“Because I’ll kill anyone who stands in our way. I’ll hunt down the men who did this. I’ll punishthem for what they did to you. And I’ll...”
I’ll fight for you.
Swallowing hard, I look at the man with tears in his eyes.
“And I’ll take care of you. Just like you did with me, remember?”
Christopher looks away, his lips pressing into a miserable smile.
“We both know that’s not true.”
“Look at me.”
“Calista-
“I said, look at me.”
He chuckles softly, a sound so deprived of warmth it makes me want to kill somebody.
“You promised to keep me safe.” My breath falters as the words land on my tongue, “And you are not a man who breaks his promises, Christopher Deville.”
“I keep my promises.”
It’s a whisper that leaves a scar in the place of my heart.
“I know you do.” Wiping the snot trail away, I give him a painful smile, “And that’s why you need to walk out of here tonight. Head held high because you’re going to keep that promise.”
There isn’t an inch of protection in his eyes when he looks at me. Looksthroughme and manages to find something worth looking at.
“I don’t want to leave.”
“You have to.” A silent vow that gets sealed with the tears of a soul far too bright for this town, “I’m not going to give you a choice.”
Blunt fingernails laced with pain and suffering reach up and wrap around mine. Presses my dirty talons harder into his neck as though a monster could ever deserve to hold something so beautiful.
He keeps our hands laced together as he pulls them away from his wound. Let’s the lingering damage fall free as I help pull him to his feet.
“That’s my good boy.”
An endearment that shouldn’t mean anything beyond the bedroom, it sinks like a stone in my gut as I wrap his arm around my shoulders.
We stagger and fall trying to make it back to my car, but each time I pull him back up off the ground, forcing him to keep moving forward.
“Almost there, baby. Keep going.”
The night sky falls on us like a weighted blanket, dark and heavy and all encompassing. The only beam of light is the one trapped between my arms, a sliver of paradise that’s been lost tonight.
I carry him with everything I have. Shoulder-to-shoulder, forcing each step to happen so I don’t lose the freedom Christopher brings.
The spark of hope his presence installs.
He collapses into the passenger seat, head lolling to the side as his eyes fall closed again. I press a hand to his chest to make sure the air is still making its way inside, to ensure his scarred heart is beating with whatever is left of mine.
“I’ll make sure you get home, Devil.”
Words that are wasted on the unconscious, I squeeze my eyes shut and press my lips to his sweaty forehead.
No matter how much I’ll have wished you would have stayed.
