I'll Never Stop, page 19
“You must be the reason,” she replied.
“Hi, uh, I’m Clark,” I said.
“Good strong name for a good strong guy. Heartbreaker, I’m sure.”
“Uh, thanks? You said she left?”
“Anna has been in a tizzy all month. I’ve seen her going through her things like they were on fire. Boxes coming in almost every day. Girl packed up her life. And I bet it’s because of the likes of you. What’d you do? Cheat on her?”
“No…I was…I was coming to surprise her. Where did she go?” I asked.
“Sorry, handsome. We were neighbors but not best friends. All I know is she moved out. Said her goodbyes, and that was it.”
“Thank you,” I said, dumbfounded.
I knew where Anna lived, but I’d never actually visited her. This was a first, and a surprise at that. Fuck me, but I’d clearly messed it all up.
I leaned against her door, the one I’d knocked on for minutes before her neighbor found me.
I picked up the phone to call her, but it went straight to voicemail. I tried again, and then again, and several more times. Her phone was off. Almost like she’d somehow known I was coming and didn’t want to face me. Could that have been it?
We didn’t chat much when she wasn’t in town, but we did chat. Text messages here and there, even a few phone calls. It was the unspoken rule that if we did more, it would be more. And we didn’t have that. Not that I didn’t fucking want that. Hello, I was here, wasn’t I? I was taking the steps, making my way to her, bridging the gap.
And she was apparently running away.
I’d started reaching out to her more in the last six months. I couldn’t help it. I needed her in my life more than just as someone who passed in and out whenever she was around.
And wouldn’t you know, she’d started acting different.
Like I said, we didn’t talk much before, but her texts were fun and flirty, like she was. She responded right away, or if she couldn’t, she would give a reason, not that she needed to. She answered the phone like she was waiting for phone sex. But not in the last few months.
“Where is she?” I asked when Finn picked up.
“What do you mean?” he replied. “Aren’t you with her?”
Finn knew I was coming here. Aside from the fact that he was my best friend, we worked together, so he knew what I was up to with respects to that at least.
“She’s gone.”
“Clarify, Clark.”
“She moved, Finn. She fucking moved. I lost my damn chance, didn’t I? Is she seeing someone? Did she move in with them? I need you to go to the office and figure this shit out for me.”
“Okay, calm down, brother,” he said. “First off, that’s highly inappropriate.” I snorted. “Not that I wouldn’t do that for you, Clark. I’m just throwing it out there. But I can’t. You know we have the gala tomorrow. Aside from the fact that my plate is way too fucking full right now with that, Eliza has been working overtime on this, and I need her to slow down. It’s not good for the baby.”
“Shit, man, I’m sorry. Yeah, of course, you got to focus on that.” Eliza was pregnant. She and Finn were over the moon, and I was happy for them too. But this gala they were putting on was stressing them both out. It was the first event after they’d announced the pregnancy. And it was a cause near and dear to Finn’s heart. I was supposed to attend originally, and I thought maybe I’d come out here after the gala, but I couldn’t wait that long. I needed to see Anna, and I needed to show her I meant business.
“Can you ask her for me, though. I need to know, Finn. I need to know what’s up with Anna, please.”
“Are you kidding me? I can’t ask her anything right now without her biting my head off. But hey, she and Sam are supposed to fly in tomorrow for the gala. Why don’t you come back and see her, and figure this shit out in person.”
“I don’t think I can wait that long to figure it out. I lost my chance. I know it.”
“Don’t get ahead of yourself. Just come home.”
“Will she be there still?” I asked, sounding less like the cocky son of a bitch I usually was, and more like an insecure little boy realizing he lost his favorite toy. But Anna was no toy. Anna was…everything. And I’d lost my chance to tell her so.
“I don’t know, Clark. I figured you’d both fly in together at this rate, which is why I don’t get why the hell you flew there today, but also…if it was Eliza…yeah, I get it. I actually really fucking get it.”
I knew he did. When you had the chance to start the rest of your life the way you wanted it to…you didn’t want to wait a second, even if that second made a lot of damn sense. Which is why I was here, chasing a girl who was running…only I didn’t know she would be.
“Fuck,” I muttered.
“Sounds about right. Listen, I’ll try to get something out of Eliza, and I’ll let you know if I do, but in the meantime, come back, come to the gala, see Anna, and all will be good. I know it.”
“I hope I did too.”
I really fucking did.
Anna
“WE NEED TO talk,” I told Clark.
At the same time, he said, “Who is he?”
The minute I’d walked into Lizzy’s gala, Sam nudged my arm and said, “Moment of truth, Anna.”
“Huh?” I asked, not even having had a chance to take more than two steps into the ballroom, and definitely not enough time to find some alcohol to gather up my liquid courage.
