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My throat constricted with the scene forming in my mind, Braxton’s eyes becoming the ones of that scared child, seeing his father within the flames. My other hand reached for his neck, caressing it in an attempt to give him comfort.
“Mom ran through the flames to get to me, and carried me out of the house, but she suffered severe burns because of it, damaging the nerves on the right side of her body. She can’t walk anymore, her leg is nonresponsive, her arm barely so, but she saved my life that night. They both did.”
“Is that why you said she isn’t well?”
He shook his head. “After we got out of the house she just ran and ran, all through the night, with me in her arms. It was like she was trying to escape the devil himself. Finally, she couldn’t go on, so we hid in an alley behind an abandoned building until a police officer found us. But even then, she couldn’t let go of me. I can’t even remember when I stopped screaming.”
Leaning away from me briefly, he lifted the left side of his shirt, and turned slightly. My eyes instantly widened. The skin under his arm, towards the back of his ribs and back was completely disfigured from the flames. His mother hadn’t been the only one burned as they ran through the fire.
“They took us to the hospital, but it was too late for the wounds to heal properly. Too much damage had been done.”
Taking a strengthening breath, he lowered his shirt, and glanced beyond me to the sea, but the eerie light in his eyes didn’t disappear. In that moment, I understood what he’d meant by having nothing else to offer but… “I’m sorry,” I whispered, my hand caressing his chest.
Braxton nodded, bringing me closer once more.
“After that, it was just my mom and I for about five years. We saw a therapist but I still noticed the changes in her almost immediately. Her mind just couldn’t cope with what she had witnessed. When I was fourteen, I had no choice but to admit I could no longer take care of her, so I was forced to place her in a mental health center paid for by the state. Convincing people that ‘an uncle’ was staying with me was easier than I thought. Maybe I just got lucky, or maybe the social services rep didn’t give a damn, because no one came for me.”
He chuckled humorlessly, another heavy breath entering his being, while his arms trembled around me from the memories. I wanted him to know that he didn’t have to tell me anything else, but it felt like it was something he needed to say. Something he needed to get rid of somehow, so I listened.
“What happened afterwards?”
“I realized that place was terrible for her, so when I turned sixteen, I took what was left of the insurance money, and searched for a private institution that could help her, treat her like an actual human being. That’s where she is now, well taken care of. I left our apartment soon after and found a cheap room for rent—where I currently live. Thank God, I had enough to pay for her first year of care, but the place is expensive, so I began to work on whatever I could find to save and keep her there. Then I got lucky again and I found my job at the coffee shop.”
Blinking, his eyes returned to me, and he offered me a small smile.
“Thank you for listening.”
“Thankyoufor listening,” I repeated, feeling relieved just to be able to experience that with him. The chemistry between us made our insides quiver. It somehow felt like accepting our secrets, our troubling pasts, had made it morph into something else, connecting us on a deeper level.
Unable to look away, our gazes remained locked. Laying there with him, with our bodies so close and his arms around me, an unnerving feeling developed inside me. When the emotion in his green eyes intensified, I knew he felt it too.
His thumb began to caress my cheek once more. Each stroke became slower, careful, enticing, sending a rush of need through me until it took a life of its own.
Its wild energy swirled and jerked between us like a hurricane, making his hold tighten around my back. Our legs intertwined, our chests pressing against the other, helplessly seeking each other. My gaze unavoidably fell to his lips.
Perhaps what he had was contagious, because nothing else could explain what I felt with him. Our uncontrolled breaths mixed as his head slowly leaned towards me, and I fought what I felt with everything I had. Yet, deep within me, all I wanted was for him to kiss me.
Once his lips parted, mine unconsciously lifted to meet them, my eyes falling closed.
The world became alive the moment his lips claimed mine—because that was the way it felt… like he had just claimed me.
An inexplicable feeling took hold of me, and I pushed him away, sitting up. He sat up too, startled by my reaction, but before he could speak, my palm slammed against his cheek.
Perplexed, Braxton just turned to look at me, rubbing his face. “What happened? I thought you wanted me to kiss you.”
“I did!” I breathed, trying to control the wild need unraveling me.
“Then why did you slap me?”
Because I want to stay here with you…
“Stop asking me questions I don’t have the answers to!” I yelled and turned around to stand. When he grabbed my arm, stopping me, all fight left me.
“You don’t need to run away,” he whispered in my ear, a hand pressing over my belly and pulling me back against his chest. “I know this type of attraction seems unreal, even overwhelming. I also know you are leaving tonight and I’ll probably never see you again, but I don’t want to fight it.”
His words were as strong as the furious beating of his heart on my back, and I couldn’t pull away from him.
“Being with you comes so easily, Evie. I’ve never felt this with anyone else, or brought anyone here, to this place that is so special to me. You are the first person I’ve ever told the story of what happened that night. The only one who's seen my scars.”
