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I shake my head. “No.”

“The love I have for you and Annalisa. I love you both so much. And no one is going to take that away from me. Not even a bunch of guys who gang up on me,” he shoots out.

My body tenses with anger. I hate the bastards that hurt my dad. The hate fire doesn’t end there. They brought back feelings within me that I thought I had buried with my mother. I want them to pay.

“Are you going to let them take it from you?” He’s somber now. I’m crying. I just need my dad to hold me. He needs to tell me what to do. I lay my head on his chest and his arms wrap around me. “You either fight for what you love or you lose it. We are not losers, Reece.”

I don’t say anything. I just rest with my dad for as long as I can. Eventually, Annalisa brings a tray of food into the room and Dad and I get off the bed. She hands me my phone. “This has been buzzing. You might want to check it.”

Nodding, I get up from the bed. I look down at my phone. There are two messages from Caydon.

The first message asks me to call him. The second tells me to meet him at an address I know looks familiar in fifteen minutes.

Annalisa and my dad observe my reaction. I think they might know something that I don’t. I hate being kept in the dark. “What’s this all about?”

My dad grabs a hold of Annalisa and drags her to his bed. “It’s about making choices. Are you going to snub your fears and fight for what’s important? Or are you going to be a coward and give in to them?”

I feel it in my heart. The adrenaline fuels my desire to reclaim my life. I was never happier than when I was with Caydon. Even when he made me mad, I still was happy. I want that feeling back. I want Caydon back.

With tears in my eyes, I face my dad and his future wife. “I’m going to fight,” I say with conviction.

They smile at each other with love in their eyes. My dad looks back at me. “Well, you better get going. You don’t want to miss this opportunity.”

Grabbing my jacket, I stare back at them. It’s as if I’m not even in the room with them anymore. They only see each other. And that’s when I realize it.

Damn, I want that.

* * *

I’m sweating bullets. It’s possible that she won’t show. Then all I can do is face the fact that she might have never loved me to begin with.

End the pity party, dickhead. You know it’s real.

The question is how long do I wait for her. Fifteen minutes? Thirty? How long is too long?

Waiting for eternity wouldn’t be long enough, stupid.

Cars pass by. People come and go. My phone beeps. I quickly look at the text and begin to smile. Plan B is working.

Thank you, Jesus.

Frantically, I scan the area. I don’t see her right away. But when I finally do, I let out an exasperated sigh. We are on a roll.

As I intended, she takes her place on the side of the street where it all began. I stay put, for the time being, in the spot where I’m supposed to be.

I brought Reece back to our old elementary schools. I want the chance to relive a few moments in time. Only this time, I yearn to do things differently. The right way.

I stare at her. She stares back.

When I was kid, all I did was gaze at Reece. I’m not a kid anymore. I plan to do what I should have done ten years ago.

It’s a busy street. Busses and cars speed by without any regard to my safety. I might die getting to her but she’ll know I tried.

I dodge the cars unharmed. Only a few assholes wouldn’t slow down.
Whew.
That’s not even the hard part.

This is. Standing in front of a shaking Reece, I take her hands in mine. Her eyes are wide and she looks unsure if she should even be here. I look down at our entwined hands. I rub my thumbs across her fingers. “See our hands? They are together. And that’s what I want us to be. Together.”

“Caydon…”

Don’t do that.

I interrupt her, “Listen to me. And then, if you decide you want to go, I will set you free.”

Give us a chance.

She gives me the okay, so I begin. “I was your first love, as you were mine. I want you to be my last love.” I breathe out slowly trying to get a grip on what I want to say. “Someone once said to me that fate controls who walks into your life. I forget how the rest goes, but I know they said that you control who walks out of your life.” I let go of her and run my fingers through my hair. “This is me…standing before you…telling you that I want you in my life. So I brought you back to where I first fell in love with you.”

Reece takes my face into her hands and tilts her head toward my forehead. I kiss her hair quickly so I can get it all out. “Fate has thrown us together twice. I’m afraid that if we don’t take this second chance that she is going to be pissed and never offer us another chance again.”

She’s crying now.
Don’t cry. Please.

“Reece, our story began here eleven years ago. And I have one question to ask you. Before you answer, this question will tell me everything I need to know.” I hold my breath. “Will you meet me here tomorrow and we can go to that playground?” I point to the playground just like I did when I was ten years old.

Reece glances to playground then to me. It seems like she is frozen.

