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My eyes fell shut.
This time, they didn’t open again.
9
HUXLEY
My eyelids peeled open in time for me to see the end credits of the movie scrolling on the TV. Shit, I hadn’t meant to fall asleep, and wait—what the fuck? I stared down at the head resting on my shoulder, soft, tousled dark hair catching on the stubble on my jaw. An arm was slung across my stomach, a warm weight that didn’t hurt my bruises. How had Cole ended up over on my side of the sofa? It wasn’t a big sofa, but even so…I would’ve thought that even subconsciously, we’d be trying to get as far away from each other as we could. Yet here he was, cuddling me without a care in the world, as if we hadn’t been at each other’s throats earlier today—yesterday? Whichever. The point was… I lost track of my thoughts as I stared down at him, his face relaxed in sleep, his dark eyelashes fanning out over his cheekbones, his chest rising and falling softly in his sleep. Speaking of his chest…the blanket he’d been under had slipped down to pool around his waist, and acres of smooth, tanned skin were exposed. Guess he’d been spending a lot of time sunbathing in the garden this summer. Why the fuck had I decided to move out again? I wanted to trace the ridges of his abs with my tongue, to—
Fuck. No. I jerked, physically trying to shake the thoughts out of me, but too late, I realised that I’d woken Cole. He grunted something unintelligible, his eyes slowly blinking open, his gaze soft and unguarded.
Then his whole body stiffened, his eyes widening. “Shit,” he muttered, scrambling away from me and yanking his blanket up around his shoulders. His gaze bounced around the room, eventually settling on the TV. “Uh. Sorry.”
That sleepy rasp in his tone did things to me that I really did not fucking appreciate, and I was glad that I was covered by a blanket. “S’okay.” I didn’t look at him either.
We fell silent, and I’d never stared so hard at film credits in my life. But now I took a sudden interest in the names of the gaffers and the grips and even the catering companies that were used. Anything was better than the alternative, which was to break this uncomfortable silence.
In the end, though, Cole was the one who broke it.
“Hux?”
“Yeah?” My voice came out way too raspy. The way he’d said my name, though…
“What happened that night?” His words were hesitant. “I…uh, you don’t have to talk about it. I just keep picturing your crashed car, and I just…” He huffed out a breath, shaking his head. “Never mind.”
My mind flashed back to that night, and I shivered, suddenly cold. “It was a blur. One minute I was driving back from a mate’s house. Then this car came out of nowhere, I didn’t even have a chance to avoid it. We collided. My car kind of jerked back really hard, and I remember the pop of the airbags and all this screaming metal. Then, I dunno, I must’ve blacked out for a minute because the next thing I remembered was flashing lights and being checked by the paramedics.”
I could feel Cole’s gaze on me, but I kept staring at the TV like my life depended on it.
“Were you scared?” His whispered question came from much closer than I’d been expecting, and I realised that I could feel his body heat against my side.
Licking my suddenly dry lips, I nodded.
“Y-yeah.” There was no disguising the crack in my voice.
He exhaled harshly. “Shit.” I heard him move on the sofa, his arm brushing against mine for a second, and then he said, “I’m…uh…I’m glad you thought to call me.”
There was no point in lying anymore, to him or to myself. “Me too.”
As soon as I’d managed to get the words out, his hand was lifting, his fingers curving around the edges of my blanket. “Can I see?”
All I could do was nod, and then he carefully lowered the thick fabric until my torso was bared to him. Even in this dim lighting, I knew that the bruises were stark against my pale skin. My hands fell to my sides, letting him look his fill.
A finger traced across my sternum, Cole’s touch so light and careful. “Does this hurt?”
I shook my head, swallowing around the lump in my throat. “No. The bruises…they don’t hurt like they did to begin with. I’m so lucky that’s the only thing I have to worry about. I was…I was so fucking scared. I thought…I thought for a second that I was going to die.”
The finger tracing across my chest trembled. “Huxley. Look at me.”
Slowly, I turned my head to meet his gaze, even though it was the last thing I wanted to do. His brown eyes were wide and so fucking pretty, brimming with emotion. When he leaned forwards, I couldn’t breathe, but he just wrapped one arm around my shoulder and gently pulled me into him. I buried my face in the crook of his neck and let him hold me.
“I’m so fucking glad you’re okay,” he said thickly.
I lifted my arm and tentatively placed it around his waist. My words were whispered into his warm skin, and they were the sincerest words I’d ever spoken. “So am I.”
I felt him sigh against me, and then his hand stroked up and down my back, until I let myself relax into his body, realising that for the first time in a very long time, even if it was only for this stolen moment in the early hours of the morning, I had someone to lean on.
* * *
