“I hoped you wouldn’t,” he said after a while.
I ran my hand through his hair, wishing I could turn back time and take back all the things I had done to hurt him. My callousness. My selfishness.
“I’m not going anywhere, Mitch. As long as you want me, I’m here. But I have so many issues, so much baggage. I’ll understand if you can’t deal with it. Most days I can’t deal with it—”
Mitch cut me off with a kiss. Rough and real.
“Just stop. Don’t say it. I won’t let you put a question mark on this. On us. You may be a mess, but you’re my mess.” I rolled my eyes and snorted.
“Did you really just say that?”
Mitch chuckled. “Damn straight! And I mean it. I love you. I love everything about you. I love your mess and your chaos. I love your ups and I love your downs. And you should know that I wouldn’t jump ship when things get tough. I’ll be here until the bitter end. If you let me, that is.”
There it was again. The fear. Would it always be there? Would he ever be able to trust me not to leave?
But I had done this. So I would have to work to make it better.
And I knew I was up for the challenge.
Because Mitch was worth it.
“I can’t undo what’s already been done. I wish that I could, but I can’t. But I can promise to do everything I can to regain your trust. In me. In us. In what I feel for you.” I kissed his chin and laid my cheek on his chest. “I won’t screw this up again.”
“I’ll hold you to it,” Mitch said lightly, and I could feel his laughter vibrate through me.
We were quiet for a while; my coffee growing cold, but I didn’t care.
“What happened with Sophie?” I asked softly. Maybe I should let it go. Did it really matter? They weren’t together anymore and he was here with me.
But I wanted to know. I couldn’t help it.
“You made me think the other night. After I brought you home from the botanical gardens. At first I was pissed because how dare you give me shit for being wishy washy.” He gave me a squeeze and I grimaced.
“I guess I was the queen of wishy washy,” I admitted.
“You were. But I’ve been pretty bad about it too. So after I left here, I went to Jordan’s. He’s a mouthy bastard, but he’s pretty good at calling me on my bullshit. We talked. He told me about Maysie being pregnant. And he helped me sort through the mess in my head. Sometimes, even when you know the answer, it helps having someone else point it out for you,” he said, his fingers tracing circles on my back.
“I’m glad the mouthy bastard was able to help you see straight,” I chuckled.
“I’ll make sure to tell him you said that,” Mitch snickered. “Anyway, after getting sage advice from Mr. Levitt, I went to Sophie’s. She got pissed. Called me a selfish ass, then she threw me out of her house.”
“Crap,” I muttered.
Mitch sighed. “I shouldn’t have expected anything less. What I did to her was wrong. I led her on. I was a total dick and I deserved everything she threw at me.”
“She’ll be okay, right?” I asked. Even though I wasn’t a fan of Sophie, as one woman to another, I felt bad for her. I didn’t want my happiness to come at the price of someone else’s pain.
Mitch kissed the top of my head. “I hurt her. We were together a long time. But I’m pretty sure that once the dust settles she’ll see it was the best thing for her. We weren’t in love. We never had been. We went into our relationship for the wrong reasons. Sophie wanted an ideal that didn’t exist, and I wanted to try to forget about you. Neither was possible.”
“I’m sorry,” I said. It was inadequate but it was all I could say.
Mitch rolled me over so that I was underneath him. He framed my face in his hands and looked down at me, his brow furrowed. “Don’t be sorry, Gracie. What happened with Sophie is on me. Only me. She’s a sweet girl. She helped me through a difficult time, but she wasn’t what my heart wanted.”
I turned my head to the side to avoid his eyes. Sometimes his gaze was too much. Too intense. “I don’t like starting something on top of a pile of wreckage.”
“Look at me, G,” Mitch commanded softly.
When I didn’t comply right away, he gently gripped my chin between his fingers and turned my head so that I was forced to look at him.
“We’ve never had things easy, you and me. But the best things in life aren’t easy. And I’ve spent too long not fighting for this. For us. I won’t make that mistake again. We have to learn from what happened and move on. Together. Because that’s the only way either of us will be happy. And you know it. I can’t pretend anymore, and neither can you.”
“I know,” I sighed.
“I hate that Sophie was caught in the middle of it all. But that’s on me. I should never have tried to force my heart to love anyone but you. It’s impossible. I knew it, but I was a stubborn ass.”
“You said it, not me,” I remarked tartly.
Mitch reached down and lightly pinched my thigh and I yelped. Then he rubbed the skin with his hand. “I love you, Gracie Evelyn Cook. I told you once that you were everything, and you are. You. Are. My. Everything.”
“But what about all of my issues? What if I mess up again?” I was feeling a little panicky.
Mitch was putting so much faith in me. I couldn’t help but be terrified that I would never be able to live up to the expectations. I had crashed and burned once, what’s to say I wouldn’t do it again?
“Then we’ll deal with it, Gracie. I don’t expect you to be anything but yourself. You’re a little loud, sometimes flaky, mildly crazy—”
“Is there a compliment in there somewhere?” I muttered.
Mitch smiled. “And you’re the smartest person I have ever met. You’re motivated, and hard working, and determined. You are loyal, and kind, and you have the biggest heart.”
“That’s better,” I laughed, my heart fluttering.
“And I love you. I love you. I love you. I will say those words every day for the rest of my life, if you’ll let me. So please let me love you the way I want to. The way we both deserve.”
Cue the water works.
It seemed that I had been doing a lot of crying lately. But they were the best kind of tears. The ones that didn’t hurt.
“Only if you let me share your Chunky Monkey,” I smirked.
Mitch kissed me again. I would never get tired of the feel of his mouth on mine. “You can have the whole damn container. I’ll buy you all the Chunky Monkey that I can find, and I won’t even try to share it. It’s yours, baby. All of it. All of me. Everything.”
“I love you, Mitch. More than anything.”
“I’ve been waiting for years to hear you say that,” he said, his eyes twinkling.
“I love you,” I repeated.
“Say it again,” he demanded.
“I love you.”
“Again.”
“I love you.”
We were both crying, and when he reached for me I fell.
All over again.
“So this is Generation Rejects’ last gig,” Gracie said, sounding sad.
I hauled my bass up onto the makeshift stage at Barton’s. Jordan and Cole were setting up the amps and Garrett was tuning his guitar.
The crowd was huge. The largest we had played in front of in a long time.
It was fitting. Because this show was the last one.
It only made sense to go out with a bang in the place where it all began.
“Yeah, it is. And it’s going to be the best damn show we’ve ever had,” I said with confidence, leaning down and kissing her soundly on the mouth.
There was the loud round of cheering.
“Well it’s about fucking time!” Cole yelled from across the stage.
“Gracie! Oh my god! You and Mitch, really?” Vivian shrieked, running to my girl’s side.
My girl.
Mine.
It would take some time to believe that after everything we had been through, Gracie and I were finally together.