Picture Perfect

my mouth. I couldn’t give less of a shit about groupies. I couldn’t give less of a shit about any girl that wasn’t Tessa, and that pissed me off since she didn’t feel the same way about me.
    In addition to telling her that I would be using the tour as a groupie fuck-fest, I’d also advised her to fuck around with members of our road crew. That was beyond the pale, and I felt like the biggest piece of shit on earth for basically insinuating that she was no better than the groupies that did just that. I was acting like a hate filled maniac, saying shit that I didn’t mean because my feelings were hurt.
    When I got into my den and poured myself a rum and coke, I sat on the sofa and thought about how ashamed I was of my behavior. My mother would be so disappointed if she saw how I was treating Tessa, and my Gram would whip my ass raw if she heard the vitriol I’d been spewing. I’d been raised to be a man, not a whiny bitch, but my actions were not manly at all.
    As far as Tessa knew, I was about to fuck everything that had a hole and a heartbeat, and I’d given her the impression that I didn’t care if she started fucking random roadies. Neither of those things could be further from the truth. If any man touched Tessa, I’d die inside. She was my territory, the only woman that I had ever loved. My brain knew this, but my mouth was a spiteful fuck that got me into serious trouble.
    While I sat in my den, I had an epiphany. I was never going to love another woman because there was only Tessa for me. That being the case, I needed to swallow my pride and stop acting like a schoolboy that just had their ball taken away.
    So what if she hadn’t fallen in love with me as fast as I had with her? I had months ahead of me to make her fall in love. She didn’t want to commit now, but maybe, someday, she would. It really had only been a matter of weeks since we got together, and I was obviously pushing too hard. I needed to back off, to give her space in which to breathe and get her bearings in our relationship.
    What I knew with absolute certainty was that there was no way I was throwing her out of my house and sending her to the Mondrian because I was in a snit. If I followed through on that ridiculous plan, I’d never get her back and I couldn’t even fathom a future without her in it.
    Swallowing my pride and giving myself a stern talking to about manning up, I went upstairs to our bedroom and knocked on the door. She didn’t answer, and after I knocked a few more times, I walked in to find the room empty. My heart constricted painfully in my chest because I thought she had already left. Fortunately I heard the shower running at that moment and I realized that she was in the bathroom. Walking across the room, I shuddered when I saw her three suitcases packed and stacked in front of the closet. If I didn’t say the right series of things, she was taking those bags and leaving me for good.
    Taking a position at the end of the bed, I sat and waited for her to come back into the room. The entire time I waited my stomach was in my throat and my heart was racing. All I could think was, ‘This has to work out.’
    I felt the shift in the air that alerted me to her presence, and lifting my head I was struck dumb all over again by how beautiful she was. She was staring at me in silence, and I fell into her eyes for a moment as time stood still and a feeling of déjà vu washed over me. I was suddenly positive that I’d seen her before, somewhere. It was the only explanation for why she’d always felt so familiar and so important to me.
    Shaking my head to clear out the cobwebs I said, “I came in to apologize baby, and I will, but first, bear with me for a second. This is going to seem like a crazy question and I apologize if I seem like a complete dick and it pisses you off that I somehow forgot, but can you tell me… have I met you before? I mean before the night of the meet and greet for the tour staff.”
    Raising her eyebrows at me in confusion, she shook her head. “No, we never met before that night. Why would you ask that?”
    Running my hands through my hair I replied, “Because you have always seemed incredibly fucking familiar to me. I guess it’s nothing but a sign that we were meant to be together.”
    Taking a few steps forward, she dropped to her knees in front of me and took my hands in hers. When she looked up into my eyes, I could see that she was holding back tears.
    “Baby, I’m so