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From the corner of my eyes, I see Lik rubbing his chafed wrists. “So amInot getting aftercare?” he pouts at Sam.
“Do you think you deserve it?” Sam questions him, raising a single eyebrow.
“Are you still turning this situation around?” Lik snaps back. “Cause I swear I’ll leave right now. I can stay at Xi’s until you wake up and realize how badly you fucked up.”
Slowly, I help Rose out of bed and lead her out, leaving these two to figure it out.
Sitting on the toilet, Rose looks at me with heavy eyelids and a dumb smile. She sways left and right while peeing, practically falling asleep.
I stand right in front of her, watching her so intensely, trying to reach into her soul and bring a slice of it back into my body.
“I love you,” she mumbles. A single tear rolls down her cheek and I wipe it with my thumb. “I do, Sunshine.” A sob constricts her throat before she attempts to talk again. “I really do. I’m in love with you.”
“I’m in love with you too,” I whisper back with less sentiment than her.
She’s not in her normal state, and I heard what she’s saying, but I know she’s not herself right now.
I give her a minute to finish it all up and hold her close to me as we walk back into the bedroom. Sam has taken his black tee off. His back to me, I can see the giant tattoo of two dragons fighting on his back. It takes up the entirety of it. More tattoos cover his shoulders, arms…everywhere. There is not an inch of skin that isn’t covered in ink. He is applying cold cream to Lik’s wrists, and my heart skips a beat catching the love between them.
It’s Rose’s shaking that brings me out of their bubble. She shivers next to me, her teeth clattering and her body completely giving up.
“What’s wrong with her?” My eyes snap to Sam as I voice my concern.
He gets off the bed, taking his time as if to show me there’s nothing to worry about. Facing me, my eyes catch all the tattoos on his front. Compared to his back, they’re small, overlapping the others. A lot of them are phrases, but I can’t read them. I catch his pierced nipples and feel a blush come up my chest, like I shouldn’t have seen them.
“She’s crashing. She’s had a bloody long night and she needs rest.” He grabs a gigantic sweater that must belong to him and slips it above her head, covering her naked body. I help her slide her arms into the sleeves.
“She’s freezing cold,” I indicate as I watch him pick her up just as her legs give out and put her into bed.
“She’s always cold,” he tells me as if I didn’t know.
“I know that,” I defend, fighting a stupid battle to show who knows her best. “I meant more than usual.”
“Then why don’t you come to bed and warm her up,” he smiles.
I do just that. I lay down by her side and let her settle next to me. On her front, she snuggles her face against my side as one of her hands comes to rest on my boob. Exactly how she loves to sleep. Sam leaves the bed to grab a pair of clean boxers and an oversized t-shirt. For a short minute, he simply watches me watch Rose.
“It’s because her back used to hurt from her foster dad’s abuse.” His voice is a whisper, as if to not wake her.
I look up at him, brows slightly furrowed to show my confusion.
“That she sleeps on her front,” he explains. “I’m sure it doesn’t hurt anymore. I don’t know if it’s a phantom pain or a habit. But that’s how it started. It used to hurt too much to sleep on her back.”
I nod, acknowledging that he was a big part of the life they once shared together. He is deeply in love with her. The kind that time, distance, betrayals, and hate cannot diminish. And I understand why he barely touched her tonight. He held himself back, scared to hurt her beyond repair. He was protecting her from himself.
“Anyway. Some old stuff I left here, if you want to get changed.”
I nod as he drops them next to me. I don’t really want to move now that Rose is peacefully asleep next to me. It’s like having a cat. Once it falls asleep on your lap, you’re stuck in that position forever.
I assumed Sam would lay down next to her, but he purposely leaves the space for Lik. Once he’s settled, she unconsciously wraps a leg across his, like trapping him in. Sam comes to lie down next to Lik, letting his sub drop his head on his chest while he wraps an arm around him.
No one says anything. The situation is a little too crazy for all of us. It’s too difficult to understand or put words on. So we stay quiet, all falling asleep to the sound of Rose’s breathing. All letting our queen’s peaceful rest bring us down with her.
39
LIK
Until I Come Home– Two Feet, grandson
