“So what?” I mumble.
“So, sure, that could have been us today, but it’s not. And maybe we lost that baby for a reason. We needed to be apart in order to become something better.”
“I can’t do this, not right now. I think that we need to take a break. We can be cordial at work, I’ll even see if I can switch up my schedule, but I think that today really fucked me mentally, and I think we need some time.”
“We had eleven years apart, and now you want to add more to that?”
“I can’t explain the amount of guilt that I have right now. I hate myself for what I did to you, to us.”
“Then why are you doing it again?” His voice raises.
“Because I’m trying to do the right thing this time.” I shoot back to him.
“The right thing.” He says as if to himself as he shakes his head.
“You may not understand, but please, just know that I need this.”
“What about what I need?” He asks, grabbing my attention back to him.
“What I’m doing is for you, what if I’m no good for you?” I sniff.
“I should be the one to judge that,” he retorts.
“I’m sorry.” I tell him.
“No, I’m sorry.”
I get out of the car and he moves to get out as well, but I turn and shake my head.
“Just let me go.”
24
Rogan
I saw that as soon as we walked out of the doors from the baby shower, that Kindra’s body language was different. I saw the slouch in her shoulders and the tears that she was fighting back. Upon arriving at her home, I didn’t expect her to drop the break-up bomb on me. I wasn’t expecting that one afternoon, basking in the happiness of someone else would change things.
She avoided me the following night at the hospital. She kept her eyes downcast and only spoke to me when it was needed, despite my trying to interact with her.
I stand at the elevator door and Kindra comes to stand beside me. She’s silent, looking up at the status of the lift as the doors open. She walks in and I follow. Her hands are fastened in front of her after she presses for the fourth floor button. She steps back and leans against the wall. I press the stop button and turn to her as she stands straight.
“What are you doing?” she asks.
“You can’t hide from me forever. We work together, we mean something to one another, and I don’t want one party to end us.”
“That’s not your call,” she says with her hands on her hips.
“I think that I should at least have a say.” I tell her.
“Say what you need to say,” she says, not backing down.
“I want you. I want us.”
“Rogan,” she starts.
“No. This time I get a say in what happens between us. Before, you gave me no choice, but this time it’s different. We’re grown adults, we shouldn’t give up whenever there’s a bump in the road, we work on those together. We have a past, and granted that past isn’t pretty, but we can also have a future and that’s what I’m here to make sure we do.”
“Rogan,” she tries to butt in again.
“I’m not done talking, Kindra. I need you to hear me out. We were stupid kids. Back then we didn’t know any better, but who does when they’re teenagers. We made mistakes, some big and some small, but we were wild about one another back then. And I’m still wild about you now. I don’t think that I ever let go of you, of us. I’m practically begging you, fight against the insecurities, fight for you, fight for me, and damnit, fight for us.”
Epilogue
Kindra
The past six months have been a challenge, one that I was ready for, but definitely one I didn’t see coming. I worked on the steps to bridging the gap that was damaged so many years ago within my family. My parents now see me for who I am today and not by judging me from my actions when I was younger. My father slowly has allowed me back into their home, and along the way he has treated me like his daughter. My relationship with Rogan has been a unique experience all together. We had one another, and then I blew everything up by walking away from him.
I couldn’t deal with being at the baby shower with Rogan by my side, and so I broke things off with him. I ran. Like I always did.
I expected him to just go on with his life, as if what we had started was a glitch in his daily life. But he gave me some space before he came to me.
I wanted him to fall back in love with me. And he did. And I admitted that I never was out of love with him. It took talking to a mental health therapist about the trauma from the accident that I thought I had gotten over. But I had just bottled everything up. I left town all those years ago and dove straight into something else, which was to prove to my parents that they were wrong about me. I amounted to something. I worked my ass off for it, and I made something of myself. I never let the loss of both my unborn child and my high school love set in. I powered through everything and moved on with my life. I continue to meet with my therapist, even today. Sometimes Rogan comes with me and sometimes I go alone.
Rogan and I have a routine now. Work, sleep, therapy, and home.
We moved in together, or I should clarify that I moved in with him. And at home, we leave work at the door. We relish in our relationship and we talk. Really talk. About the good and even the ugly. There are no lines about what we say. We both listen and it’s clear that we both care immensely. Sure, sometimes we fight, but we get through it. We laugh often and sometimes we cry, the both of us.
There is catching up on the last eleven years of our lives, simultaneously, while starting on the future days of our lives. And I feel optimistic about our future.
“Nurse Mason?” a shaky voice says from behind me.
I’m snapped out of my thoughts as an intern comes into the break room where I am having my lunch.
“Can I help you?” I ask, not recognizing her.
“I was told to find you.” She says staring at her feet, “Dr. Quinn is requesting your service.”
“Did he say what for?” I ask.
“He said that he needs you to consult on a case.”
I push back in my chair and stand as I straighten my scrubs, then follow the girl out of the room.
