“I am curious how he brought you back from the dead, but these heroes are an odd sort. Bringing you back to fuck you is a weird way to get back at me for wanting a baby. Either way. I want it all, Vincent. You can have your divorce and fuck my sister if I get what I want.” She stood, flattened out her pencil skirt, blew him a kiss, and walked right past me.
So many thoughts, so many words and emotions, and I swayed.
“Shit. E.” I saw Vincent rush to me, but my vision blurred, and I fell before he could catch me.
“Emily. My Emily, open your eyes,” a gruff voice called to me, and I tried. It took a few flutterings of my eyelids before my vision cleared.
“Fuck. I’m so sorry, E. I—” I pressed my fingers to Vincent’s lips before slowly sitting up. His mouth parted to speak, but I pinched his lips shut.
“I know it wasn’t on purpose. I know who she is and what she’s like. Did it shock the fuck out of me? Yes. Obviously. Did I like what she said? No. I do feel guilty despite me not being the only thing that’s dissolving your marriage. We’ve both seen your penis. It is what it is.” I tried not to think about that part of our story often. “But what I do want to talk about is the bringing me back to life part.” Although part of me did want to know why she wasn’t fazed to see an apparently dead person again. Like her sister. Her dead sister.
“E.” Vincent shook his head but wouldn’t budge. Days ago, I would have plugged my ears if someone talked about my future. Things were different now.
“This is why you’ve been working so hard lately. You’re trying to figure out how to change my fate, aren’t you?” I knew the answer without him saying it. I dropped my fingers from his lips only to search for his hand.
“I can’t lose you.” His voice broke and I climbed into his lap.
“You won’t lose me.” The words felt as hollow as they sounded coming out.
“It’s either I save you and doom everyone else or I let my soulmate, my safe person, die.” My arms wrapped around his shoulders tightly. Orange flecks caught my attention as Vincent’s head dipped into my neck. His emotions were taking us somewhere.
The sound of crickets hit my senses first. The scent of fresh air and a cool breeze were the second thing I noticed. When I opened my eyes, I saw trees and a mailbox sitting in a bush. Vincent’s head rose, then glanced around us.
“Our park,” he commented, those strong hands going beneath my thighs, taking me with him as he stood. My focus darted around, finding nothing familiar about our park.
“Look.” He turned us to face the bench we were just sitting on. My mouth fell and my heart pounded, seeing the memorial plaque with my name engraved on it.
A second later, the oddest thing happened. My heart found a normal rhythm. My whole body relaxed, and I felt warm. It was as if the earth took a blanket out of the dryer and laid it over my shoulders.
“Vincent. I’m not afraid.” From the depths of my soul, I saw that plaque and knew it wasn’t going to be this way.
“E.”
“Vincent. Feel my heart, feel how calm it beats. I know what that says and what my sister and whoever else says. I know this sounds crazy, but that’s not our fate.”
“How do you know?” He shook his head before sitting on the bench with me on his lap again.
“A feeling. Which I know sounds lame, but Vincent, I need you to trust me. Believe in me, in us.” The more the words tumbled out of me, the stronger they felt in my heart. “We were always supposed to be together.” I couldn’t lose him, and he wouldn’t lose me. “I’m asking a lot. I know. I know how you think. You see all the bad that can happen and have a hard time trusting the good. But V. My V. Look at us.” I pointed my finger from my chest to his. “We were brought together, across time, through a magical fucking mailbox. We became friends, we trusted each other, which led to being each other’s safe person and finally soulmates. This, what we have, is beyond time. We are timeless.” His lips clashed against mine as soon as I finished. I wished I had more words, more proof that what I felt was real. That somehow it would work out. But I didn’t.
So when he took me back to my apartment, I made sure to show him with my body, heart, and soul. Every kiss, every touch, rattled the timeline.
“I love you.” I peppered the side of his face with kisses as he groaned into my neck. I held him close, pouring all the love and comfort I possessed.
Despite the guilty feelings of calling out of work, I took the rest of the week off. Shit was going to happen during the Terratrex event, I knew it. Perhaps Vincent would share the load of stopping them. We’d work together to save the day.
Vincent strolled out of bed with slightly less tension in his shoulders than yesterday. He was scared, and hell, I was too. But we weren’t giving up.
“I got a text to come visit Amari at Draco’s.” I jumped up to make him a cup of coffee, but he gently picked me up and set me on the table, his body nudging between my thighs.
“We’ll go after breakfast.”
“I haven’t made any yet. I think there’s a can of cinnamon rolls I can make.” My mouth watered thinking about that cream cheese icing. The fridge popped open, and the can rolled onto the floor. Stupid powers.
“We can have that for second breakfast.” His fingers ran up my thighs, and goose bumps rose as those gentle hands coasted over my sex.
“Vincent. I’m pretty sure my sister is home.” We had sex in the bedroom while she was here, but this was like public space of the apartment. What if she woke up early for some weird reason?
“Don’t make any noise.” He stared into my eyes, his gaze never wavering as he lowered himself to his knees. Oh boy. I could stop him. And maybe I should. We could walk the few feet down the hall to the bedroom.
