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

would never find someone else who I’d want to be in a long-term relationship with. So, I shifted my ways. Became the polar opposite of how everyone knew me. Morphed into a slut. Because slutting around was easier than finding someone else and losing the one person you really wanted all along.

Because regardless of how things go between us now, Cora is it for me. The one soul on this planet, packed with eight billion others, meant for me. I have known it since the first day I saw her in high school, when she bolted into homeroom out of breath, making me out of breath. Confirmed it when we kissed for the first time, a beach not many miles from this one, and my soul sighed while my heart soared. I will never experience that with another person.

Nor do I want to.

“Gavin,” she whispers into the darkness, breaking me from my introspection.

I turn and kiss her temple. “What, baby?”

She rests her chin on my shoulder, the waning moonlight illuminating her enough to where I can make out the soft lines and strong features of her face. Eyes a muted green in the shadows. Skin seemingly paler. Lips red and full and inviting. “How can this possibly work?” Her question weighs heavy and is full of doubt.

How can I reassure her everything will work out? That I have the capability to move closer to her. How I don’t have to be located on the other side of the country to work. I know she should know this, with what she does for work. But there is only one way she will believe it all. Proof. And I have to give it to her.

My eyes hone in on hers. “I want to move back. The sooner, the better,” I admit.

She straightens her back, stiffening at my admission. A thick strand of her ebony hair whips across her face, hiding her eyes from me. She doesn’t move to swipe the hairs aside, and I force myself to keep my hands rooted in place, as challenging as it is. Minutes pass, the wind shifts and brushes the hair away. As desperate as she is to school her expressions, I read her like a book. Always have.

Curiosity. Speculation. Doubt. Fear. Elation. It is all written there in an ink only my eyes see.

I grab hold of the elation and press it close to my chest. Of all the emotions swirling in her eyes, it is the one that raises my hope for us. That we can find our way back to each other.

“But how?” Her question as wispy as the wind.

Cupping her left cheek, I brush my thumb over her plump lower lip. God, I want to kiss her again. But I must wait. Wait until she is certain that I am still what she wants. As much as it guts me to think of her with another guy, it isn’t right of me to assume she will come back to me as easily. I hurt her.

“Baby, I can live anywhere and do my job. With what you do, you have to know this.”

“But what about your life out there? Your parents? How can I ask you to leave everything you’ve built out there? It isn’t fair for me to do that.”

Her question about my parents strikes a chord in my chest. I’m not ready to update her on what has happened in that part of my life. Not until I know she is open to exploring us again. “You don’t need to worry about that. Since the day we set foot in California, my mom has heard nothing except my orchestrated plans to leave. And you may believe it isn’t fair for you to ask me to come back here. Back to you.” I reach forward and press my palm against her sternum. “But this is where I belong. This is where I have always belonged. You are all that matters. All that has ever mattered.”

She sucks in a breath as her eyes pool with unshed tears. In the shadowed night of the beach, everything is heightened and intensified. As if being in the darkness provides a blanket of security and you feel safe enough to expose your heart. There is something to be said about the darkness and its allure. Not just the darkness of night, but the yin in all things. That is what she is… my yin. The strong, feminine cosmic force who took hold of my heart and molded it with hers. Without her, I am a pointless yang. No balance, no life, no love.

Soft, thin fingers rest atop mine, encompassing my hand in the warmth of her skin. Below my palm, her heart beats wildly. Irrationally. While her heart tells me tales of excitement and joy, her eyes shed tears of insecurity and apprehension. Both of which I understand.

But a glint of something else resides there. Hope. A belief there is truth behind my words. That I am not just saying these things to taunt or mislead her. That there is an actual chance for us to rekindle something that never should have been diffused in the first place. A new opportunity to share the undeniable magnetism we have always had for each other. Hope for a new version of us. A better version.

“How?” The single word a question that rests heavy on her lips.

“I’ve been talking about moving back home for years. And now that my career has a better base, I can live anywhere. I don’t have to be in the thick of Hollywood for people to find me. It was different in the beginning. Being out there helped get my foot in the door. Got me in front of the right people. But now… now I can be wherever. Alyson deals with all the contractual and legal aspects. She lets me know when someone is interested in hiring me. Sure, me living out there makes life easier for her. But she can still be my