“Incoming,” she said as she moved her head in the direction of the hulking man who was currently stalking toward me. “And that’s my queue to go,” she said. “Good luck,” she added as she scurried off.
Clark was in front of me before I had a chance to breathe. Oh God, I think I’m going to be sick.
He pulled me to the side, without saying a word, finding us an intimate corner when we both blurted out our respective sentences.
“Who?” I asked.
“The guy you moved for,” he told me, and his voice was dripping with disapproval. Not a good sign, not a good sign at all.
“How did you know I moved?”
“It doesn’t matter. Who the hell is he?”
“Did Lizzy tell you? She promised she wouldn’t say anything until I was ready to tell you.”
“She didn’t tell me,” he said flatly.
“Then how do you know?” I asked.
“I went to your place.”
“I’m sorry, you what?”
“I was there, Anna. Yesterday. I flew in to surprise you. We’ve been playing the fucking cat-and-mouse game for too long. And I don’t want it anymore. I want you. I was coming to tell you—”
“You,” I said, cutting him off. “You, you idiot. I moved for you.”
“What the hell are you talking about?” he asked.
“You’re right,” I said. “We can’t keep going back and forth. And with me living thousands of miles away, it wasn’t working. It was fun, always,” I explained. “Between you and me, but it was also more, right?” I didn’t wait for him to answer. I just kept going. “But it couldn’t be more if we lived so far apart. Our friends are here, your job is here, and mine…I can do it from anywhere, really, so I could never ask you to move to me on the chance we could be something special—"
“We are special.”
“And you never asked me to move here—”
“I couldn’t ask you to pick up your life any more than you wanted to ask me.”
“And we would have kept on going, wasting our time, filling the spaces between our time together, but I didn’t want that. When Lizzy got pregnant…it was a wake-up call. I want what she has. I want the family, everything…and I’m hoping to have that with you. I don’t know if things will work out—”
“Oh, they will.”
“And I don’t know if you even want me here—”
“I abso-fucking-lutely do.”
“Or if this was a good idea—”
“The best.”
“But I took a chance. I put in a request to transfer, started looking for a place, and came here, hoping I was a good risk. But…I don’t want you to think you’re obligated to try things with me. I have my own place, and my job is good. If you don’t want this, just tell me now, and I’ll walk away.”
He silenced me with a kiss. What a kiss. He pulled my face to his, his hands on either side of me, pulling me into him, trying to breathe me in, trying to inhale me as our lips touched and our tongues danced. He wanted all of me, but he couldn’t have that right now, so he showed me with his kiss that I’d made the right decision, that he wanted what I wanted.
“Get rid of your place, you’re moving to mine…only…fuck…” he said after pulling apart.
“What?”
“I moved to you,” he said.
“I’m sorry, what?”
“I put in the transfer a month ago,” he told me. “And I got the approval a couple of days ago. That’s why I came to visit you yesterday. I couldn’t wait to tell you that I was moving to you, that I was coming to start the rest of my life with you…if you’ll have me.”
I threw my head back and laughed.
“What’s so damn funny?” he asked.
“Us…we’re funny. Five long damn years, and no one makes a move. And in the span of one month, we make the right move…only to end up apart again.”
“God, I love you,” he said, uttering the words for the first time, at this moment. All laughter gone.
“You what?”
“I love you, Anna. Do you think I’d up and move on a chance? Do you really think that’s why you did it? I’m pretty damn sure I’ve loved you since the first night I met you. But like you, I was too scared to make a move.”
“Good things are worth the wait,” I said lamely.
“They are. You are. Hell, we are. But no more waiting. I love you. You’re mine. You’re getting rid of your place and moving into mine.”
“And you’re job?” I pointed out the obvious little gem he dropped on me. Although…I guess I did the same to him too.
“I’ll cancel the transfer, and if I can’t, I’ll figure it out.”
“I love you too,” I told him.
“I kinda figured that out when you moved here for me.”
“Oh, well, in that case, I won’t bother saying it anymore,” I teased.
“Don’t you fucking dare. In fact, say it again.”
“Make me.”
“Oh, babe, I’m going to make you say a lot of things after this gala. But for now, tell me.”
“I love you, Clark.”
“I love you, Anna.”
One Year Later…
Clark
“MY GOD, YOU take my breath away,” I told Anna, bringing her body closer to mine.
“You’re not so bad yourself, husband,” she replied with a giant smile. “Husband,” she repeated. “I could get used to calling you that.”
“You better,” I said with a chuckle. “It’s a little too late to change your mind, anyway,” I added, referring to the fact that we were currently dancing our first dance at our wedding, all eyes on us, and my eyes only on her…forever.
I was able to cancel my transfer, and Anna did, in fact, move into my place. It took a week to get her stuff out of the apartment she’d rented, and she lost her deposit, but neither one of us cared. We’d spent a little under five years waiting to be together, so we weren’t waiting any longer, a security deposit be damned.
