Forever Burn

by Trinity Lemm

  I nodded as a single tear fell, watching out of the corner of my eye as Connor strode over in our direction. Axe turned as he stood. The two made eye contact and once they did, Axe immediately knew who he was. Axe put an arm around my frontside and pushed me behind him, prepared to protect me if it came down to it. I clung onto his arm, standing more so to the side of him rather than behind, so that I could see what was happening.

  I was still shaking a fair amount as I glanced down, noticing the ingredients all over the floor. I guess I had been so in shock that I hadn’t even realized I had dropped them.

  Connor walked straight up to us, nodding once at Axel.

  “Who’s he?” he asked, looking Axe up and down.

  I squeezed Axe’s arm, too afraid to say anything. Axe looked over at me once, recognizing the fear on my face.

  “Okay,” Connor said emotionlessly, rolling his eyes at our silence. He leaned to the side a little, trying to get a glimpse of me as I hid behind Axe’s arm. “You look really good by the way, Tate.”

  “Don’t look at her,” Axe spat.

  “I’m guessing you’re a new boyfriend.”

  Axe eyed him viciously. “And last she’ll ever have before she has a husband.”

  Connor was starting to get bothered, and he most definitely didn’t like Axe’s previous answer. “Interesting,” he said, lifting his chin. His attention turned back to me, waiting for me to finally say something. “So, what brings you in town, Tate?”

  “None of your goddamn business,” Axe said.

  “I wasn’t talking to you,” Connor seethed.

  “Where’s your wedding ring?” Axe calmly asked, pointing to Connor’s empty left hand.

  Connor’s eyes darted to me for a second, almost nervously, but trying not to show it. He looked back at Axe, taking a step closer to him. “None of your goddamn business.”

  I didn’t know where Nicole was or why she wasn’t here, but I didn’t care. I probably would’ve ripped her raggedy hair off of her head if I saw her. I wasn’t sure why Connor wasn’t wearing his ring, and I wouldn’t have been surprised if it was because they were getting a divorce. But I also wouldn’t have been surprised if it was because he was trying to find other girls to sleep with. He had a tendency to cheat.

  Axe didn’t flinch with how close Connor was, completely unafraid of him. He reached into his pocket and pulled out his keys, maintaining eye contact with Connor the entire time. Axe felt for my hand, placing the keys in my palm.

  “Baby, go wait in the car, please,” he requested.

  I clutched the keys, not moving. The tension in the aisle was rising and as anxious as I was, there was absolutely no way in hell that I was leaving Axe there.

  “Tate,” Connor said, “I don’t like this guy. He doesn’t seem good for you.”

  “I’m better for her than you ever were,” Axe shot back, standing his ground. His breathing picked up, becoming heavier. I could see the anger flaring in his eyes and hear it stirring in his voice, similarly to all the other times he was about to fight someone.

  Connor’s anger was also starting to bubble, jealousy coursing through his veins. He got in Axe’s face, trying to intimidate him. “I’m in the Marines. I’d watch your mouth if I were you.”

  “You think I give a damn?”

  “You wanna take this outside?” Connor offered.

  Oh, no. The ruthless against the Marine. This was not going to end well.

  I gripped Axe’s hand before he gave an answer that someone would regret. I tugged on it, forcing him to look at me. “If you get arrested again…” I whispered, trailing off.

  I hadn’t seen or spoken to Connor in two years. At this point, he had been in the Marines for that long, and I had no idea what he was capable of. He was stationed in North Carolina, so I wasn’t sure why he was in Wilmot in the first place, but I currently had more things to worry about than to figure out what he was doing here.

  Axe’s eyes softened as they looked into mine. He caved, allowing me to drag him out of the store, leaving Connor and all our cookie ingredients behind.

  The second we got onto the road, I sensed something was off. I glanced in the side mirror, my heart catching in my chest from the sight of a white pick-up truck trailing behind us.

  “Shit,” I muttered.

  “What’s wrong?” Axe asked.

  “He’s behind us,” I swallowed.

  Axe’s eyes dashed to the rearview mirror, outrage immediately taking over by the sight. He gripped the steering wheel, stepping a little harder on the gas.

