43. Relic

Chapter forty-three

Relic

L ying on an air mattress on the floor of Demarius' room, I stared at the light filtering in from the blinds. Too wired from my fantastic night with Macie, I couldn't sleep. Honestly, I didn't want to sleep. I didn't want to lose the memory of the feel of her body beneath mine, didn't want to forget her sweet scent, didn't want to stop running through the words she said, "I love you, too."

Love. I thought it didn't exist. Thought it was some myth made up by poets on a high, but now I knew it to be real, and I wasn't ready to let it go. Yet I had to. Once I fell asleep and woke, once tomorrow arrived, I'd have to let her go.

"You still awake?" Demarius asked from his bed.

"Yeah."

"I have a question for you."

"Ask."

"If you could leave your life and start a new one, would you?"

In a heartbeat. "It's what I had been trying to do. Macie and I were trying to figure out who carjacked her so I could reap the reward money. Once I scored it, I planned on getting my sisters the hell out of this town. But I'm out of time. Even if someone handed me that check tomorrow, it's too late."

"What if it isn't too late? What if you had an opportunity to start again, you're saying you'd do it?"

"It doesn't matter. It is too late."

"Answer me. If it could be done, would you do it?"

"Yes," I answered honestly then closed my eyes and grieved because opportunity never belonged to me.