Our Forever

by Elena Matthews

  “Hey, I can cook!” argues Jo. “I might not be as good as Alana in the kitchen, but I can cook. Tell them, Junior.”

  A huge grin appears on Junior’s face. “She’s okay, Grandpa, but she could do with some improvement.”

  The entire table erupts with laughter.

  I lean over to a half-laughing, half-brooding Jo and press a kiss against her head. “I’ll teach you, sugar. I happen to be a great teacher,” I say as I pull back, winking.

  We finish our meal that’s filled with more laughter. By the time we’ve helped Alana clean up, Junior is passed out with his head against the table, and Jo looks as if she could fall asleep while standing up.

  “I’m exhausted. I’m going to head on up,” Jo says on what could possibly be her seventh consecutive yawn within the span of two minutes. She steps up to Alana and wraps her arms around her. “Thank you for today.”

  “It was nothing, baby girl. You’re family, and I’d do anything for my family.”

  Jo buries her head into Alana’s neck. “I love you.”

  Alana takes a step back and looks Jo in the eyes with the same love that my mom used to look at Rachel and me with. It’s pure and eternal, the way any mother loves her child, and it’s the same way Jo looks at Junior.

  “I love you, too. Now, go and get some rest.” She then addresses me, “I’ve set you up in Tyler’s old room. Jo will show you where it is.”

  “Thank you.”

  I look over at Junior, who’s softly snoring. “Do you want me to grab him?”

  “No, it’s okay. I can manage,” Jo says as she rounds the table.

  She scoops him up into her arms, as if he weighs the size of a pin. I marvel at her strength, at her independence, and I fall for her harder because she truly is Wonder Woman.

  We head on upstairs, and we come to a stop in front of one of the bedrooms.

  “This one is Tyler’s room. I’m just going to put Junior to bed, and then I’ll sneak in.”

  I smile at the mischievous glint in her eyes. I watch her walk down the hall until she disappears into another room. I go inside Tyler’s room, and without turning on the light, I strip down to my boxer shorts and get into bed, the sheets cool against my body.

  I don’t wait long until the doorknob turns, and Jo comes inside. Wordlessly, she climbs into bed with me, dressed in a pair of shorts and a tank top. Her warmth engulfs every inch of me as she wraps herself around me, her silky long legs locked against mine.

  “Hey,” I greet, kissing the softness of her hair.

  “Hey,” she whispers back.

  A comfortable silence covers us, and I get lost in the sound of her breathing while she gets lost in the sound of my beating chest, the softness of her fingers tapping the same beat against my heart.

  “Sing to me,” she says after a while.

  “What? Like a lullaby to help you sleep?”

  “No, a song.” She softly giggles.

  “What do you want to hear?”

  “Surprise me. I love your surprises.”

  I smile when the perfect song for us pops into my head. I softly begin to sing “All of Me” by John Legend.

  She sighs into the crook of my neck and clutches me tighter as the lyrics of our beautiful and crazy love seemingly soothe her. Once the song comes to an end, the breath hitches at the back of my throat as Jo climbs on top of me, straddling my lap, and she whips the tank top over her head.

  “What are you doing, baby?” I grunt out when I see the silhouette of her tits through the darkness.

  She leans down and brushes her lips against mine. “I want you to make love to me, as if we’re the lyrics of that song, as if we’re the two souls that make that song whole, that make us whole. I want you.”

  She raises herself off of me and removes her shorts, and then she shimmies to the end of the bed where she pulls my boxer shorts down until they’re in a heap on the floor. She resumes her straddling position, and a hiss expels from my mouth as the heat of her pussy covers my rock-hard cock.

  Motherfucker.

  “Sugar, I want you, but I didn’t bring a single condom with me.”

  Her lips brush back over mine. “It’s okay. I want all of you, to feel every inch of you.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “I’ve never been surer of anything. I love you,” she whispers along my lips just before lowering herself on me until there isn’t a single inch of my cock not buried inside her pretty pussy.

