Trailing his knuckles across her skin for a second longer, he knew this would be the very last time he would do so. The joy and love he had felt for her while touching her was now gone. He wasn’t meant for her, and he could finally clearly see she wasn’t meant for him.
As he started to remove his hand, he stopped, seeing a ring dangling down from a chain around her neck. Angel trailed his hand down, picking it up. He recognized it immediately.
“Where did you get this?” he asked, rubbing it between his fingers, making sure it was real and not just a mirage.
“A girl came to me about a month ago.” Taking it from his hand, she stared down at it. “She didn’t tell me her name or where she found it, but when she gave it to me, it felt like she had been keeping it safe. And when I took it … she seemed upset.”
Angel gazed down at the ring that was now being twirled in Bella’s hand, a ring he had tried desperately to get back to her.
When he had walked out of Adalyn’s life, he had still wanted to get it back, but if he had seen the pretty brunette again, he wasn’t so sure he would have been able to walk away from her a second time.
Ultimately, deep down, he supposed he knew why he couldn’t see her again, but it wasn’t until right now that he could admit it to himself. I’ll be trapped forever.
It was time for Angel to make a decision, one that could change the course of his life forever. And once he made that decision, there was no going back.
Looking down at the girl he had been in love with his entire life, he said something he should have said over two months ago.
“Goodbye, Bella.”
Thirty-Three
An Eternity Here, with You
When Adalyn left her house Monday morning, the black car was already waiting for her. She opened the car door and got into the back seat when her heart came to a complete stop.
She had spent one month crying and the second one getting over the man who now sat in the driver’s seat as if nothing had ever happened.
No. No. No.
She jumped back out of the car, slammed the door, and started running back inside the house.
Angel quickly got out and ran after her.
“Adalyn!”
“Leave me alone!” she barked at him.
“Please.” Reaching out, he lightly touched her arm, stopping her. “I just want to talk.”
Adalyn gazed down at the tatted hand on her arm while tears started to rim her eyes as she remembered how, with every passing day that had passed, she could remember less and less where each colored ink lay on his pale skin. It only caused her to wish and wonder what it would be like to see him again, to feel him again.
But she wasn’t that girl anymore.
Pulling her arm away from his grasp, with tear-filled, defiant eyes, she looked straight into his gray ones. “I wanted to talk months ago, but you wouldn’t let me.”
“I couldn’t,” he told her truthfully before opening his eyes, letting her see what he was hiding, even to himself. He whispered the words; there was no hiding anymore. “I’m scared shitless, Adalyn.”
She stood there, paralyzed, listening to every word.
“I’m trapped here without knowing if he will ever let me leave. If I allow myself to have you, I’m afraid I will stay forever.”
A single tear trailed down her face. “Then why walk back into my life?”
“I don’t belong here, sweetness. We both know that.” Angel stepped closer to her, wanting to reach out and brush away her tears. “But I think I might belong with you.”
“Why now? What changed?” she quietly asked.
He had to do it.
Reaching out with a cold, inked finger, he wrapped a strand of her thick brown hair around it. “I realized I could either spend an eternity here, trapped, or I could spend an eternity here, with you.”
As she stared up at the fallen Angel, she realized that the love she felt for him hadn’t gone away. Instead, she could feel it growing with every passing second. It was so tempting just to reach out …
He’s going to break you again, a small voice whispered, reminding her that she had moved on and had accepted things the way they were. If she gave Angel another chance, he would leave her when Lucca released him. She didn’t think she could survive it.
Adalyn pulled the strand from his grasp, watching it unravel from around his long finger. “You already walked away from me once, Angel. Now, this is me walking away from you.”
She proudly walked up the porch and opened her front door.
“I know you gave her the ring back. I want to thank you.” His voice stopped her from going in just yet. “I thought I was in love with her, but she’s always been in love with someone else. Does that remind you of anyone?”