look at him.” He sighed, defeated. “And the way he looks at you.” “How?” “Like you’re his air. Like you’re the water to whatever hellfire lives inside him.”
“He’s…he shows me he cares in many ways. He holds my hand and refuses to let go. He wants to be with me, even if all we do is sit in silence. And best yet, he shows me he cares in the only way he knows how.”
“She made me listen to the music inside me again. She made me play. She inspired me…She made me me again.” I swallowed the lump that I was sick of feeling. “She can’t die.” All the fight drained from my body. “I love her. She’s my silver.”
“Breathe, baby,” I said. Panic swelled inside me, but I kept it under control as Bonnie started trying to take deep breaths.
“I won’t lose you,” I said and kissed her forehead. I inhaled her peach and vanilla scent. I tasted her addictive sweetness on my tongue. “I can’t live without you.”
When I woke, it was with Bonnie in my arms…exactly where she was forever meant to be.
Felt what my soul felt when he whispered in my ear how much he loved me. How much he adored me. And how I was going to get through this.
“How are you feeling, baby?” Baby. He’d just started calling me that. I loved it about as much as I loved him.
I stood there, watching the girl who had brought back my heart fight to save hers.
“I’ve decided that from this day on I go wherever you go.”
He was my violet blue. My favorite-ever note.
“Baby, no,” he said, but I smiled when I saw there was now enough room for him to lie down. He shook his head, but I could see the hint of a smile on his lips too.
“You…Cromwell…there’s not a part of us that I regret. Not the beginning…not the middle…and certainly not the end…” I fell asleep like that, waking in his arms too. And I decided it was how I wanted to say goodbye, how I wanted it to be when the day finally came. Because it was perfect. He was perfect. Like this, life was perfect. And it was how heaven would finally greet me.
One twin died so one would survive. My best friend, gone. The girl who held my heart, fighting for her life. And me, helpless to do anything to fix it.
“I think it’s good, baby. The symphony I’m composing…” Baby. The endearment circled my head, only to float down and take up its rightful home in my new heart. As it settled I felt calm. Warm and safe beside the boy I loved.
“I miss you, Cromwell,” she’d whispered. “Life just isn’t the same without you here.” “I miss you too, baby,” I’d said in response. I’d paused. “Please come to the gala. Please…”
Because they knew, as much as my heart did—I had to be with Cromwell. He was our home.
So I did. I always did whatever she asked. I’d learned that life was too short to deny her anything.
