Chasing Us (Dark Love, #2)

by Kat T. Masen

And for now—I had to let Charlotte go.

“Lose me forever? Too fucking late, Lex. You lost me a long time ago. I was just stupid enough to think it was fixable.”

“¿Quieres lastimarme por lo que te hice, Charlotte? Bueno, has ganado. Para citarlo, he terminado. You want to hurt me for what I did to you, Charlotte? Well, you’ve won. To quote you, I’m done”.

“Because I fucking love her, and it hurts like hell.”

I never stopped to realize the damage I could cause because it was always about me—my feelings, my hurt, and my pain.

I missed the girl I used to be.

But she’s my wife. To have and to hold till death us do part.

no one else can ever understand how much I loved Charlotte back then. And that, alone, should’ve been the very reason I fought everyone to keep her in my life.

Charlotte is carrying my baby.

Portuguese

She was mine all along, and once again, I, Alexander Edwards, vow not to stop, not until she’s mine again.

There’s no tomorrow without him. Alexander Edwards will forever be the only man to capture my heart. And I refuse to live life any other way.

Love like there is no tomorrow, live like today is the end, and have faith that tomorrow will come. Sometimes we are given the easy road, sometimes the most challenging, but if we can end up being as happy as both of you today, then any road taken is well worth the journey.”

“They say love is a noble act of self-giving, offering trust, faith, and loyalty…”

He said… It was a challenging road. But well worth the journey.

And to love like there’s no tomorrow. Live like today is the end.

“Lex… this is your baby.”

With his hands dropping to his sides, he steps back with an incredulous stare. In silence, he searches my face until his eyes become glassy, and a small smile plays on his lips. “M-My baby?” he stammers.

He is mine, and I am his.

And together, we have started something beautiful growing inside of me.

Mrs. Edwards. Mrs. Edwards—the name is like music to my ears.

But our baby, what happened to the baby?

Alexander Mason Edwards Sleep my baby angel, always and forever in my heart.

The phoenix.

“I am home, Lex… with you… wherever you are. You are home.”

You and I… this is it, baby. No turning back.”

“Necesito que te pierdes en mí, tengo que sentir lo mucho que me quieres. Muéstrame lo mucho que me quieres, sólo a mí. I need you to lose yourself in me, I need to feel how much you love me. Show me how much you love me, only me.”

“This is how I always want to find you, soaking wet, ready, knowing that

you ache just as much as I do. I want you desperate around me, I want you to want me every moment we are together.”

“Charlotte, this right now, this is what I’ve dreamed about since the moment we ran into each other in my parents’ kitchen. I’m so happy right now it actually fucking hurts because I don’t know what to do with myself. I’m obsessed with you, every part of you. You are my addiction, but one I never want to stop.”

“When it comes to you, Charlotte, everything…”

“This is an adjustment for both of us. I’m not used to having to factor someone else in just like you aren’t. But I’m learning the word delegate… please be patient with me.”

“I love you. Obsessed together forever,” he whispers, rubbing his nose against mine. “Obsessed together forever.”

“Don’t you get it? Money can be a curse rather than a blessing. I want to be the one who cleans our bed sheets, knowing that I’m making our bed. I want to look at that and smile, reminiscing about all the wild sex we’re having on it. I want to be the one who cooks our meals, places the cutlery on our table knowing that it’s you who sits across from me at the dinner table, chatting about our day, and most importantly, I want to be the one raising our baby. I don’t want to miss a single milestone because it’s assumed the wealthy need a nanny. I want all the normal things, Lex. White-picket-fence type normal. A long time ago, I pictured you and me and our children. We led a simple life, and we were a family.”

“I love Charlotte. I always have since the moment I came back that summer, maybe even before. I was a kid, and I made the wrong decisions and hurt everyone around me, but mainly the one who mattered the most. I can’t erase that, and to forgive myself took years of destructive behavior, but in the end, it was Charlotte’s forgiveness I needed the most. I don’t know who is looking down on me, but I thank my lucky stars that somehow, something brought us back to one another. She is my life, and I want to give her

everything she desires. Perhaps I’m not asking you for your permission as such, because let’s face it, Charlotte will do what she wants to do, anyway…” I pause thinking about what to say next. “What I’m here for is to reassure you that Charlotte will be taken care of. Aside from financially, I’d move heaven and earth for her. I will do everything in my power to give her the life she deserves. All I ask in return is that you support us on this journey because, without your support, Charlotte won’t feel whole, and I can’t let that happen. I cannot watch her experience hurt and pain, not if I can help it.”

“Just happy to be home.”

For the first time in my life, I find it—not a place but a person to call home.

see. I didn’t get to hold you close to me, and I wasn’t able to look at you the way I’m looking at you right now.”

“If I had known all those years ago in the treehouse that you were the one, I would have saved myself a shitload of misery. No matter what life has thrown at the both of us, here we are, standing here… together. Charlotte, you complete me. For eight years, I believed I had met my fate. I have been punished for my actions, but somehow, someone gave me a second chance at life, gave me a reason to breathe again. Charlotte, you are my reason that I stand here with a heart bursting full of love. You are the reason that in five months from now, my wildest dreams will come true. I want every part of you, and I need to do this properly. Will you do me

the honor of making our family complete? Will you marry me, again?”

“You know I couldn’t say no, right? I’m legally Mrs. Edwards already,” I tease.

“Legally, yes, but emotionally, I needed to do this. This makes it real to me.”

She said yes to marrying me… again.

without any hesitation, both my heart and feet walk toward him, finding their way to a place called home.

A month of fucking my beautiful wife all day, all night. Now that is heaven.

We are officially one.

I’m not good with babies, or children for that matter, but somehow, when you are handed your baby for the first time, life just falls into place.

I don’t know why I expect Charlotte to say the words when I haven’t given her any reason to.

We are broken.