Chasing Love (Dark Love 1)

“Baby?” he murmured into my ear.

“Yes?”

He didn’t realize that simple gestures like calling me ‘baby’ awoke things deep inside, things I’d never felt before. Like he was reaching that part of my soul I was desperately trying to hold onto, a part I knew if I let go, it would be with him forever and no one else.

“Turn around, look at me,” he begged.

I shifted so my eyes met his. A part of me was terrified he was going to tell me what I dreaded all along, that we needed to stop. His eyes shone a bright, beautiful emerald that mesmerized me every time, pulling me into a trance.

It felt like minutes passed as his eyes gazed into mine like playing a game of who’ll blink first, but there was this eerie calm, and neither of us would back down.

“Te amo mi niña, I love you, my girl,” he breathed.

With his eyes still fixated on me, my heart stopped because he’d said those words. Those words that no other person had ever said to me, those words which changed everything about us and who we were and what we were doing. I held my breath unaware I was doing so.

“I love you, my girl. I have ever since we ran into each other the night I came back. It’s you, it has always been you.” He stopped, waiting for me to say something. “You don’t need to say anything. I just needed to tell you. I couldn’t hold it in anymore.”

“I love you, too, Alex.”

“You do?”

“I can’t deny it anymore. I love you so much that it hurts. I can’t sleep, I can’t eat, and I can’t be a normal human being. It’s like it has consumed all of me.”

Alex kissed my knuckles with an unassuming grin. He continued to sing, the same song he sang to me that day at the piano. I ignored the painful memories attached to it—it was the day I thought my heart officially stopped beating.

Instead, I allowed the warmth to rush through me as he sang those words, and I couldn’t help but sing along with him. The melody only added to this enchanted moment when nothing else mattered in the world, nothing but Alex and me.

It was there, in the middle of the meadow with the sun shining upon us, that the man I loved and he loved me in return, made sweet passionate love to me.

LEX

Present

There are certain moments in my life I’ll never forget, a moment destined to be engrained in my memory, and no measure of time will erase them.

This is one of those moments.

Charlotte walks toward me, and almost as if I’m suspended in time, her beauty hypnotizes me. The red dress she’s wearing is simple but elegant, accentuating her stunning figure. Her long brown hair flows down and nestles over her shoulder to one side with the soft tendrils framing her beautiful face. Her eyes mirror mine, shining bright as her smile radiates across her face, one that reaches her eyes.

I’m never one to be rendered speechless, but her beauty continues to astound me. For tonight, she’ll be mine, although I know I have agreed to be friends.

My desperation to keep her in my life despite the circumstances will prove extremely difficult. I can’t reach out and touch her, even though she’s beside me. There will be no invading her personal life and asking if she broke it off with him—I’m probably going to bite my way through my lips on that one. I’ve always controlled what I do, nobody dictates terms for me, but here I am nine years later trying to start a friendship with the girl who is my reason for breathing. How the fuck am I going to get through tonight without mauling her in the car?

“Are you trying to kill me, Charlotte?”

“I’m not sure what you’re referring to, but since your eyes have not left this dress, my answer is no. I happen to really like this dress, and a friend wouldn’t kill another friend, now would they?” She bats her eyelashes, turning on the charm.

“So, yes, you’re trying to kill me.”

Inside the car, we sit with the middle seat vacant between us. Every now and then, a soft breeze will come my way, and her scent lingers causing all sorts of discomfort. This is harder than I thought, and it’s only been twenty minutes.

“So where are you taking me tonight?”

“You’ll see.”

I choose to keep our destination a secret, although I know she’s desperate to know. Instead, she sits quietly watching the city pass us by. Upon arrival at the dock, she narrows her eyes, grimacing, before turning to me for answers.

“Now, will you tell me?”