Reclaim (Release, #2)

by Aly Martinez

“When I left the ten-dollar bill on your nightstand, I genuinely thought you’d find your way back to me. A phone call. A visit. Anything. But as time passed and I got older, I realized I fell in love with a girl who had no idea how to be loved.”

“You still a Snickers girl, or have we moved on to Twix?” Fuck the candy. I was a Camden Cole girl, any and every way he came.

“Please hear me when I say this. You were enough for me when you were eleven, barefoot and saving my life from frogs. You were enough for me at twelve, yelling at me for not choosing you, because whether you understand it or not, just knowing that someone cared if I chose them changed my entire outlook on life. You were enough for me at thirteen and fourteen and fifteen and sixteen, and fuck, Nora, you have been enough for me every single day of my life. Timing is everything and we’re not there yet. But don’t you ever fucking let me go. Do you hear me? Never.”

The understanding that, while now is not our time, there might a future where one day the two of us find ourselves on the banks of our creek again, this time with free minds, whole hearts, and a lifetime to share. Until then, wherever you go and whatever you do, I love you.

“Five years, five hundred years—it doesn’t matter. I want you, Nora. In my life. In my bed. At my side. Any and every way I can have you. I only want you. I don’t care if it’s messy or complicated. I don’t care if you are still working through the shit-hand life dealt you. I don’t care how it comes or what it looks like. I only want you.”