I close my eyes feeling those words stronger than ever. She loves me. I love her too. What could tear us apart?
“I love you, too.”
26
Liesel
I don’t know why I resisted saying ‘I love you’ for so long. Saying it even when I’m pissed at him is fucking incredible.
We lay in the sun, my head on his chest. As good as it feels, neither of us understands the danger that saying ‘I love you’ has caused; I can only guess.
Neither of us will take it back now, though.
The damage has been done, and our fates are set.
“We should get up and go have dinner with the kids before we take off,” Langston says.
“Mmmh,” I say, knowing he’s right, but after thinking I lost him, I can’t tear myself away from his body.
The anger at him faking his death returns; he put me through hell. I can’t really be mad at him for long, though. He did it to get my stubborn ass to admit the truth and save Declan. Not to mention, I had Siren fake killed, and it almost destroyed him. Nonetheless, I let the anger fill me enough that I can unclench my claws from his body.
I sit up and smack him across the cheek. “Don’t ever scare me like that again. I can’t handle losing you.”
He sits up, chuckling, and then crosses his heart like we are five again. “I promise.”
“No more tricking each other. No more hiding. My heart can’t take it.”
“Neither can mine.”
We kiss, but I don’t let his tongue in my mouth. If we start that again, we will never leave this boat.
Langston scoops me up in his arms, then grabs his duffle bag before carrying me to the back of the boat.
“There are clothes in the bag to get dressed,” he says as he sets me down and begins getting the sail back up.
I find yoga pants and an oversized shirt. I put them on and watch as Langston works, still completely naked.
Finally, he finishes his work and digs through the bag to find his own clothes.
“I think you need a bath before you get dressed. You have your guilt all over you,” I say as annoyed as I can muster. Honestly, I’m just so happy that he’s alive that I don’t care he was the reason for thinking he was dead.
He shrugs a shirt on over the dried fake blood and pulls up his pants before sitting next to me. He doesn’t speak as he kisses me on the forehead, but I know he’s apologizing. He would spend the rest of his life apologizing if I let him. We both could.
That’s not the life we want, though. I vow to myself that the second we step foot back on the island, I’m letting this shit go. I can’t live my life mad at him forever.
Langston ties off the sailboat at the small dock on the island, and then he helps me off.
We start walking up the beach to the house. Our hands tangle together, and Langston looks at me.
I smile deliberately back. “I forgive you.”
“What? You can’t. I—”
“I forgive you. I love you.” I kiss the back of his hand. “Now, let’s go enjoy time with our family and friends.”
I tug his hand, and he walks with me. I can tell he wants to talk about it more, but I’m not going to let us. Our time together is too precious.
Atlas and Rose see us as we approach the house. They run out and jump on us like we’ve been gone for months instead of just one day. That’s what I regret the most—loving them, knowing the life we lead. There is always a chance we won’t come back. A chance they will go through what I fake went through—losing Langston.