Releasing him, I dropped the now bloody scalpel on the small surgical table next to the chair and unwrapped a pair of tweezers next.
Milo was moaning and whimpering in the chair, and his perfect, cherubic face was soaked with tears.
My heart was literally breaking in my chest at the way his body was twitching uncontrollably with the aftershocks ofpain. His arm was covered in bright red blood, and I forced back a sob of my own at the sight of it.
The thought of touching him again while he was basically curling into himself in agony waskillingme.
But we were so close.
“I’m going to touch you again. Bite down on the belt, baby. It’ll be over soon,” I croaked. My perfect boy nodded, his damp eyelashes brushing his pale, wet cheeks as he steeled himself for another wave of pain.
Forcing myself to push through my apprehension, I wrapped my hand back around his arm, ignoring the way he stiffened and the heart-wrenching whimpers of anguish that stuttered from his lips.
I carefully grasped the chip tightly between the tips of the tweezers, making sure I had a firm grip before letting out a long, slow exhale.
“Three… two…” I didn’t wait foroneandrippedthe thing out of his arm as quickly as I could.
More blood welled as the device came free, and I whipped it across the room, feeling light-headed as I heard the tinyclinkof metal hitting the concrete floor.
Milo gasped and shuddered, his entire body relaxing almost immediately.
He collapsed back against the chair, his chest heaving and his limbs quivering.
“Baby? You okay?” I whispered.
The air in the room felt thick and hot, but I was shivering. My whole body was coated with a film of sweat, and Milo swallowed several times as his entire form tried to recover from what I was sure was excruciating levels of pain.
Dropping the tweezers, I gently eased my belt out of his mouth before reaching up to cup his face. I knew, logically, that the device was gone and couldn’t hurt him anymore, but I still tensed, worried my touch would still somehow hurt him.
“Milo… please. Say something,” I croaked, and his eyelids fluttered open. He was still panting, but he didn’t seem to be experiencing any new pain from my hands on his face.
“It… It’s gone?” he asked, his tiny voice hopeful.
I nodded, feeling a tear of my own finally spilling down my cheek.
“Yeah, sweet boy. It’s gone.”
Then, my brave little brainiac smiled, and it felt like the sun had somehow found its way into this dark, sterile lab.
“Kiss me,” he breathed, and I didn’t waste another second. I slammed my lips into his, and the world fell away.
It had only been a week since I’d last touched Milo, but it felt like it had been an eternity. In the few months he’d been here, Milo had filled up a part of me that had been empty for so long, I hadn’t even realized how much of a shell of my previous self I’d become.
I had grown accustomed to the dark, hollow place in my chest where my heart had once been. So, when he’d answered my call and came to Neurovance, I hadn’t been prepared for the flood of sunlight that was his open, honest smiles full of optimistic possibilities.
He’d pulled me out of the cold, lonely depths of despair without even trying, and I knew I couldn’t ever possibly let him go.
Crawling on top of him, I wrapped my arms around him and crushed him closer.
I wished I could show him every thought and memory that rushed through my mind at his touch.
I wished I could show him the way my stomach had twisted in knots when I read the first line of his application essay.
How my eyes had flown through his work, absorbing every letter as if I were a drowning man and his words were my lifeline to the surface.
If I could just find him,meet him,I’d know everything would change.
And I’d been right.
