“You heard what I said Melissa.”
She hesitated for a second longer, then slowly pushed herself off her side of the couch and moved closer. When she sat next to me, it felt like the air in the room shifted again.
I lifted my arm, and after a beat, she leaned into me. Her head rested against my shoulder, her body warm against my side. I wrapped my arm around her and let my hand settle on her hip.
For a minute, neither of us said anything.
We just breathed.
I could feel some of the tension draining out of her, little by little. Like her body did not want to relax, but it did not have the strength to keep fighting either.
“You good?” I asked quietly.
She nodded against me. “I am… better than I was last night.”
“I’ll take that,” I said.
She let out a tiny laugh.
Her fingers slid down, brushing my thigh lightly, like she did not even realize she was touching me more, but I realized it.
Every cell in my body realized it.
I looked down at her, studying her. The way her lashes laid against her cheeks. The curve of her nose. The fullness of her lips.
“Melissa,” I said.
She hummed a little in response but did not move.
“You know I would never let nothing happen to you, right?” I asked.
She opened her eyes and turned her head just enough to look up at me. “You cannot promise that.”
“I can promise I’ll die trying,” I said simply.
Something passed over her face then. Fear. Want. Shock. Softness.
All at once.
“That is exactly the kind of shit that scares me,” she whispered.
“What? Somebody meaning it?”
“Yeah.”
We just looked at each other, and I knew if I did not pull back right then, I was not going to.
“Tell me to back up,” I said.
She frowned slightly. “What?”
“If you do not want this, tell me to back up.”
I gave her the chance because I needed to know she was choosing this. Choosing me. Not just reacting off fear or gratitude or pain.
Her eyes dropped to my mouth, then came back up.
She did not say a word.
