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“He stabilised them. Got attached. They haemorrhaged. Died a miserable, messy death and I guess he just snapped.”
The cats were the reason Sully had gone after so many charlatans and cruel bastards of the world. He believed he killed those cats because he’d gone over the vet’s expertise.
He carried so much guilt for so many things.
I wanted to tell him I knew about the cats and I understood why he struggled. Maybe one day I would, but not here. Not while he was still healing and the haunting in his tone hinted he was honestly afraid of what he was capable of.
Nodding, I whispered, “If you need me to be a voice of reason…then I will be.”
“I need you to keep me from believing I know better than the experts and stop me from attempting to save their life when that life is over.”
I nodded. “They don’t have to stay. Once Serigala is rebuilt, they can be relocated.”
Running his hands through my hair, he brought me close until our foreheads touched. “I love you so much. I love your golden heart and your empathy. Just please…promise me you’ll keep mine in check.” He bent and captured my mouth, kissing me swiftly and deeply before murmuring, “Don’t let me hurt you, Eleanor. Don’t allow me to smother you in my need to keep you safe. I can already feel it happening—the desire to keep you by me at all times. The fear of ever losing you. It will drive me to do reckless, dangerous things. I’m not kidding when I say I hurt those I love. I do it because I love too much. I don’t know when to stop. So you need to promise me you’ll make me stop if I don’t.”
I kissed him again, wrapping my arms around his waist. “We all have that problem, Sully. You’re not a monster for wanting to keep me safe.”
“I’m a monster if I would willingly slaughter entire cities to keep you.”
I dared to smile. “No, that just makes you a man in love.”
“The luckiest man to be in love with you.”
We fell into another kiss.
Yet another promise cemented.
Yet another step to our forever.
* * * * *
“You won’t be able to fly if you eat another thing, Pika.” I laughed as the green fiend attacked yet another roasted chickpea from our dinner.
“He’s getting fat,” Sully chuckled, reclined on a deck lounger, cast in silver from the moon, he looked good enough to eat for dessert.
After our visit to Euphoria, we’d driven around the island and stopped off at the beach to drive slowly through turquoise shallows. As the sun set, his energy levels depleted and we returned home, grateful that Louise and her team had returned to their villas for the night, leaving us alone.
Sully had dozed on the lounger as I ordered some dishes from the kitchen and we’d eaten outside, serenaded by Nirvana and the night chorus of insects.
The remains of a shared meal of coconut chickpea curry and a tempeh nasi goreng waited to be cleared off the table. Sully had retired to read on his tablet, skimming over work documents that needed to be cleared by the board in the morning, and I’d found the cell phone I’d purchased in Jakarta when I’d attempted every which way to return to Sully before hiding it under a bush when I’d swum ashore and been snatched by Drake.
I’d charged it and waited for it to start up as Skittles fluttered to my shoulder, yawning with feathered fatigue. I scooted farther down my lounger, the rattan kissing Sully’s so we lay side by side on the deck.
The comfort of just hanging out was almost as precious as wild lusty sex.
Sully reached over and took my hand as the phone finally activated and the menu appeared. “That’s the device you used for your dad to follow and call the police?”
“Uh-huh.” I clicked through the apps until I got to Facebook. I’d been delaying a long message to my parents and it’d gone past forgivable to rude. My mother wouldn’t mind. She had no idea what had been going on in the background, but my father…he knew too much to be able to relax and not enough to trust I was safe.
Sully arched an eyebrow as he placed his tablet onto his lap and eyed up my profile. “So that’s social media, huh?” He visibly shuddered as a picture of someone’s steak bleeding on a plate with the hash tag #gottabebleedingtobegoodeating appeared.
“Yeah, it’s not a healthy place to hang out.” Bringing up the message bubble for my dad, I added, “I was never really into it—it’s convenient for keeping in touch but I hate the drama and fakery.”
“You know…you can stay in touch with your past, right?” He licked his lips, his eyes narrowing with sudden thoughts. “You’re not trapped here, Jinx. I hope you get that. Yes, I prefer it to only be us, and I haven’t exactly been shy in not wanting to share you, but…you had a life before me, and you can still have that life, even now we’re together.”
