I take another step till I am right in front of her, and I can’t stop my body. Like muscle memory, they act on their own as I scoop her into my lap, wrap her legs around my waist, and grasp her ice-cold cheeks in my hands.
She is looking at me, but her eyes are vacant. She is lost in the deep recesses of her mind, holding her breath too long. She needs to snap out of this. So I do the only thing I can think of, the only thing that I have wanted to do for the last eight years.
I kiss her.
I release her.
I forgive her.
And as she always has when it comes to me, she relents.
Her body instantly relaxes, my warmth thawing her body, her fear. She melts into me.
Her eyes are cast down, refusing to look at me, and suddenly I am seventeen again, faced with my timid, shy beauty who doesn’t know how bright her light shines. She needs someone to burn away all her insecurities and shame and show her just how stunning of a little phoenix she is.
“Look at me.” I place the knuckle of my pointer finger to her jaw and grip her chin with my thumb. Her skin is so fucking soft. I’d almost forgotten.
Almost.
She doesn’t.
“Leo Phoenix. Look. At. Me.” A growl escapes this time as I utter the command and lift slightly on her jaw.
Her blue eyes meet mine, and for the first time since I found her, I see her. My Leo.
“There she is.”
“Everett…”
“No. That’s not what you call me unless you’re screaming my name, pretty bird.”
“I… Eight years, Ev. I did this to us. I broke us.”
“It’s not on you. Don’t carry that guilt.”
The hurt in her eyes is fucking killing me, I need to fix this. “I can see why you ran, Leo. You were young and scared. You felt alone,carrying our Rune. And my mom coming to you and offering you money to—”
She pulls back from where she had begun to lean into me. “Wait… Your mom told you about the check?”
“Yeah. Why didn’t you take it? You could have used it.”
Something stiffens in her spine, a shield going up. Her vulnerable eyes turn cold, and she stands up, looking down on me now. A viciousness I have never seen from Leo emanates from her.
“How dare you suggest that.”
Confusion riddles my mind. “Suggest what?” I stand, too. She may be a foot shorter than me, but by the power that is radiating off her, you wouldn’t be able to tell. But I’m not scared of my phoenix. “Suggest that you take care of yourself?”
“Take care of myself!” Her voice is loud now, a lion's roar.
“You think aborting Rune would have been taking care of myself! I never shou—” She tries to step around me but I block her path.
“Wait. Abortion? What the fuck are you talking about, Leo?” I step toward her, but she takes one back.
“What did your mom say exactly?” She crosses her arms over her chest, and I fight the urge to grin. She was fucking adorable back then when she was pissed, and now, still adorable but with a lot more fucking fire.
Focus. Not the time to be eye fucking her.
“She said that she offered you money to set yourself up, get on your feet.”
