He finally raised his eyes from the paper. “What’s this all about? You’re giving up your dream degree course?” A flash of anger appeared in his eyes, and my stomach rolled.
“No. It’s not… The location doesn’t matter. The course is almost identical. I only picked my original university because I wanted to get as far away as possible. But now I have you, I thought… I wanted to be close to you… I’m sorry…” My voice faded as I dropped my gaze.
“Rai.” He tilted my chin, forcing me to look into his eyes. “Fuck.” He scrubbed his hand across his face. “Are you sure this is what you want?”
I nodded. “Completely. My priorities have changed, now.”
He stared at me for the longest time, the gold in his eyes sparking as he held my gaze. “You know I love you, right?”
“What?” My shocked whisper was echoed next to me, as Xavier, who was eavesdropping and not even being subtle about it, stared between us both.
Carter’s lips curved into a blinding smile. “Yeah. I love you. You. Raine Laurent.” Suddenly, he was standing up and cupping his hands around his mouth, shouting out for everyone to hear. “I love Raine Laurent!”
“Carter, sit down now!” I hissed, my face flaming as every single person in the cafeteria turned to stare at us. I ignored the laughter of his friends around me, sinking into the chair and hiding my face in my hands.
Then, he was gripping my hands and prying them away from my face and tugging me into his arms. “Sorry. I couldn’t resist. I want everyone to know how much you mean to me.”
I melted a little at his words, allowing myself to relax against his body. Throwing my arms around his waist, I stood there holding him as he stroked his hand up and down my back. As I grew calmer, I forgot about the attention of the other students and focused on what Carter had just said.
“You love me?” I drew back and stared up at him.
“Yeah. A whole fucking lot.”
I smiled. “I love you.”
He gave me a wide grin. “I know.” Then he kissed me, before taking a seat in the chair and tugging me into his lap. Picking up his phone, he scrolled through his emails. “I can’t believe you did all this. And you know what the weird thing is?” Pushing the phone in front of me, he tapped on the screen. “Look. I’ve been emailing Newcastle University to see about transferring there once my first semester in Alstone College is over.”
Reading through the email, my eyes widened in disbelief. “You were going to do that?”
“I’d do anything for you. The thought of us being so far apart…I didn’t want to lose you.”
“You won’t. And now, you don’t have to worry. I already looked at the trains between here and my new uni, and there are loads every day. Not only that, just think of the weekends we can spend together in London.”
A gleam came into his eye. “Yeah, maybe I could get season tickets for Chelsea.” I groaned, and he laughed. “Just kidding. Maybe just one or two games.”
“I can deal with that. I can even deal with the season tickets, if it means I get to spend time with you.”
As he kissed me again, I didn’t even care that people might be watching us. The person I loved, loved me back, and I no longer had to face the prospect of being apart from him.
Standing on the pier with Raine, I watched her as she stared down the beach, her gaze distant. “You look like you’re thinking very hard, there.” I pressed a kiss to her head.
“I was just remembering.” Her voice was soft. “The fortune teller. Aunt Marie. I-I met her down there, on the beach.”
“You did? You never told me.”
Turning, she tilted her head up and met my eyes, her hair glinting with golden threads, highlighted by the last of the sun’s rays. She was so beautiful, and all mine.
“I actually forgot about it. It was that day that Xavier soaked me with his car, remember? Anyway, I was just thinking about the riddle she said. It went, ‘both light and darkness lie ahead. Your path is shrouded with hidden dread. The question that you need to ask… What is hidden beneath his mask?’ Then she added this whispered bit that was a little creepy—she said ‘Find out…before it is too late.’ At the time, I wondered if she was talking about you, but now I’m thinking it was about Dylan.”
She huffed out a laugh, trailing her finger across the railing as the sun finally sank below the horizon. “Silly, though. Right? She can’t really know what’s going to happen.”
I paused for a moment before answering. “No. How could she? She’s just good at reading people.”
“Yeah, you’re probably right.” She sighed, before laughing again. “Oh, I forgot the weirdest part. She had a talking bird with her. Did you know birds can talk?”
“Yes, I know,” I said dryly. “That’s Picasso. Aunt Marie’s raven. He’s…kind of annoying, for a bird. He has his uses, though.” I thought back to the night when she’d disappeared with Dylan. As much as I disliked that bird, I couldn’t forget how he’d appeared from seemingly nowhere and spurred me into action.
“I thought he was cute.” A grin appeared on her face. “Although he did appear to be kind of judgemental.”
“Yep, that’s Picasso. Anyway, enough talk about the raven.” I slanted my lips over hers, kissing her until she was breathless. “Fuck, I love you.”
Her eyes shining up at me, she smiled. “I love you, too.”
“How about you show me just how much?”
She raised a brow. “What do you mean?”
A slow smile crossed my face. “Do you remember where we parked my truck?”
At her nod, I licked my lips, letting my gaze rake over her body. I watched with satisfaction as she flushed, her pupils dilating, before I lowered my voice. “I’m in the
