for a little while there. But you’ve found it again, and that’s all that matters.” A hot tear trickles down my cheek. “Your faith in the cosmos, in following your dreams? It helped me follow mine.”
My brows crease together in a frown. “It did?”
End nods. “You once told me that I could do anything I wanted. You told me to reach for the stars. And I did. I started the company with the guys, and since then, I’ve never looked back, not even once.”
My heart pounds in my chest at his admission. “How do you remember that?”
End leans in, cupping my face with a gentleness that is so at odds with everything else about him. “Isn’t it obvious by now, Selene? I remember every conversation we’ve ever shared. I tried to pretend I never noticed you back then because it felt wrong. You were this beautiful, sweet girl, and I was me. You were always too good for me, even now. I remember everything; not even one drunken night was able to erase my memory. We belong to the cosmos, babe. Me and you? We were always meant to be.”
There’s a riot of emotion inside me. It’s spreading through my chest like dry ice. “I didn’t think it was possible to love you any more than I already do.”
His mouth inches up into a warm smile that stokes the fire in my chest. “I find that I love you more and more every day, babe.”
I press my lips against his, relishing in the current that rolls through my body at the contact. I love this man with every fiber of my being.
Pulling me into his side, we lie on the grass, covered in the blanket, and stare at the moon, glimmering against the sea of stars. “I used to sit out here so many nights when I was sad or when I felt alone. Now that I’m sitting out here, I feel a little bit closer to him, a little bit closer to my dreams, and I can’t explain why.”
“Because he’s with you everywhere. Always.”
We lie in silence for a long beat. I relish in the feel of his warm body beneath mine. The staccato of his strong heartbeat is a song I never knew I needed to help soothe me. His hand glides up and down my back in rhythmic motions.
“Did I ever tell you what made me fall in love with the moon?” I feel him shaking his head. “My dad. He was the one who introduced me to Greek mythology. That thick book I carried around when I was younger? It was from my dad. I became obsessed, fixated on the goddess who shared the same name as me. I think deep down, he knew how hard it was for me to listen to their constant fighting, so he tried to give me something his words wouldn’t heal. He tried to give me fairy tales—stories of love that have spanned centuries.
“I think I fell in love with her because, as the goddess of the moon, she personified life’s constant changes. In the myths, as the Titan goddess, she would drive her chariot with the moon across the sky at night. She was considered this all-seeing eye of the night because the moon would always be visible in the black sky, and no one could run from it. That light? For a long time, it felt like that was all I had to look forward to. Until you rolled into town. By then, I was already obsessed with the moon. I had read every piece of information on Selene and every legend regarding her. And when I heard your name for the first time…” I pause, emotion clogging my throat. “I felt like it was meant to be. I was Selene, and you were Endymion, the shepherd mortal whose love was always destined to fail.”
His chest vibrates beneath my ear. “And what about now?”
“Now…now I don’t feel like I’m living out that tale of mythology anymore. We’re writing our own story. Our own legend with frayed pages, missing chapters, and everything else between, and you know what? I wouldn’t change it for the world because I love you, Endymion Black. Just as the sun loves the moon, and the stars love the night.”
My stomach cramps uncomfortably as I stand outside the building. I haven’t been back here since that night. As I glance around, flashes of memories slam into me, and I flinch as I think about them.