She leads me into the practically empty emergency room. There are a few beds with people in them and curtains around them. I don’t see anyone, let alone Rogan, then suddenly I hear music and the emergency room doors slide open. Two people come inside and are mouthing the beginning lines of a Bruno Mars song. They act verses of the song out and then when the chorus comes along, Rogan is spinning around the ER floor in tune with the song. I don’t know how to react, but I’m giddy with the excitement as nurses, interns and even just regular people are all around the room dancing in tune to some choreography that I’m not sure if it is good. My hands are over my mouth in both embarrassment and excitement with the performance happening in front of me. My heart beats faster as the song winds down and the anticipation builds for what I’m assuming happens next. Once the last words are lip-synced by Rogan, he kneels down in front of me.
“It’s such a beautiful night, wouldn’t you say?” he asks in front of me.
I look down and grin. “It is. What are you doing down there, Ro?”
“Hey baby,” he grins.
“Yeah?”
“I think…” He pulls a box out of his pocket.
“You think?” I egg him on.
“I think I want to marry you. What do you think?” He holds out the velvet box, opened up to me. The simple, yet elegant ring shines off of the fluorescent lighting of the room.
“I’m not sure what to think,” I tease him.
His grin is wiped from his face. “Wait, are you–?”
I move down onto my knees and pull Rogan’s face to mine, look him in the eyes and smile.
“I am just fucking with you. I think that I would like to marry you too.” I return to him.
“Are we finally going to do this?”
he asks.
“I think that it’s due time that we step in this direction.”
“What do you think your parents will think?” he says standing.
“I think that they would actually be happy for us. You know, because we’re smarter than we were then and well, I think that after all this time, they would be good with it all.”
“Well then Ms. Mason. Would you do the honor of being my wife?”
“I would absolutely take that honor.”
“You will be Mrs. Quinn?”
“No, I would like to keep Mason as my name,” I smile.
“Whatever makes you happy.”
“I’m glad that you’re learning about happy wife, happy life, so soon.”
“We’re getting married!” he shouts to the room.
A resounding cheer erupts in the space, and the emergency room bay curtains are drawn back from each station and smiling faces look at us.
Look at us. High school sweethearts, who had an eleven-year break, are back together again and we’re both a part of this town in a meaningful way.
A way that differs from before, but still the same.
I lay on my side in bed naked and as he approaches me; he feathers his hand up my calf and up my thigh. I feel his fingertips graze against my pussy, and I feel a rush of pleasure at the thought of him taking me again. It feels like it’s been so long.
I roll onto my back and place my hand at the crevice of my thighs. With his eyes on my hand, I slowly insert a finger inside and coat my finger then pull it up to my lips and lick.
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Rogan rushes out as I repeat the motion.
“Do you want some of this?” I ask.
“You know that I fucking do. I want it all and for the rest of our lives.” He bites his lower lip.
I flick my clit once, then slip my fingers back into my pussy and spread my legs as his nostrils flare and he steps closer to me.
I made a huge mistake so many years ago, but now I have the rest of my life to make it up to him. To us.
We will get the happy ending that we waited so long to have.
In more than one way.
THE KB WORLD
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Also by Tarrah Anders
THE MELTED SERIES
Frozen Over
FROZE
Freezing
THE NIGHT MOVES SERIES
STRIPPED
The Night Manager
Tapped
The Night Moves Boxset W/Missing Scene
STANDALONES
New Year, New You
The Brute
Summer Fling
CLUTCH Endgame
Change of Scenery
More than Friends
No More Heartache
Fly Girl (Girl Power Romance Collection)
Speakeasy (Storybook Pub Anthology)
In the End (A Quarantine Romance)
What Happens in Vegas
Rookie Moves (A Quick Snap Novella)
Love Surreptitiously
Little White Lie
THE NEIGHBORHOOD MINI SERIES
Your Neighborhood Bartender
Your Neighborhood Bastard
Your Neighborhood Vixen
Your Neighborhood Convict
Your Neighborhood Chef
Your Neighborhood Cowgirl
Your Neighborhood Biker
Your Neighborhood Manager
Your Neighborhood Regular
Your Neighborhood Legend
The Neighborhood Boxset
Coming Soon:
Love on the Sidelines (A Quick Snap Novella)
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About the Author
I am a contemporary romance author who is all about the feels, with the twists of sexy mixed in between. I have been writing since before I can remember. Writing has always been a passion, that was kept it under wraps, stayed on the back-burner and never vocalized or followed through with my desire to be a writer, until I read a horrible book and thought: ‘I could do better than that!’
I am originally from the San Francisco Bay Area, but living in beautiful San Diego with my little family while working during the day as a social worker within Program Management
In other words, I’m a freaking superhero!
Also Written by K. Bromberg
Driven
Fueled
Crashed
Raced
Aced
Slow Burn
Sweet Ache
Hard Beat
Down Shift
UnRaveled
Sweet Cheeks
Sweet Rivalry
The Player
The Catch
Cuffed
Combust
Cockpit
Control
Faking It
Resist
Reveal
Then You Happened
Hard to Handle
Flirting with 40
Heartburn: An Everyday Heroes World Novel (The Everyday Heroes World) Page 10
