Remember This Part

15. Stuff Happens, The End (Or Is It?)

** Trigger Warning - This chapter contains a scene depicting domestic violence.

Thea.

Okay, it's happening. This is happening.

His lips are on mine while his arms are wrapped around me, crushing me against his body. I can't feel the wind, I can't hear the cars, only him. One of his hands comes up to grasp the side of my neck, covering my blush with his rough palm. My eyes are closed, my senses hyper-focused on the feel of his lips and body. An hour and a second feel like the same thing right now, and I don't know how long we've been like this when I finally pull back.

He kissed me. It's exactly what I wanted him to do, but hadn't thought it would really happen. I didn't think something so good could happen to me.

My heart is thumping faster than a hummingbird's wings, and my breath is trying to catch up with it. Slowly, my gaze connects with his. I can feel the fire lighting up his dark eyes, and it warms every inch of my body even as the cold air nips at my face. I want to make the wind stop again by bringing his lips back to mine.

"Alex," I whisper dazedly, staring up at him. He doesn't say anything, just brings both of his hands up to cup my face as he kisses me again.

It's beautiful. He's beautiful. With my eyes fallen shut—his intense body heat enveloping me—everything just looks...beautiful.

"I've been wanting to do that for so long," he finally murmurs softly against my lips, and I feel that thing in my chest stutter at his admission. There's an intense and immediate sense of satisfaction—of relief—knowing that I haven't been crazy to want him like this. He wanted me, too. Just knowing that brings my defenses down, and I revel in my liberation.

"I've been wanting you to do that for so long," I murmur in response.

"Good, because it's been killing me to hold back," he says.

I shiver, but at the moment, I'm not the least bit cold.

"Then don't hold back."

He doesn't. When his lips crash down on me again, I feel a thousand unspoken words flowing directly from his body to mine. I'm up on my toes as I wrap my arms around his neck, my elbows resting on his broad shoulders. In half a second, he's picking me up off the ground to give me better access to him, his strong hands supporting me at the bottom of my thighs as my legs straddle his lean waist. He moves us inside easily, not losing an ounce of momentum as we deepen our kiss.

My coat slips off my shoulders and lands on the floor, but Alex doesn't seem to care. He holds me close, nibbling gently on my bottom lip. Then his lips set a blazing trail from the corner of my mouth down my neck. A muffled voice in the back of my brain is reminding me that Lyle is on the couch right behind us, but he's passed out. And besides, I don't think I could let anything ruin this moment.

Finally.

I'm so entranced by it all that I'm completely caught off guard when my back is suddenly pressed up against the wall.

And just like that, it all comes crashing down while my defenses rush back up. My pulse has been racing this whole time, but now it's stumbling over itself. Gratification cedes its territory to fear as the memories latch onto my consciousness. I can no longer feel Alex's warmth, his strength, his lips and hands. All I can feel is the cold wall at my back, as if I'm being slammed into it again and again.

"Thea?"

"Teddy!"

That's not my name.

"Thea, what's wrong?"

"Teddy, what have I told you? I've said it a thousand damn times, get out of my damn way!"