  My fingers tightly grip her hips at the incredible sensation that shoots along my spine. “Fuck, baby.”

  Then, my world obliterates as she begins to move above me, tilting her hips with an unhurried pace. Our bodies fuse together, our thrusts join as one, and our heavy breaths become a single unity.

  I swallow her moans with mine, and we lose ourselves within each other’s touch until she falls to pieces in my arms, her body trembling in the midst of the orgasm shattering through her.

  My climax approaches, and unable to hold back any longer, I flip Jo onto her back and quicken my thrusts, my hips speeding up. Seconds later, my muscles twitch and convulse, and the impending climax slams into me like a goddamn tsunami. I come violently inside her bare pussy, and a feral groan leaves my lips when the very last drop leaves my body. I fall on top of her with my head buried between her tits, trying to catch my breath against the heavy thump of her heart.

  Her fingers spread through my hair, and I glance up, taking in the shape of her in the darkness of the room.

  “You won,” she murmurs, sounding a little sleepy.

  “I won what?” I press my lips to her nipple and pepper a little kiss there.

  “The wager. You won. I’m all yours. I love Christopher because he was my first love, but I love you because you’re my forever.”

  My chest constricts, and everything around me stills.

  Since the day I met her, knowing how fragile her heart was, I’ve wanted to show her that forever still existed. I wanted to be the one to break through the walls she’d spent five years shackled in place, to fix her broken heart that was hanging on with a single thread.

  And hearing her say that I’m her forever—knowing that I’ve succeeded in fixing her broken heart that, only months ago, was barely beating—makes me turn into a motherfucking pussy. Up until two months ago, I never thought I’d get to be the prince in a fairy tale.

  I’ve lusted, but I’ve never loved. However, the moment I got a glimpse of her beautiful eyes and witnessed firsthand the fire that burns within her veins, I knew that she was the one.

  “But I still want my lifetime worth of cupcakes.”

  I chuckle as I just about make out her mumbling words.

  “You can have anything you want.” I pull out of her and turn on my side, bringing her with me.

  She hums a wordless reply, and I press my lips to her head.

  “Go to sleep,” I hush before falling into a restful sleep.

  I wake up to the sound of my five o’ clock alarm, and I groan, not wanting to leave the warm cocoon of Jo’s arms, but since I have to get back to Austin to open the store, I don’t have any other choice. I shut my alarm off and reluctantly get out of bed. I change into my clothes from yesterday and slip on my boots.

  I lean over Jo and whisper in her ear, “Sugar, I have to go and open up.”

  “Hmm,” she moans.

  “I’ll call you later. I love you.”

  “Hmm,” she moans a second time before turning over in her sleep, her snores gently filling the room.

  I press my lips to her cheek before letting her enjoy her blissful slumber.

  I quietly make my way downstairs. I grab my jacket from the kitchen and leave but not before spotting a notepad in the foyer and leaving a thank-you for Alana and Samuel for their hospitality.

  I set off, and I enjoy the solitude of the quiet roads as I make my way back to Austin. I see the twilight sky with its oranges and pinks highlighting the horizon, brightening the sky with its early
morning wake-up call. The beckoning sunrise reminds me of Jo and the new beginning that is our forever.

  However, they say life can end in the blink of an eye, and before we can even begin our forever, it seems fate has other plans.

  Out of nowhere, a car runs a red light, and before I can swerve, pain like nothing I’ve ever experienced before slams into my body. As I’m being thrown into the air from the impact, instead of seeing my life flash before my eyes, there’s only one person I see, and all I can focus on is how I didn’t tell her she was my forever.

  I register my bones breaking, blood gushing, my head cracking open on the concrete with my helmet no longer on my head, and my shrieking screams as excruciating agony blisters through my veins.

  Then, everything turns black.

  Jo

  The first thing I see is a pair of green eyes staring back at me, and I have to blink a few times to get the sleep out of my eyes, so I can focus on my son, who’s frowning at me.

  “Mama, what are you doing, sleeping in here?”

