The words aren’t loud. They’re not dramatic.
They’re devastating in their honesty.
“You don’t have to say it back,” he adds quickly, voice rough. “I know I’ll have to earn it. I’ll work every day to make you love me. But I need you to know—being without you, even for the moments when your office door closes—it feels like I’m dying.”
A watery laugh escapes me through my tears.
I press my forehead to his, my hands sliding into his hair.
“You’re ridiculous,” I whisper, smiling even as I cry. “And dramatic.”
His brow furrows slightly, uncertain.
“And I love you already.”
The breath he lets out is shaky and relieved and full of everything he’s been holding back.
He pulls me tighter against him, burying his face in my neck like he finally believes he’s allowed to keep me.
And for the first time since this night began, the world feels solid again.
Like nothing is breaking.
Like we’re choosing each other—
not out of obligation,
not out of fear,
but because we want to.
Reassembled
Langston
Idon’t hear the scuffle behind her.
Don’t register raised voices or the scrape of shoes against marble.
All I know is her.
Her arms around my neck. Her words still echoing in my head like a truth I’ll spend the rest of my life holding onto.
She loves me.
The world narrows to that single fact.
I pull her tighter, crushing her to my chest like if I don’t anchor myself to her, I’ll lose my footing again. My hands slide up her sides, into her hair, my mouth finding hers without thought or restraint. I kiss her like I’m relearning how to breathe.
“I love you,” I whisper against her lips. Then again. And again. Like a promise. Like a vow I should have made sooner.
Eventually, the chaos behind us quiets. I help her to her feet, keeping a hand at her back as I guide her into the bathroom. I wait outside, leaning against the wall, my pulse still too loud, my hands shaking now that the adrenaline has somewhere to go.
That’s when a familiar presence drifts into the hallway.
Cross strolls toward me like he’s got nowhere better to be, whistling under his breath.
“Took the asshole out the back,” he says casually. “What do you want done with him?”
