Excerpt

We laid amidst the yellow weeds, our eyes staring up at the stars. The scent of the night hovered around us and the gentle brine from the ocean clung to our clothes. This was the smell that I would forever think of as Rune. The way it smelled the night he finally let me inside his walls.

"Jay?" he whispered.

"Uhuh," I murmured as sleep threatened to take me.

"I love you." It wasn't the first time he said the words, nor the last, but this time they held a certain finality to them. As though he would never speak them with such a raw honesty again.

"I love you too." I said and began to cry. I felt in that moment the sense that Rune was going to leave me.

"Why are you sad?" he asked as he reached out and took my hand. His fingers curled around mine, holding them as if I might have disappeared. Or maybe I was the one holding on.

I squeezed them tighter. "I am afraid that one day you are going to run away from me and not come back."

"I am never running away from you." His voice was gentle but tired. Tired of all of the things that did make him run away.

"Then what makes you run?"

"Sometimes I just need to run away so that I can come back to you. And as long as you are here waiting, I will always come back."

"But what if you don't?" I sat up suddenly and leaned over him.

"Then come find me."

"How would I know where to find you? Where do you go?"

He grabbed my face in his hands and pushed a strand of hair behind my ear. "I don't go anywhere Jaylee. I am always here, inside of your memories. Just promise me you will never forget."

"I could never forget you."

"Then promise." His eyes met mine with a terrifying intensity.

I looked at him and weighed my fear, unsure of what scared me more, the look in his eyes or the thought of losing him. Both destined to haunt my dreams.

"I promise." I said with words barely more than a whisper.

"Good. Now we've both made a promise. I've promised to protect you and you promise to never forget me. Now nothing can tear us apart. I am yours and you are mine. Forever."



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