Our Broken Pieces

Chapter 40

Gage~

Her big brown eyes immediately filled with tears, then they escaped beautifully down her perfect face. "Gage..." she mouthed, surprise rendering her speechless.

It was the first time that I'd ever told her that I loved her. It hadn't been a phrase that we'd ever used before, but that was because it felt pale in comparison for what I felt for this woman in my arms. I didn't just love Mystic; my soul was connected to hers.

"It's true," I told her. "I love you. I more than love you, but I don't know what that is. I just know that ten years dimmed nothing. I love you just as much now as I did when I first saw you by your locker. I knew I loved you then. I knew that whatever piece of my soul was missing, it found that piece in you. I've always loved you, Mystic. I always will."

"Always?" she asked through her tears.

"Always," I confirmed. "I never had a choice. I didn't have one back then, and I don't have one now."

"Even after ten years?"

"Baby, the name of my company is Stymic Financial Holdings," I replied. "Stymic Financial Holdings, Mystic. S-T-Y-M-I-C."

I watched patiently until realization covered her entire face. "Stymic," she whispered. "Oh, God...Gage. Mystic."

"Even through the rage, heartbreak, and resentment, my love for you shined through it all." The tears came hard now, and Mystic dropped into my chest, her face tucked into my neck, her shoulders wracking with sobs. "I remember it like it was yesterday," I told her. "Everything had been drawn up, loans secured, plans in place, the vision was becoming real. The night before we broke ground on our first property, me and Lorcan were drinking, celebrating really, and he asked me if I'd decided on a name for my company yet." Mystic's sobs quieted, and I knew that she didn't want to miss a word. My arms tightened around her, and she burrowed deeper into my embrace. "I told him I wasn't sure yet, and then he told me not to think too hard on it. That it should be simple. He said to think about what I would call the most important thing in my life. What would I call the one thing that I'd poured my entire heart and soul into? What would I call the one thing that's bound to consume me for the rest of my life?"

"Gage..."

"The only thing that came to my mind for every one of his questions was you. Your name was the only thing that popped into my head. If I thought I could get away with it, I would have named my company Mystic Financial Holdings, but instead, I rearranged the letters of your name." I sat her up, so that I could look into her tearstained face. "There has never been anything or anyone more important in my life than you, baby. It's always been just you."

"I love you," she whispered, and the force of her words felt like a slug to my chest. I'd always thought them pointless because we more than loved each other, but hearing her say the words now, I knew that I'd been wrong. While they couldn't accurately convey the true depths of our emotions, they weren't pointless. "I've always loved you, Gage. I live to love you."

"Good," I replied. "That's good because, baby, I can't live without you. I did it once, there's no way in hell I'd survive it a second time. I'll never let you go, Mystic. Ever. You need to know that. You need to know that marriage, kids, none of that matters. None of that ties us together. Your soul is tied to mine, and that's why I'll never let you go. My soul only exists if it's tied to yours."

The tears began again. "I know," she whispered. "I know. I've known it since I was fourteen-years-old."

"Marry me, Mystic." It wasn't a question. There weren't any choices left. We didn't have choices, Mystic and I. "Marry me. Marry me and get off those goddamn birth control pills."