When her eyes meet mine again, I see the gratitude in them, as if she’s waited her entire life to hear this. Because I can’t resist the urge, I give her forehead a long and tender kiss. Then, I wipe away the tears from her cheeks, and after one last look at her reddened face, I sit back on the stool. Following a change of gloves and a wipe to clean the blood and ink from her skin, I pick up the gun again to resume.
“Vicky was destined to become a great person,” she continues, “so I tried to become more like her and have a great career, exemplary life, immaculate image… I owed a perfect person to the world, so I had to become one.”
“I find you perfect without those expectations you set for yourself,” I point out, never tearing my eyes from my work.
“Which is what made me realize my mistake. Myself, the person I am deep down, has every right to exist—as much as Vicky had every right to live. By acting the way I did, I didn’t replace her. She can never be replaced. I only stopped myself from existing. So now, I need to find out who I am outside of my parents’ expectations.”
Gen’s hand comes to cup my cheek tenderly, so I look up from the tattoo to meet her eyes. “That person might as well be a stranger to me, but you’ve tugged and tugged at her, and now she’s out with a desire to live and be heard. You’ve changed me in the deepest, most incredible way. No one else but you could have done it, wombat. No one else could have pushed me to find my true self the way you did.”
“I wanted the real you. That’s who I fell in love with, red. You’re bold, daring, and not afraid to take what you want. Your strength is the sexiest thing about you, and getting to witness it and see you grow out of your shell has been an incredible experience.”
“Well, maybe I got a little too bold,” she says with a grimace. “I quit my job before heading here.”
My eyebrows shoot up. “You did?”
“I was so done with that shit. My boss gave the promotion to Ralf Lowell, and I couldn’t bear the idea of working under him.”
“I’m sorry to hear that. You deserved that position.”
“It doesn’t matter. I’ll do something more significant with my life than keep working for a tech conglomerate that only cares about money. I don’t know what I want to do with myself or what I’ll become, but I know, with absolute certainty, that I want to do it with you. I want your face to be the first I see every day, your voice to be the first I hear… I want your arms to become my home because I’ve never felt more like myself than when I am in them. You’re the only thing I’m sure of, Jake, the only one that matters.”
Her declaration halts for a brief moment, and her eyes fill with tears again. “I know I messed up, and I know I should have realized that sooner. But I promise, wombat, I promise I’ll never take you for granted again. I’ll never put you second. You’re my everything, and it’s something I’ll never forget. So please, forgive me for what I did the other night. I should have run after you and left everyone else behind.”
The smile tugging at the corners of my lips is unstoppable as I bend forward to set my face close to hers. “I forgave you before you even arrived, red. I sent you a text.”
She frowns, confused. “When?”
“Half an hour before you barged in. I thought you were here about it, but it became clear you didn’t read it. Did you block me or something?”
“No, I set my phone on DND before I met Vivienne, and then…”
Before I can even stop her, she rushes out of the chair, making the paper towel fall to the floor. With trembling hands, she pulls her phone out of her bag and unlocks the screen. I watch as she reads the long text I worked on yesterday and this morning. I needed time and space to gather my thoughts and lay them all out for her to see.
Also, when I woke up with a hangover on the 5th, the lack of messages from her triggered a plethora of doubts. Part of me thought it meant she was moving on, and we were over. That’s why I only reached out earlier today when the pressure became unbearable.
Her eyes go left and right while her hand rests over her mouth, and I do my best to remember what I wrote.
I realize that you have a complicated relationship with your parents, something that affects who you are at your very core. I don’t blame you for what happened because I know you’ve been conditioned to accept their behavior. And while I might never truly understand it because I’ve been robbed of a parental figure for too long, you would rather have them in your life than not.
And I’m here for you, even if it hurts me to watch them treat you the way they do. I’ll stand by you, ready to build you up when they tear you down and to remind you of your worth when they make you doubt it.
You’re an incredible person with an amazing heart, and nothing they say or do will ever change that. You’re strong, fascinating, beautiful, and deserving of all the love and respect in the world. If I have to be the only person out there giving you that, then so be it.
I miss you and your freckles.
Your wombat.
A silent tear rolls down her cheek, and she wipes it away with a hurried gesture. “You really sent me this?” she wonders as if the proof right before her eyes isn’t enough. I nod with a low chuckle. “And then you let me sit there in agony for forty-five minutes?!”
Her indignation brings another chuckle out of me. “I wanted to hear what you had to say.”
“You’re a dick, Jacob Clarke,” she protests. I keep my eyes on her determined expression as she makes her way back to me. I’m shorter than her from the stool, so when she grabs my face, I’m looking up. “But you’remydick.”
“I am.”
Her mouth falls on mine, like heaven and bliss wrapped in a tender graze of her lips. It’s sweet, soft, and more meaningful than any other kiss we’ve ever shared. This is a seal, an unbreakable promise.
When her warm tongue lasciviously touches the opened seam of my mouth, I put an end to it with a groan. “Let me finish your tattoo first, then I’ll drag you upstairs and let you continue.”
