"Tell me what happened in Hawaii. What made you call me?"
My eyes close. "Do you still have that pick I gave you? The one I had engraved with our initials?" The bed shifts as he moves to the edge of the bed, and I can hear a drawer open and shut. The bed dips again, and my eyes flutter open.
In front of me is the pick. Worn and well-used, but I can still see the initialsR & Lengraved in the center. I slide it from his fingers, feeling the rough texture it’s grown over the years. "I can't believe you still have this," I whisper.
"I've never played without it." He takes it back, his eyes lifting to my neck. "It looks like I can't say the same for you, though." His voice is sad, a little let down at that fact.
My hand lifts to where I've had his piece of gold sitting for so many years. I feel like a piece of me is missing, and that's because it is.
"I did, until yesterday."
"What happened?"
My nose burns and tears fall from the corners of my eyes. He doesn't wipe them away this time, waiting for me to answer. "Willie raped me."
His eyes widen, his neck turning a bright red. I watch as his fists bury in his sheets, clenching them between his fingers. "What?"
"I—"
"No, I mean, what? I thought you left him in California."
I nod. "He ended up coming to Hawaii. When he found me, he was… different. He was using."
I don't say anything else, not sure how much he wants to know. I don't want to relive this, but I know I need to tell someone. I need to tell Roman.
"Tell me," is all he says.
"H-he came to my house. I got away, b-but he attacked me on the beach. The next time I got away, I ran into the ocean. He t-tore my necklace off. I grabbed it and held it around his neck…" My breathing picks up, and I press my hand against my chest, feeling nauseated and so fucking sad.He took my necklace.
Willie took many pieces of me when he sunk to the bottom of the ocean.
"I put it around his neck and pulled until he d-drowned. I killed him," I whisper.
"You killed him," he says. Not a question. A statement.
I nod, my jaw trembling in fear. What if he hates me for what I've done?
He puts his finger up, sliding off the bed. "I'll be right back."
My eyes widen, panic making me sweat. "Where are you going?"
He doesn't answer, slamming the door shut behind him. A moment later, I hear a crash down the hall. It's loud, as if it happened just outside the door.
I jump, my entire body flinching as I curl deeper into the sheets. I pull them up to my neck, not sure whether I should go check on him or not.
The door creaks open, and I look up, seeing Roman walking in. His face is toward the ground, a distraught look in his eyes. His hand rubs the back of his neck, the other one is clenching. Fisting and releasing. Over and over again, I watch his corded arms twitch and flex.
He glances up, staring at me. There's so much emotion in his eyes, but the most prominent one of all is absolute ruination. He looks destroyed.
Walking up to the bed, the fronts of his thighs press against the comforter. "I wish you never left." His voice comes out choked, the words strangled in his throat. "I wish none of this ever happened to you. I wish I could go back, take all the hurt and pain that you've endured, that you must be feeling at this very moment." He leans down, his hand trailing over my naked neck, where I can see in his eyes the desire to see the necklace reappear on my skin. "I'd do anything in this world to erase the burdens you hold, but I can't. All I can do is carry them with you, help that weight lessen off your shoulders. Will you let me do that, Luna? Will you let me help you carry your pain?"
A sob bubbles in my chest. I can feel it climb, building as it rises. By the time it breaks through my throat, tears are flooding down my cheeks and my entire body is trembling. "Please, Roman. Please help me." There's nothing else I want in this world than for Roman to stand by my side. The fact that he wants me, after everything I've said, makes my chest burn with truth.
He really is my soulmate.
I can feel it in each touch. The electricity has only grown over time. There's a pain in me when we aren't touching, when we aren't near one another. The moment we touch, the pain dissipates. It fades off, and I feel whole again. The shattered pieces of my soul are slowly healing, they're starting to come back together again.
It's all because of Roman.