I Love You More Than I'm Afraid (Our Forevers #2) by Rebel Hart (the first e reader .txt) 📕

I’d seen come out of her brain throughout history. “Of course she’s going to get it.”

In just a few months, Arden was going to leave for New York and I was never going to see her again.

11

Hannah

It took until I was walking up to the old tree house in Hannah’s backyard that I started to question what I was doing there. I didn’t remember deciding to go there or even traveling there, but there I was nonetheless, looking up at the small opening, trying to calculate exactly how long it had been since I was last there.

“Arden?” I called out. “Are you up there?”

Arden’s head popped out of the one window. I wasn’t sure why, but I almost expected to see her younger self—before the hair dye, gauges, and tattoos. But there she was, looking as magnificent as ever. Arden wasn’t a flashy person, at least not by my standards. She didn’t wear press-on nails and drench herself in jewelry or expensive clothes. The changes she made to her appearance were subtle, yet I always found them very attractive, sexy even.

“Hey!” she called down with a huge smile on her face. “Give me like three minutes. I’m not quite done yet.”

“I'm not going anywhere!” I yelled back up. I meant the words from the very depths of my soul, but they still made me awash with sadness.

She gave me a warm, jubilant grin. “Well I certainly hope not.”

Arden disappeared again and I sat down on the grass and spread my legs out. It was a beautiful, autumn afternoon—my favorite. The sun was playfully hidden behind a thin veil of clouds, and there was a breeze that was strong enough that it made my long-sleeved shirt a good decision, but didn't make me silly for still wearing sandals with my jeans. I scrunched my hands against the grass, feeling the cool blades, some of them still dipped with dew, and in the distance I could smell an incoming rain. Up in the tree house, Arden was muttering quietly to herself—something she did often when she was concentrating.

It was bliss upon bliss. I could have stayed there for a million years and been perfectly happy. I closed my eyes and took it all in: my ultimate happy place.

In my comfort and contentment, I must have dozed off, because all of a sudden another body wrapped around mine. Legs on either side of me and comforting arms pulling me backwards. My head found purchase on the chest of the person behind me and I tilted my head back until I finally met Arden’s gaze.

“Well hey there, Marie,” Arden said, lovingly using my middle name. “We’re supposed to be up there, but you look so comfy down here, I just couldn’t help myself from joining you.”

“I was just enjoying the breeze,” I replied. “Although now I don’t want to move at all.”

My heart did a little jump as Arden leaned in and set her lips on mine. Her arms squeezed around me tightly and I breathed in the feeling of it. There was nothing as good in the world as kissing Arden on a blustery, fall day.

Nothing.

Arden finally pulled away with a little chuckle. “I mean, listen. I’m fine to continue making out with you down here, but that's really gonna waste the surprise I prepared up there.”

I hugged closer to Arden with no real plans to move. “Surprise?”

Arden skated her fingers up and down the skin of my arm. “Sure. I think a three year anniversary is worth a surprise or two.”

Three years? Had it been that long already? “Well I’m not one to turn down a surprise.”

“Alright. Let’s go.” Arden maneuvered herself from behind me and got to her feet and then reached out her hand for me. I took it and let her pull me to my feet. The momentum of me getting up pressed me against her, an opportunity which she took to kiss me again. I curled my arms around her shoulder and sunk into it, loving the feeling of her arms sliding behind my back. This kiss got deeper, with Arden’s tongue sliding out to play with mine until she finally hummed and pulled back. “Oops. Okay, now let’s go.” I giggled and relented to her pull as she led me up to the base of the tree. I reached out for the ladder to climb, but she stopped me. “Wait, hang on.”

She pulled a small remote control out of her pocket and handed it to me. I took it, confused, but intrigued. “What do I do with this?”

“Duh, press the button.”

I snickered and did as I was told, pressing the largest button on the remote. Immediately, I heard a mechanical whizzing sound and I started looking around for the source. Eventually, a cord started to lower itself from the opening in the treehouse, a bouquet of pink mums attached; they were my favorite flower.

The cord lowered until it was just in front of me, and then Arden reached over me to press the same button and stopped it in place.

“They’re beautiful,” I said, taking them from the claw they were held in.

“I’m glad you like them,” Arden replied. “I’m also really glad the cord didn’t snap and whip you in the face like it did me.”

With a laugh, I ran my hand along the darkened black and blue spot on her chin, now knowing the origin. “You promised me you wouldn’t make things that hurt you.”

“I can only do so much, gorg. These things have a mind of their own.” She pressed a different, smaller button on the remote and the cord started to raise back up into the treehouse. When it was gone, she motioned forward. “Okay. Now we can climb up.”

I looked at the bouquet of flowers and then up the ladder. “You lowered the flowers to the bottom for me to carry them back to the top?”

Arden’s smile disappeared and she gave me the most defeated look. “I didn’t think it