SUCCUMBING SALVATORE

bonus chapter

this isn't a chapter as such to do with cara and salv, but today i hit 100k and to celebrate this is a bonus chapter about ted and marceline.

thank you for all the love and support on cara and salv's journey and of course, their love and lust continues in the upcoming sequel- 'capturing cara'

grazie mi amors, this one is for you 🥂

Ted's POV:

Every time I saw her, my heart blossomed, my lungs sang and my legs shook.

My Marceline. My one true love, the only person that made life worth living.

She was the rose to my thorn, my salvation and the one that I would ever atone for.

My eyes flickered over to her in the library, my tatted version of a book of statistics in my hands and the book she held was 'Wuthering Heights' by Emily Brönte.

We were so different but in the words of Cathy, "Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same"

Her eye flicker over to me and a coat of red is visible on her cheeks, my besotted smile turns into a smirk and I wink at her.

She leaves the customer she's talking to when she sees my face and waves goodbye to them, god every move she makes I fall in love more.

"Why are you here Ted?" She asks me touching my shoulder and I close my book with my fingers as I look up at her.

"I missed you" I smile standing up, now she is looking up at me between her thick dark lashes and my heart pounds in my chest.

"I missed you too" She whispers and I smile leaning my forehead against hers and I feel her sigh in content but she pulls away.

"I have to get back to work Ted" She says touching my arm and I wrap my arms around her waist, "of course love" I answer.

"See you later" she nods with a sad smile laced bequeathed with innocence.

I smile and pull her in for a sweet small kiss and I taste her strawberry lip balm on her lips and I try to go deeper but I hear her chuckle.

"Uh uh" she waggles her finger, "not now mister" she teases and I roll my eyes but she stays adamant and winks as she walks away like a cat that got the cream.

~

The next day I drove down with Marceline in my old truck that my father got me to a nearby river so we could swim and have a picnic.

The sun roof was down and as I drove down the highway I looked over at Marceline wearing a wide sun hat, soaking up the sun.

Her golden skin was glimmering in the sunshine and I smiled as I turned off the highway over to where the river is.

We drove down a small track which is dusty from the dry weather of this time of year and she sits up due to the slightly rocky road.

She looks around, having never been here before and I pull up by the glade where the pine trees are a lush green and most people don't come.