Ax guided me to the floor so that we were facing each other, my legs draped over his, and he grabbed a box, placing it on the floor between us. He looked at me one more time before opening the box. My heart stuttered when I saw what was inside. It was our stuff. All the memories I had tried to leave behind when I left Texas.

“Oh my God. Axel. How did… why… oh my God.”

“I still had your apartment key, and I came over the day after, you know, doomsday. I found this box sitting on the bed.”

I let my fingers trace along the edge of the box as I spoke.

“Other than losing you, leaving this box has been the greatest regret of my life. I was so hurt and confused, and I just couldn’t bring myself to look at any of this stuff back then. I almost instantly regretted it, though. I should have just kept it for later when I wasn’t quite so raw.” I started pulling out various items, smiling at the sweet memories.

Axel pulled out my goofy rainbow unicorn hat and put it on his head. “Now be honest with me. Pretty fucking hot, right?”

“I can barely contain myself,” I said dryly. “Leave that out, and we’ll give it to Carrie.” I started sorting through the ticket stubs from Axel’s college football games. “Oh, shit. You remember that hit you took in this game?”

“Hell yeah. That big bastard from Auburn damn near killed me.” We started looking through pictures, and Ax held up one from about six years ago. He had his arm looped around my shoulders, and mine was around his waist. We were both grinning at the camera, Axel with a cup of beer in his hand.

“Awww, we looked so young.”

He rubbed a hand up my thigh. “You look even more gorgeous now.”

“Yeah, whatever. I wish I had that body back.”

“If you can’t tell by the way my dick salutes you every time I see you, I think your body is smoking.” He started putting the pictures into a stack. “Let’s show these to baby girl. She’ll probably get a kick out of them.”

“Oh my gosh, Axel. Look! I’ve missed this so much!” I laid the beautiful platinum bracelet across my wrist. Ax reached over and hooked the clasp.

“There. Right back where it belongs,” he said, kissing the back of my hand.

I looked down at the jewelry and then smiled over at him. “Thank you.”

Axel held up a concert ticket stub. “Remember when you made me take you to see Celine Dion? Ugh! Most boring concert ever.”

“Yeah, but later in the parking lot, when we were stuck in the post-concert traffic, I made up for it, didn’t I?” I bit my bottom lip and saw Ax readjust his dick in his pajama pants.