I Love You More Than I'm Afraid (Our Forevers #2), Rebel Hart [best adventure books to read .txt] 📗

just never get married or have a family, but that thought made me even more sad because they were things I wanted so badly. I remembered playing house with Arden, and just like Aria told me she dreamed, I dreamed too. Of having a house that we lived in together. Waking up together, going to bed together. Eventually getting married and having a family. Those were the things I dreamed about. Even if it wasn’t with Arden, I wanted it someday.

But if I was going to go for it someday, why couldn’t I go for it today and be with the love of my life?

“I will regret that,” I admitted as tears filled my eyes, then I looked over at Tristan. “I’ve made a mistake.”

“What?” Tristan said.

“Oh my god!” My head jerked towards Aria. “I made a mistake! I should be with Arden!”

Aria’s eyes widened. “What?”

“What am I doing? Why am I sitting here?” I said. “Of course I’d regret that. I already regret it. I want to be with her. Losing her forever is way scarier than anything else!”

“Yeah,” Aria said. “Yeah!” She threw her arm in the air.

“What are you going to do?” Tristan asked.

“Aria. Do you have Arden’s flight information?” I asked.

“Yeah, but she doesn’t leave for about twelve hours. If you call her now, you can catch her,” Aria said.

I shook my head. “No. This time, I have to do things absolutely right. I have a plan that will be better for us both, and I’ll need both of your help.”

28

Arden

The only thing I really had to wait for in the morning was for ride services to start operating. As soon as I was able to call for a car, I did, and then it was finally time to pick up my things and leave. It was so early that it was still dark outside, but that was good because it would make slipping off quietly that much easier. I changed into the outfit that I left out for myself to wear to get me through security at the airport nice and quickly and shoved the last of my possessions into my bags. I picked everything up and took one last look around my room.

“Well, I’d like to say I’m going to miss you, but…” I looked at my bed, imagining a younger Hannah laying there flipping through comics with me and trying to convince me that I was more of a superhero than Wonder Woman; my chair at my desk where I used to spend hours working on my designs and improving my craft; over at the window sill where Aria liked to sit and run interference when my parents walked into the room. A smile came to my face. “Maybe I’ll miss you a little bit.”

My phone buzzed letting me know my ride had arrived, so I picked up my bags and headed out of my bedroom and started down the stairs. It was hard to get all of my bags down all by myself, but I didn’t want to make multiple trips. Though it was heavy, I had my big, military bag slung over my back, my smaller backpack looped over one shoulder, and my smaller carry-on bag balanced on my wrist. They kept banging against the wall, probably waking everyone up, but that didn’t bother me so long as I could get out before anyone actually came to inquire.

Finally, I made my way outside and flagged down the ride share so that they knew not to leave. I was kind of hoping that the driver might see me struggling and jump out to help me, but he just stared in disdain like I was wasting his time.

“Need some help?” I looked over my shoulder and Whitney and Willow were standing in the doorway. Willow was wearing some of the clothes I’d gifted to her when I was packing, and a smile on her face. “No offense, but you look like you’re struggling.”

I smiled. “Yeah, actually. Here.”

I handed my carry on to Whitney and then slid my backpack off my back and handed it over to Willow. I groaned in relief as some of the weight left my body, then I led the way over to the car. The driver finally did get out then, opening his trunk for us to load the bags in before getting back into the driver’s seat.

After opening the back door and tossing in my bag, I turned around to face my sisters. There wasn’t much I could do to help them now, but they only had a handful of years before they could escape for themselves.

“We’re gonna miss you,” Whitney said, surprisingly leading the initiative, mostly because Willow already looked on the verge of tears.

“I’m gonna miss you guys too.” I wrapped my arms around them and pulled them into a hug. “I love you two a lot, okay? Don’t ever let anyone convince you otherwise. I’m not leaving because—”

Willow yanked backwards out of my hold. “We know!” Her eyes were watering, but she was holding it together, reminding me of myself. “We know that this isn’t about us, Arden. We also know that mom and dad will try and convince us that it is. You don’t have to worry. We love you and nothing is going to change that.” She leaned in. “We’re already planning a trip to come and visit you. We’re gonna try and pass it off as a summer school thing.”

I smiled. “Look at you little schemers.” I started to fake cry. “I have nothing left to teach you.”

Throwing my arms around them in one more hug, I finally ripped myself away from them and climbed into the car. Willow shut the door behind me and stood back and both girls stood there waving as the car pulled off.

“Airport, right?” the driver said.

“Yes please,” I said.

The further we got from my parents house and the closer we got to the airport, the better I started to feel. There was this