Chapter 22 \u2013 Better\u00a0<\/p>\n
SERA\u00a0<\/p>\n
The ride home from Mary\u2019s was quiet except for Luna\u2019s sleepy chatter from her car seat. She was telling us about the story Vivienne had read to her while we were all talking downstairs, her little voice getting softer as exhaustion took over.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd then the princess found her prince and they lived happily ever after,\u201d Luna mumbled, her head dropping against the side of her seat.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I turned to look at her, my heart squeezing at how innocent she looked. How simple her world still was, where princesses always got their happy endings and love conquered everything.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThat sounds like a beautiful story, baby,\u201d I whispered.\u00a0<\/p>\n
By the time we pulled into our driveway, Luna was completely asleep. Darius carried her inside, her little arms wrapped around his neck, her face peaceful against his shoulder. I followed behind them, my heels clicking on the hardwood as we made our way upstairs.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Watching Darius tuck Luna into bed, smoothing her hair back and pulling her favorite blanket up to her chin, made my chest ache. He was such a good father when he was present. When he wasn\u2019t distracted by other things. Other people.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cSweet dreams, princess,\u201d he whispered, kissing her forehead softly.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I kissed her goodnight too, breathing in that sweet little\u2013girl smell of strawberry shampoo and innocence. When we stepped out of her room and closed the door gently behind us, the hallway suddenly felt too small with both of us in it.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cSera.\u201d Darius\u2019s voice was soft, careful. \u201cCan we talk?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
My heart started beating faster. I\u2019d been dreading this conversation all evening, ever since Cathy\u2019s cruel words at dinner. Ever since I\u2019d seen the way Darius had looked at me afterward, like he was seeing me clearly for the\u00a0<\/p>\n
first time.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m tired, Darius. It\u2019s been a long day.\u201d I started walking toward our bedroom, but his hand caught my wrist gently.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cPlease. Just for a few minutes.\u2018\u00a0<\/p>\n
The warmth of his fingers on my skin made me stop. I turned to face him, and the look in his green eyes made my breath catch. There was something different there. Something intense and focused that I hadn\u2019t seen in\u00a0<\/p>\n
months.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cDon\u2019t listen to anything Cathy said tonight,\u201d he said, stepping closer. \u201cShe was drunk and cruel and completely out of line. None of what she said was true.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWasn\u2019t it?\u201d The words slipped out before I could stop them. \u201cI am an orphan, Darius. I don\u2019t have your family\u2019s history or connections or-\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cStop.\u201d His other hand came up to cup my face, his thumb brushing across my cheek. \u201cYou are my wife. You are Luna\u2019s mother. You are the woman I married, Sera. And I intend to spend the rest of my life with you, no one\u00a0<\/p>\n
1\/2\u00a0<\/p>\n
Charter 27 Retter\u00a0<\/p>\n
+25 Bonus\u00a0<\/p>\n
else,\u201d He pressed on, his tone serious yet genuine.\u00a0<\/p>\n
My throat got tight. \u201cI know you only settled for me because Vivienne left, Darius\u2026\u201d I bit the inside of my cheek to stop my voice from breaking, \u201cI know I will never be the woman you want.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
A strange glint flickered in his eyes. Pain, maybe. Or regret. \u201cIs that what you think? That you are some consolation prize?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
I wanted to look away, but his hand on my face kept me still. \u201cSometimes.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cGod, Sera.\u201d His voice was rough, broken. \u201cI never imagined you felt this way, how could I have let you feel this way?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Before I could answer, he was kissing me.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Not the gentle, polite kisses we\u2019d shared recently. This was desperate, hungry, like he was trying to pour all his feelings into the contact between our lips. His hand fisted in my hair, tilting my head back so he could deepen the kiss, and I heard myself make a small sound of surprise.\u00a0<\/p>\n
When we broke apart, we were both breathing hard.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019ve been avoiding me,\u201d he said against my lips, his forehead pressed to mine. \u201cEver since that day in the bedroom when I kissed you. Was it because of that? Did I push too hard?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
My heart was racing so fast I thought it might burst out of my chest. Standing this close to him, feeling the heat radiating off his body, smelling his cologne, made it hard to think straight.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI wasn\u2019t avoiding you,\u201d I lied, my voice barely a whisper.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cYes, you were. Barely looking at me during dinner.\u201d His hand slid down to my neck, his thumb stroking the sensitive skin there. \u201cTalk to me, Sera. Tell me what\u2019s wrong.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m just tired,\u201d I said again, but even I could hear how weak it sounded.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s not it.\u201d His green eyes searched my face, intense and focused in a way that made me feel exposed. \u201cIs it because of Vivienne? Because of what happened that day?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
The mention of her name made my stomach clench. \u201cI don\u2019t want to talk about her.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThen let\u2019s not.\u201d His voice got lower, rougher. \u201cLet\u2019s talk about us. About how I want things to be okay between us again and maybe\u2026\u201d His green orbs darkened, \u201cBetter.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Souls Remember What Matters \u2014 Corey Gibson 22 Chapter 22 \u2013 Better\u00a0 SERA\u00a0 The ride home from Mary\u2019s was quiet […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[59],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23468","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-the-day-i-signed-the-papers-novel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23468","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23468"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23468\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23468"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23468"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23468"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}