15
Logan
The moon shines a spotlight over the Mustang, the windows dripping wet with the remnants of our affection.
I press a kiss over Skyla’s cheek as she settles in my arms, our flesh seared together with heat, something I wondered if I’d ever get to feel again and I drink down the sensation like the finest wine, like the only elixir I’ll ever need to survive.
They say let go of the ones you love, and if it’s meant to be they’ll come back to you. And Skyla has come back. Yes, we crawled through hell, and we were severely burned by the enemy, by Gage. We were witness to the destruction of our love story, to the destruction of our people, to the destruction of the one we love perhaps more than ourselves, Gage himself.
But our love story has resurrected itself—next, we will restore our people, and finally we will save Gage. Even if we need to shut down the entire planet to do it. Whether or not Gage Oliver likes it, he is ultimately one of us. He is us. A strange holy trinity on a far less grander scale than the original but nonetheless, we are like water, existing only with three parts and as it stands we’re almost there. Almost back to where we need to be, and with Gage back in the fold one day all will be well with my soul, and I’m betting Skyla’s, too.
She tips her face toward mine, a fragile smile on her lips, her eyes sleepy, drugged with delight, and I never want to forget how beautiful she looks at this moment.
A small laugh pumps from her. “I agree on every point.” Skyla nods as if there were no words for how deeply she feels it and I know she does. “We win, Logan. Celestra will rise from the ashes.” Her eyes close for far too long, lids trembling, tears spilling from her lash line. “And yes, we will save Gage from himself.”
“We will.” My lips land hot over hers and we share an oven hot kiss. “But most likely not tonight.” I pull her up and give her ribs a gentle squeeze until she pumps a smile out for me. “How about we take a quick trip? Somewhere a little roomier where I can show you just how much you mean to me?”
A throaty laugh comes from her. “I think you just did. Besides, it’s getting late. The boys never sleep well until I’m in that room.”
“That room.” I didn’t mean to say it out loud, but it doesn’t matter. She would have heard it anyhow. “Think about Whitehorse. Pick out some beds you like for the boys and let’s get them out of those cribs.” Skyla and Gage had already done that back at the old Walsh house. I let Skyla pick them out and I bought them for both their home and a set for mine for when they came to visit. Adorable little car beds. But the investment was sorely underutilized. “In the meantime, maybe we see about squeezing another twin in your room? The thought of the boys on bunks doesn’t sit well with me. But if you want them, they’re yours.”
“No way. They are way too little.” She gives the tip of my nose a quick peck. “I love how we’re on the same page.”
“Good. Because that means you are going to love the little adventure I’m about to take you on. And before you say a thing about time, it won’t cost you any. In fact, it will be as if we never left the Mustang.”
“As if we never left the Mustang?” She sits up in my lap and her bare chest shines as if she were illuminated from the inside. “Logan Oliver, are you taking me for a light drive?”
A slow blooming grin takes over as I wrap my arms around the woman I love and land my mouth over her ear.
“Yes, Skyla. I am.” And just like that, the Mustang fills with an explosion of light that I have never experienced before, a brightness that rivals the sun, every star in the universe, as a room forms around us—familiar walls, dark antique furniture, a spacious bedroom. The air holds the distinct scent of our lovemaking, warm and humid just like that Mustang, and Skyla gasps.
“Logan!”
Gently I clamp my hand over her mouth, that devilish grin on my face, suddenly filled with a touch of grief as I nod to the couple in bed.
There we are, Skyla and me, in the middle of a December that faded years ago. The old me is reduced to tears. My time on the planet cut short once again, our honeymoon over, Skyla and I seemingly over forever. I land a sweet kiss to her beautiful mouth and we dissolve, our cellular structure blinking in and out of existence as if we were fighting it tooth and nail. I took her to Gage. To his bed. I entrusted her to him. My beautiful bride. We were over before we ever began. That was always the backbeat to the rhythm of our love but no more.
“They’re gone.” She breaks free from my hold and swoops to the bed, a laugh caught in her mouth. “Come here, Oliver. The sheets are still warm.”
I head over and land beside her with a bounce. “We have the room for one more night. I thought it’d be a shame to waste it.”
Skyla tips her head back, laughing as if it were amazing, so very brilliant, and I have to agree wholeheartedly it is. “I bet thatdo not disturbsign is still out front.”
“I sure as hell didn’t move it.”
Skyla glides into my arms, a dirty grin blooming on her lips. The feel of the cool fabric of her dress excites me. Hell, everything about this girl excites me. It’s always been true.
“Can you believe it?” She sighs. “That couple that just left has such a hard road in front of them.”
“Yes, they do, but they find their way back to one another, and in the interim a lot of fantastic and some not so fantastic things happen.”
She nods in agreement, her cool hand slipping inside my shirt. “It’s almost as if we’ve come back to the beginning.”
“That we have.”
Skyla lands her back onto the mattress and pulls me on top of her. “There are so many things I want to say to you, to discuss with you. It feels as if I’ve woken out of some spectacular stupor and we’re just now seeing one another since the last time we left this room.”
“Start talking.” I land a heated kiss to her neck and she moans like a dove.
