Part 82 (1/2)
”This year but there are months in between. Next year, I'll be around more. The band can't tour non-stop.”
”I guess.”
”I'm not convincing you, am I? You know why I believe we could work? Why I believe people are meant to be?”
Fleur looks at the ground, and gives a small shake of her head.
”My parents. They were high school sweethearts. Nearly twenty-five years later and they're still together.”
”Wow. That's unusual.”
”Yeah, and they're not the same people as they were at sixteen. Mum and Dad went through s.h.i.+t. I saw it; but underneath everything, they stayed together because they belong.”
Fleur turns her smile to me. ”That's a cute story.”
”No. It's their reality.” Fleur stares at me, eyes welling with tears. ”Fleur...”
”I miss you so much, Will. I don't understand why. It's been months; and then suddenly you're here, and I don't know what to do.”
I take her hand. ”Give this another chance.”
She blinks away the tears. ”My life has been turned upside down. I'm only just straightening things, and you come in and blow everything out of line again.”
”All I did was hold your hand.”
”And all I want is you to kiss me, tell me we can be okay. Which is crazy. I'm crazy. I'm not sure meeting was a good idea.”
”I had to see you. When I say I miss you, it's the biggest understatement. Last week, I was in Miami. I sat in a bar overlooking the ocean and you know what I was thinking? Not that I'd made it, or how awesome life is, but that you were across that ocean. I was lost in wondering about what you were doing.” I rub my forehead; I don't want to say the next words, scared of her response. ”Who you were with.”
”I'm not with anybody.”
”Nor me.”
She smiles weakly. ”I'm surprised. That's not your normal style.”
”Not since you.”
”n.o.body?”
”Not one girl, Fleur.”
The doubt on her face riles me, but how can I expect different? Nate's accused me of taking a vow of celibacy and carried on in his man-whoring fas.h.i.+on; the fact I don't pick up girls anymore increases some of their determination. Once, I was jealous of Jax with the girls throwing themselves at him. Now I'm jealous of Jax and Tegan.
”Really?” she says and the tears fill her eyes again. This isn't Fleur, she doesn't cry at the drop of a hat.
”Really. Maybe I'm stupid, but I've held on to my romantic image of me and you reuniting.”
”You definitely are strange.”
”Overly optimistic, maybe. I guess I needed to meet you one last time and see what happens when I do, now all the s.h.i.+t from earlier is done with.” We haven't looked away from each other; every word spoken seems pointless because the unspoken ones are needed before I walk away. ”Fleur. I love you and want us together again.”
”You just said you're leaving tomorrow.”
”Late tomorrow.”
Fleur gazes at the people on the lawn nearby and her grip on my hand tightens. She doesn't want to let me go. ”Kiss me, Will, and then I'll know.” Fleur turns her head and reaches out, stroking her fingers along my scruff. ”Although, I think I know already.”
”Know what?”
”That I still love you.” The words choke her and tears fall across Fleur's cheeks.
We've been through a lot, been apart too long, but our hearts haven't forgotten. This should be a tender moment, but every kiss I've wanted to give Fleur in the last few months pours out of my body in one. I crash my lips against hers, and I can't hold back. Fleur threads her fingers into my hair, her cheeks damp as she returns my kiss with an equal pa.s.sion, the kiss breathing life back into us.
I wrap myself around Fleur, as she presses against me, and pushes away my fear I'll leave without her today. Kissing Fleur fills the hollow s.p.a.ce inside, and we entwine on the bench, retreating from the world into our place mid-way between the sensible and the crazy. This is where I belong, with Fleur, and the place I will always return to.
She pulls away and rests her forehead against mine, but I don't let Fleur go. ”I didn't need to kiss you to know I still loved you,” I say. ”I told you I always would.”
”I think that's why I stopped contacting you - because I still loved you.”
”That doesn't make sense, Fleur.”
She snuggles against me and I wrap my arm around her waist. ”Because I didn't want you to hurt me.”
”Not gonna happen. Me and you, we can do this.”
”People won't believe we can.”
I laugh and whisper. ”You know what we do then?”
”What?”
”We shake it off.”
Fleur giggles and nudges me in the ribs, the sound filling my day, and erasing the empty hours spent without her. This girl is my opposite, but my everything.
43.
WILL.
Jax wanders into the hotel restaurant and grabs toast out of my hand. ”You busy this morning?” he asks through a mouthful.
”Yeah, I am actually. Seeing Fleur later.”
Jax looks like I slapped him across the face. ”Fleur Roberts?”