Mallory
Reid's eyes were dark and intent as they looked into mine. I sat up on his bed, bringing my bare legs to my chest under the covers. "So what now?" I asked, not intending to make this conversation easy for him. He'd left me hanging for two years. A few minutes was barely recompense.
Reid sighed. "It's hard to know where to begin."
"Yes." I agreed simply. Waiting. I needed to ask a million questions, but I wanted to know which one he'd answer first. I watched him warily.
Reid leaned back onto the headboard, crossing his arms over his head as he stared at me. I tried not to look at his arms; they were one of my favourite things about him, crude as it was. "You don't want to ask me why I came?"
"I knew you'd come back someday." I answered, feeling a brief sense of satisfaction as Reid flinched. I didn't cause him a tenth of the pain he caused me. "But why now?"
Reid glanced over at me, and he answered straight away. "I spent the last two years looking for something. To be honest, I still don't know what it was. But I was looking at pictures yesterday, and when I saw you, I realised that I was still running from everything. It was time for me to come home."
"So you went back to your parents?" I ran my fingers through my hair, feeling the tangles where Reid's hands used to be. "I called them every day, you know. For the first month of you being gone. Thirty one days of hell. Then I realised that maybe, just maybe, you weren't thinking about me."
Reid shook his head adamantly. "What I did wasn't right, but I never forgot you. Every day, I remembered you." he thought about something, then he glanced at me. "Can I show you something?"
He was looking at me oddly. "Sure." I agreed hesitantly, my voice betraying my confusion. He took out his phone, scrolling until he gave it to me.
I took it and stared at the screen uncomprehendingly. It was a restaurant front, with elegant gold lettering on the arch. My eyes widened.
"What's this?" I asked weakly, my eyes seeking out Reid's.
He smiled brightly at me, the tips of his fingers brushing my shoulder. "My restaurant. I started it two years ago; business is pretty good. The name takes after someone very important to me."
I couldn't stop the tears from coming. They fell in earnest down my cheeks, and Reid's expression dropped when he saw them. He reached out gently to brush them away with his fingers, his touch lingering on my skin moments after. "I wasn't trying to make you cry."
"You named your restaurant after me?" I asked him, still teary-eyed.
He nodded, his fingertips resting on my cheek. "I always liked your name. It's almost as gorgeous as you. Maloret was my first and only choice."
I frowned slightly. "But you know what my name means, right?"
Reid rolled his eyes. "Ill-omened? Unlucky, unhappy? It means nothing, Mallory. Our names carve a part of our identity for us, that's true. Your name's beauty suits you, but its meaning never held a resemblance to what your life would be. You are the most incredible person I've known. I love you, your name, your everything. Being near you is a gift, and it's been all the luck I ever needed."
I was tongue tied. Completely bowled over by the series of revelations the evening yielded, and completely spun by Reid's frank confession. He was my oasis at the end of a long walk through the desert.
Reid smiled understandingly at me. "The point is, I could never forget you, because you were always there. Every day I woke up and drove to work, I saw you in everything. But it could never be close to the real thing."
I couldn't bear being so far away from him. I reached for him and threw myself into his arms. He gave a surprised huff of breath as my arms wrapped around his neck, but he quickly gathered me into his arms.
"I still don't forgive you for not coming back sooner." I murmured into his skin. I felt Reid breathe in and out slowly. I drew away, my expression sobered as I looked at him. "What do you want from tonight?"
"What I couldn't have before." Reid answered steadily, looking into my eyes. "A second chance, without all the distractions we had before."
I scoffed, because I wasn't so forgiving straight away. I wanted to show him that I wasn't going to fold right away. "You don't think I gave us a chance, Reid? Believe me, I did. I tried to make us work the second time, and the third. Technically, this would be our fourth run."
"Now I'm telling you that I'll pull my weight, too. Let me work for us, Mallory." Reid murmured, looking into my eyes. "You've done the heavy lifting for a long time."
When he put it like that, Reid was hard to deny. I stared at him, tired of keeping my guard up. He was mine to hold, even if it was just for tonight. "I will."
We were too tired to go further than a few lazy kisses and cuddling. I felt so safe and warm in Reid's arms. "Why are you still here?" I breathed without thinking. I kept on thinking that maybe he was a mirage, and he would dissolve in a matter of seconds at the end of a long dream.
"I won't leave you again, ever. But I have one last thing left to tell you." Reid murmured against my skin. I felt him shift on the bed. "You know what Tony told me last night?" I arched my eyebrows in question, and he took it as a sign of curiosity. "I wanted to propose on the night of the crash. Yesterday, he gave me the ring that I bought for you."
He slipped something into my hand. My stomach dropped as I closed my palm around the precious metal, holding my fist up to my eyes. I opened my fingers and they curled outwards to reveal a gleaming diamond.
I searched my ex-boyfriend's eyes. "I don't understand, Reid. Why are you showing me this now?"
Reid chuckled. "It made me realise that after everything, I can't let you go. Not when I could have you again. All I want is a yes."
"To getting married?" I asked incredulously.
Reid's eyes widened. "No!" he said in a rush. "Not when I haven't taken you out yet. Not if you don't want to get married."
I silenced him with a kiss. Reid seemed equally shocked and pleased to get such a response. I smiled at him, keeping my hand on his jaw. I felt the power shift to me, coating my heart in certainty. "You understand if I don't want to get married yet, right?"
"Obviously." Reid breathed, his lips curving upwards as he looked at me. "We'll take this one step at a time, okay?"
"But what is this? What do you want us to be?" I asked, tilting my head as I studied him.
He leaned into me, until there was an infinitesimally small space between us. "I want you to be with me. As a girlfriend, as the girl I'm dating. Whatever you want to label us, I'll be happy with it, as long as you're with me."
I smiled, satisfied. "I trust that answer."
Reid kissed me, squaring his hand on the back of my head. I felt my feelings for him burst out, certain as rain before a storm. I leaned into him unconsciously, feeling his arm wrap around my waist.
Reid smiled, his eyes a warm brown in the darkness of the silent night. "I love you."
"And I love you. After everything that's happened, I love you more than ever." I laughed. "Isn't that strange?"
"More than strange." Reid confirmed, looking at me with contentment. He pulled me in, his thumb stroking my shoulder. "But I understand, because I feel the same thing. Ever since that day you visited me at my parents' house, demanding why I was pulling away from you. Ever since I saw you at that bar, five years ago. On both occasions, I didn't know why I loved you, but I did."
I smiled into Reid's neck, letting sleep envelop me in its hazy warmth. This time, I wasn't alone in a cold and empty bed; I was with him, and it was everything.
I couldn't explain it, but our connection felt different this time. We were both older and wiser. And I was using both my head and heart to guide me. There was no imbalance; no disconnection between Reid and I of any sort. The one thing that remained constant was our feelings for each other.
All this time, Reid's hands were holding my heart. The string entwining our lives was strong as ever.
THE END.