I shrug, feigning innocence. “Maybe your stalker took it?”
Twenty-Nine
Sara
Iclose the bedroom’s door behind me and turn to lay my forehead against it and breathe. In and out. Repeat.
Just when I’m finally leaning into him, no pun intended, I end up feeling as rejected as an opossum in a cherished yard. I’m drained. I’m furious. Joe was supposed to be my future until fate ripped him away, like everyone else in my life. God, it's like someone keeps carving out pieces of me
Perhaps it’s possible I may have misread the situation with Liam just now. And maybe I want to misunderstand him,because understanding so clearly that he wants me, would only push me to admit, I want him too. So, badly.
Everything he said and opened up about still lingers in my chest and weighs heavily, it’s hard to breathe. I want to believe them. Nothing about them sounds like a lie, but I’m so terrified they might be a blessing one second, and the next it’s gone.
I unglue my forehead from the door, take a few steps back with my eyes closed, and let my body slump for much-needed sleep.
Thud.
“Ouch!” The impact of the floor catching my exhausted body is shocking, to say the least.
“What the fuck, Liam?” I scream and look over my shoulder to see that the bed has evaporated.
What in the world…?
I fantasize about strangling him, as if my small hands could even reach around that thick neck of his. As if I could overpower someone who towers over me like he does. As if I could really wish harm upon him, as if I could sustain being without him. I can barely think of anything else than him, and it hurts to attempt anything else.
This could go wrong in a thousand ways, but I’m desperate… I’m desperate for a love he’s promising that I've never had the chance to experience. A hollow ache spreads through my chest, I can deny it all I want, but the truth is I want him so much, and maybe it's finally time to admit it.
His words shift inside me like a soft caress, 'Everyone is afraid of something. It’s what determines what we value the most and risks we are willing to take.'
I haven’t risked everything yet. I’m just… scared. Unable to fully live after losing more than most, yet somehow more afraid than anyone to lose again.
I swing the door open and take no more than one step, ready to confront him,
"Where. Is. My. Bed?” I hiss, so angry with him and his games.
And then, a few steps from the couch to taking the air out of my lungs, he’s standing over me. So close, so terribly handsome. He looks at me with those eyes, and I want to smack the grin off his face.
“Did it hurt when you fell from heaven?” he asks, holding in a laugh.
“What do you think, genius?” I retort, biting my words, probably looking like a crazy person right now, but it’s been a long day and I’m feeling too many things at once to hide any of it any longer.
“I think you crashed into my universe.” He lets out a laugh. He’s not humoring me in the least, and I do my best to keep a stoic face. He catches my demeanor and rectifies.
“No, for real, did it hurt? Are you okay?”
“Yes, it did!” I rub my butt that was welcomed by the ground because this idiot took my bed away.
He watches my hand rubbing my dress and something flickers in his eyes.
“What happened?” he asks, his voice sultrily concerned taking a step closer to me as my back hits the door frame.
“I sat down on a literal air mattress, but you already knew that.” I explain, crossing my arms, and I watch him do something he's never done before, something so rare it belongs inside a scientific lab, preserved under glass.
Liam's head lolls back, exposing the strong column of his throat. His Adam's apple bobs as the most perfect, genuine laugh I've ever heard tumbles from his lips. His eyes, usually cold as winter frost, crinkle at the corners, those impossibly long lashes casting shadows on his cheekbones. Tiny dimples I've never noticed appear at the edges of his mouth.
My ovaries are on fire.
He’s radically stunning in this unguarded moment. I want to capture that sound in a velvet-lined box, lock it away, and carve each vibration into my memory.
