In This Life (Sequel to 'In Another Life')

44 Colby's POV

I smiled watching T's eyes go wide, and well up with tears. "You will go to the ends of the Earth for those that you love. That's a trait that I admire every day. You will never be just normal, Terra." She looked down at our intertwined hands, and started twisted my rings on my fingers nervously. "Colby, I don't think you know what being with me comes with. The responsibility, that is never going to go away. I'm always going to be an addict. I'm going to fight this battle every day of my life. The want, the need, for drugs or alcohol will never leave me. I just have to learn how to fight it. Whoever I'm with may deal with me relapsing. I can't say that I won't ever relapse because it's probable that I will. I did today. I took a pill, then drank half of a White Claw. It might not be much, but I still broke my sobriety. Now I have to start all the way over. After 3 years, I have to start over." My heart broke for her, hearing the despair and just how tired she was of having to deal with it. Knowing that she was right, this was something that she would battle for the rest of her life. "I know that T. But you aren't alone. You have friends that are going through the same thing every day. Aryia proved that tonight, and I know that Elias would help you out in a pinch. And I may not know what you're going through, but I'm still here. I will fight with you. Always," I told her softly. "Do you promise?" she whispered, staring at me with those beautiful, sad aqua eyes. I nodded, and pressed my lips gently to hers. "I promise," I whispered back. She leaned into me, rested her head on my chest, and wrapped her arms around my waist. "I love you Colby. It's always been you. Even when I was with Justin, it was never like this. You were always in the back of my mind, in my heart, just waiting until I could see you again. I just didn't realize it. Thank you for waiting for me and for pushing me to make up my mind. I was so scared of change, but I've realized that sometimes, that's for the best." I stroked her hair as she spoke, spilling her heart out to me and thought about what life would be like if I hadn't saw her at the club. I was ready to tell my now ex girlfriend that I loved her. I was ready to ask her to move in with me at the Trap House. As soon as I saw T that night, I knew that it was her. I had been doing the same thing she had. I was just holding her place until she came back to me. God, I was so happy that she did. I held her close to me, just enjoying being able to do that. Since we had made our relationship official, we hadn't been able to really do much other than hug. While I knew that she needed to take the time to heal, and not worry about...other things, I couldn't help but be frustrated that she wasn't healed yet. It felt like it had been forever. In all honesty, it had been. It had been over three years for us. I kissed the top of her head, and leaned back a little, so that I could look into her eyes. "Feel better?" I asked. She rolled her eyes and nodded, sniffing a little. "Yeah. Can we maybe just enjoy ourselves sometimes, instead of always having these emotional ass moments? I don't think my heart can take too much more." I laughed at her response, and stood up, pulling her with me. "We can definitely enjoy ourselves. The night is young Miss Brooks, and our friends are waiting." She laughed and shook her head. "Dork," she replied. I grinned at how carefree she looked with a smile on her face. Her head tilted back with her laughter, her aqua eyes shining a little bit brighter from her earlier tears, her cheeks just a little bit more red than usual. "Before we do, how are you feeling? Any pain?" I asked, stopping just inside the back door. She sighed heavily, and glared at me a little. "Colby, I-" "Humor me T. Please," I responded, poking my bottom lip out and pouting at her. "Ugh you suck," she replied. "I feel fine. The half of a pill that I took earlier is working very well right now. I don't feel any pain. I promise I'm okay." I bit my lip, deciding if I should comment on the pill thing or not. The look on her face currently, let me know that I shouldn't...so I didn't. Instead, I took her hand, raised it to my lips, then laced my fingers with hers, and walked outside to join our friends. "Amber seems to be hitting off with...well, everyone," she said wryly, pointing over to a grassy patch of land, where Amber and 'everyone' were dancing. It looked like she had every single guy out there with her. The other girls were standing off to the side, glaring at her, while they simultaneously dared their own boyfriends to get up and join her. Denise was staring daggers into her and that's when I noticed that Amber was sliding her ass up and down Elias's body, while Tavan danced in front of her. She was actually taking turns pressing her body up against all of them. I stared a little longer than I should have, noticing that she did have a very nice body, the yellow bathing suit of Terra's hugging it in all the right places. "Colby!" I jerked my head away, already feeling the blood rush to my face. I had been caught. "Sorry," I said quietly, meeting Terra's gaze. "That's just...an interesting way to dance." I glanced back over to the other girls and noticed Denise stalking towards Amber and the guys. "Um, you might wanna stop Neece from killing Amber. Cuz that's about to happen." Terra's stern gaze left mine and glanced over to her friends. "Damn it Amber," she groaned, before jogging towards Denise.