That’s that.
Am I forgiven?
We drive, my fingers loose and easy on the wheel, but I am fucking hot. Mist gathers on my brow, reminding me that a chilled bourbon would fix everything.
Elise and Jax continue to verbally abuse each other—or flirt—whatever. I glance in the rear-view mirror and catcha glimpse of Blesk. Her cheek rests on Elise’s shoulder. Her blonde hair spreads out around her. Her eyes are closed to the world and her headphones are in. She bobs her head to an inaudible beat, her fingers doing that thing where they strum the air.
She looks… content. Like last night is over. I haven’t seen this look on her before. I look back at the road. Back her. Back at the road.Fuck.What is she listening to?Whatever it is, I want to learn how to hum it, sing it, find it at any given moment so that her face is always like that.
I pull over into the strip lane, slowing us to a standstill with more force than intended.
“What the hell?” Jax says.
I spin in my seat and look at Elise and Jax. “I can’t concentrate. I need to sit next to Blesk... Elise, get up front.”
Elise and I jump out and cross each other at the front of the car, as traffic moves by us.
I climb in to see Blesk has woken from her music coma and is sitting up, observing us intently. She grins at me, her tongue coming out between her teeth. She mouths, “hi.” As if I am also listening to music.
I have to have it. I lean in and suck her tongue into my mouth, pulling her into me. I can feel the vibrations of her hum against my lips and chest as she melts against me. Sliding my hand up into her hair, I deepen our kiss. I don’t think about bourbon. Not while she’s kissing me. She is sweeter. I love her lips, the moans that escape them, and the way her tongue massages mine. I just love absolutely everything about our kiss and everything about her.
As the car moves forwards, we break our kiss so I can get my belt on. Motioning with my hand, I signal for her to take out one of her earplugs. She grins at me, tugging a plug from her ear.
“What are you listening to, Duch?”
“The Lumineers,” she says, smile soft, eyes sparkling.Music, Konnor.I have to play more music for her. It’s how her soul breathes.
She brushes my hair away from my ear and puts the loose earplug in it. She kisses my cheek, then rests her head on my shoulder. Nestling into me, she relaxes. I wrap my arm around her and pull her as close as possible, kissing her forehead. I can hear the two miscreants bickering in the front seat, but Blesk doesn’t seem to mind. Her expression is perfectly content, and now she is in my arms.
With that expression.
She hooks her leg over mine as if she also wants to be tangled. Forever. She has never looked more beautiful than she does right now, bopping her head to the beat only we can hear, in her yoga pants, in her singlet, barefooted, and with no makeup on, but not because she is beautiful.
Because she’s at peace.
We are still a kilometre away whenitappears through the side window, and my mouth goes dry.
My eyes widen.
I’ve seen prisons in movies, obviously, but that didn’t prepare me. Not for the fences, how many there are, stacked like dominoes. Not for the barbed wire at the top. Not for the people trapped inside.
The beach at Normandy.
Yep.
I’d rather be there.
We pull into the visitor’s parking bay and my vision blurs, head heavy on my neck. I look at my hands. There they are. But… But I can’t feel them.
I touch my face. There it is, but I can’t feel it. I press my palm to my chest, yep and no… I can’t feel anything inside. I can’t find the air. I can’t find it.Fuck.
Jaxon and Elise twist in their seats to look at me, and Jax’s mouth opens, sayingsomething. Elise’s hand reaches towards me. I watch all of this from a place deep and soundless behind my own eyes.
I turn to Blesk. Blesk’s lips are shaping words—one syllable, two—and I squint at them. Then her hand finds my leg, and the car fills up all at once with every sense—the engine, a bird, wind against glass, and all three of them, right in my ear.
Fucking loud.
“Slater?” “Konnor?” “Wake up.” “What’s going on?”
