Say You're Mine (You're Mine, 1)
Say You’re Mine
You’re Mine, 1
Jenika Snow
Contents
Copyright
Newsletter
Say You’re Mine
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Epilogue
Bonus Book: Virgin (A Real Man, 2)
Copyright
A Real Man Series
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Epilogue
Bonus Epilogue
Coming Soon
You’re Mine Series
Real Man Series
About the Author
SAY YOU’RE MINE (You’re Mine, 1)
By Jenika Snow
www.JenikaSnow.com
Jenika_Snow@Yahoo.com
Copyright © November 2016 by Jenika Snow
First E-book Publication: November 2016
Photographer: Wander Aguiar :: Photography
Cover models: Jacob Hogue & Tiffany Marie
Photo provided by: Wander Book Club
Cover created by: PopKitty
Editors: Kasi Alexander and Lea Ann Schafer
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED: The unauthorized reproduction, transmission, or distribution of any part of this copyrighted work is illegal. Criminal copyright infringement is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by up to 5 years in federal prison and a fine of $250,000.
This literary work is fiction. Any name, places, characters and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or establishments is solely coincidental.
Please respect the author and do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials that would violate the author’s rights.
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She was mine before I even knew her name…
Felix
When I first saw Maggie, I knew we’d be the best of friends. I wanted that desperately, wanted her in my life, and I’d do anything to make sure that happened.
Until Maggie came in my life I didn’t know what love was.
She’ll be my first and last.
I’ll be her only.
Maggie
I didn’t know I could have a friendship like the one I have with Felix. But the friend-zone wall has always been in place. Being too afraid to cross it, I’d rather be in Felix’s life than tarnish the relationship we have.
Too much time has passed. I’m done being afraid of the what-ifs. I’m ready to admit how I feel for him, consequences or not.
Felix
Maggie doesn’t know the lengths I’ll go to keep her in my life, but she will, because the very idea of her with someone else is not something I’ll even entertain. She’s always been mine, and it’s time I step up and show her how much I love her.
My devotion for her goes to the very depths of my soul, and staying back as she lives her life without me by her side is absolutely not an option.
Warning: This story is so sweet it might give you a stomachache, but it will be worth it. It’s short, dirty, and featuring a virgin hero and heroine who only love each other. Be prepared to fall in love with this devoted hero who will go to any lengths to make the woman he loves his.*And for a very limited time Virgin, an equally sugary story about falling in love and saving yourself for that one person, is included at the end of Say You’re Mine (due to Virgin being included at the back of this book, Say You’re Mine ends at 52%.)
Chapter 1
Felix
Six years old
The first time I saw you I knew you were mine.
When she walked into the room, everything around me disappeared. It felt as if was just the two of us.
She was the prettiest girl I’d ever seen, even though her clothes seemed a little too baggy, had stains on them, and holes, too”
Yeah, she was the prettiest girl in the whole world.
I didn’t even know her name because the teacher hadn’t introduced her to the class yet, but I didn’t care.
I knew I wanted to be her friend.
I knew I wanted her to always be near me.
“Class, this is Maggie. She’s come all the way to Ohio from Colorado.” The teacher touched Maggie’s shoulder and smiled at us. “I want you all to make Maggie feel welcome.”
I followed Maggie with my gaze as she went to the other side of the room, and finally sat down behind an empty desk. The other kids ignored her, busy working on their paintings.
Her hair was the color of the sun, in two pigtails. I couldn’t stop staring at her. I didn’t want to. She glanced up at me then, her eyes so big, so blue, they reminded me of the ocean we had just learned about. I hated that she looked sad, that no one was sitting beside her, talking to her.
I had to fix that.
Grabbing my paper and watercolors, I walked over to where she sat. The other kids looked up at me, but I was only focusing on Maggie.
When I sat beside her, I saw her eyes widen even farther.
“Hi,” I said, smiling, hoping she wouldn’t be scared to be here anymore. “I’m Felix.”
She didn’t say anything right away and instead looked down at the art supplies I’d brought with me.
I couldn’t understand what I felt, but I knew I wanted her to be my friend. I wanted us to be best friends.
“Maggie,” she said softly. She looked up then, her blue eyes pretty but still scared.
“Wanna be friends?” I smiled. I hoped she wouldn’t laugh at the missing front tooth I had. I’d just lost it and put it under my pillow for the tooth fairy. I’d gotten a whole dollar for it.
She shrugged and looked down at the table again.
