“All our lives, we only knew what it felt like to be controlled. It’s an emotion I have yet to find the proper words to explain because I feel like there is none. How can I begin to describe being stuck in a locked birdcage, placed in the middle of this large stage, with thousands of people watching it, but no one actually seeing that we’re locked inside unwillingly?”
“What is he saying, Lily?” Stella whispers, sensing my stress due to my locked body.
I’m not able to answer because he keeps going.
“After all we’ve been through as a band, all we want is kindness. None of that negative shit we dealt with for years. But I’m disappointed with what I’ve heard is going around.”
The most serious look crosses his face. And, damn, does he look so edible. A light layer of sweat covers his forehead, making the front pieces of his hair damp. His biceps glow in the light from hours of performing. His rock-star aura with his black guitar is screaming at me. I have to hold myself back from jumping onstage and claiming him.
“Some of you may know what I’m getting on about. We not only have a new member on our team, but she has always been a very important person in my life. She is the anchor in the ocean that keeps me grounded, the iron chains on a swing that keeps me safe when I feel high and low, someone I love bigger than the entire sky.”
My mouth drops, along with my heart.
Big, chunky tears cloud my eyes before rolling down my face; the thunder in the erratic organ in my chest is trying to beat its way out and into his hands.
I should have known Elijah would profess his love during a concert. From a young age, he has never known how to not spoil me.
“By hurting her through your words, you are gutting me.” His firm voice sends goose bumps along my skin. Finding me below, he doesn’t break our gaze as he continues, “Stop hurting the people we love, and let’s start spreading kindness. This fucked-up world needs a bit more of that.”
He gives a nod to Leonidas, and Amelia pounds the opening beat of the last song on the set list. Which happens to be my personal favorite—“Vices Written in Sand.”
Eagerly looking for the one person that occupies my mind, I bounce on the tips of my toes, and energy that I have never felt tingles my fingertips.
A bunch of staff sends me smiles as they scurry away. I’m not used to all this attention, brought on by Elijah’s declaration, and I hold back from folding into myself. This is a life I have to live if I want to be with him forever. And I do. Thinking about living without him is unbearable.
“Please don’t be mad at me. I—” Elijah strides to me out of nowhere, but before he can go on, when he comes within arm’s reach, my fingers grab the back of his neck, and I yank his lips hard onto mine.
Shocked by the sudden confidence and my strength, he stumbles back with our lips still attached. Pulling me into hishard body, he balances us both with his arms around my waist. He reciprocates my furious kiss but lets me take the lead, and our tongues dance together. The air between us pulses, heavy and electric.
“What did I do to deserve this greeting?” he asks, voice low and husky.
“Can’t two people who love each other have a good make-out session?” I chirp back like it’s no big deal when, in reality, my world feels like it’s exploding.
He loves me! I love him!
We are in love.
Heat pools in his orbs. “Two people wholoveeach other?” He repeats my words slowly and carefully, like he can’t believe they came out of my mouth. “Meaning I’m not the only one in love?”
My fingers tangle in the hair at the nape of his neck, dragging him closer, like any remaining space is intolerable. His hand cradles my jaw, warm and trembling. His thumb brushes my cheek like he’s memorizing my skin.
I shake my head. “Nope. I’m so in love with you that it hurts.”
“You love me?” he says, barely a whisper, like everything may shatter if he says it any louder.
“I think I’ve been in love with you since the first moment I saw you standing at the edge of your driveway. But what solidified my love for you is when you made me laugh so hard that the juice I was drinking came out of my nose.”
He exhales a shaky laugh, forehead resting on mine. Everyone around us fades.
“I have a confession to make before my brother and sister tell you it. When we were really young, Amelia would pretend she was you, and we would get married every day.”
I don’t hesitate to laugh. “That is the cutest thing I have ever heard!” I exclaim when I see how flustered he is. “I bet if you hadcome across the street and actually gotten down on one knee, I would have said yes.”
“And all this bullshit from all these years of not confessing our feelings would have never happened.”
“But then this moment wouldn’t have felt this magical.” With each of my words, my lips brush against his.
“Say it again,” he pleads, a tangled mess of need.
