Through the Lens (Click Duet #1) (Bay Area Duet Series) Persephone Autumn (black authors fiction TXT) 📖

“Thanks,” I whisper into the darkness.

Walking slowly through her quaint house, I locate the couch and kick off my shoes. I check my watch and realize it is really fucking late. Or is it really fucking early at this point? Whatever. Thank God tomorrow is an off day for the shoot. Because both of us would be fucked if it wasn’t.

I stretch out on the couch, situating pillows and a blanket around me. Shifting my hips and my neck until I get comfortable. Am I really in her house? Or is this all just some bizarre dream? It all seems so surreal. Seeing her again. Touching her again. Smelling her again. Fuck, how I have missed everything about her. Even the way she says my name.

Her adorable smile. The subtle fragrance she wears. How she peers up at me. The way her body reacts to mine. As if no time has passed.

But it has. And I fucked up. Big time.

Staring up at the ceiling, my eyes lose focus as the moonlight casts shadows from the tree outside the window. Shadows of limbs and leaves dance and entertain me. Tonight, so many things have happened and changed. It’s overwhelming to think of how life and our relationship could possibly shift in the future. Shift in a positive way.

The future… something I always dreamed I would have with Cora, but wasn’t sure would happen. I wasn’t sure I would ever see her again, but wished for it often. Wished on every star in the night sky. Wished with every penny I threw in a fountain. And wished every time I blew out a birthday candle.

When I boarded the plane in Los Angeles, the possibility of seeing her seemed minuscule. So outlandish. So impossible.

But fate intervened. Slapping us together and giving us the opportunity to discover each other again. To learn about all the years we missed out on. Learn how much we have changed yet remained the same. And now that things are lining up for both of us in our respective careers, the possibility of a future with her has greater potential. If a future with me is what she wants.

Please let it be what she wants.

If she would be willing to try with me again—if she gave me a chance to explain—I would move my life back here again. Back home. To her. For her. In a heartbeat. Regardless of my life and family and friends back in California, I would leave it all behind if I knew we stood a chance.

The day I was forced to tell her my mom received a promotion and we were moving out of state was the day my life started falling apart. One speck at a time. When my mom told me the news, I hesitated to tell Cora. Not because I didn’t want to, but because when I did tell her, reality would hit hard. And when I shared the news with her, expressing the pain and anguish I felt at leaving, she held me and soothed me. She was the strong one, telling me we would be apart for less than two years. That we would see each other during breaks and summer. Less than two years and we could be by each other’s side again.

We had it all mapped out.

Unfortunately for us, it didn’t work that way. Within ten days of being in California, my life was utter chaos. Upset and angry, I lashed out. Got in fights and provoked anyone near me. I think a part of me thought if I acted out, I would be able to return to where I wanted to be most. Where I belonged. With Cora.

But it didn’t work that way and I shut down. To my family and Cora. I allowed my anger and frustration and sadness to consume me until numbness took over. A numbness that pushed me forward, but I lost every real part of who I had been. Including Cora.

It may have taken thirteen years for me to return—by complete accident—but I am here. And I plan to do whatever it takes to regain all I have lost. I will make up for every tear she cried. Every sadness she suffered. I will make up for every pain and absence of love she has endured since I left. She deserves nothing less from me.

I surveil the shadows as they continue to sway and, within minutes, I drift off and hope I dream about the most incredible woman I have ever loved. The woman who sleeps less than twenty feet from me. The woman I hope will forgive me in the end. And somehow, love me again.

Chapter Fifteen

Gavin

Fifteen years ago

I jump out of the bus and land on the concrete sidewalk of my new school. High school. I am in the big leagues now. No stopping me.

Freshman year holds so much promise. Making new friends. Meeting new people. Hot new females. Life couldn’t possibly get any better.

I toss my backpack over one shoulder and head for the class where my homeroom is said to be. The first day is usually full of chaos, and today is no exception. Even though it is corny as hell, I am glad my mom forced me to come to orientation so I at least got a lay of the land. The last thing I need is to look like a dope wandering the halls while staring at a map.

Navigating the hall, I locate the correct room and find a desk in the back row. There is still another six minutes until the bell, so I pull out my notebook and begin doodling while I wait. Stomps and thuds and soft pitter-patters echo off the sterile white walls as everyone files into the room. I ignore all their steps and continue my artwork, the buzzing of the bell causing me to stop.

When I peer up at the front of the room, a raven-haired girl walks through the door, huffing and bending