Total pages in book: 134
Estimated words: 124135 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 621(@200wpm)___ 497(@250wpm)___ 414(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 124135 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 621(@200wpm)___ 497(@250wpm)___ 414(@300wpm)
When his eyes fixed on me, I could see nothing but love.
The doors opened, and fresh air whooshed around us. Cromwell didn’t put me down; he kept me in his strong arms and took me along what I saw was a roof terrace. A blanket of stars stared down at us, not a single cloud in the sky.
“Cromwell…” I murmured, feeling overcome at the sight. At everything tonight. At the music, the heartbeats, the symphony…and him.
Always him.
Cromwell sat down on a sofa in the center of a small rooftop garden. Water flowed around us, sounding like a tranquil river. Winter flowers of reds and greens in decorative pots surrounded us. It was like a glimpse of heaven. And when Cromwell held me tighter, it felt like coming home.
The rooftop was silent. Only the sound of the street below could be heard in the distance. I blinked up at the stars and wondered if Easton was up there, still tethered somehow to his heart…to me.
“It’s beautiful up here,” I said and finally turned to Cromwell.
Cromwell was already watching me. He looked at me like I was a gift he couldn’t believe he’d received. My chest expanded, letting in more love for him than the minute before. I hadn’t been sure that was possible.
“You came,” he whispered, and my pulse fluttered in my throat.
“I came.”
Cromwell leaned in and pressed his lips to mine. The kiss was slow and gentle and held a simple promise—that it wouldn’t be our last. When he pulled back I let my forehead fall to his. I breathed in the scent of him and let it inside my body with peace. I felt my lip quiver, but I pushed through the swell of my emotions to say “I want to live.”
Cromwell tensed. He pulled back and placed his hands on my cheeks. “I’ve been thinking about things. I’ve had a long time to think about things.” I stared up at the stars. As I looked at the vast sky, I felt so small. A simple stitch on the tapestry that was the world. I swallowed the lump that bobbed in my throat. “Life is so short, isn’t it?”
I turned back to Cromwell. His blue eyes were wide as he patiently waited for what I had to say. “I’ve had nothing else to do but think of life, Cromwell. Every facet of it. The good.” I kissed his forehead. “The bad.” Discovering Easton had died replayed in my head. “And all that’s in between.” I lay back against Cromwell’s hard chest. His shirt was open at the top, showing his dark tattoos. My hand reached out to play with one of his buttons. “And I’ve decided I want to live.”
Cromwell held me tighter. I looked up into his deep blue eyes, eyes that I once thought turbulent but now thought serene. “I don’t want life to pass me by.” A sudden picture came to mind. Of me and Cromwell. Of us traveling the world…of us one day perhaps having a dark-haired, blue-eyed child. Just like him. “I want to embrace everything I can while I still can. New places, new sounds…everything. With you.”
“Bonnie,” Cromwell rasped.
I took hold of his hand and lifted it so I could see the tattooed ID on his fingers. The one I now knew was a tribute to his dad. “Losing people you love can make the world seem very dark. But I’ve realized that even though they’re gone from us physically, they’re never truly gone.” I shook my head. I knew I was rambling. I met Cromwell’s eyes. “I love you, Cromwell Dean. And I want to love life with you in it. I don’t care where it takes us, as long as it means something. As long as our lives have purpose for those who couldn’t be with us along the way.”
Cromwell’s eyes glistened as I kissed the number on his hand. “And as long as there’s you, and there’s music, I know it will be a life lived, no matter how long or short.”
“Long,” Cromwell said, his voice husky. “You’ll live a long life. Easton’s heart will remain strong for you.” Cromwell lowered his head and kissed the spot where my new heart lay. It fluttered like a butterfly’s wings.
Cromwell kissed me again, and I stared back up at the stars, content to just be. This boy, who was holding me in his arms, was my wish come true. The boy who had stood beside me through the hardest trials of my life. And the boy who, when I fell apart, had brought me back to me, brought me back to him.
Through music.
Through love.
And through the colors of his soul.
He was, and forever would be, the beat in my heart.
Put simply, he was my entire world. A world in which I intended to stay. I vowed to make it. To never let my heart give up. Because I wanted a life with this boy. I wanted to love and live and laugh.