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I pull back and tip her chin up to look into my eyes as Luce steps up beside me. “It should have been Alan. No one except him, but that’s not what happened so we have to move forward and make him pay. Wishing for the impossible is for children and bedtime stories.”
She nods her head, wiping her eyes and cupping my face. “I missed you, Gio. So damn much.”
I can’t count how many times I begged for this moment, to see her beautiful face, to fall into her warm autumn eyes and hear her gentle voice, but standing here, seeing her in the flesh…nothing compares to it.
I don’t waste the moment with words, I just dip my head down and smash my lips to hers, inhaling deeply through my nose to breathe in every one of her exhales. Her floral aroma fills my lungs as I slide my tongue along the seam of her lips, but then she shudders under my hand as I cup the nape of her neck, and I pull back immediately.
“Fuck, I’m so sorry, baby. I shouldn’t have done that.”
How the hell could I have been so fucking careless? The woman just faced the worst of the worst, and here I am practically forcing myself on her.
“Please, Gio.” I can’t tell if it’s my groan or Luce’s that I hear, but her begging sends a yearning through me like a shot of heroine.
Everything in me screams at me to take her, to lift her in my arms and replace every touch she was forced to take with my own, but I don’t. I press my lips to her once more, kissing her the way she deserves.
Softly, loving, tenderly.
My mouth molds against hers, my thumbs brushing away the tears on her face. She opens for me, and my tongue glides in, stroking hers slowly as I put all my love and comfort into it with each movement. Fuck, I wish I could kiss away all her pain, make it all disappear with the sheer force of my will, but I can’t. All I can do is offer myself up to her and pray it’s enough.
Her small hands grip my shoulders, pulling me closer to her like all she wants to do is climb inside my chest and hide away there…I wish I could do that for her.
I’ve been in love with this woman since I was in middle school, I’ll never love another girl the way I love her. It’s all consuming and unending. Every night, she’s in my dreams, and she’s the star of my forever thoughts.
I pull back once more, my eyes landing on Luce’s, who now stands beside Lexi, his lips on the crown of her head as heat darkens his eyes, but he doesn’t act on it.
“I’m sorry, sweetness, I didn’t mean anything I said to G.”
She turns in my hands, reaching up to kiss Luce on the cheek, near the corner of his mouth and lingering there for a moment longer than friendship dictates. It doesn’t bother me like it would have had he been anyone else, it only makes me wish that I could keep this going; me and Luce kissing her until time stops and her wounds heal, but we can’t. She needs more than that whether she’ll admit it or not.
“Are you hungry, baby?” I ask her once she pulls away from Luce.
I feel like I’m treading the waters with her, wearing kid gloves, but I don’t know how else to care for her right now. The feelings are so raw, and despite the way her body carries the bruises of men I will be tracking down and killing one-by-one, I know she will not let me continue this treatment for long. There’s a new hardness in her eyes that I haven’t seen before. Alan killed her best friend in the most brutal way possible, and Lexi’s soul died a little bit.
Her humanity has tilted in the face of this disaster, and there’s no righting it. I can spill the blood of her monsters, but it’ll never erase the damage that’s been done.
She ignores my question, her eyes going straight to my covered wound.
“How’s your shoulder?”
I eye the gauze taped expertly to my skin, the small patch darkening with my blood. I probably opened it with my movements. Shit, I don’t even know if I have stitches or if it was Doc who came in to patch me up. The lack of sleep I’ve had, and the loss of blood had me sinking into the black waters of unconsciousness the moment we got in the car.
“Only hurts when I move it. Is this Doc’s work?”
Luce clicks his tongue, throwing his arm around Lexi’s shoulders. “Nah, that was all doctor sexy Lexi.”
She rolls her eyes, a grin pulling up her lips, and fuck me if my heart doesn’t beat erratically at the sweet look. The name Luce has coined her with is nothing but fitting.
“Well, it seems like we won’t be needing Doc anymore, huh?”
Luce laughs, “Agreed. Besides, I don’t think Doc would look half as sexy as Lexi would in one of those cute nurse’s outfits.” He gives her a salacious wink before walking off toward the kitchen.
I shake my head at him, thankful the bullshit we just went through is already in the past.
“So does that mean Doc would look somewhat sexy to him?”
I bark out laughter at Lexi’s question as I take her hand and pull her after Luce.
“I guess so, I mean, we all knew Luce gives no fucks when it comes to dick.” I wink at her, grinning when she blushes at the crude words.
Shit has gone sideways with Maxine’s death, but with Lexi by our sides, I have nothing but faith that we’ll pull through this.
