Page 134 of A Sinful Gravity

"Whatever you choose, I'll support it."

Luna stared at me hard, tears falling like broken beads onto the white sheets. She looked so shocked, like I was a stranger she'd never seen before.

"You big... idiot." She suddenly choked out a curse, voice carrying six years of complex, heartbreaking emotion.

"Why are you saying this..." She cried. "You just woke up, you almost died, and you're saying this..."

"Because if I don't say it now, it'll be too late." I looked at her. "Because I don't want to miss another chance. If I don't say it now, you might leave, and I'll never get another opportunity."

She suddenly bent down, carefully avoiding my chest wound, burying her face in my neck. I felt warm liquid flow down my neck into my collar, burning my heart.

"What you heard was right... you bastard." Her voice shook uncontrollably, carrying a kind of desperate courage. "I do love you! I hate that I only realized I can't lose you at a moment like that! If you'd really died, where was I supposed to go with this damn love?"

She collapsed on my chest, shaking as she cried. I wanted to hold her, but my arm wouldn't lift. I could only let her lean against me, hear my heartbeat.

"What you said," after a long while, she said in a muffled voice. "What you heard when you were unconscious—it's true."

She lifted her head, looked at me with red eyes, and her gaze full of burning, pure love.

I froze.

"I said let Laila call you daddy. I said—"

She lifted her head, looked at me, eyes red, nose red, face covered in tears.

"I said I love you. I said I can't live without you. Did you hear that?"

I looked into her eyes. In those eyes, there were tears, and there was light. The invisible wall between us had crumbled. Her gaze held a determination I'd never seen before.

"I heard it," I said.

"Then do you know how long I've waited for you to say that?" Her voice trembled. "Six years. Every day I waited for you to say you support me, you believe in me, you won't tie me down. I waited until I couldn't dare wait anymore. Then you said it."

"I'm sorry."

"You always say sorry."

"Then I'll say something else."

She looked at me.

"I love you."

Tears fell again. But this time, she smiled.

"I love you too," she said.

I looked at her, felt like I had the whole world.

"When's your Chicago tour? Isn't it coming up soon?" I asked.

She looked at me, silent for a long time.

"I don't know," she said, honest. "I've been on leave these past few days. But after—"

She paused, face showing complexity.

"After, I might still have to go."