Page 109 of Break Out the Girl

The forest.

The grave.

Her not breathing.

I still don’t know where we are, but if Sky and I are tucked together in this warm bed, then it must be OK.

Safe.

I lean over slightly, my body feeling stiff and achy, and press a soft kiss against her temple.

Wump-wump.

Wump-wump.

Huh.

The familiar stutter of my heartbeat isn’t there.

“Kitten?”

A shadow detaches itself from the foot of the bed, and London crawls up the mattress towards me. He’s wearing a new change of clothes, and his skin is washed clean of mud and blood.

How long have I been unconscious?

“Hey.”

He carefully curls his body around mine so I’m now in the center of him and Sky. His warm skin presses close, soothing all the tension I’m holding.

I roll over so we’re face to face, and his green eyes lock onto mine. “Hello, little lovey. Welcome back. I missed you.”

“London,” I croak, moving my arms around his neck and tangling my fingers into his long, damp curls. “Where are we?”

“At Burt’s mum and dad’s place. You’ve missed all kinds of hoo-ha.”

“But we got Sky.”

“That we did. Nearly lost you in the process though, which I’m not at all chuffed about, but Burt’s mum came up trumps, turned herself into a fancy chicken and flew away with all your heart problems.”

Huh? Tally’s mom helped my heart? Is that why it’s not stuttering?

I’ve learned that even though London mostly seems to be speaking random thoughts, they're usually an accurate, if slightly strange, retelling of events. “What about François? Tally? Oh, shit…Basil?”

“All present, and not terribly correct, apart from Shane of course, who has a stick up his bum.”

My mouth pulls into a smile, but London still looks weird. “What’s wrong? What else has happened?”

He looks down at the blanket then back up again. “My mind has been on the saddest journey of thoughts, I think it nearly got lost completely when you stopped breathing.” Despite his quivery smile, a tear slips out the corner of his eye.

I lean closer to him, pressing my lips against his. As I do, a warm fizzing takes over my veins, filling me with life, energy.

It’s a meeting of souls concentrated into just our mouths. London makes a whining sound in his throat, and though the kiss is innocent, kinda chaste, the heat in my veins grows deeper, traveling down to my core.

From the moment our eyes met on that prison transport, it was like I’ve spent my whole life waiting for London.

He’s broken, I’m broken, but our parts fit together beautifully.

Reluctantly, I draw back a little. Tears are streaming down London’s face now. “You OK?”