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“I didn’t know that about you. That you hid your anxieties like that.”
He nodded, wiggling his hips so that he fit even closer against me. “Ever since I was a kid. I think it really started around the time my mom got sick. I didn’t want her to see me worried.”
“How old were you?”
“Twelve—no, thirteen. Yeah, thirteen because I was just about to go to high school. I’d visit her in the hospital and joke about whatever dumb things happened that day, and then go home, lock myself in the bathroom, and break down. Always making sure the shower was on so my dad wouldn’t hear.”
“I’m so sorry, Robby.”
“It’s ok. It took her three years, but she came out the other side. It was a long three years, though.”
“I can’t even imagine. Those few weeks that my mother was sick felt like an eternity. Every minute equal to a decade.” Another twist of the blade. I held Robby a little closer, his warmth a comfort. Like sipping honey steeped tea from a hot clay mug.
“It’s not fair, what’s happening. It’s not at all. But I really think we’re onto something, Damien. We could be days away from a cure.” Robby flipped around so that he faced me. It was dark but I could see him as though we stood out in a sun-baked field, clear as day. His leg still between mine, our bodies pressing together.
I lazily trailed my fingers down his back, watched his eyes flutter shut.
“I think we are,” I said, finding myself with a growing smile. “I’ve got hope.”
“So do I,” he said, eyes still shut. “I’m really happy. I know that’s weird to say with everything going on, but I am.”
“It’s not weird at all. I don’t think anything you could say or feel is weird.”
“Really?” His eyes blinked open. I couldn’t hold myself back from leaning in and kissing him.
“Really,” I said. It was a gentle kiss, a flutter of what I really wanted to do to him. But I showed restraint. It had been a long day, and right now this was all I needed. Holding Robby in my arms, feeling his his heart beat against mine. He didn’t have the same fire roaring inside him and yet his warmth matched mine, comforting me.
At some point, sleep started to pull Robby under. His body though was quite awake, the proof of it pulsing against mine. Instead of pushing anything, I held him there, listening to his gentle breaths, feeling the rise and fall of his chest. I wasn’t entirely sure when but he soon started to twitch, sleep fully claiming him.
Between his soft breathing and the lapping waves, I found a serenity I hadn’t known in quite a long time. Most noticeable was the absence of the barbed wire, the dagger no longer embedded through my ribs. I wasn’t sure how long this peace would last, but I tried to stay awake as late as I could, if only to just enjoy the moment for as long as I could.
As long as I possibly could.
Chapter 21
Learned Behavior
Robby
Blood pounded in my head. I wiped at the sweat that beaded on my forehead with the back of my hand. My muscles ached, every single one of them. I don’t think I’d ever felt this sore in my life, and I still had five more squats to finish. I looked at Maddox, who sat on a medicine ball with a sick and twisted look on his face.
He was enjoying this. Fucking asshole.
“Two more,” he said, keeping count as my legs shook underneath me.
“One more.”
I was in front of the long mirror, watching myself look like a newborn fawn. Although I had to admit, I looked beefier than I had when I first came to the castle. I had the physical training to thank for that, but I also couldn’t ignore the effects of Damien’s excellent cooking skills. He had been making me dinner these last few weeks, whipping up everything from filet mignons perfectly cooked and seasoned to exotic dishes I wasn’t even sure how to pronounce. I’d been so used to my Hot Pockets and Chipotle orders that I forgot how good home-cooked food good be.
Especially when the chef was a scorching hot fire dragon who was hung like a stallion and had the cuddling abilities of a god.
“Alright, that’s it, you’re done for today,” Maddox said as I collapsed onto the mat. “Nice job, man.”
“Thank you, thank you,” I said as I tried to suck in a few breaths. My body may have been spent but I had to admit, mentally I felt good. I was finding enjoyment in working out which… well, that never happened to me before. Honestly, I wasn’t entirely sure who I was becoming. Stepping into a gym would give me night terrors when I was younger, but now as much as I complained, I found that I always felt better when I finished than when I started.