  Memories of last night come to the forefront of my mind, and I quickly sit up with panic, flicking my eyes to Drew’s side, only to remember that he left for Austin a couple of hours ago. I vaguely remember him whispering in my ear that he was leaving before I fell back to sleep again.

  “Um…” I pull the sheets tighter around my naked body while I struggle to come up with an explanation that Junior would understand, but thankfully, the sound of my phone ringing in his hand is enough of a distraction.

  “Your phone keeps ringing. It woke me up.”

  I take the phone from his hand, and I frown when I see Rachel’s number is flashing on the screen. I glance at the alarm clock beside me, noting how it’s only seven thirty in the morning.

  My heart picks up as I answer, fear evident in my voice, “Hi, Rach. Is everything okay?”

  “Jo, thank God!”

  Nausea creeps up my chest at the sound of her cries.

  “I’ve been trying to reach you for the past hour.”

  “What’s wrong?” I ask, every atom of my body on high alert. Please don’t tell me something happened to Drew.

  “It’s Dr-Drew. He’s be-been in an a-accident!”

  Chills spread through me as the air I was breathing in just seconds ago evaporates, and my lungs struggle to inhale oxygen, suffocating me.

  “What?” I sob, clutching the phone, as pain strikes my heart with the same power of what I’d imagine a cardiac arrest to feel like.

  “He go-got hit by a dr-drunk driver. It’s bad, Jo. Really ba-bad,” she cries out.

  The world around me crumbles.

  Déjà vu hits me like a freight train. The agony I endured six years ago and every day before I met Drew attacks my body like a deathly infection, and it’s excruciating.

  It’s happening again. I’m losing the love of my life.

  Another sob rises from my chest, and the blood pounds vigorously inside my head as I try to make sense of everything.

  No.

  This can’t happen.

  Not again.

  I can’t lose Drew, too. I can’t lose him.

  “Mama, what’s wrong?”

  I hear Junior’s panicked voice in the midst of my inner agony, but I only have the strength to concentrate on one person right now.

  “Where is he?” I tremble, clambering from the bed, with the sheets clutched around me, and I begin to frantically search for my clothes.

  “He’s still in Da-Dallas. He’s at the Me-Methodist Dallas Medical Center,” she stammers through full-blown sobs.

  I let out an unsteady breath, tears rolling down my face. My eyes whip around the room as I bite down on my lip in frustration when I can’t find my clothes.

  Shit, where the fuck are they?

  “Jo, are you still there?”

  “Yep. Sorry,” I strain out, tightening the grip against the sheets so that I don’t trip over the ends as I continue the search for my clothes. “I’m heading to the hospital right now. Where are you now?”

  I hear a sob down the line, and it only sets me off further.

  “We’re still a-a couple of-of hours away.”

  “Okay.” It’s the single word in the vocabulary I can verbalize right now since there is only one thing I can think about, and I can’t get to him if I don’t find any fucking clothes.

  “He-he can’t die, Jo. He’s my brother. I ca-can’t lose him.”

  I clench my eyes closed at the sound of her devastating cries as my heart cracks into two.

  I can’t deal with this. It’s too much.

  A second later, I hear a scuffling sound through the phone before Jenson’s deep voice fills my ears.

  “Hey, Jo. We’ll be there soon, okay?”

  “Okay,” I force out, trying desperately not to cry but failing drastically.

  “And, Jo, he’s going to be fine. You know that, right?”

  I stay silent because I don’t know. I don’t know anything right now, and for all I know, heaven might have just gained another angel.

  God, I hope not.

  “He’s going to be fine,” he spits out with resolve. “He’s never had a reason to fight for anything until you came into his life.”

  As the tears run down my face, blurring my vision, I end the call, unable to listen to any more, unable to bear the uncertainty of what my future holds.

  “Shit, where are my clothes?” I say in a hysterical voice when the only thing I see are the shorts and tank top I changed into before I came to bed last night.

  “Mama, I have them right here.”

  I whip my head to the door to see my baby boy holding yesterday’s clothes in a neat pile with my shoes on top.

