Time and Time Again (Maybe #2.5)(22)

“Tag, you were just with another woman. At your house. I don’t know what you expect from me.”

“Please, Clara,” he whispers, his eyes pleading with mine. “That look on your face. Fuck, I never want to see that look again.”

“Go, Tag.”

“I never even kissed her,” he says. “Her hands on me felt wrong. I don’t want anyone touching me but you.”

I smile sadly. “If only you’d figured that out before.”

“Clara—”

“Goodbye, Tag.”

I close the door and cry some more.





I ignore Tag for the next few days, even as hard as he makes it. He calls me, he drops by, and he sends flowers. He does everything he can to get me back. I find my own way to work, leaving earlier so I don’t have to run into him. Work is the only place I have no choice but to talk to him, but other people are always around.

“I miss you,” he tells me as he walks past. “When are you going to forgive me?”

“You’re never going to change, Tag.”

“I haven’t been with anyone since we got together, how is that not having changed?” he replies, looking frustrated. “I haven’t been perfect, but f*ck Clara, I used to have women over every other night. You’re wrong. I have changed.”

“Why was she at your house?” I fire back.

He sighs, cringing. “She asked me out. I said yes.”

I throw my hands up, like ‘there you go.’

“My head was f*cked up. You’d left to room with that guy closer to your age, and I couldn’t stop thinking about you. Doesn’t everyone deserve a second chance?”

“They do,” I say slowly. “But when my heart is on the line, it’s not as easy as that, is it?”

He reaches his hand out, runs a finger along my jaw. “I messed up once, but I won’t do it again. That I can promise you.”

I don’t know what to think, but dammit, the ice around my heart is starting to thaw.

Tag kisses my forehead and then walks off.

“Fuck,” I mutter under my breath when I realise I was staring at his ass.

I want him, but he hurt me.

Could I trust him again?

*****

The next weekend, the club was packed. There was a live band playing, and the atmosphere was wild. Summer has been acting a little weird all night, but I ignore her and continue with my work. It’s not until later that I find out why.

“Clara?” when I hear Tag say my name, I look to the stage in confusion. He was standing there, looking sexy as sin, his brown eyes on me.

He clears his throat. “Clara, I just want to ask you… Will you be my woman? Officially?”

Cheers play out, and I can feel my cheeks heat.

He continues. “I want you to be mine, and I want everyone to know you’re mine. Oh, and you’re moving back in with me. You’re not f*ckin’ living with another man. I love you, Clara.”

More cheers and catcalls.

“Get up there,” Summer says, nudging me.

“Oh and sorry to all the women. I’m off the market,” Tag says into the microphone, making everyone laugh.

I put down the tea towel in my hand and walk up to the stage. Tag jumps down and lifts me in his arms and spins me around, his lips finding mine.

“Is that a yes?” he asks, his eyes searching mine. “Please tell me you forgive me for f*cking everything up.”

“It’s a f*ck yes,” I reply, kissing him back with a vengeance. “I was already yours, Tag.”

He puts me down and smiles widely. “I’m in a relationship. I’m now a committed man.”

I roll my eyes. “You’ve been in one since you met me, you just didn’t know it.”

His mouth twitches. “I told you I loved you.”

“I know.”

“You didn’t say anything back.”

I grin. “I know.”

“Don’t make me spank you.”

I giggle at that. “I love you, Tag. I’ve loved you for a while now.”

“Really?” he asks, resting his forehead against mine. “I’m so f*ckin’ lucky. I’ve been a dickhead, Clara. After Kaley, I said I’d never trust anyone fully again, never give everything I had to a woman, but I’ve done that with you since the start. I was just too stupid to see it. I’ve been yours since we first ran into each other. I was trying to keep you at a distance with my words, but you know that I’ve shown you with my actions how I feel. And now, everyone f*ckin’ knows it too.”

He was right, he had always shown me how he felt. He’d always been there for me.

Always.

I was glad he’d finally opened up, public announcement or not.

“I’m the lucky one,” I reply, rubbing my nose against his.

“Get a room!” I hear Ryan call out.

“There’s an idea,” Tag replies, grinning.

I slap his shoulder playfully. “After work, I’m all yours.”

I was always.

*****

One Month Later

I had money saved in my bank.

It felt good having some financial security. I moved back in with Tag a week later. He only let me pay for groceries, and even that was now and again, no matter how much I argued. So everything I earned, I saved. I know he wants me to feel secure, so I don’t have to worry about anything, and I am thankful he gives me that. I started calling my mum once a week, and she seems really happy about it. I can’t hold it against her, calling her weak, forever. She loved my dad, and she made her decision. It didn’t have to affect our relationship. I was letting everything go—the hurt, the pain. And I was becoming a better person because of it. I couldn’t control other people’s actions; I could only control my own. My dad was right about one thing, and that was me going to uni. I’d always wanted to go, but then, I didn’t. So, I enrolled myself for next semester in a business degree. Tag supports me one hundred percent, no matter what I want to do. I am a lucky woman; that is for sure.