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“I’m aware,” I offer with an eye roll. “But as you can see, I’m back.” I’m not sure if my words are soothing or overwhelming, likely the latter, as her eyes brim with unshed tears in the next second. “Those better not be tears for me,” I balk, my heart stuttering in my chest and threatening to drown me in my own emotions.
“Peoplecancare about you, Scarlett,” she grumbles with a fake glare.
“Sure, just not so directlyatme. I don’t know what to do with myself.” I grin, and she relaxes beside me as a cloud of sadness descends over the room, and I remember the thought I had earlier when the mess of yesterday came crashing over me.
Duffer.
“He’s really gone, isn’t he?” she mumbles, emotion rasping her voice, and I manage a nod.
“Yeah.” The pain cocoons us as the reality sets in.
“You knew him?” she asks, and I nod again, struggling to find words. “Things seemed different with you guys after we went to the doctor’s office,” she adds, nestling closer to me.
“Yeah, he… he explained who he was from when we were kids. He and his mom offered me a sense of home and comfort among the craziness that was my life. When she died and he was forced to leave, I felt my first drop of true pain and loneliness after being offered a glimpse of an alternate life that wasn’t meant for me.”
The words are heavy but true, and my heart hurts at the fact that I never got a chance to repay him. For making me whole at a time when I was anything but. I’ve killed before, many, many times, and watched people die around me more times than I can count, but I’ve never felt remorse or sadness for it except for Duffer and his mom.
My eyes clench shut. Emily’s hand on my arm grounds me in the present and stops me from wallowing in the corner of my mind.
“I’m so sorry, Scar,” she whispers, and despite my pain, I force my eyes open.
“I’m sorry too. I’m sorry I couldn’t save him as well—”
“No, you can’t carry that burden. That wasn’t your job and there wasn’t a second to consider it. You spent the few seconds we did have protecting me. Not yourself.Me. I’m forever going to be grateful for that.” My next breath lodges in my chest, her words tearing down my usual thoughts as she forces me to hear them loud and clear.
“Me too.”
My neck almost snaps as I whirl around to find Emmett leaning against the door frame. His expression is unreadable as he glances between us, making me gulp as I take in every inch of him. My blond Viking is only wearing a pair of gray shorts. No t-shirt, no cut, no shoes, with his blond hair twisted up on top of his head.
Was Viking the right word to use for him, or should I be leaning more toward a god?
I’m so caught up in watching him that I don’t notice the bed shifting beside me until Emily is on her feet, drowned in her brother's t-shirt as she smiles at me.
“I’ll be back in a while.”
I rise to my elbows, panic kicking in as I blink at her. “Why? Where are you going?”
Her soft smile is disarming as always and relaxes me despite my concern. “I’ve been awake for a while, and Emmett insisted I get something to eat since it’s almost lunchtime, but I refused to leave until you woke up.”
Lunchtime? Shit, how long was I out?
“Thank you,” I murmur, my heart soaring at her need to stay with me, just like my need forcing me to pass out beside her instead of in my own bed.
When Emily gets to the door, Emmett steps aside but still throws his arm out to offer her a hug. As she leans back, I can see the mischief glimmering in her eyes before she speaks. “Don’t fuck her too loudly, you’ll put me off my food. And make sure to change the sheets before I get back.” She winks and bolts out of the door without another word, leaving me to gape at the space she occupied moments earlier.
“When did she become such a menace?” I ask as Emmett slams the door shut, the frame rattling with the force. Cocking a brow at him, I twist my lips. “Are you okay?”
He doesn’t speak a word as he moves toward me. Slowly, measured, predatory. The room fades to darkness around him as he nears me. The muscles in his neck are bunched together, the scar down his chest drawing my eyes as the tension ripples around me.
“Emmett?” I murmur, uncertainty clenching my chest as I grip the sheets beside me, and still, he says nothing.
He goes from slow, calculated moves to pouncing on me all at once. The bed bounces as he clambers up the length of me until we’re face-to-face and I’m trapped beneath him. My chest tightens with anticipation as I look up into his gaze, before his mouth consumes mine.
He’s a force to be reckoned with as he devours me, his fingers running through my hair as I claw back at him just the same. He steals every kiss, elicits goosebumps with every touch, and drowns me with the raw emotion between us.
When I can no longer breathe, he leans back, the tip of his nose brushing against mine as he wraps his fingers around my throat, holding me in place. There’s a new level of urgency between us, one that wasn’t there before, or if it was, it’s intensified now.
Looking up at him through hooded eyes, I startle at the ferocity I find. “I’ll never be able to repay you for what you did back in that elevator to save Emily. Yet, I’ll never be able to punish you enough for putting yourself in harm's way.”
