Epilogue
JEREMY
My body was still tense from the visit to meet Teresa’s family. No matter what I did to try and relax, I couldn’t.
It was nine months since we had said I love you to one another.
I’d thought I was obsessed before, but that kicked up my fixation with my girl.
Amped it up to unfathomable levels. There wasn’t a step she didn’t take without me knowing.
Not because I forced her to share it with me but because I kept closer tabs on her.
Tracking her location on her phone, slipping an air tag in her duffle.
And this time, she wasn’t clueless about it.
“What is that?” she’d asked, the memory clear in my head. It’d been two days since the incident, and when I’d told her clearly what it was, she nodded and kissed my cheek. No arguments or fight.
She accepted my crazy ass exactly as I was.
It had taken about a month for the nightmares to stop and for Teresa to sleep soundly next to me.
There wasn’t a night throughout that month I wasn’t next to her.
Even when she traveled for games, I headed out on my own, got a hotel, and made her stay with me.
That night, seeing her from afar being manhandled and then so terrified when I approached had changed something inside of me.
This obsession, this primal need for Teresa, didn’t fade, nor did I grow bored with her like she thought I would one day. Hell, it wasn’t going anywhere. If anything, it had tripled. She was my everything. I might call her my sky, but she was my moon and stars and everything in between.
I paced inside my room and rolled my neck, thinking about the conversation I’d had with her parents when she’d gone with her siblings to go pick up dessert. It had gone well, better than I’d expected. The black ring box was burning a hole in my pocket.
Teresa walked into my bedroom at the dorms with a smile I felt all the way down to my soul. Nine months of that smile, and I knew I wanted a lifetime of them.
“Sadie said bye,” she shared.
“They left?” I asked, and she nodded. Our roommates had not only fallen in love, they were practically living together.
I’d talked to Jason, seeing as he was in the same boat as I was.
Graduation and the draft were right around the corner, and no matter what I did to try to grasp on to some kind of control over life and where the hell it was taking us, I wasn’t ready to burst the bubble we’d found ourselves in these couple of months and return to the real world.
All he’d told me was that everything would work out.
That wasn’t enough for me. I wanted detailed steps to know how Teresa and I were going to manage that. The box in my pants pocket would help. Her parents agreed. I just wasn’t sure how Teresa was going to take it.
“Jer?” I shook away the panicked thoughts and looked up at my girl. Staring at her was dangerous, like looking at the sun. It always struck me right in the middle of the chest just how beautiful she was. And she’s ours, the beast in me rumbled.
“You okay? You were quiet when Jay and Sadie were here.” Of course, she would notice the way I’d been stuck in my head.
“Sorry about that.” I stood up and got off the edge of the bed, making my way over to her. The moment she was within reach, like I usually did, I pushed her body flush up against the wall, caging her with my own.
“Ooo… I think I know where this is going.” She wagged her eyebrows. “You feeling bossy tonight?” she teased, causing an internal war inside of me not to give in and fuck her right then and there. Focus, dumbass!
“I was thinking,” I announced. Her eyes widened with curiosity.
“Uh-oh, that’s dangerous,” she teased good-naturedly. But the longer she stared at me, and I stayed quiet, the more serious she became. “What’s up?” Her sass and attitude were gone as worry crept in.
“Don’t do that.”
“Don’t do what?” she asked defensively.
“Start worrying or jumping to conclusions.
“Should I be worried?”
“Cielo, how many times have I told you? I got you. You never have to worry.” I stroked the side of her face with the pad of my thumb. “You know I love you,” I started off, and she swallowed.
“But?”
“No buts.” I chuckled roughly, hoping my hands weren’t sweating with the fucking nerves I felt. “I love you,” I repeated, and she blinked.
“Okay,” she said slowly, her breathing a little different.
“And a lot of shit is going to happen in a short amount of time.”
“Right,” she whispered, her dark eyes dropping from my face, but I tipped her head up, forcing her to meet my gaze.
“Graduation. The draft. Moving. A lot of plates in the air.”
“Lemme guess, you want one less?” A hardness I hadn’t heard since we got together crept into her tone.
“Excuse me?”
“I swear to god, Jeremy Thomas Fletcher—“ My lips twitched. I loved how she said my full name any time I irritated her, always making up a different middle name when she did. “If this is you dumping me—“ Every cell inside of me stilled.
“Dumping?” My voice sounded hoarse to my own ears. “Are you fucking insane?” I asked. “Where is this coming from?”
“I don’t know.” She tried to push me away, but I didn’t let her. Instead, I picked her up, loving the way her hands always rested on my shoulders and her legs knew to wrap around my middle and trust for me to carry her. I sat my ass down in my computer chair with her straddling me.
“You and I are a done deal,” I stated. “No going back. No returns or refunds. No dumping. No us not being together. That’s not an option, so get that shit out of your head.” She opened and shut her mouth, dark eyes set off into the distance over my shoulder.
“What am I supposed to think when you’re being all ominous?” Fuck, she had a point. I hadn’t thought about how I was coming off and ruining everything.
“Hey.” I gently cupped her face, tipping her head to look at me, and didn’t start talking until our gazes met once again. “Never that. Never. You’re mine and I’m yours.”
“You’re annoying,” she muttered, but I could see in her eyes she didn’t mean it.
“I love you.” I leaned forward and kissed her nose before pulling back to look at her.
“I love you, too,” she whispered. I slipped my hand into my pocket.
“Good.” I brought the ring box out between us, and she stilled. Her eyes widened as they bounced between me and the box.
“You’re going to do something crazy stupid, aren’t you?”
“Who knows me better than you do?” I grinned. “I love you, cielo. When I saw you…”
“You became obsessed?” she filled in. My lips twitched, as did my dick.
“I did.” I chuckled. “Completely and utterly obsessed. And like I was saying earlier, I know we’ve talked about the stuff coming up, all the unforeseen shit the future might hold, but one thing I’m sure about without a doubt in my soul is us, Teresa. You’re my everything, cielo.”
“Jer.” She sniffled, and I wiped the tears now rolling down her face.
“Will you be mine?”
“I already—“
“Forever? My wife? My partner? My forever girlfriend? The one I do life with?” She wiped at her nose and gasped when she opened the box. “I know it’s not a huge rock but—“ I shrugged as my eyes looked down at the one carat princess cut solitaire.
“You have other huge assets that make up for it.” I took her teasing as a good sign even though my heart felt like it was about to leap out of my chest considering she hadn’t said the one three-letter word I needed from her.
“Cielo.” I grinned wolfishly.
“Yes,” she answered. “Yes.” I let out the breath I had been holding and kissed her hard, feeling luckier than any son of a bitch should ever be allowed to.