His Forever (His #2)

Chapter 5 : Mr. Remarkable

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Braden only stares at me until I get all uncomfortable and nervous. Not that I wasn't all that before, but he's getting me in an even worse state.

He suddenly stands up. ''Come,'' he says and sticks his hand out for me to take. My eyes drop to it and I stare at it for some long seconds, before I reluctantly take it.

He pulls me up from the chair and his pull is so strong and unexpected that I crash into his chest. He instantly wraps his arm around me, caging me to his body. I wish he could cage my heart, because it seems like it wants to jump out from my chest, judging by how fast it's really beating.

He puts his palm on the right side of my face and looks at me with gentle eyes. I get the urge to suddenly start crying and I don't know why. It's just something ... something so similar about his look, like how he used to look at me the same way so many times before ... it pulls the strings in my heart and such a pain surges through me that I have to open my mouth and take a deep, shaky breath, because I feel like suffocating.

Braden drops his forehead on mine and inhales as if in pain. ''I'm going to put an end to this, Rory. I swear to God, if it costs me everything ...'' he murmurs against my lips.

I don't have time to ask him what he means with those words before he takes me to the living room and sits down on the couch, taking me with him so I sit so close to him our sides touch. He looks me deadly in the eyes with a very serious look.

I fidget in my seat a little, not knowing what to expect to come out of his mouth. He's full of surprises lately.

''I already told you I want you back in my life and you haven't given me any answer to that,'' he states calmly, all collected, while I'm sitting in front of him like a mess.

He has his face vain of emotions. God, he has a beautiful face ... I'd never get tired of looking at him and I swear to everything I could look at him for the rest of my life and still be surprised every day at how handsome he really is – inside and out.

I straighten my back. ''I did give you an answer,'' I tell him, as calm as he did before.

Braden frowns a bit, showing the first bits of annoyance. I have to look at him closely and carefully to not miss any hint of emotion on his face before he carefully masks it. ''That wasn't an answer. At least not one I'm willing to accept.''

I lift my eyebrow at him, careful not to show what's going inside of my confused mind right now. ''And what answer are you willing to accept?'' I ask him carefully.

He rakes his hand through his hair in a distressed manner. ''Rory, I ...'' He looks deeply into my eyes and says with all the sincerity he can muster and with the most emotions he can show in one sentence, ''I'd rather lose my mind than lose you ever again.''

I can literally feel my heart flutter at his words.

But he continues. ''I was too much an asshole to see how beautiful and worthy you are. You've always cared too much about me and I never knew why. And when you admitted you love me ...'' He exhales out, going through his hair with his hands. ''I got scared. It was an intense moment for me.''

''Braden ...'' my voice cracks.

He shifts closer to me, lifts his hand slowly and touches my cheek lightly, wiping the fallen tear away with his thumb. ''I missed your smile every minute I was away from you. I swear it lights the whole fucking city up. But then, Brooke told me you weren't smiling. That you didn't smile, not even once in those three weeks. And it hit me that I almost forgot how your smile looks and I wanted to see you smile again. I hate myself because you had to waste so many tears on me.''