20. Nate

TWENTY

NATE

I breathe her in, holding her body against mine as she trembles through her orgasm.

She's so perfect.

So reactive.

So…

She called me Nathan.

I blink.

No one calls me that.

Not anymore.

Not since I was a kid.

Something prods at the back of my mind.

Something I've missed.

With my mouth still pressed against Rosalyn's hair, I study the color.

The deep red. The way it almost looks black under my shadow, and how it glowed under the sunlight when she opened the front door.

The body against mine starts to relax, and I carefully slide my hand out of her pants.

She called me Nathan .

The woman, Rosalyn, lifts her head from against my chest and looks up at me.

She looks up at me with bright blue eyes and tears on her lashes.

And the world shifts around me.

Because she called me Nathan.

The girl from the woods.

The girl who was my best friend.

The girl who looked at me, with those same blue eyes, filled with the same sparkling tears… the last time I saw her.

A lifetime ago.

A moment ago.

And just like that, I remember.

"Rosie?"