All In (Full Tilt #2)

by Emma Scott

Every night, I called one final thought into the deep darkness: Come back to me. And just before the dark consumed me, a whisper returned: My angel, let me go…

For Jonah, I thought. For you, my sweet love. I’ll do this for you.

“Right at the time he needed it most. You made him happy. Quit worrying about what you didn’t do, because what you did do was everything.

I slipped into the twilight space between sleep and awake and felt Jonah with me. And he was smiling.

“Jonah,” I whispered. “I’m going to try this. I have to try to let you go now. Because, I think…it’s what you want. Isn’t it? It’s what you’ve been trying to tell me. I don’t know if I can let go entirely. But tonight, I’m going to try.”

“Live in the stars, baby. Okay?” My voice cracked but didn’t break, and I smiled through my tears. “You’re free. You made me free.”

I closed my eyes. I inhaled. You are a universe… I exhaled. No regret, only love… And on the currents of that soft breath, I whispered to Jonah, “Goodnight, love. I love you. I will always love you…”

You will heal and you will rebuild yourself around the loss you have suffered. You will be whole again but you will never be the same.— Elisabeth Kübler-Ross

“I had Jonah. For a few, short moments that beautiful man was mine and I was his. I’ll never have anything that real or good again, will I? Who gets a second chance like that?”

This close, he was my entire world, with no place for anything else.

My Theo. My universe.

Kacey. He took the shapeless glass of my life and blew potential into it. Hope.

You’re the man I’m going to introduce to my parents. You’re my forever.

“Jonah says she’s safe.” Her hand reached up to touch my face. “Jonah?” I whispered. “She’s safe with him, Teddy…”

“You’re my entire world. My …” “Universe,” Kacey whispered, her fingers brushing my cheek softly. “You’re my universe. I love you, Teddy…”

“He was right about everything,” she said. “We have so much love in us. No end to it.”

Love had no end. She was infinite. She was a universe, my universe, and I was hers. Love had no boundaries, no rules, no favorites. And no limits.

I feel the warmth from the red and gold curls of glass. My love for Jonah a warm glow in my heart, like a sun that never sets. And deeper within, a fiery core—my love for Theo burning with powerful, unending intensity.

“Love again,” I murmur. “He told me to love again, and I do. So much.” “He told me to love you.” Theo’s warm, soft eyes meet mine. “But I already did. So much.”

We stood up together, emerged from the barren space together, bonded not in shared grief, but in shared love. Theo and I, a treasure out of the ruin.