I proposed the day the last of her stuff made it into my place, making it officially ours.
I might have enlisted Finn and Eliza, and even Sam, who’d flown in just for the occasion to help.
Anna and I were bringing in the last of the boxes, having taken our time bringing everything back and forth since she had the place for the remainder of the month no matter what.
Our friends had come in while we were packing up the rest of her stuff at her place. And were patiently waiting with signs for us when we walked in.
Finn’s read: ONE HOME TOGETHER FOREVER
Eliza’s read: ONE LIFE TOGETHER FOREVER
Sam’s read: ONE LOVE TOGETHER FOREVER
She walked in and gasped, dropping her box on the floor. I’m pretty sure she figured out what I was up to. She turned to find me, who’d put my own box down and picked up the sign meant for me.
Mine read: US, AS ONE, TOGETHER FOREVER
I didn’t even have a chance to propose before she put her hands to her face, tears streaming down her cheeks, screaming, “Yes!” at the top of her lungs.
“Wait, I have a whole speech prepared,” I told her as I tossed the sign to the floor and knelt on one knee in front of her.
“I don’t need speeches,” she said. “I just need you, as you said, us, as one, together forever. So the answer is yes. Yes. Yes. Yes.”
She threw herself into my arms, almost knocking me over, which is saying something for a guy like me, whose job was basically to be prepared for an attack. She kissed me with all the love we both had.
I lifted us both up somehow, the cheers of our friends surrounding us as we broke apart and I found the ring in my pocket, opening the box and slipping it on her finger.
She cried again, we kissed once more, then we celebrated with our friends, and then our friends were smart enough to leave so we could celebrate just the two of us. And yes, it was that kind of celebration. The naked kind.
Eliza had her baby, Sam came to visit often, and life was great, especially since we planned our wedding between it all.
And now we were here, with our friends and family watching us start the rest of our lives.
Us, as one, together forever.
The End
DC RENEE is a contemporary romance fiction author who tends to write standalone novels that always shock you with a twist. She’s been writing all her life. It started with adorable rhyming poems as a kid for anniversary and birthday presents, moved onto monologues and short stories as a teen, then transitioned to fan fictions before she found the courage to publish a book.
DC lives in sunny and (mostly) warm Los Angeles with her husband and their two toddlers - a girl and boy that want to “work just like mama,” often climbing in her lap and “writing” on her computer. She’s very close with her entire family - extended included, and her sister is her muse.
When she’s not working, writing, and spending time with the family, she loves watching mindless TV, tinkering with diy projects, and of course, reading.
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LET GO
(all standalones, but best read in order)
Let Me Go
Let It Go
Let Hate Go
KB WORLDS
Scrubbed
SALVATION SOCIETY
Guarded
COCKY HERO CLUB
Park Avenue Pick-Up
MULTI-AUTHOR SERIES’
THE VIRGIN CALL GIRLS
Savannah’s Savior
(Book 3, but all stories can be read as standalone’s)
HAPPILY EVER STALKER
Peyton’s Picture
(Book 2, but all stories can be read as standalone’s)
THE BILLIONAIRE’S MAID
Maid to Hate
(Book 6, but all stories can be read as standalone’s)
HERMERTA: THE NEW DE SANTIS CRIME FAMILY
Bria
(part of series, but all stories can be read as standalone’s)
CUPID’S COVE
My Favorite Season
(part of series, but all stories can be read as standalone’s)
My Favorite Flower
(part of series, but all stories can be read as standalone’s; best read after My Favorite Season)
A Brutal Betrayal
A Promise Kept
Book Boyfriend
Love’s Deception
Save My Heart
Scars of my Past
Shape of My Life
The Beauty Beneath
Three Loving Words
My family is always my first thanks because I wouldn’t have the luxury of putting words to paper without their support. My kiddos are proud to say their mom is an author. Thank you to my hubby, my sister (who helps me with ALL the book stuff), my parents, my in-laws, my nieces and nephews, and my aunt Maya.
Thanks to the ones that help my stories become books: Jenny Sims, friend, critic, and my editor at Editing4Indies, Susana Mohel (an amazing author and great supporter/friend!) who is also a genius with book covers – this one included, Elaine York, who lets me text her at random hours of the day/night and allows my type of crazy, and my formatter at Allusion Publishing.
Thank you to some of my favorite women: Shelly Wygant, Kacie Spiros, Suleika Santana, Jen Wilder, Rebecca Bennett, Heather Cicio, Cat Gray, Christina Gragg, and Karen Wright.
Thank you to my Diamonds!
Thank you to all the blogs, bloggers, groups, fellow authors, and readers that took a chance on me and my story, for all your help with this book and throughout the years!
DC Renee, I'll Never Stop