“You can think about it, but I’m really nice, and I won’t let anyone be mean to you.” She looked up again and smiled. It wasn’t a big one, but it was a smile just for me. “Hey, you’re missing a tooth, too.” I pointed to my missing tooth. She stopped smiling, and I felt bad for saying something. “See?” I smiled wider, pointing out the big gap between my teeth. “I lost mine a couple days ago. I got a lot from the tooth fairy.” She didn’t say anything. “How much did you get?”
She shook her head. “The tooth fairy doesn’t come to my house.”
“Why not?”
She didn’t say anything for a long time. “The tooth fairy doesn’t like coming to my house because it’s dirty and my mom and dad fight a lot. She’s never come to my house, not even when my big brother lost teeth.”
I didn’t like that at all.
She glanced at me again, and the way she seemed so scared had something inside of me hurting.
I tried to think of what I could do to make her feel better, and then I looked down at the paper and watercolors in front of me.
I grabbed my brush, dipped it in the cup of water the teacher had put on the table, and picked the color I wanted. I knew she watched me. I could feel her eyes on me, and I liked that.
When I was finished, I stared at my picture before handing it to her. Maggie reached out and took it, and for long seconds just stared at it.
“This is for me?” she asked.
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I nodded, feeling proud of myself. What I did know was I was keeping Maggie as mine.
Maggie
He’d drawn a pink heart on the paper. Although it was a little crooked, it was perfect.
He’d made it. Just for me.
I’d never had anyone do anything nice like this for me.
What he wouldn’t know was how much a heart on the paper meant to me.
“You and I will be the best of friends,” Felix said.
I wanted to be his friend, but I didn’t fit in here. My clothes were old, used, and I didn’t have nice things like the other girls in the class. Even Felix looked nice, with clothes that didn’t have stains on them, or shoes with holes in the side.
“Why would you want to be my friend?” I asked.
He looked at me funny then. “Why wouldn’t I want to be your friend?”
I shrugged. “No one ever wants to be my friend.” Back at my old school I was called mean things: dirty, poor, ugly. And then Felix reached out and placed his hand over mine. I looked up and stared into his green eyes. They reminded me of grass in the summer.
“I’m gonna be your best friend, Maggie.”
I liked how he said my name.
“I’m never letting you go.”
And for some reason I really believed him.
Chapter 2
Felix
Eighteen years old
I’m keeping you close. I’m keeping you as mine.
I’d known Maggie would be mine since I was six years old. There had never been a time after that when I thought any different. And now, twelve years later, that friendship inside of me had grown strong.
I loved this girl who had changed me so completely, so irrevocably.
For all these years I’d kept her close. It was me and her in this world, and without her I was nothing. Even at eighteen, with graduation only weeks away, I knew this. Hell, I’d known this a long time ago.
She was my best friend, the greatest thing I had in my life, and the very thought of losing her, of something happening that tore us apart, had equal amounts of dread and anger filling me.
But I’d move heaven and earth to make sure I stayed with Maggie, even if that meant turning down college offers so I could go to the same community college as her.
Because nothing in this world mattered if she wasn’t by my side.
When we were finally alone at the cafeteria table, I smiled at her. I’d never told her how much I loved her, but surely she could tell? Surely she could see how utterly devoted I was to her? Even if she didn’t, none of that mattered. Even if she didn’t ever find out that I was hopelessly in love with her, I’d still be by her side.
In this world there was nothing more important than the girl sitting beside me.
Maggie
Later that evening
Felix knew me better than anyone, but I was afraid to tell him how I truly felt, that I loved him so much.
I didn’t feel like I was good enough for him, not with my drunken parents who fought all the time.
Not with my brother who only came home when the girl he was screwing kicked him out.
And not when I had nothing to offer him but the experience of a shitty home life.
You have your whole life to offer him.
“You sure you don’t want me to come in?” Felix asked.
He always asked.
I closed my eyes. “I’m sure my parents are screaming at each other, and I don’t want you to be subjected to that.” I also don’t want you to see how shitty the inside of my home really is, or how my family ignores me, making me feel like I’m nothing but a burden.
I kept so much of myself from him, the ashamed parts that made me want to scream at how unfair life really was.
But life isn’t unfair. I have Felix.
He just stared at me, maybe wanting to fight me on this, to insist we go in together, but after countless times over the years of me saying it was better he didn’t go in, he’d stopped pushing me.
“Okay,” he finally said. He turned and faced the windshield and ran his hand through his light brown hair. When he looked at me again, I got lost in his green eyes.
