Free Bittersweet Trust by J. L. Beck

whatever is going on in here,” he gestures to my head, “is stressing you out. But know this, Mimi-fucking-Jones, I love you with every beat of my heart. Every fucking beat of my heart and every thought I have reflect back to you. It’s always been you.”
    “Can’t you see it’s been you who I have loved all along? I LOVE YOU, MIMI JONES!” He practically screams it so everyone can hear it, and I think that’s the point. He’s proving he’s not afraid of anyone knowing, that he’s not afraid to love and be loved in return.
    “Shhh,” I hiss, trying to get him to shut up.
    “No way. I love you! You. And not one damn person is going to tell me otherwise, including yourself!” he yells yet again, his smile growing bigger and bigger.
    “Stop,” I mumble, trying to shield my face from the inquisitive eyes.
    “No… you stop,” he counters, gripping my chin to look up at him. His brown eyes bleed into my green ones.
    “I’ll stop when you stop…” he says discreetly. It’s right then that I realize he figured it out.
    “How did you know?” I question, my hands going straight to my hips.
    Corey rubs his jaw as if he actually has to think about it. “It all made sense to me. I’ve known you my whole life, so I knew there was no way you could walk away from me when the very look in your eyes when you ordered me to leave told me otherwise. Yeah, my heart was broken, and I was crying like a pussy whipped guy, but I knew. I knew I had to be strong to carry the weight of us…at least until you were strong enough to come back to me.”
    I close my eyes and take deep breaths through my nose. He knows. He figured it out. I should be thrilled, over the moon even, but I’m not because I don’t know if he got the point. I don’t know if he fully comprehends how much he hurt me, hurt us.
    “I’m far from perfect, but I can’t take back what was said and done. I can only move forward and be the person I want to be. Forgive me, Mimi. Forgive me for being the asshole I truly am. Please be my reason to thrive and move forward because without you, life just isn’t worth living.”
    His voice soothes me, his words push the broken pieces of my heart back together, mending them. There will always be a tiny hole there, reminding me of the hurt caused, but for now I want to focus on healing that hole, on making it what it used to be.
    “I… I forgive you,” I stutter in between tears. Stupid hormones.
    Then all hell breaks loose as I watch him run down the hall screaming how much he loves me. I’m embarrassed to the bone, but at the same time I’m loving the fact that he can so freely tell others.
    He’s free… So I can be too.

 
Sweet Forgiveness
     
    Corey
     
    I feel as if I’m on cloud nine, as if I’ve left earth and have been thrown out into space. I thought I had lost Mimi, not once but twice. Had I known it would just take a bottle of Jack and some self-soothing to figure out what to do, I would’ve done it a long time ago.
    Now I find myself lying in bed next to my beautiful girl, listening to her soft, steady breathing. Her curls are all over the place, and the bottom of her round stomach is showing out the bottom of her shirt.
    I tell myself this is real, that I still have her, as I skim over her legs with my fingers. Her skin is so soft, so fucking soft. Just the simplest touch causes my dick to spring to life.
    I have to push those thoughts away - they’re some dirty ass thoughts - in order to keep touching her. Her breaths are short, and her face is peaceful.
    I forgive you…
    Those three words keep replaying in my mind over and over again. I never once thought about what forgiveness meant. What I did to her isn’t something that can be considered huge, not in the realm of things that are done in this day and age, but it was still hurtful and it caused problems.
    To forgive people for doing something to you is a huge step. It is giving them a second chance, despite knowing what they did and