  We took backroads and made sharp turns, trying to lose Connor, but it wasn’t working. His truck chased behind us the entire time, riding our ass.

  The image of his car trailing behind Nicole and I as Bianca drove flashed into my mind, feeling the déjà vu. We all knew how that night ended. Not good for me.

  “I’ve gotta pull over,” Axe quietly said as we entered my neighborhood.

  “What?” I questioned, hesitant about his decision.

  “I’m gonna pull over,” he repeated, bringing the car to a stop in front of the playground in the middle of my neighborhood.

  The second Axe stopped the engine, he was out of the car, ready to handle the bullshit. Panic was still rushing through me, but Connor was my mess, not Axe’s. So, there was no way I was going to let him face Connor alone.

  I took a deep breath as I opened my car door and stepped out. The two of them were already chest to chest and in each other’s faces, both of them riled up.

  Connor shook his head as he clenched his fists shut, the sight causing me to immediately run over to them, unsure of what Connor was about to do. I shoved myself in between the two of them.

  “CONNOR, I SWEAR TO GOD IF YOU TOUCH HIM!” I screamed in his face. It was the first thing that I had said to him since we had seen him, the first thing I had said to him in two years. Connor took a step back, taken off guard at my words. His face fell from anger back to jealousy.

  He brought a hand up to his chest, lifting a brow. “You’re defending him over me?”

  Axe took a step forward and I put my hand up, signaling for him to stop. I wanted to handle this. There were so many emotions that had been built up inside of me over the past four years, but I never had the courage to say any of them. It felt like I had been waiting all this time to speak up, as if this was meant to be my moment.

  Connor had never wanted me to move on. He always used to say that if I dated anyone else, he would beat the shit out of them. Back then, I thought it was cute how protective he was. But now, it was clear that he just always wanted control. Axel and Connor saw protection very differently. Axel protected me when I needed to be protected, whereas Connor was just trying to protect himself.

  In Connor’s mind, I was always going to be his property. In his mind, I would always choose him, always love him, and always belong to him. But that wasn’t the case. I chose myself now, and in choosing myself, I chose Axe. I loved Axe. I belonged to Axe.

  Axe had done everything in his power to protect me, and now, it was my turn to do the same.

  “Yeah,” I admitted to him, nodding.

  Connor’s jaw worked under his skin, his eyes moving back and forth between Axe and I. “Do you love him?”

  I looked him dead in the eyes, my heart feeling just as full as it ever had. “With every ounce of my entire being.”

  He didn’t seem to like my answer, causing him to shift his weight side to side for a moment. “Do you love him more than you loved me?”

  “Absolutely,” I responded, without a single drop of hesitation or doubt.

  Connor slowly nodded, displeasure and outrage still resting on his face. I always used to worry about what Connor thought, used to wonder if he would approve of what I did or said, but right now felt different. I didn’t feel like his opinion was relevant. I took his silence as an opportunity to speak my mind freely, not worrying about what he would think.

  “You,” I seethed, putti
ng my pointer finger to the center of his chest, “are the most narcissistic, inconsiderate, and emotionally abusive fuck that I have ever met. And not stopping you from marrying somebody else was the best decision I’ve ever made. Axel is twice the man that you’ll ever be. He loves me more than you ever did or could. And he’s a million times better at everything than you, including sex, so I hope that ruins your fucking ego,” I said, grabbing Axe’s hand and leading him back towards the car. “And just for the record,” I paused, turning back to him, “your wife’s a bitch.”

  I opened the car door and climbed inside, feeling a weight suddenly become lifted off my shoulders. The second Axe got into the driver’s seat, he burst out laughing, smacking the steering wheel.

  “That was the best thing I’ve ever seen,” he cried out.

  I eyed him intensely with a straight face for a moment, before the corners of my mouth started to turn upwards. I dropped my forehead into my hands as I laughed, unable to contain the sense of pride I felt.

  Axe started the car and drove off, not caring to look back. He made a right turn instead of a left.

  My eyebrows pulled in, confused. “Where are you going?” I asked.

  “We gotta make those cookies somehow,” he said, his charming smile appearing as he headed back towards the store.

  I grinned, looking out the window. I didn’t bother checking to see if Connor was following us this time. Because either way, it didn’t matter. The only thing that mattered was the person sitting next to me now.