God, I loved the color of his eyes.
I loved him.
But he was so smart, had college offers out the ass, and here I was with one community college offer on the table.
And it was that community college he’d be going to because he didn’t want to be away from me.
How did I deserve to have a guy like Felix in my life?
But that college—and the student loan I’d applied for but kept secret from everyone but Felix—was my ticket out of here.
I stared out the window at the front door, not wanting to go yet, but also knowing I needed to because I had work at the diner tonight.
“Hey,” Felix said softly. “How about I come over tonight after everyone is asleep?”
I glanced at him, feeling my heart jump a little. It had been a while since he’d come over in the middle of the night and just held me as I slept.
“Okay,” I said softly. “That would be really nice.” To feel his body close to mine, have his arms wrapped around me, whispering that things didn’t always have to be this way.
“I can see how unhappy you are.” He reached out and took my hand. “Just a few more months and we can leave.” He gave my hand a reassuring squeeze. “The apartment will be ready to go. I’ve been saving for this, and you don’t ever have to think about this place if you don’t want to.”
He made me so happy I could cry, but I wouldn’t, not here, not when my parents’ screaming could be heard.
“I’m the lucky one.” He smiled. “Everything will work out because I’ll make sure it does.” He gave my hand another squeeze.
I nodded. He was right. Everything would be okay. I’d make sure it was okay for both of us too.
I sat there, wanting to admit how I felt, that I loved him. I wanted him as more than my best friend. He was already the most important person in my life, and it was the fear of losing that, of making things weird, that had me keeping my mouth shut.
“Come here,” he said and pulled me in for a hug. I closed my eyes and just let him hold me. “Soon it’ll be you and me, only having to worry about school and each other.” He pulled back, and we looked at each other.
My heart stopped for a second, and I saw the way he lowered his gaze to my lips.
Kiss me.
Let’s forget about everything else aside from this one moment.
I felt his fingers clench gently on my body, and swore he could hear how fast my heart was beating.
And then the screeching of my mother calling my dad a bastard surrounded me in this toxic sensation.
I looked out the passenger-side window and saw my mom throw open the door and stalk out. She waved a bottle in her hand but then stopped and turned toward the house. In a great sweep of her arm, she threw the bottle against the shutters, the glass shattering.
“This isn’t going to be your life forever.”
I nodded after Felix spoke.
“And you know you are welcome at my house, Maggie.”
I faced him. He’d been offering up his house for years, but that actually happening wasn’t going to be my reality. I wouldn’t put him or his family out.
“You’re eighteen now. You don’t have to stay here.”
I knew that, but I was strong enough to finish out these next few months and leave. Imposing on Felix and his family because my mom and dad fought like cats and dogs wasn’t something I wanted to do to them.
This is just the beginning. I’ll write my own story soon enough.
Felix
Let me just hold you.
I quietly shut Maggie’s bedroom door and crept over to her. I hated creeping around like what I did was wrong.
She was on her side, staring at me, this small smile on her face. I knew her parents were drunks, and I didn’t want them catching me in here because I didn’t know
how crazy they could actually get.
Although judging by the show they gave anyone happening to see them, I knew they wouldn’t think twice about tossing a beer bottle at me.
“Hey,” I whispered, and she smiled wider and lifted the covers so I could slip inside. Once my shoes were off, I lay down next to her, feeling her body heat seep into me. She smelled sweet, like vanilla cotton candy.
“Hi,” she finally whispered back. We were only a few inches from each other, our breathing slow, even.
But my heart was beating hard, fast.
I could have kissed her back in the car.
I could have told her how I felt.
I could have told her what I wanted.
I wrapped my arms around Maggie and pulled her close. She shifted down slightly and rested her head on my chest. We stayed like that for long seconds, and I knew she’d fall asleep.
She always did.
But I loved it, liked that I could watch over her, make sure she was safe while she slept.
“It’s all set up,” I said softly against her hair. My dad knew a guy that would rent us out an apartment cheap, and so I’d snatched it up, figuring I’d work out any details later. I just wanted to get out of here with Maggie. “I have enough saved up to last us awhile for rent, and I’ll work to cover the rest.”
“I have money saved up too. It’s not much, but I’m helping, Felix.”
I ran my hand through her hair. I glanced up at the wall by the bed, seeing the picture I’d drawn for her all those years ago hanging up, the tape securing it to the wall faded and old. It was a testament to how long she’d had it up there.