Total pages in book: 53
Estimated words: 48808 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 244(@200wpm)___ 195(@250wpm)___ 163(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 48808 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 244(@200wpm)___ 195(@250wpm)___ 163(@300wpm)
"I never hated you, Trystan. I didn't understand you."
"I was an asshole back then."
"Back then?" I quirk a brow at him. "Uh, I hate to break it to you, but you've been the same demanding jerk for a decade."
"Maybe I've been jealous for a decade, Coco," he says softly, completely serious. "Maybe the thought of you with anyone else has been eating me alive since I was fifteen years old. You weren't mine, and I fucking hated it. I hated that you were mad at me, but if that was the only part of you I got to have, I wanted it, even if it meant forcing myself into your space and making you see me. Even if it meant pissing you off so you'd speak to me. Having those pieces of you was better than not having any of you because so long as I had your anger, I knew you still felt something for me."
"I…" I gape at him, and then I sigh. "We seriously need to work on our communication."
"Isn't that what we're doing right now?"
"Yeah, I guess it is."
"For the record, I prefer this to you telling me to go fuck myself with a rusty pole."
"That probably wasn't my finest moment."
"Are you kidding? You looked so fucking cute when you were growling that shit at me. Christ, Coco. I was hard for a goddamn week straight."
I shake my head at him, not entirely surprised.
"You know how you think I stopped talking to you over prom?" he says.
I tense, glancing over at him. "What about it?"
"The night you called me, you mentioned that prick asking you to go with him. Bent or Dent or whatever the fuck his name was," he growls. "I was jealous as hell, Chloe. You looked like an angel in that dress, and you were going with some other guy. I was fucking terrified to call you after because I just knew you were going to tell me all about your perfect night with him."
"What?" I blink at him in shock. "You think I went with Bentley?"
He jerks his chin in a nod.
"Trystan…" I place my palm against his chest. "I didn't go with him. I went alone and ended up leaving after an hour because I didn't even want to be there. I wanted to go with you. That's why I mentioned him asking me. I kind of hoped that you'd ask to go with me instead."
"Jesus," he groans, tugging me into his arms. "I fucked up."
"We both did," I whisper, resting my head against his chest. "And then I was so hurt because you didn't call, that I just…pushed you further away." I did exactly as he said and iced him out, too damn mad to let him back in after he broke my heart. But I think I broke his first. "I'm sorry."
"Hey." He tips my chin up again. "You don't owe me an apology. We can't go back and undo the shit we did as teenagers or anything that's happened since, so we aren't going to dwell on it. We both did and said things we shouldn't have. We both acted like clueless teenagers. But you called me your friend again today, and I feel alive in a way I haven't in years. That's what we're focusing on now, baby. Not all the shit we screwed up, but everything we're getting right from here on out."
"I like that," I whisper. It doesn't matter how much we dredge up the past. It won't change it. Like he said, we were clueless teenagers, acting like clueless teenagers. We hurt each other. It's what teenagers do. But…we don't have to be those versions of ourselves now. We get to do better than we did back then. We get to start over and make something new.
If he's all in, so am I. I'll follow him anywhere, even if it ends in disaster. At this point, we owe that chance to ourselves…and we owe it to those clueless younger versions, too. Maybe we're only just now figuring it out, but this is what they were fighting for all along. They were just doing it all wrong.
"Good," he murmurs, brushing his lips across mine in a soft kiss. "Because you're all mine until Wyatt gets home, and I fully intend to spend every second lost in you, Coco. Every single one."
"Sounds like heaven to me."
He smiles against my lips, and my damn heart sings…the same way it's always sang for that smile.
Chapter Eight
Trystan
I'm up before the sun—as fucking usual. But Chloe is still passed out across the bed like a starfish, the blankets tangled around her gorgeous body. I just lay there for a long time, watching her sleep. She's peaceful in a way she never is when she's awake, warm in a way that's too damn perfect.