  “They were in my room.”

  That’s when I remember changing in Junior’s room into some spare clothes I keep here before sneaking off to be with Drew.

  My heart lurches at how amazing my son is, and my bottom lip quivers as more tears come gushing down my face.

  “Thank you, baby.” I take them from his hands and throw them on the bed.

  As I pull my pants on under the sheets and then pull the top over my head, Junior asks, “Has something bad happened?”

  I let the sheets fall from my body and hastily adjust my shirt in place before sliding the flats onto my feet. I decide to be straight with him since he’s already sensing the darkness in the room from the phone call.

  “It’s Drew.” I let out a stammering breath. “He’s been in an accident.”

  His beautiful green eyes widen, and his bottom lip wobbles. “Will he be okay?”

  I crouch down to his level and look him in the eyes. “I don’t know, baby. It’s pretty bad. I need to get to the hospital and be with him.”

  “Can I come?” he pleads.

  I shake my head while more tears fall down my face. “The hospital isn’t a nice place, so I need you to stay here. But can I ask you to do something?”

  He nods.

  “I need you to pray for him. Do you think you can do that for me? Pray like you’ve never prayed before.”

  I’ve never been a believer in praying. I lost all my faith in religion when Christopher died, but right now, I have to try everything in my spiritual power to keep Drew alive. I’ll do anything right now if it means I’ll get to grow old and gray with the love of my life.

  Junior gives another nod, determination set in his eyes. “I’ll pray real hard, Mama. I promise.”

  I press a kiss to his head, proud of the boy that I’ve raised.

  “I love you to the moon and back,” I choke out with a cry, needing the comfort of his words more than I’ve ever needed to hear them.

  “I love you to the universe and beyond.”

  I quickly hurry downstairs with Junior hot on my heels and go in search of my car keys.

  “Good morning!” Alana says in a singsong voice.

  I skid to a stop in the kitchen, and her smile falters when she sees the tears streaming down my face. />
  “Sugar, what’s wrong?” she asks, stepping toward me.

  Her use of the word sugar sets me off, and I break down in hysterical, soul-wrecking tears.

  “Drew’s been in an accident! I need to get to him,” I cry out, every inch of my body shaking. I have to catch myself on the countertop to stop myself from collapsing with the pressure pushing against my chest, the pain gripping me from the inside out.

  She pales as she takes in my words, and she’s by my side in an instant, bracing me in her hold. “What happened?”

  I spot my keys on the side and swipe them, clutching ahold of them, as if they’re my lifeline. “A drunk driver hit him, and it’s bad. Really bad. I need to get to him.”

  I push from her hold, but she tightens her grip on me.

  “You’re in no state to drive. I’ll drive you.”

  She takes my keys from my grasp and swaps them for her own. I hear her tell Samuel what’s happened.

  Then, without any recollection of leaving the house, the journey, or how Alana knew where to go, we’re pulling up outside the hospital. The car barely comes to a stop, and I’m already out of it, rushing toward the emergency room.

  I see there is a queue at the reception desk, but I barge in front of everyone.

  “Excuse me, miss, but there’s a line behind you,” the receptionist quips.

  I ignore her. “Drew Greyson. He was in a bike accident. He was brought in earlier. Can you tell me where he is?”

  Stone-faced, she looks at me. “You will have to wait your turn. Now, please join the back of the line.”

  The tears that haven’t stopped falling continue down my face, and it takes everything within me to keep from breaking down.

  “I wouldn’t normally push in, but I don’t know if my husband,” I say, knowing she won’t give me a single piece of information if I’m not family, “is dead or alive, so please just tell me where he is, and I’ll be out of your way.” My voice breaks up as my lungs struggle to fill with sufficient oxygen in order for me to take my next breath.

  “It’s okay. Let her go before me,” a gentleman’s voice from behind me says.

  I turn to an elderly man with salt-and-pepper hair and sympathetic eyes. I whisper out a whimpered, “Thank you.”