Total pages in book: 84
Estimated words: 82271 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 411(@200wpm)___ 329(@250wpm)___ 274(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 82271 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 411(@200wpm)___ 329(@250wpm)___ 274(@300wpm)
The suit is a nice white that looks good with her body and I kind of hate her for it as I stare down at my outfit. I look like I’m in the office and she looks fun.
What am I even doing here?
I get ready to leave when Sookie comes out with no shirt and the same white board shorts.
My mouth actually waters.
“I would shut that if I were you.” Lucas suddenly appears next to me.
I stumble back while he catches me by the arm. “Sorry.”
“I know you like him.”
“I love him.”
Lucas sighs. “Wait until after the show, counsel.”
I hang my head. “I know, I know. I at least got the whole edit taken care of, I’m exhausted, might go back to my room since it’s our day off.”
“Good idea.” He pats me on the back then starts sprinting toward the pool and jumps in, the girls laugh but they’re really respectful of the fact he has a girlfriend. Grace follows in her black one piece and jumps in makeup and all, the rest of the cast hanging out seem to genuinely like her. Iseul is nowhere to be found and the TestME guys I heard were recording with Rae, so Kai, Jay, Lucas, and Sookie are the only SWT members here along with Suho and Chul. Everyone else is hard at work which kind of helps heal old wounds I think for the bands together.
Sookie walks next to me, gives me a look then points with his hand down by his side toward the spot that Grace secured for Soju.
I nod and look away.
Lucas isn’t there to tell me to be careful.
So I follow.
I would literally follow Sookie anywhere as he walks through the grass and goes to our spot. I gasp when I see a picnic blanket, food, and wine. “Wow it’s almost like you wanted a date?”
“I have a date.” He winks. “Too late to let me go, Ari.”
Tears well in my eyes. “I would never.”
He pulls me down to the blanket. “I know. I know.”
He captures my mouth and I’m lost all over again to his taste as we lay down by the wine, I can’t even focus on the fact that it’s chilly out because I have his warmth comforting me. I wrap my arms around him while his mouth invades mine. All I can think is, this is all I needed, literally all I needed in my life, was this man. I could never forget him, I could never leave him.
His forehead kisses mine as our lips break apart. “Love you.”
Tears well in my eyes. “I fixed it.”
“Knew you would.”
“How?”
“Because I trust you.” He whispers. “More than anyone.”
My only response is totally a blurt out confession. “Marry me one day.”
He pauses above me, the breeze carries his hair across his forehead while he smiles down at me. “Isn’t that my line?”
“No. I want to own it. Let me own it. I love you. I need you I—”
His mouth crushes mine as he pulls open my shirt, his fingers invade, touching my sensitive skin while I work on his jeans. It’s probably stupid but I need him more than anything and I just, we’ve been through years of trauma in the industry together and we get it, we get each other so why can’t we have each other?
We break apart briefly. I look up at him. “Why do you love me?”
“Because,” He doesn’t even hesitate. “You saw through me the minute you met me, you saved me without realizing I needed saving more than you, you’re everywhere in my soul, there is no space left for someone else, you’ve taken control and I want it, I want you. I want to come home to you. I want to kiss you. I want to love you the way you deserve, and I want to fucking hold your hand in public.”
A tear slides down my cheek. ‘That might be the most romantic thing I’ve ever heard.”
“I write lyrics,” he jokes.
I punch him in the shoulder then grip his neck and pull him down not knowing that the most precious moment of my life would suddenly be something very different.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Sookie
I still can’t get over the moment with Ari. Or the way she just, became mine in a way I never thought. I’m gearing up for the campfire with TestME which normally would piss me off but right now I can’t even be mad about it, I’m too happy.
Rae walks by me with his two chairs. “You ready to suffer?”
“Meh, it won’t be so bad.”
“If Suho wasn’t there then maybe.”
I can’t disagree but Suho has his own demons. “Give them a chance, they’ve been actually trying really hard.”
“I know, that’s why I’m annoyed.” Rae sighs. “Because they’re legitimately talented but are being controlled just like we were and now they’re stuck in this mold the company wants to make them into and you know I love Owner Siu, I do, but this just feels, wrong on so many levels. A copy cat group that has no say in their own music.”