Rewriting History (19 page)
Authors: Missy Johnson
Tags: #Literature & Fiction, #Genre Fiction, #Coming of Age, #Romance, #Contemporary, #New Adult & College
After my school graduation, my dad took Eli to dinner and
apparently
they had stern words regarding Eli’s intention. It took awhile for my parents to fully support mine and Eli’s relationship, but once they realized our feelings for each other weren’t going to change, they slowly began to accept him.
Ever since then, they’ve fallen in love with him, just like I have.
I’m overwhelmed by the attention, but it still hasn’t sunk in that Eli bought us a house. Oh my God…Eli and I are going to live together. I’m getting married. It’s all so surreal. If it wasn’t for the giant rock on my finger, I’d convince myself I was dreaming.
“Would you mind sharing Jill?” Jules asks my parents. She pulls me into a hug. “You have made my brother a very happy man. Thank you.”
We smile at each other. His relationship with his sisters took a turn for the better over the year, completed by the inclusion of Aaron. Both Eli and his sisters adore him.
A knock sounds at the front door and the smell of pizza wafts through the house. The champagne is uncorked and poured into plastic cups. Aaron is handed a can of Coke.
“Hey, why don’t I get champagne?” he complains.
“Because you’re not old enough, dipshit,” Eli laughs, smacking him on the back of the head. He looks at me and the cup in my hands. I grin, because I know exactly the smart response that’s about to come out of his mouth.
“Watch it, Aaron,” I say narrowing my eyes. “Just remember you’ll be at my school next year.”
He laughs at my empty threat and throws his arms around me. “Seriously, Jill. Eli is one lucky guy. I’m happy for you guys.”
Aaron…what can I say about Aaron?
It took a few months after his dad died for Eli to feel ready to start a relationship with his brother, but finding out about Aaron was the best thing that could’ve happened to him. Since his brother came into our lives, the change in Eli has been unbelievable. He is with Aaron everything he felt he couldn’t be with his dad. Being able to build a relationship with Aaron has helped Eli forgive his father and accept that some good might have come out of a terrible situation. Next year Aaron will be living with us while he attends UC on a soccer scholarship—something I know Eli is looking forward to.
I feel so lucky having all the people most important to me in the one room to celebrate this with us, and even luckier to have found someone who loves me as much as I know Eli does. Tomorrow it’s exactly three years since I set up that profile. I never expected to find the guy I would marry, but I did.
I’ve changed so much in that time—we both have—but the one constant has been him.
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Other books by Missy Johnson
See full backlist, links and full blurbs at
Always You (Available on Kindle Unlimited)
A sweet student/teacher romance that will make you appreciate love.
Wicked Innocence
He’s a twenty-five year old rock god who thinks I’m twenty-one. I’m only seventeen…
The Tease Series
Male escort. That got your attention.
Out of Reach (see over for excerpt)
My best friend is dying and I’m in love with his girl.
Provoke
Mace is hiding something. What would you forgive the man you love for?
Wildcard: Volume One (free)
246. That’s the number of women I’ve shagged in the last 12 months. Ryder Stevens is hot, British and the number one tennis play in the world…
Available now on Amazon and in Kindle Unlimited
Prologue
Andy
Death. It is the only certainty in life.
It’s such a small word that holds such a powerful message. We avoid talking about it and we fear it, because we’re taught to do so, because nobody really knows what happens when you die. It’s that uncertainty that is so terrifying.
It’s amazing how being told you’re going to die puts things into perspective.
How being told your body is going to slowly give up on you makes you reevaluate everything you thought you once knew. Things you take for granted suddenly seem so fragile. The worst part isn’t the thought of dying itself, it’s everything you’re going to be leaving behind.
My name’s Andy Grayson. I’m twenty-six, and I’m dying. God, saying that still freaks me out. I don’t know how long I have left. A month—maybe two, if I’m lucky. For a long time, I was angry: I’ve been fighting this fucking disease since I was seventeen and it’s finally going to win. I have nothing else to fight with because it has taken everything.
Then I realized that this is no longer about me. I can’t save myself, but I can make sure the people I love are taken care of. This became less about what I was losing, and more about what I could gain.
That’s when I decided I was going to do this on my terms.
Em is my girlfriend and I love her with everything I have in me. She isn’t just my girl, though; she’s my one of my best friends, my lover, my confidante, my partner in crime, and there isn’t anything I wouldn’t do for her.
And then there’s Seth: we’ve been best friends for so long he’s like a brother to me, and I know he feels the same. As kids we got into more trouble than I care to mention, and before I die I intend on getting him into some more—for old times’ sake and all that shit.
Without them by my side, I wouldn’t have fought for this long. They sacrificed so much for me and now it’s time for me to return the favor.
I can’t leave them without knowing the two people closest to my heart will be okay. I need that assurance before I settle back and let this fucking disease take me—finish me off for all eternity…
