Only One Forever (Only One 8)

She puts her elbows on my knees. “That could have been me,” I say, the words coming out of my mouth. “If I didn’t have my mother, that could have been me.”

“Dylan,” she says softly, and for the first time in my whole life, I tell her things I’ve never told anyone.

“When I was four, five guys showed up at our front door,” I tell her, the memory was buried so deep I only remembered it when I walked into the apartment. “Slammed my mother into a wall.” She puts one of her hands to her mouth. “They were looking for my sperm donor,” I say, refusing to call that man my father. “I can hear the yelling in my head. My mother was pleading with them to leave me alone. She was going to sacrifice herself for me. One of the guys came over, grabbed the television that we had, and walked out of the door.” I rub my hands over my face. The numbness starts to leave me, and a new feeling starts to show up. “And that was just one story.” My whole body shakes from the anger, the anger of living through the memories. The anger of being fucking helpless. “That apartment wasn’t even that bad,” I tell her. “We stayed in rat-infested places. I went to bed with my stomach empty, no matter how much my mother tried. Do you think if we hadn’t gotten out of there, I would be where I am today?”

“I do,” Alex says. “Your talent isn’t something that is taught.”

I laugh at her, and my hand comes up to touch her face, her innocent face. Her face is what angels are made of. “I would be just a product of my environment,” I tell her. “Sadly, it’s a vicious cycle, and unless you get lucky like we did, it’s just going to go around in circles. I would probably be one of those guys at the corner trying to make a quick buck to put food on the table. Or who knows.” I shake my head. “What if I ended up like my father. A drug addict who would sell the shit he stole from his son.” I shout the words, not able to hold it back in. I’m so fucking pissed at having to relive it over and over again.

“Stop,” she says, her voice tight. “Stop thinking of the what-ifs.” She leans up and grabs my face in her hands. “If we do this whole what-if scenario, that means we would have never met, and I don’t ever want to think of that.”

I know she’s right. I also know that if I keep going down memory lane, nothing good will come of it. “Okay,” I say softly, pulling her to me and kissing her lips. “I’m going to go and get in the shower.”

She gets up. “I’m going to feed Mac and make sure she’s okay.”

I nod at her, walking upstairs and going to the shower I used the last time I was here. When I get out and slip into boxers, I walk into the room and see her in the middle of the bed. Her hair is wet and piled on her head. “How long was I in the shower?” I ask her, and she just smiles.

“I figured that I had to rush in case Julia called,” she says, and I get into the bed next to her. “She didn’t.”

“Yeah, I figure it’ll take her a bit before she has Maddox settled and stuff,” I tell her. “I don’t know how she does it.”

“I was just thinking the same thing,” she says, looking at me. “I don’t know how I would be able to just close myself off.”

“You can’t save everyone,” I tell her. “But you can help change at least one person’s life.” I lie down on my side. “That person is going to be Maddox,” I state, not sure what I’m even going to have to do to help him, but I know that I’ll do whatever it is, and I’m not going to ask questions.

Chapter 22

Alex

The soft alarm makes me open my eyes, and then I feel weight on me as Dylan leans over me to turn it off. “Morning,” he mumbles, and he gets off me, but I reach for him and pull him back to me. I turn in his arms, and he wraps his arms around me, burying my face in his neck. All night long, I would wake and look over at him, but he was always close by. “Um,” he says softly as I push myself into his chest. “Alex,” he says when I wiggle my covered chest against his bare chest. I kiss under his chin, lifting my leg over his hip. “This is not going to end well.” I lean back to see him with his eyes closed as he starts counting. I throw my head back and laugh at him, and then he flips me on my back.