I’m so fucked. This was a bad idea.

My hopes start to fall. The pulse in my throat starts to throb. I close my eyes fearing the inevitable.
She’s given up.

“No,” Reece states flatly.

Whoomp! There it is. Rejection.

I back away from her to give her space. Within seconds, she fists my shirt and yanks me toward her. Her lips curl into a smile. “Tomorrow is too late. I want to go now.”

Jesus, I thought we were over.
My heart is pounding. The sweat on my brow is visible.

I’m going to have to punish her later for making me think she was going to leave me again. Before I have a chance to say anything, her lips are on mine.

I grab a hold of her waist, pulling her as close I can to my body. Oblivious to the world around us, our tongues interlace moving in unison. Cars blare their horns in appreciation of the show we are giving them.

Finally, we pull away from each other trying to catch our breaths. “I love you,” I whisper.

“I love you, too.”

“I won’t let you down.”

“Thanks for fighting for both of us, Caydon. If you didn’t take the reins, I would have been lost in a very lonely world.” Her eyes go back to a dark place for a second.

“Reece, you did the fighting. I just offered you the choices. I always had faith in us.” It’s true. There’s no way fate would bring two people together twice in a lifetime unless they were meant to be together.

“C’mon, I’ll race you the swings,” I say. “On the count of three…one, two…” Reece takes off like a bat out of hell.
Cheater.

I’m out of breath by the time I catch up to her. She stops short of the swings. Her head peeks over her shoulder. “What took you so long?”

“You don’t play fair.” I wrap my arms around her waist.

The sun is setting and the traffic on the street is becoming sparse. All of the children have abandoned the playground. “Caydon?” she uses a soft voice.

“Yeah, baby?”

“I don’t want to play on the swings.”

I’m a little disappointed. The point of taking her here was to do the things we never had the chance to do. “Okay. What do you want to do?”

Reece points to a structure with intertwining tubes. “I want to play in there.”

A husky chuckle escapes my throat. This time I take off toward the green tube waiting for Reece to catch up to me. Once she reaches the tube, I help hoist her inside. I follow her. There’s not much room to work with. I lie down allowing Reece to slide her body on top of mine. “What happens next?” I ask with anticipation.

“This is when I tell you that I’m still scared. It’s a feeling that I’m going to have to work on. That being said, the time I spent apart from you.” Her voice cracks. “It killed me.”

“Me, too,” I admit.

Her mouth twists into a sad smile. “I’m sorry for putting you through hell. I was in a bad place, Caydon. I was afraid my dad wasn’t going to make it out of that damn hospital.”

“I’d travel through the depths of hell as long as it led me back to you. I mean it, I would.” I sound cheesy. I don’t fucking care. I love this girl. And I want her to know that whatever she dishes out, I can take it.

I’m pretty sure there are happy tears streaming down her face now. “What if I said that I’m not worth it?”

“Then I would say that you’re wrong. And then I’d prove it to you.”

Her body covers mine completely now. “I love you, Caydon.”

I give her a lopsided grin. “I love when you say that.”

I feel her sweet breath on my face. “I love you. I love you. I love you.”

Instead of telling her, I show her how much I love her. My hand moves to the back of her head and pushes her mouth toward mine. My tongue makes a violent intrusion into her mouth, desperate to taste her.

After a few seconds, she pulls away. “Wow.”

“I don’t want to stop,” I say.

She gives me a naughty grin and a quick peck. “Me neither.”

“I used to pass by this playground with sadness and regret. Something tells me that what’s about to happen is going to change my feelings about this place.” I laugh.

“You bet your ass it is.” She removes her shirt by gliding it up her body and throwing it above my head.

Holy shit.

“Are you sure? We can get caught.” I start to get nervous.

“Well, you better get naked quick. Let’s make memories, Caydon…starting now.” She is being forceful and it’s a fucking turn on.

Yeah, I don’t have a choice. Within seconds, our clothes are cast-off and I’m inside her. This isn’t going to take long because it is so fucking hot.

But it’s more than that. It’s the love I feel for Reece.
She’s perfect. Scars…fear…all of her.

As my body moves inside her, I feel connected to her. And I want this forever. The connection. The feeling that we are one.

We reach the end together as I intended. It’s more than just a sexual climax. It’s the ending and the beginning of new moments and memories.

We lie together panting and sweaty. I wipe her hair back from her forehead and whisper, “Forever.”

“Yes, Forever.”