I reached out and held one of his limp hands in mine. He appeared to be fast asleep, eyes closed and chest slowly rising and falling.
“You big idiot. Who takes on a hellhound when they have no powers?” My throat tightened as I took in the sight of him. The gashes were deep and a few inches apart, indicating they were claw marks.
One of Gage’s eyes cracked open, and his gaze roamed over my face, making hope spread through my chest.
“Must have been to save a pretty girl.” His voice was hoarse, but damn him, he was still charming, even on his death bed.
I grinned, but then the smile fell from my face. “Not pretty enough for you to stay.”
Drea and Dash simultaneously cleared their throats and then left the room, closing the door behind them.
Gage opened both eyes and then started to sit up, wincing in pain when he did.
“No, lay down.” I tried to gently push him back down, but he growled at me and sat up fully, causing some of his cuts to weep fresh blood.
Dash said to go easy, and I went right for the jugular.Good one, Tatum.
“Listen…” Gage started.
I shook my head. “No,youlisten. We don’t need to date, or kiss, or be whatever, okay? You’re clearly not in the right mindset for a relationship, so it’s no biggie. But you could have just told me that instead of running off.” I folded my arms over my chest. “We can just be friends, but that doesn’t mean you have to leave the safety of Lumen Academy.”
Gage’s eyes flared to life, looking greener than I’d ever seen them. “Is that what you want? No more kisses, no morewhatever? Just to be friends?”
My heart ached at the thought of it. “I’m cool with whatever you want,” I lied. Third lie of the day. I was on a freaking roll.
His gaze narrowed. “I want to kiss you and never stop.”
His admission made the breath whoosh out of me, and I couldn’t help the grin that graced my face. “I mean, I could be down for that too.”
The corners of Gage’s lips turned up and he leaned forward, wincing in pain as he did. Popping up on my knees, I came to him, letting him take my face in his hands. Instead of kissing me, he rested his forehead on mine and exhaled. “Tate, I never wanted to hurt you. I just want to be the kind of man you deserve. A strong man who can protect you, who is your equal.”
“That kind of man stays no matter how hard it gets.”
Tilting his head, he brushed his lips over mine. It was barely a kiss, and his injuries forced him to pull away after only one brief joining of our mouths, but even so, the pain he’d caused me over the last few days started to slowly leak out of me.
People weren’t perfect, and Gage was far from it, but there was too much potential for me to walk away over one mistake.
“Tate,” he breathed.
I swallowed hard, looking him in the eyes.
“I’m sorry I ran off. It’s the only thing I know how to do when things get tough,” he confessed. “The way Aurelia sidelined me like I was some newbie who’d never seen a demon… it was the straw that broke the camel’s back.”
I reached out to find a spot on his skin that wasn’t injured, and stroked his arm. “It must have been tough losing your wings and whatever else happened up there,” I said, referring to his time in Avalon, which he hadn’t yet talked about.
A pained look swept across Gage’s face. “You have no idea.”
“I’m a good listener.” I leaned forward. “I could try to understand.”
Gage sighed. “It’s… still a bit raw and hard to explain. Give me some time and I’ll tell you.”
I took a deep breath. It wasn’t exactly what I wanted to hear, but promising to tell me later was a start. I wasn’t going to beat him up for that.
“Let’s go back to Lumen Academy. You can train with the sword, show Aurelia how powerful you can be, and she’ll put you on our team. I know it.”
He needed purpose, and I was trying to give that to him.
He nodded. “Too bad she didn’t see me cut that hellhound to pieces. She might have cleared me for battle right there.”
