“Okay, bye.”
He always made me feel better. He always knew what to say to talk me down off the ledge, even when that ledge was him. And when I’d eventually see him later, he’d kiss me and touch me and hold me until I couldn’t remember anything but him and us.
I took a deep breath and stood up.
The kid would be coming out of post-op observation and he needed to be told what had happened. His parents were on the way, but as no one had come to get me, I assumed they hadn’t yet arrived. The highs of my job were amazing, but the lows deserved their own circle of Hell.
And this was going to be a hard one.
Iwoke up, thirsty, reaching for the bottle of water by the bed, but was held in place by a thick, muscular forearm. I never heard him come in, or even felt him get in next to me, the length and stress of my day clearly knocking me out into the deepest sleep. I swigged the water and turned to face him. He didn’t stir once, his features coming into focus as my eyes adjusted to the dark.
His thick, dark blonde eyelashes kissed his cheeks, his soft, pouty mouth pursed slightly as he inhaled. He always slept so deeply. I brushed a lock of hair away from his forehead, the smooth skin warm under my fingertips, tracing the length of his beautiful face, down his cheekbone into the soft scruff that only emphasized his perfect bone structure.
I moved closer, brushing my lips against his, needing the contact even if he was asleep, and the arm wrapped around me squeezed tighter, shifting our bodies until we were pressed hard against each other. His eyes stayed closed, his hand moving upand wrapping around my hair at the base of my neck, tilting my head to the side as his lips opened mine, allowing me the taste I desperately craved.
His tongue swept across mine with a low moan, holding me still while he devoured me in his sleepy haze, reminding me of our first kiss, the kiss that reignited everything I’d tried to push away, everything I thought had burned out. Only it hadn’t.
Our tongues fell in line with the tempo of each other as they stroked together, soft and gentle, conversing in their dreamland state, until he slowly pulled away, leaving me with one last whisper of his lips to mine.
He kept hold of me as he moved onto his back, his arm sliding up, pulling me onto his chest. I could hear his heart beating against my ear, the steady beat calming back into relaxation. Just as my eyes became too heavy to fight, his little finger found mine and looped around it.
“I love love you, Mol.” His voice trailed off as sleep took him again.
And when I woke up the next morning, we were still joined as we’d fallen asleep. Joined as we’d always been, twelve years in the making.
And I wasn’t about to fuck it up.
Chapter 36
“Why are you grinning like that?”
Huck looked up from his phone, jumping like a little kid whose hand had been caught in the cookie jar, not realizing anyone else was watching. “Like what?”
“Like you’re up to something.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” He shifted uncomfortably on the bench. “I just have a date, is all.”
Drew started laughing. “A date? No you have not. Who with?”
Huck shut his phone down and slipped it into his pocket before standing up.
“No one you know.”
Drew and I watched him walk out of the locker room. Something wasn’t right. There had never been, in the history of time, an occasion where Huck turned down the opportunity to talk about himself. Or talk about anything.
I turned to Brogan, standing by his locker.
“Who is his date with?”
He shrugged, zipping his bag up. “How the fuck should I know?”
“Because you’re his best friend.”
His bag went over his shoulder. “Why do you even care?”
I moved closer to him, forcing him to look at me. “If I find out it’s Nora, I will kick your ass from here to next week.”
His neck craned back. “Who the fuck is Nora? And what did I do?”
