Free Finding Us (Finding #2) by Shealy James Page B

Maggie’s eyes opened but didn’t meet mine.
    “Hey,” Max responded. “Mags, you ready to talk to Parker?”
    She nodded and released Max when she sat up straight. He climbed off the lounger and stopped beside me. “Thanks for coming. I’ve had to pee for an hour. Just tell her the truth.” He patted my back as he walked past me leaving us in desolate silence.
    “Can I sit?”
    She nodded and I sat down next to her, but we weren’t touching. She looked up at me with sad eyes.
    “Baby, I don’t even really know what to say other than I’m sorry. I have been waiting all night to talk to you, and I’m sorry was the best I could come up with.”
    She looked confused. “Sorry? For what?”
    This was the problem. I didn’t know what she needed to hear. I exhaled with frustration. “I don’t know. Everything. For letting Alexis stay here. For letting her tell you things that you should never have to know. For those things happening in the first place. For her being in your life at all. For her being in my life. For every wrong thing I have ever done that has hurt you. For everything I did when I should have been waiting for you instead.”
    “Oh, Parker,” she said as she moved to straddle my lap, so we were connected and facing each other. My arms automatically wrapped around her, and I instantly felt better having her touching me. “You act like today was your fault. Sure, I wish you hadn’t done some of those things, especially with a girl like Alexis who is so disrespectful she would share your personal history in a room full of people. That’s not why I’m upset though.”
    I must have missed something. “Why are you upset then?” I asked out of genuine confusion.
    “I don’t know. Part of me hates that you had all of that with someone else, but then I reap the benefits of all that practice, so I can’t complain too much.”
    “Maggie!” I said surprised by her words and a little relieved if I was being honest. She somehow found a positive in this mess.
    “What?” She asked with a smile. “I know a lot of girls’ first experiences are terrible. You knew what you were doing with my body and took care of me just like you have every time we have been together. You wouldn’t have been able to take such good care of me had you not had so much experience.”
    “Ok. Well, I’m glad you found one good thing about my past, but what about the rest? Everyone knows I made some questionable choices, but you knowing just how…experimental I have been bothers me. I can’t imagine if I had just found that out about you. The thought alone makes me homicidal.” I pulled her closer to me trying to erase the thoughts of Maggie with anyone else.
    “Good thing you don’t have to worry about that then,” she smirked before pausing. Exhaling loudly, I could see her face turn serious. “I think I was upset because I have always been worried about being enough for you. I don’t know that I’ll ever be the lady in the parlor, cook in the kitchen, and tiger in the bedroom kind of woman. I’m just worried that one day you’ll wake up and be disappointed. We are still so young, and you could have anyone-”
    Frustration coursed through me again. No matter how much attention I have given her and how many times I have told her how I feel, she still felt insecure about us. I didn’t know how to make that uncertainty go away, but I wouldn’t stop trying as long as I had her in my arms.
    “Just stop right there,” I interrupted her. “First of all you know you’re all that I want. I’m in love with you and only you, and for that reason alone, being with you is superior to any other experience I’ve had combined. It’s different for us because we connect on a deeper level. It’s the reason we were instant friends. It’s the same reason I would have never settled for being just friends with you. You’re everything to me, so you have nothing to worry about.”
    She leaned forward and gently kissed me