“I know you will be.”Jackyawned. “Seeingyou walk through that door was the best part of my day.AllIcould think about was waking up with you in my arms yesterday morning, and thatI’ddo anything to get back home to you.Ijust wanted to hold you.”
I curled into him.Eventhough he was hurting, he held me.
26
JACK
HAPPENSTANCE
It hurt to breathe.Frankly, it felt likeIhad been flattened by a bulldozer.Thatwould have been easy compared to a burning roof.Theonly thing that went through my head during that call wasAurora.Isaw her in the macabre colors of the flames.Shewas the whisper in the back of my head leading me on.
Watching her walk through the door of my room in theERwas a mindfuck.Ihad assumedIwas hallucinating.
But she had been there with me asIwaited for hours untilIwas discharged, then drove me home.
My plan had been to get one of the guys from the station to give me a lift, butAuroradidn’t even give it a second thought.Shesqueezed me into her sardine-can car and headed back up toCedarIsland.
I never had to ask.Shewas just there.
She was there, with her arm around me, walking me into my house.Shewas there, making sureIwas comfortable and had whateverIneeded within arm’s reach.
And when night fell, she was there in my bed.
Thanks to the smoke inhalation, the burnsIsustained on my arm, and the minor tear in my shoulder,Iwas out of commission for two weeks.
Two fucking weeks . . .
Usually that would have driven me mad, but two weeks withAurora?I’dwalk through hell for five minutes of her time.
The door opened and closed, andAurora’sfootsteps echoed through the house. “Jack?”
I loved hearing her call my name as she let herself into my house as if it were the most normal thing in the world.
“In the living room,”Isaid as the snap of her flip-flops drew near.
Aurora appeared in a pair of short gym shorts that had seen better days and a paint-spattered t-shirt that was tied off just under her bra.
“You’re a sight for sore eyes,”Isaid asIeased up on the couch and shoved a bookmark in the novelIhad been reading. “How’dpainting go?”
I had helpedAurorapaint some of the trim by hand, but she insisted on doing the rest and forbade me from grabbing a paint roller.
She huffed and rested her hands on her hips. “Myarms feel like they’re going to fall off, but the kitchen and the main bathroom are done.”
“Come here,”Isaid asIopened the arm that wasn’t suspended in a sling and made room on the couch.
She looked down at her messy t-shirt. “Ishould run back over and change.Idon’t want to get paint on your couch.”
“Then take it off.”
She cracked a smile. “Youjust want to see my tits, don’t you?”
“It’ll make me feel better.”
Aurora crawled onto my lap and straddled my hips.Herknees sank into the couch cushions. “Whywere you reading my book again?” she asked as she cut her eyes to the library paperback beside me.
“BecauseI’mwaiting for the next one,”Iretorted asIplayed with the hem of her shirt. “Youleft it on a cliffhanger.”
“That’s because the author felt like she got thrown off aliteralcliff.”
