“Do I get a vote on this?” Heather asks, walking into the room looking fucking radiant as always, even with multiple bruises and welts on her face.
“You get more than a vote, Killer. Where do you want to go?”
She takes a seat beside me, grabs the glass from my hand, and gulps what’s left of it.
Placing the glass on the table, she closes her eyes and sighs softly, as if she’s picturing where she wants to be.
“Someplace warm. The sun is shining and there’s water. Maybe I get to have my toes in the sand. I’ve lived so much of my life in the dark. I want to soak up the sun.”
Jesus Christ. This woman’s words hit me directly in my heart. I want this for her. If she wants the goddamn sun, I’ll yank it from the fucking sky for her.
“Then we will go somewhere warm. Somewhere the sun shines every day.”
Popping her eyes open, she gazes at me seriously.
“It’s just a fantasy, Carter. An impossible fantasy. Sometimes it rains.”
I shake my head.
“Then we will get on a plane. We’ll run from the rain. And chase the sun. If you want a cloudless sky. We will give that to you.”
Her lips lift into the smallest smile as Killian grabs a fourth glass and pours us all more whiskey. Heather holds hers up, and for a mere moment, she looks like she’s ours again.
“To sunny days and cloudless skies.”
Killian’s phone interrupts the moment, and he fishes it out of his pocket and answers it.
“Bones?”
“Okay. I agree. When should we expect her?”
“Thank you.” Kill says and disconnects the call.
“He is flying in Athena’s personal physician because he thinks it’ll be better for Heather to see a female doctor. And apparently she’s well-versed in handling trauma.”
“Wow. That surprises me.” I say, and Killian laughs.
“Me too. I thought he was an asshole, but maybe not as much as before.”
Heather sits uncomfortably in her seat. She’s in pain, and I’m grateful she doesn’t deny it.
“Since the doctor won’t be here for a while, do we have Advil?”
Kill grabs it for her while Knox stares at her, his eyes filled with concern.
“What hurts, Tesoro?”
“Everything. My ribs and the brandings are the worst.”
Knox rises to his feet.
“Come lie down. I want to take a look, if that’s okay.”
Heather gets up from the table with a huff.
“May as well get it over with.”
We follow her to the bedroom, and she gets onto the bed.
