TWO YEARS LATER

I get back from my daily jog and enter my apartment building. I roll out my shoulders as I make my way toward the series of metal mailboxes. I snatch the small key out of my pocket and open my mailbox. I take out the stack and then go over to the the elevator. I bend partially as I try to catch my breath before making it to my floor.

Once I'm out of the elevator and in my apartment I chuck the stack on my kitchen counter. I was going to go through it later but a bright gold envelope with fancy lettering sticks out to me. There's no return address it's just my name scrawled in fancy lettering. I eye the postage stamp, wedding bells.

I slowly begin opening it feeling my heart beating rapidly in my chest. Rhys had told me Liam had proposed. He told me this was something that was happening but I'm not ready to see physical proof yet. I close my eyes and let out a deep breath before pulling the invitation out of the envelope.

Once I open my eyes I feel my breath catch. There it is. There is my invitation to Raegan and Liam's wedding. I throw it away from me like it had physically burned my skin. Fuck, that hurts. It hurts so fucking bad.

All I can see is her here the last time she was here. She's in that perfect dark green lingerie. She's looking at me, at me, like she loves me more than anything in the universe. She's riding me perfectly. I'm thrusting into her in a  way that lets her know I love her. Then there's that painful conversation, that last one.

We need to fix the brokenness. We need to fix the shattered mirrors. The angry fucking sex. All of it.

But we didn't fix it. Well, we didn't fix it with each other. We managed to fix it ourselves or with other people. Raegan had Liam and I had Irina. As I sit here with this invitation in my hand I know that Irina will never be able to give me what Raegan had. That love will never quit, it just won't.

And now Raegan is getting married. She's found someone to fill that void, the one her and I'd created. That painful abyss that was still ever-present in my life. Although she's marrying Liam I wonder if she still thinks of me, of us.

I can't believe she's actually getting married though. Liam must've worked some type of serious magic to get her to agree to that. Well, maybe I just don't know her anymore. For all I know the Raegan Travers I knew is gone since she's soon to be Raegan Anderson. The thought of her new name makes my chest hurt.

I hear the gate open to the elevator and look over to see Irina coming in. She's holding a bag of groceries having a hard time with the door so I go and help her.

"Hey, babe." I say as I help her close the door.

"Hey, handsome." She arches her neck back and puckers her lips waiting for a kiss which I gladly oblige. "I got stuff to make dinner."

I give her a smile saying, "yum. What are you making me?"

"I'm making us quesadillas." She said to me as she makes her way into the kitchen. "I got enough stuff to cook for an army so I hope you're hungry.

"I'm starving." I had worked up quite an appetite on my jog. "I went for an extra few miles today."

"Nice." She starts taking things out of the bag and then stops. "What's this?" She asks as she picks up the wedding invitation. "Oh a wedding!" She says excitedly, "I love weddings! Who's getting married?" She scans over the invitation. "Isn't this Rhys's sister?"

Fuck my life.

"Yeah, that's his sister." I say flatly, not wanting to give anything away.

"It's only six months away! I can't wait!" Of course she can't. "I love summer weddings. Oh and they're doing it here, in Boston! That's great, you know how much a I hate flying." Yeah, they're getting married here, just wonderful.

"Yeah, I'm not really sure we're going to go." I say honestly which makes her look up at me in confusion.

"Why wouldn't you go? I mean, you have to go, Seth. It's your best friend's sister. Didn't you all like grow up together?" I nod but don't really want to tell her the truth. I don't want to tell her I was in a full blown, heart tattering relationship with Rae. "Wait, was there something between the two of you? Were you and Raegan more than just friends?"

Great. My face just probably gave me away again. I shift uncomfortably for a moment before giving her a nod.

"Was it serious?" I nod again which makes her furrow her brow in concern. "Like how serious, Seth?" I shrug not wanting to answer her. "It must've been pretty fucking serious if you don't even want to go to her wedding."

"Fine." I blow an exasperated breath. "Yes, it was serious, Irina. It was very serious." I accentuated the word not wanting to say it.

"Were you in love with her?" She asks because she just had to make me fucking say that shit out loud.

"Yes, I was in love with her." I'm still in love with her. That last bit I'm definitely not going to add though.

"We've been together for nearly a year, Seth, and you've never even mentioned her. Why wouldn't you just tell me about her? We've both been in other relationships before this. It's no big deal."

"It never came up." It hurts way too fucking much.

Her eyes widen monumentally and she says, "Jesus, you're still in love with her."

God damn my face.

"Listen, Irina, it's not like that."

"We've been together for almost a year and you've never mentioned that the two of you had a relationship, not once. I've met Rhys and the two of you have talked about her in front of me like you weren't in love with her, like you're not still in love with her."

"Because I wasn't always in love with her. I grew up with her, Irina. It's not a big deal." It's actually a pretty fucking big deal but we'll just pretend it's not. "You really want to go to the wedding then fine we'll go." I throw my hands up in mock resignation.

"Maybe it will be good for you." She comes up to me and touches my chin, making me look at her. "Maybe going to her wedding will help you move on once and for all."

"You're not angry with me?"

She scoffs at that. "Me? Angry? Not at all." She gives a little laugh, "I mean, have you seen me?"

I roll my eyes, "ever the arrogant woman."

"Hey, it takes a lot of work to look this good." She spins around, her wavy blonde hair cascading over her shoulders as she shows off her delicious body.

"Come here, gorgeous." I pull her into me and give her a kiss. "Seriously, you're not mad?"

"Terribly furious," she grabs ahold of my cock through my sweat pants, "so very," she strokes me, "very," another stroke, "angry with you." She continues until I'm fully erect. "So angry I need you to fuck it out of me."

"You want me to fuck you?" She nods up to me excitedly. "After talking about what we just talked about."

"Mmm I think it's kind of hot."

"There's something wrong with you." She flashes me a cheeky grin before she slips her pants of. "Dirty girl." I say when I notice she's not wearing any underwear. "Get on the bed then." She scurries over to it hurriedly and she sits on the bed in much the same way Rae had the last time she was here.

I walk over to my nightstand and pull out a condom before springing my erection out of my pants. I roll on the condom and when I turn back to the bad she's on her hands and knees, ready for me. I don't think twice before slamming myself inside of her, fucking her nice and hard.

It's been a long time since having sexual intercourse with someone was nearly painful because I'd missed Rae so bad. I find myself experiencing that same feeling all over again as I plunge in and out of Irina. She is warm and tight, sexy as hell, but she's not Rae. No, Rae's getting married.

The thought makes me pick up my pace, making Irina scream out loudly. I give her ass a hard slap, going cheek to cheek as I ravage her. When she tells me she's going to orgasm I jam my eyes shut and think of red hair, hazel eyes, the love of my life.

The thought of her and that fact that Irina is clamping down on me sends me right over the painful precipice. And as I begin to cum I don't even realize the name I utter as I spill into the condom. I feel Irina stiffen beneath me and that's because it's Rae's name that fell from my lips. It's Rae's name I'd said while I orgasmed, not hers.