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Her over-concern was as adorable and sweet as it was frustrating as hell. Didn’t matter how many times I told her I was okay, she fussed. Constantly. But mostly, I liked it, because I was still adjusting to the fact that she was mine now and she honest-to-God cared about me. I absolutely loved how she was always there, pampering me, so I never complained, just took it all in stride and appreciated what I got.
Opening my eyes, I rolled my head to the side, and there she was still, sleeping on her stomach with her head resting on the pillow next to mine. I took the moment to simply watch her.
These past few weeks since my hospital stay had been like a dream. We went to classes every day, just like usual. I saw my friends and family. Haven grew closer to Tabby, a girl in her teaching program, and they were becoming good friends. There was nothing spectacular or overly exciting about any of it, but it was nice. Really, really nice. I might even go as far as to classify these last few weeks as spectacular.
Because Topher Nicholl was never there, coming between us.
It was like her ex and my archenemy had disappeared off the grid completely. I knew he was still around; I heard reports from my friends, but he’d gone underground for sure. I guess his dad had disowned him after his suspension from the last playoff game, and he wasn’t taking it well, holing himself up in his apartment and turning to drugs and alcohol to deal. If he didn’t watch it, he’d find himself kicked out of school altogether. His entire future was at risk.
I knew I should’ve rejoiced over his problems—he’d done so many unforgivable things to me and brought all this shit on himself—but the situation just seemed sad. If only he hadn’t turned to hatred and beat me down to build himself up, so many things could’ve turned out differently. So many people would have avoided getting hurt.
Reaching out slowly, I caught a piece of Haven’s dark hair between my fingers. She would have avoided getting hurt. I loved the fact that she was here now, and I was allowed to touch her and love her, but I hated what she’d had to go through to get here.
If only I’d been able to—
But no, I wasn’t going to think about the what-ifs. We were here together now; that’s all that mattered.
When I sighed, enjoying my here-and-now, her eyes fluttered open.
“Hey,” she murmured, the smile on her face causing my chest to contract with emotion because I was just that grateful to be lying next to her.
“Hey,” I answered, abandoning her hair to flit my fingers softly across her cheekbone. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to wake you. I was just enjoying the view.”
“’S okay.” With a groan, she stretched and then crawled over to burrow against me. “How did you sleep?”
“Good,” I said, cupping the back of her head as she rested her cheek on my chest. I kissed her hair. “I miss waking up with you on top of me, though.”
“We’ll get there again,” she promised, lifting her face so she could press her mouth to mine. “Whenever you’re all better.” Then came the next question she always asked every morning. “How do you feel?”
“Head’s a little sore,” I admitted. “But other than that, I’m great.”
“You have a headache?” Eyes widening, she immediately began to sit up. “I’ll get you some—”
“No.” I clutched her wrist to get her to stay. “Not a headache. It’s just sore. Like on the surface.” I grinned. “Feels like I’ve been wearing pigtails in my hair for a week straight and I just now took them out.”
It was beginning to itch like hell around the stitches area too, but I didn’t tell her that one, worried she might literally scratch my itch for me. Besides, today was the day I got them taken out, so I figured I could deal with them a couple of hours longer.
Grinning at the pigtails analogy, Haven kissed me again, stroked my cheek, and then popped out of bed. “I’m going to make you some breakfast. Oatmeal and fruit sound okay?”
I sat up, yawning. “How about I cook you breakfast instead? I’m sure it’s way past my turn.”
“Don’t be silly. We’re not taking turns. Besides, I want to pamper you.”
“Then come here and crawl back into bed with me,” I coaxed.
She did, returning to me immediately. Smoothing her hands over my chest, she crawled into my lap and wrapped her arms around me, kissing me softly.
“I’m fine, you know,” I told her when she pressed her cheek to my shoulder. Hugging her, I kissed her hair. “You don’t have to worry about me so much anymore.”
“I know,” she started. “I just… I can’t seem to help it. It was up to me to make sure you were okay that night, and ever since then… I don’t know how to explain it. I just feel responsible for all your—”
“I actually understand completely.” My fingers grazed her arm. “I’ve felt the same way about you since the night you ran into me outside Izzy’s room.”
Haven pulled back to look up at me. “We’re quite a pair, aren’t we?”
I winked. “An awesome pair.” Taking her hand, I added, “Come on. Let’s make breakfast together and take care of each other.”
She smiled, pleased, and squeezed my hand. “I love that idea.”
