Page 146 of Rebound
He’s the most beautiful part of everything perfect in this world.
I hate that no one has ever seen all of him and I’m grateful that he’s choosing me to share himself with.
“What movie are we watching?” He straightens us and pulls us onto the floor of the blanket cave, settling his back against the couch. He pulls me against him until my back is resting on his chest.
“You can pick.”
Proof that Roman’s really the perfect man for me because he picks New Moon.
“Jules never watches these movies with me,” I tell him as the opening sequence plays.
“Are you team Edward or Jacob?”
“Edward, of course. Once you go ice dick you never go back.”
Roman’s laugh fills my ear, his body shaking against mine. I pull the blanket over us, burrowing deeper against him. I want to capture this moment forever. I reach for my phone and when I turn it over, I see that it’s dead.
“For someone who uses her phone all the time, I sure do forget to charge it a lot,” I mumble, throwing it up onto the couch.
“Use mine.”
Roman hands me his phone and the screen lights up, showing a picture of us moments before we kissed on my almost wedding day. My life’s turned upside down since then. I can’t imagine being married to anyone other than Roman.
I tap on the screen. “Oh, it’s locked.”
I start to hand it back to him, but instead he says, “0425.”
My thumb hovers over the screen as my heart pounds. I press the numbers on the screen and sure enough, the phone unlocks.
“I know you want my brother to like you, but don’t you think it’s a bit much having his birthday as your passcode?”
“I figure he’ll go easy on me if he finds out I’m secretly obsessed.”
All jokes aside, “Why do you have my birthday as your phone code, Roman?”
Roman’s eyes meet mine in the camera, his chin resting on my shoulder.
“Why’s it a surprise? You consume me, Lavinia. I’ve never claimed to be anything other than utterly obsessed with you. I think about you all the time.” His presses a kiss against my neck. “You’re my favorite person in the world.”
I press the button and capture the moment forever, so even when our memories start to fade we’ll always have something to look back on and remember.
You’re my favorite person in the world.
“You’re my favorite person, too,” I say, and press the camera button, capturing Roman’s smile and the look in his eyes.
I twist around to glance at him. “Can I ask you something?”
In the dark, it’s hard to see his eyes. “You can ask me anything.”
“Will you tell me about your parents?”
His eyes shutter, and for a long moment, I think he’s not going to say anything. I’m not entirely sure why I asked, either. I want to understand him better, know all of him the way I know myself. So much of his life is a mystery to me.
“You don’t have to,” I whisper. Behind me, Bella is going to celebrate her birthday with the Cullens, but I can’t look away from Roman.
Roman closes his eyes, and I resign myself to never knowing. Which is fine because I know enough to understand that they’re not good people. You don’t actively ignore your parents if you had a loving childhood.
“As a kid,” Roman begins, “I used to wonder all the time if I did something wrong. If there was a reason my parents werefighting, or my father was yelling at my mother, or why my mother was passed out on the couch.”
