AllFreeNovel
Share Us
She raised one eyebrow. ‘I can think of a few reasons.’
He clenched his jaw, felt his teeth grind along each other. ‘Yeah, well,’ he said, rummaging in the first-aid box for the sewing kit he kept for occasions like this one. ‘It is what it is, right?’
He located the sewing kit and struggled to open it with one hand. Mariana stepped forward again, reaching down and snatching it up.
‘Allow me,’ she said. ‘Finally, sewing class has a purpose.’
He watched as she disinfected a sewing needle and threaded it. Bringing it up to his arm, she motioned for him to move the blood-soaked towel from his wound.
She smiled as she brought the tip of the needle down to his arm.
‘Sweetheart,’ she said wickedly, echoing the words he had used when he’d cut out her microchip. ‘This is gonna hurt.’
He tensed as she began to work on him. Damn, it hurt, but wasn’t that the point? He’d come here specifically after getting the bullet, instead of going home to Celia or to the clubhouse.
Blood and pain, it was what had brought them together.
What would keep them together.
And he liked it.
* * *
After she had finished stitching and spread a huge bandage across his arm, they went out on the balcony. The wind was fierce, but she insisted on standing at the edge and taking in huge breaths, He didn’t try to stop her. She’d been cooped up in the apartment for days, weeks, and she was probably going stir crazy.
Dornan stood beside her, his good arm brushing against hers. She jumped a little, but didn’t move away.
Did she — had she moved closer? Or was that his imagination? He couldn’t decide. He’d drunk a fair amount of vodka in a short space of time, and although he wasn’t drunk, he couldn’t call himself sober, either.
He still held the vodka bottle in his hand, and she took it from him with a tight smile. He leaned back a little, watching the way her graceful neck stretched out as she took a gulp, and then shivered.
‘I started to think you weren’t coming back,’ she mused, her eyes locked on the dark water below them.
As if he could stay away from her. She was like a magnet drawing him in, a magnet that was impossible to leave the more time he spent in her presence.
He grabbed her shoulder and spun her towards him, her hair flying every which way in the breeze. ‘I will always come back,’ he said gruffly. She nodded, licking her lips and passing him the vodka. He had to let go of her arm to take the bottle back with his good arm, and something about that saddened him. Everything was better when he was touching her. ‘I thought I was going mad,’ she said, bringing her fingers to her lips. ‘I could have sworn you kissed me before you left. But now, I can’t remember if it was real or if I imagined it.’
His belly tightened as her cheeks flushed. She was getting pale, gaunt. She looked like she hadn’t eaten properly since he’d left. She was still grieving her boyfriend, her old life, but he didn’t like the dark circles under her eyes and the way she seemed defeated. He set the vodka down on the lip of the balcony railing and cupped her chin with his hand. She didn’t move, didn’t speak, just looked up at him with those huge, dark blue eyes.
‘You been eatin’?’ he asked. ‘Sleepin’? ’Cause you look pretty fuckin’ skinny to me.’ He ran a finger underneath her eye, where a dark hollow had formed.
She didn’t answer.
‘What’s going on?’ he asked, and his voice demanded an answer.
Her eyes were wet and glossy in the moonlight. ‘I guess I’m just . . . sad.’
He sighed, looking out to the choppy waves below them. Not a soul was outside; even the ferris wheel on the beach below was dark tonight.
‘Christ, Ana, I didn’t bring you here so you’d be fuckin’ sad.’
‘Why did you bring me here?’ she whispered. Her long hair fanned around her in the wind. She looked like a goddamn angel of death, standing in front of him with her big, sad eyes and her trembling lips.
He ground his teeth together, searching for the answer. How could he tell her when he didn’t even know himself why he had chosen her? Why she was different from the rest of them? Why she deserved to be saved while others were condemned to hell?
‘I don’t know,’ he finally answered.
‘You have to give me something!’ she snapped, her eyes wild. ‘I’m like a fucking prisoner here. Talk to me,’ she implored, softer now. ‘Tell me something. Anything.’
