“I’ll make sure that you have the life you deserve, even if I can’t live it alongside you…” I said again, pulling my hand away from her face. I could feel the warmth of our contact disperse in the suddenly freezing air.
I left the room, guilt weighing heavily upon me, and immediately locked eyes with Judith. She was studying me, and definitely not with fondness.
“Sorry, I probably took more than a few minutes,” I said immediately, assuming her cold look was due to the time with her daughter I’d stolen from her. The woman nodded with no expression on her face, which was so damnably identical to Selene’s. It hurt to look at her because it only conjured up memories I would rather have forgotten. So I turned my gaze away and went over to my mother, who was sitting in one of the nondescript chairs. Before I could even say a word to her, the doctor came in, making Matt leap to his feet.
“Folks…”
I turned to face the woman in the white coat, and I didn’t like the tension I saw in her eyes. She paused and regarded us closely, maybe waiting for just the right moment to speak.
“Any news?” Matt asked immediately, moving to stand next to his ex-wife.
Obviously she had news for us, and it clearly wasn’t all or perhaps even mostly good.
The doctor began to speak after a deep breath, her tone professional and firm. She told us how the trauma was more serious than she’d initially believed it to be and that there would be long-term effects. How Selene might never be the same again and that we should try to be understanding and support her. That we needed to stay strong and we’d get through everything together. But everything she said sounded vague to me.
What will my Tinkerbell really be facing when she wakes up?
2
I smiled and reached out to touch him.
Selene
I regarded my hands, intertwined with Neil’s, and still, I couldn’t believe that he was really here.
He, who had always been so hostile to the concept of love and of opening up his heart. He, who was so spiky and so far out of reach, so explosive and stubborn, was now here with me. He was holding my body to his, merging our skin, our spirits, and our breath.
“What are you thinking about?” he asked me. I heard his deep baritone, and I couldn’t help but stare at his gleaming eyes, his lips swollen from my kisses.
“About how much you hated to talk to me until recently,” I answered, cracking a wry smile. I could smell his familiar musky scent. It was intense and all-encompassing.
“How callous I was, you mean,” he answered, sighing heavily. “I didn’t realize how important you were to me. Or maybe I didn’t want to admit it to myself. You didn’t just come into my life, Selene. You got in my soul. You wiped out all the evil inside me. I would have just kept wallowing in my own personal hell if I hadn’t met you.”
I smiled and reached out to touch him. My fingertips immediately metthe formidable musculature of his chest. I traced the sculpted lines of his pecs with my index finger, delighting in the smoothness of his skin as I sighed.
“The important thing is that you did realize it.” I laid my head on his chest as he put one powerful arm around me.
I felt his heart beating in time with mine, and I tried to commit the lovely harmony to memory.
“Is it normal to want you all the time?” He stared fixedly at my bare breasts in that absolutely unashamed way of his that I loved.
“Don’t start this all over again.” I was too embarrassed to admit I wanted him just as much.
“You know I’m a demanding boyfriend, don’t you?” His voice turned authoritative and dominating.
I considered his question, and my answer—that he was an exceptional partner—was on the tip of my tongue, but I didn’t want to overinflate his ego.
“I know it, but I do need to go to class. We’ll just have to take a rain check.” I brushed his neck lightly with the tip of my nose. He smelled so good, and I never got tired of breathing him in: man, sex, and musk.
Incredible.
Though he had learned how to work with his demons, he hadn’t become a different person. He never would, and I liked him just the way he was. It still didn’t take much to rile him up, but by the same token, a single touch from me was all that was required to bring out his better side—docile and kind.
I realized that he was giving me a fixed, thoughtful stare and that, every time he looked at me that way, I became a little bit less my own and a little bit more his.
“I love you and your imperfections, Mr. Disaster.” I drew closer to him and put my lips to his in a sweet kiss. It was a kiss that tasted like us, like this chaotic world of ours and the love that had saved us, had united our souls and tied us together forever.
Neil, though, had never said those three little words back to me.
