“What the fuck are you doing? Noah!”
“Shhh,” I soothed as I started walking toward the forest.
“Let. Me. Down.” She slammed her hands against my back, hitting with all her force, but I didn’t stop. “You’re a psycho.”
“Takes one to know one.”
“I’m not the one kidnapping people.”
“No, but you’re the one that’s keen on making me bleed out tonight with your words.”
“Noah—”
“You’re the one that’s trying to erase everything we ever were, and that little glint in your eye told me that you loved hurting me just now.”
A second passed, her hands pressed against my back, while I walked toward the area farther away from the beach, where they said the locals planted the trees more than thirty years ago, creating a small piece of forest right next to the lake.
“Where are we going?” she asked, trepidation evident in her voice.
“Farther away from people.”
“So that you can kill me without any witnesses?” Seriously?
“No, so that I can talk to you properly.”
Though, what I had planned, I had a feeling that there wouldn’t be much talking involved. She said what she thought she wanted earlier, but she never heard me say what I wanted.
I wanted a future with her. I wanted us to grow old together. There was no one else I would rather have by my side when I’m old, gray, and unable to open a can of pickles.
“There’s nothing to talk about.”
“That’s what you keep telling me, yet your body is telling me a completely different story.”
“Noah, seriously? Stop playing this stupid game and let me the fuck down.”
“Can’t do that, Angel. You need to hear what I have to say, and until you truly do, I’m not letting you go. Hell, I’m never letting you go. I was an idiot for saying those things, and an even bigger one for never answering you or reaching out to you. I’m not waiting anymore.”
“So, what? You got your head out of your ass and decided that I’m one of the last girls you never fucked?”
“No, Sophie.” I stopped not too far from the entrance to the area where they planted the trees, and put her down. “I got my head out of my ass and realized that you are the only girl I ever wanted to be with.”
She stumbled backward as soon as the words left my mouth, going deeper into the forest. “This is insane. You never felt this way about me.”
“Didn’t I?” I smiled. “I’ve been in love with you since we were kids, Angel. I just never wanted to let you know because I didn’t think you felt the same.”
“No.” She shook her head. “Stop saying these things. Just stop.”
“Why?” I crossed the distance between us, holding her face in my hands. “I know you feel the same way. I know that your eyes could never lie to me, no matter what.”
“Stop it.” She trembled. Her entire body shook as I dragged my finger toward her neck, pressing against her pulse point. “Please stop.”
Her pleas were lost on my ears, because when her eyes fluttered and closed, I bent down and did what I should’ve done years ago.
Her breath fanned over my lips, the sweet smell of the cherry gloss she loved so much infiltrating through my nose, making me dizzy with need, lust, all these things I made myself stop feeling every time she was around. A thousand hours of longing, of feeling like I was going to go mad, because I wanted her and only her.
Faceless girls that could never replace her or feed the monster that made its nest inside my chest. A thousand nights where I held her, wishing that we were something much more than just friends.
“Do you want this?” I asked, wrapping my other hand around her hair, pulling it back from her face. “Do you want me?”
