After Rain Falls (River of Rain, #2)

by C.E. Ricci

Because in the cold light of day, if I had to choose, I know who it would be. I wouldn’t have to think twice. It’s River. Every star in the night sky would have to burn out before it isn’t River.

It feels like he’s ingrained himself into every single cell of not only my brain, but also my skin, my bones, my…heart and I can’t do anything but think, breathe, and fucking yearn for him since last night.

He should’ve tattooed his name across every available inch of my skin in exchange for my sanity because in the end, I’ll never be anything but his. Until my dying day, I’ll belong to River Lennox.

But how the fuck do you survive your heart being ripped from your chest and thrown into a blender? Your lungs being popped, deflated and then flooded with poison? Your brain being transfixed on every smell, kiss, touch, taste you shared with the person who owns every inch of your being, only to now live every single day of your life without them? The answer is simple. You fucking don’t.

“There was a point in my life when I thought your cum was the sweetest thing I’d ever tasted.” I grind the words out, desperate to gain control over the war inside me. Giving in to my desire to kiss and hold and fucking love him is the last thing I can do right now. “But I was wrong, baby. I think I prefer the taste of your tears.”

He is the object of my obsession, the gravity for my orbit, every star in the night sky, reminding me that I’m not alone. He’s the center of my goddamn universe.

You have me. You will always have me. Until every star in the night sky burns out,’” he pants, locking his whiskey irises on my own. “‘And maybe even then.’”

“As terrifying as it is,” he breathes against my lips, his voice ragged and drained, “I know in my soul I’ll always have a weak spot for you. Fuck, River. I’d leave the entire world behind for you.”

This is the only way to keep you safe, River. I have to let you go. I’m doing this because I love you.

The color…it reminded me of your eyes.

“You can glare at me with only ice left in your heart every time you see me. Freeze me out as if it can make you feel less. But just know, it doesn’t stop my veins from boiling the minute I see you. Every thought of you burns my skin. And knowing my sleep is the only place I’m able to kiss you, touch you, and feel the fire you consume me in…makes me crave the nightmares.”

“Some rise by sin and some by virtue fall,”

He’s the oxygen. And he makes me feel alive.

I resist the urge to drag him across the bed and into my arms. The need to hold him and take away his demons and just... Sigh. Love him. It’s all I fucking want.

This is what I’ve needed for the past couple months. Just a hand to fucking hold.

study him, every line and plane of muscle I want to worship. Every piece of who he is—his dimples, smile, eyes, you name it—I adore.

I won’t be fucking satisfied until it’s impossible to tell where I stop and he begins. Until we’re one.

“‘Power Over Me.’ Dermot Kennedy,” he answers, his husky voice laced with desire as his hand slides over his dick while he rides mine in slow, steady movements. “Because that’s what you have. What you’ll always have.”

“I wanna know you aren’t going to leave. Because everyone fucking does and I’m sick and tired of waiting for the other shoe to drop with every single person in my life. I wanna know I mean something to you. Know I don’t have to worry about another Roman coming in here and taking you again because for fuck’s sake, Rain, I just want you!”

I cut him off by crashing my mouth to his again, not letting him ruin this moment with self-doubt or insecurity. It might be running through my mind too, but I’m not letting it derail us. Because we fucking deserve this. After all the pain and the heartache and the bullshit, we deserve this one goddamn moment to be nothing but happy.

“I might have you, but you own me. Every inch. Every thought. Every moment of every day, Abhainn. You own me.”

He’s mine. Only mine. Just like I’m his. And I know now, we’re no longer an almost. We’re everything.

“Your name was already inscribed on my heart and etched in my soul. The only place it was missing was inked on my skin.”

“Because I’ve painted something for you, drawn a sketchbook filled of you, had paint sex with you, but I’ve never painted on you.”

“Don’t try talking me or yourself out of this. I fucking meant it when I said forever.”

There’s a cleansing that comes after rain falls. This sense of peace that blankets your surroundings. That brings more possibilities and gives way to new beginnings. In a way, it’s hope.

It’s him, a thousand percent. Every day of every week of the rest of my fucking life, it’s him.”

You keep me safe.

You keep me wild.

“I wasn’t kidding when I said I lost my mind while we were forced together for those five weeks. You made sure of that,”

“But Abhainn, I truly did find my soul in that cabin too. Thanks to you. Because it’s you. Fuck, even when I didn’t realize it, it’s always been you.”

If you think you’re lost, just follow the river.

“You’re all I want. All I’ll ever need,” I tell him, my voice rough and filled with gravel. “And I swear to you, River. No matter what, I’ll follow you anywhere.”