Page 71 of I Always Will

Alexandria almost burst under the intensity of her gaze. She wanted—no,needed—to be alone with her.

She nodded.

“Where is it?” Farid asked, also intrigued.

She pointed to a spot on the inside of her arm, about a hand’s width from her wrist. She’d chosen that spot especially—she almost always wore long sleeves, so it would be easy to keep it a secret, and in the summer, when it was too warm, she could cover it with makeup or a large plaster. But it was also easy to access, to look at when she felt too alone or missed Hailey too much. She’d looked at it a lot over the years.

Hailey examined the sleeve on her coat and was mentally debating whether Alexandria could roll her coat and her dress up far enough. “Can we see it?”

Alexandria looked at her. She would forever give Hailey anything she wanted.

Shewantedto give her everything.

She nodded and gestured Hailey around to the other side of the table. It wouldn’t draw too much attention—lots of people were getting up and moving to chat with others, some taking their bowls with them, others having already finished. A mashed potato bar, it turned out, really was a great option for a wedding.

Hailey moved eagerly around to stand behind Alexandria and Farid. Farid grinned widely. Alexandria checked that nobody else was paying attention. She’d made a business of not revealing her tattoo to her family for the last fifteen years, too afraid of needing to explain it. Too afraid they wouldn’t need an explanation.

She shimmied her sleeves up her arms, exposing the sweet little tattoo. Feeling her face on fire, she looked from Farid, who was looking up at Hailey having clearly understood it, to Hailey’s awed face.

It took a minute of Hailey just staring before she reached a finger out to run it over Alexandria's arm. Her touch was electric, intoxicating, magnetic. “Is that…?”

Alexandria nodded. It was.

Twenty-Nine

Present day

Hailey’s mind whirled.

Alexandria had a tattoo.

Alexandria had a tattoo of minimalist, sweeping mathematical symbols that came together to form a musical note.

Alexandria had a tattoo for them.

At least, she was pretty sure it was for them.

“Is that…?” she asked, not sure where the rest of that sentence was going, not sure how she wanted to ask.

But Alexandria didn’t need the rest of the words. She nodded, watching Hailey’s fingers trail over her arm.

“When did you get that?” Hailey asked, so mesmerised by it that she had basically forgotten where they were.

“Fifteen years ago,” Alexandria said, looking up at her. She was shy but also resolved.

They really were doing this.

Kissing her in that climbing frame had not been the most reckless thing Hailey had ever done—leaving her was—but she’d mentioned it as a sign, a message between the two of them that she was in this, she was ready, and she wanted to have that conversation tonight. Farid had already been privy to more than enough of their relationship that sharing that in front of him wasn’t anything that bothered her. But, she had not been expecting Alexandria to go one further in response.

She stared again at the smooth black lines on Alexandria’s arm, stark and beautiful against her pale, white skin.

Fifteen years.

For fifteen years, Alexandria had been walking around with this dedication to the two of them on her body. Hailey could see it now, all the ways Alexandria would look at it in stolen, secret moments; the way Alexandria’s hand strayed there when she was nervous around Hailey. She’d always assumed it was just a random habit, picked up over the last seventeen years. She’d never have imagined this artistry underneath.

A million questions she needed to ask flooded her mind—what it meant, had Alexandria designed it herself, how often she thought of them when she looked at it, where they went from here…? She’d never loved anyone like she loved Alexandria and she never would again.

It was only and always Alexandria.

---