Page 45 of Let's Be Forever

“Yeah, I think I have the videos on my phone.” She glances at the spot next to her then at me. “Do you want to see them now?”

“Please.” I take a seat. I’m not touching her, but I’m so close I could move my thigh an inch and we’d be pressed against each other. “Is this okay?”

She stares up at me, and those brown eyes sink into my soul, wrapping around me and finally stabilizing my equilibrium. The last time I felt this steady we were in my bed, arms and legs tangled, speaking to each other in French because she wanted to practice.

“Yeah, this is okay.”

19

SYLAS

I watch intentlyas she scrolls through the endless pictures on her camera roll. I’m certain eighty percent consist of Rosie, while the remainder is of the bakery, her coworker, Clementine, and Jenny.

So many pictures, so many memories, so much I missed.

I can only imagine how much she must’ve hated me for not being there, for not helping her, for thinking I wanted nothing to do with her and our daughter.

She’s still scrolling and I’m just watching her finger move on the screen until I lift my gaze to the side of her face. The way I’m staring is not discreet, but she doesn’t feel real, and I’m afraid I dreamed this all up.

So I stare, knowing it’s all I can do, probably all I’ll ever be able to do.

I want you back, I want to tell her.Please give me another chance, I’m desperate to say.

But I swallow back the words and just watch her.

She’s just as beautiful as the last time I saw her—sharp whiskey eyes, supple lips, her black bangs curtaining her forehead, though they’re not as long as they used to be. Her skintone is light brown, but I know she’s glowing and it’s just a tad bit darker from the sun.

“Stop staring at me like that.” She side-eyes me, and a tiny divot creases between her brows.

“Like what?” I drop my gaze and don’t mean to settle on her chest when she turns to look at me.

“Like that, all weird and stuff.”

A small chuckle works its way up my throat. “And stuff?”

“You know what I mean.”

“I don’t, so please enlighten me.”

“You’re just as annoying as you were when I first met you,” she snipes.

This time I can’t help the laugh that tumbles out of my mouth. “Don’t act like you didn’t like that about me.”

She scoffs as if she were annoyed, but I spot the twitch of her lips, like she’s trying to keep them from curling up. “Ugh, no. That was the worst part. Well, that and your God complex.”

“Right, because you complained about it so much when we were in bed—” I really do need to start thinking before speaking. Fuck. “I’m just going to keep my mouth shut for the rest of the day.”

“Beautiful. Probably the best thing you’ve ever said,” she retorts sarcastically.

Shut up, Sylas. Shut the fuck up. Don’t say it. She’ll hate you more than she probably already does.

The words are there though, at the tip of my tongue, teasing to be let out. She must sense what I’m thinking because she shifts the conversation back to the pictures.

Thank God because I was close to saying she didn’t seem to think so when I was degrading her and fucking her doggy style.

“I thought I had the video, but I guess don’t. I’ll have Jenny send it to me whenever she can.” She goes to her messages, tapsher best friend’s name, and sends her a message. “But I can show you everything else.”

“I hope you don’t mind if I ask, but?—”