Chapter Twenty-Four
Joel
“With you being who you are.”
I churned those words over in my head for the rest of the day. A part of me felt bad that I had left her until the sun had met the sea, but I just hadn’t been ready to go back yet.
I’d been thinking of the long-term game with Alessandra. Hell, I’d even thought the same sentence it in my own head before, but I didn’t take into account all she said. I knew she didn’t want to be in the limelight. Sometimes I didn’t either, but I thought with some time that she would just ignore it, and everything would be fine.
Her having a family changed things in a way I hadn’t considered. I’d seen firsthand how ugly things got for families that were in the movie business. Friends and coworkers of mine had their life destroyed because it was just too hard; it hurt their spouse and their kids.
It was selfish of me to ask that of her. But I wanted her too badly to walk away. The thought made me want to fall to my knees, all of my body being weighed down by the fear of losing what we had gained and what I knew we could have.
Jenson was a cool kid, and he deserved the best in life. I wanted to give it to him. Shit, I wanted his mom so much that I wanted him, too. I wanted them both.
But how much was too much for them to sacrifice for love? For me?
I was head over heels, madly in love with Alessandra.
I didn’t need months to figure it out.I was falling before we had gotten to this point, and the past twenty-four hours solidified it. She was my woman, through and through.
Which made my head hurt, thinking about what to do. Keep everything a secret and hope shit didn’t blow up in our faces?
Let her go?
There didn’t seem to be any other options in my head, but there had to be, right?
I finally made it back to the house when the moon was high, and I knew I’d have some groveling to do after leaving her like that and not coming back till late. But I would do what I had to.
She was mine, and I’d go to the end of the universe for her.
We were like Lana and Luc from the film. I was literally fighting tooth and nail to reach her, and all I needed was her love to free me. I’d wait forever if I had to, but she was the only one for me.
I walked in the house, my whole body tense, ready for a fight. But she didn’t come at me.
She wasn’t in any of the rooms, and a sinking feeling in my gut led me to believe she’d left. My hands threw the closet doors apart so fast I thought they might have broken. As soon as I saw her clothes were still there, I sagged against the wall in relief. She was still here.
Maybe she was on the back side of the porch? With haste I checked, and she wasn’t there. Panic started settling in again, that something had happened to her, but then I saw a lone figure out in the moonlit water.
My goddess of the sea.
Not even thinking twice, I ripped my shirt over my head and took my shoes off.
My feet carried me to her like we were magnets feeling the pull. The water was warm as it crashed against me, my eyes never leaving the girl sitting on a board facing the full moon.
I swam over to her, and even though I could still touch the bottom, I needed to get to her now.
She must have heard me coming because she turned the board around to watch me approach.
Silhouetted by the moon, she looked like an angel. She was so beautiful. I didn’t feel like I deserved her.
My hand touched the board to help me tread water, and I tried to find the words to explain myself. They just wouldn’t come. Her black hair was down, and her tanned skin shimmered in the light.
“I’m sorry. I promise I will never walk away like that again. I’ve never done this, and I wasn’t thinking about anything other than just us being together. Including the repercussions. I swear to you, Alessandra, I will do whatever it takes for us to be together. I see my future in your eyes; I always have.”
There was nothing but the silence of the night between us, and I was hoping that she was going to dive right in with me, following my lead.
“Talk to me.”
