SILAS
It wasstrange when you sentenced yourself to a life of nothingness and all of a sudden you were given everything.
It was like receiving that coveted acquittal when you knew you deserved conviction.
A commuted sentence five days after you’d been condemned to death.
A stay of execution when you had earned every drop of poison they planned to drip into your veins.
My heart throbbed with the gift.
I was going to be sure I didn’t squander or waste it.
This chance that I’d been given for something good.
Brinley and I had shifted onto our sides so we were facing each other. Our breaths were discordant and rusty, both still disoriented from the sudden deviation in our lives.
I lifted her hand between us, threaded our fingers together, and gazed at her through the gauzy light that filtered in through the window.
Knowing she was my exoneration.
My liberation.
With our hands joined, I ran the pad of my thumb along the outside of hers, watched over at the dreamy euphoria swimming on her face.
My spirit clutched.
God, she looked sweet this way.
Sated and spent.
Different.
But I guess both of us were.
“How do you feel?” It was a deep tremor that fused with the sanctity that had settled like peace in the room.
Those eyes flitted over my face, her curls wild and a mess, so fucking pretty where she lay on the pillow curled up with me on my bed.
Her teeth raked her bottom lip before she quirked a tease. “Like I made a really good choice on who was going to be my man.”
A chuckle rolled, and my heart fucking swelled.
Joy pressed at the places I didn’t know existed.
“You’re satisfied with the performance, huh?” My words were soft. Riddled with affection as my thumb kept stroking the back of her hand.
“I’d say you exceeded expectations.”
I shifted our hands so I could run my knuckles along her jaw. “What I didn’t expect was you.”
“No, I think it’s safe to say neither of us expected this, but I’m so glad it was given.”
“Me, too.” Satisfaction rumbled with the words. “I’ve never felt like this before, Brinley. Nothing close to when I’m with you.”
A bit of that vulnerability seeped out of her. “What do you feel like?”
“Like I’m falling, and I’ll never hit the bottom because I’ll forever get deeper and deeper.”
