13
TERA
"Get in here, man. You don't want to draw attention to yourself," Linc tells Xander as he picks me up and carries me to the sofa. I don't want to let go of Xander and, thankfully, I don't have to for long. He's there, and he's hugging me, and I'm hugging him, and I'm crying, and he's crying, and it's craziness, and it's chaos, but it's what I need. It's Xander. It'sliving.
I don't know how long we stay like that. Minutes? Hours? We just hold each other, too afraid to let go.
He breathes my name, I breathe his.
"I love you so much, Tera."
"I love you, too, Xan, but there's a lot we need to talk about before it's all unicorns and rainbows," I inform him.
He nods. "I know. I just can't seem to let go."
I laugh. "Me neither."
"We could talk like this," he offers.
"Um, that might not be a good idea. I might punch you in the face," I warn.
He shrugs. "Whatever you need to do."
"I don't want to punch you in the face, but you know my temper gets the best of me sometimes."
"I remember."
We pull back at the same time. We both look ravaged.
I hold out the tissue box for him, and he blows his nose. I follow suit.
"I think I'm going to make some tea. My throat is sore. Would you like some? Soda, coffee, beer?"
"Tea's good. Not normally my thing, but yours is always fruity."
I smile at that.
When we're resettled in, I bring some pastries, cookies, chips, and two bottles of water, as well.
"Uh," Xander mutters, looking at me. "Planning on being here a while?"
"There's a lot, Xan. So much more than I ever realized."
He nods.
"I've been seeing my therapist twice a week, and I've talked things through with a couple of my friends," I inform him.
"Good. That's good you could get it out and make sense of things. The guys duct taped my mouth shut a couple of times. Ben threatened to super glue it."
I snicker. "He's so mean."
Xander chuckles. "Heismean. The fucker."
I laugh.
"Tell me, Tera. Tell me all of it. If you need to yell, scream, throw shit, punch me—whatever you need, please do it. We can't keep on like this. I can't."
I nod. "Okay." I blow out a breath. "Where to begin?"
