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Before Geoff, everyone I met saw me as nothing more than a foster kid. A paycheck total for allowing me to reside in their home. But it never lasted.
Geoff had been there, love me, fostered my skills, not my system paycheck. With him, I grew and prospered. I was now the sole owner of Experience, wealthier than I ever dreamed, but also the hardest worker I knew. Geoff showed me how to stay hungry, and I would forever be grateful. However…
Lying next to Lia, the most beautiful person I'd laid eyes on, I felt calm. Peaceful. Satisfied. It was new and scary and wonderful. And I wanted more.
"I was wondering…" I started, unsure.
Was it worth it to push through my uncertainty? Could I put it to rest either way she answered? What if it meant nothing to her, and even if she was who I thought she was, she didn't recall?
Was she that girl?
Chapter Sixteen
Lia
Ididn't know what he was going to ask, but I felt my question burning behind my lips. I tamped it down and gave him a calm expression.
"What is it?"
My eyelids drooped involuntarily after that orgasm, but Raph looked troubled. There had to be something I could do for him, to help him get the words out. Especially since I knew what I wanted him to say. Instead of waiting, I took the situation into my own hands. To end my personal suffering. There would never be a good time, anyway.
"I know the timing is weird, but I wanted to tell you. I think my brother would have liked you."
The statement threw him, his brow furrowing. Then recognition dawned.
"What do you mean, would have?"
I sighed and interlaced my fingers. "He got hit by a drunk driver while he was crossing the street. He'd only been in college a few weeks. That was about fifteen years ago."
I flicked my eyes to his when I gave him the timeline, searching for some kind of reaction or sign he knew what I was getting at. My brother liked the boy who captured my attention at the party that day. I was always keeping to myself, so it was a big deal. If Henry were still with me, I thought he would like the adult version of Raph as well. Still capturing my attention.
"I'm sorry for your loss. At least he got to experience college for a little."
"Yeah. He was missing us at home, though. Or he wanted me to think he was. I guess he was glad I was over giving him the cold shoulder for leaving."
Opening up to someone these days who wasn't Shell felt foreign, but Raph's calm helped me through.
"Henry was my best friend and my hero. He was my entire world while he was still alive. I still miss him so much, even though it's been so long. I was mad he was leaving for college, so I was ignoring him, but then I met this… boy. At his graduation party. I went and told Henry I had my first kiss, and it brought us back together. I'm so grateful Henry and I got to end on a positive note," I said, my voice cracking. "But I'm glad I learned to live a life where I wasn't running after him. Henry deserved that freedom. And I still think about my brother, and that boy. It was a turning point for me. It made me who I am."
I nodded, confirming with myself. "Henry would have liked you."
Raph
Her story about her brother tugged at my heartstrings and brought Geoff to my mind, but the day I left for New York sat front and center. It had the same sense of finality. I left the life I knew for the unknown. I pulled Lia close. I knew the ending of her story.
"I think I remember that day," I said after a while.
Lia's eyes misted over. She nodded. "I think you do."
Relief coursed through me. That was the confirmation I craved. Lia was my turning point girl. And it turned out I was her turning point guy, too. We hadn't known the impact we would have on each other at the time, but its significance stood solid for fifteen years.
"I didn't know you or anyone else at that party. The merry-go-round life I was living was too exhausting to continue. You opened your eyes, and they struck me like a bolt of lightning. So beautiful, yet so sad, so lost. I couldn't get your eyes out of my mind, and it's because I was intimate with the emotions I saw in them. You knew what I felt every day. I felt bonded to you even though we were strangers."
Uttering the words for the person they were meant to be shared with was heavy, and Lia clung to every word. My confession burned its way into my memory, never to leave.
"Fifteen years ago was when I left home for New York. I didn't have a penny to my name, and had to scramble for a while. But everything works out in the end."
I bent my head and kissed Lia's temple. She shivered and wriggled closer to me. The afterglow of our lovemaking had tapered off while we spilled the secrets of our lost souls. I reached down and brought the blanket up over us. She sighed and stroked her soft fingers up and down my arm.
