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Stripping out of my grubby clothes, I step into the steaming shower. One deep breath in, another stuttering breath out. Water flies from my lips, my head hanging forward under the spray.
Deep breath...and out.
"Never again," I vow into the hot water. Never again will Eve be taken from us. Never again will she know the pain of hunger or the dreariness of thirst.
My Angel is home now, and she's fucking staying.
Korren
It takes so much goddamn willpower to keep my body lax and calm underneath Eve's shaking form. As soon as she realized it was me lying next to her, she latched onto my shirt and burrowed her way into my neck.
I have spent many nights with her in my arms, hugging me like a lifeboat. Pride niggles in my mind at how safe she feels with me. This moment reminds me too much of her panic attack at Thanksgiving, though. Eve has come so far since last August, but her being at the hands of that monster may have set her back.
We will have to relearn her trauma and PTSD responses in order to keep her healing process moving forward. My gut twists, the sounds of her whimpers still echoing in my mind as her body contorted in pain. This won't be easy, but I believe in my little fighter. How could I not? She has survived the worst the world has to offer, yet here she is, curled tight around me, her breaths puffing against my collarbone.
With her breathing evened out, I forgo asking any questions, hoping like hell she will fall asleep and get some much-needed rest. When she wakes up, she better eat, though. The bone of her dainty elbow digs into my ribs, and I swear I can feel the outline of her breastbone against my side, too.
Too thin. Too slow. Too late.
No.
Almost too late.
We made it just in time.Just in time for her to die twice, the nasty thought strikes like a viper. Poison slips into my veins, freezing my life's essence in place.
You let her die.
My throat closes up, ice stealing my breath away at the realization that it's true. Had I been faster, maybe none of that would have happened to her. Maybe ifIdid something better...ifIwas better. I didn't do enough to keep her safe...I wasn't enough. The thoughts rip through my brain like shards of ice, cutting themselves into the recesses of my mind.
A huffed grunt next to me has me panicking when I realize I just gripped her tighter. Fuck. Self-hating thoughts tack onto the hard truth that I could have done more. I should have done more.Why didn't I do more?
"I'm here."
My breath catches at Evie's soft voice by my ear. This beautiful woman just fucking comforted me after having a painful panic attack. And here I sit, dumbfounded at the wonderful human in my arms.
"You saved me."
Her hand releases my shirt and skates down my abs, a soothing gesture meant to calm my racing thoughts. She doesn't realize that my thoughts are now swarmed with admiration and awe for her.
"Not soon enough," I can't help but deny her words...I don't deserve for her to think of me as a fucking hero.
"You are enough."
Everything in my body hums at her words. My deepest insecurity. In the comedown of her own emotional storm, she heard my own inner turmoil. She felt my pain and hurtful thoughts.
"I love you."
My eyes burn at each declaration she makes; her affirming words of love allow my tears their freedom from the confines of the negative hold they were trapped in. A fire of love and understanding thaws the harmful ice in my veins.
"I love you, little fighter," my voice cracks, but it's not the ripping of my heart that causes the sound. It's the pieces sliding back together to form its first realthumpof life because there is no life without Eve.
My heart begins its steady rhythm beneath the cheek of the woman it beats for.
Chapter 25
Evelyn
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