  Chapter Thirty-One

  The Epilogue

  I smoothed out my blush pink dress as I sat in the front row, next to Gianna. Red ribbon was tied around the back of every chair. White and red roses decorated the entire outdoor venue, petals scattered across the aisle.

  Amberly stood across from Drew at the altar, her smile as bright as I had ever seen it. A braid was perfectly draped into her updo, a few curled hairs sticking out at the front to frame her gorgeous face. I studied her elegant white dress. It was made of lace that trailed all the way down her arms and body, the train of the dress resting neatly on the ground. She looked absolutely stunning.

  Drew held her tiny hands in his, not taking his eyes off of her as they began to exchange their vows. My eyes shifted over to Axe as he stood next to Ash, with Drew on the other side.

  I couldn’t help but think about everything that we had been through. When we first met, I wanted nothing to do with him. I was afraid of him because I didn’t trust myself. And I surely didn’t trust others either. I fought my feelings, trying to hide them away, but they kept resurfacing. Axe kept reappearing and no matter how hard I tried, I wasn’t able to make him stay away. I fell for him. Hard. Maybe even too hard. People tried to keep us apart, tried to tear us away from each other, but at the end of the day, they couldn’t. No matter what tore us apart, we kept finding our way back to each other. Whether if it was a pregnancy, a terrible breakup, a bitchy redhead, a psychopathic stalker, jail itself, or Connor, we survived it all.

  I used to think that I knew what love was. But reality is, I had absolutely no fucking clue until I met Axe. Love isn’t necessarily something that you’re told, it has to be shown. It has to be experienced in order to fully understand it. Love was a deep concept, a difficult one to fully grasp, and even though it was often complicated, it was usually worth it.

  Love was not jealousy or manipulation. Love was consideration and kindness. Love was soft and wholesome. Love was what was standing in front of me.

  I needed to go through what I had in order to become the person I was today. And above all, it was beyond clear that everything bad that happened was only put into place by the universe in order to strengthen Axe and I.

  We made each other better. We challenged each other in a positive way. We were there for each other when we needed to be, and we loved each other no matter what. The universe brought us together for a reason. We were meant to be together, and we sure as hell were stronger together than we ever were apart.

  I took in every detail of Axe as he stood there. His curly hair was perfectly placed on top of his head as he stood tall, shoulders broad with his hands resting in front of him. Green eyes wandered over to me, shining in the sunlight. He gave a light smile, forcing me to mirror his expression.

  ‘We’re next,’ he mouthed to me, motioning to the wedding itself. I smiled wide, unable to contain the happiness that poured out of me at his words.

  I loved that man more than anything. I’d give up my life for him if it ever came down to it.

  Watching him stand up there now, on that altar as a groomsman, made me think about the day it would be our turn. And suddenly, I couldn’t wait for that day.

  Axe constantly ignited a flame inside of me that I had been missing for four years prior. And now, that flamed burned brighter and stronger than it ever had. It was a flame that I wanted to always be there, and I had full faith that it would. It was a love that I knew would burn forever.

  Acknowledgements

  First, I would like to thank you, the reader, for finishing my novel. It means the world that you read through the entire thing.

  Now, I would like to thank everyone who took part in helping me create this book.

  First, thank you to Chloe and Gia, who inspired the characters of Claire and Gianna. Not only that, but thank you for encouraging me to keep writing and assuring me that my work was not as bad as I thought it was.

  Thank you to my parents and siblings who always support everything that I do.

  Thank you to Liv and Ms. Shogren for helping me with the editing process and giving me the corrections and critiques needed to make my book better.

  Thank you to Daria, my soul sister, for being to first person to finish reading my book and supporting me through it.

  Thank you to Summer, Alyssa, Bailey, Kate, Dany, and Antonella for always sticking by my side and encouraging me to continue doing what I love.

  Thank you to Maggie, my sweet angel.

  Thank you to Ryan Tippery for designing a beautiful cover that I am absolutely in love with!

  Thank you to Paige for being the inspiration behind Penelope.

  And again, if you made it all the way through this, a huge thank you to you! I hope you enjoyed reading the book as much as I enjoyed writing it!