my cheeks. “I destroyed me. I destroyed us. But I promise you, I’m going to be better. I owe you that.” His hand comes down to touch my stomach. Fresh tears fill my eyes. “And our baby. I’m supposed to work for forgiveness …”
“Grave, I already forgive you.” It’s true. This man is trying to be better. And I know he can.
He wraps his arms around me and kisses my forehead. I half laugh, half cry. I don’t know what will happen in three hours or three years, but I do know that this man is my king, and I will be his queen and protect him at all cost.
GRAVE
I wrap my arms around her, pulling her into me. I inhale her scent and let out a long breath. She pulls away first and gestures to my car. “I thought you would like to drive it.” And then hands me the keys.
Taking them from her, I walk over to the car and open up the passenger door for her. She thanks me and slides inside. I close the door and make my way to the driver’s side.
“I hope you weren’t disappointed that Titan wasn’t the one who picked you up,” she says softly, looking down at her hands knotted in her lap.
“April.” I reach over and cup her face, lifting her chin so she has to look over at me. Those ice blue eyes that I see every time I close mine, stare at me. They’re swimming in unshed tears. I’m not sure if they’re tears of joy, sadness, or regret. I hate that I can’t read her right now.
I move in closer to her, leaning over the center console. Her breath hitches when her eyes drop to my lips. I go to kiss her when her cell starts to ring. I pull away and start up the car as she answers it.
“Hello?” she answers, her voice shaking. She clears her throat and tries again as I pull out of the parking lot. “Hello?”
I sit back in the seat, letting my shoulders relax. I didn’t expect her to be the one standing outside of Harbor Heights, but she was the one I wanted.
“Yeah, we’re on our way,” she speaks.
My left hand grips the steering wheel while my hold tightens on the gear shift.
“Okay, I’ll let him know.” She hangs up. “That was Titan. He has your suit at the church.”
A silence falls over the car and I want to ask her a million questions at once. I want to kiss her for hours. Hold her for days and love her until I die. I have to earn that privilege. I have to show her what she means to me.
“I …” She gets cut off as her phone goes off again. “I’m so sorry.” She sighs, picking it up.
“Don’t be sorry,” I tell her, giving her a quick side-eye.
“It’s Jasmine, the girls …”
“It’s a big day for Emilee,” I say with a nod. “I’m sure they’re wondering where you are.” I’m not sure if they know that she was going to pick me up or not. But I can only imagine they’re either drunk or on their way to it. Starting the celebration early. The wedding is in two hours. “We can talk afterward.” I don’t have to be back until eight tonight. And I only plan on dedicating a few hours of my day to this wedding of the year. The rest will be with her.
_______________
The moment we arrived at the chapel, we got separated. She went to go get dressed and have her hair done. I was shoved down a long hall and into a room where a tux was hanging in a garment bag that had my name on it.
I’m sitting in the corner high-back chair tying my shoes when the door opens. I look up to see Titan enter. “Hey.” I stand.
He immediately opens his arms and walks over to me, pulling me in for a man hug with a slap on the back. When he pulls back, he keeps his hands on my shoulders. “You look great.” He smiles at me.
“You sound surprised,” I joke.
He pulls away and runs a hand down his freshly shaven face. “It could have gone either way.”
I laugh because we both know that’s true. I was either going to rot in that place or decide that I needed to change who I was and what I wanted out of life. April is the new me. The future that I want. What