Page 107 of My Brother’s Best Friends Entanglement

So I finish it off. “And the only person in the entire world who can make me say the things I'm thinking, whether I want to or not. Whether I should or not.”

Those wide eyes soften, and for a moment I wonder who I need to sell my soul to, to get to fall into those irises forever.

“And have you said everything you shouldn't say tonight?” she presses.

I brush an errant drop of water off her cheek. “Not yet.” A line of goosebumps rises up on her skin following my touch. “You're cold. Need more hot water?”

Her voice is whisper quiet. “It's not the water.”

“Then what is it, Alexi?”

“If I tell you, you might run again.”

The words hang there, quiet and unguarded, and something in my chest tightens and loosens at the same time.

“Would you believe me if I told you I would never run again?”

She shakes her head. “I don't know if I could risk it. I don't know if I could survive it a second time.”

I know that I deserve that. Before I can think it over, the water starts to slosh and she starts to move, standing up.

I help her out of the tub, holding the towel open and wrapping her in it, and despite her protests, I carry her back through to the bedroom. Her body is relaxed but not limp in my arms like before, simply warm and pliable. Once I've helped her dry her body, her hair, I pull one of my own shirts over her head.

The blanket gets pulled aside, and she climbs into bed and curls onto her side, one hand tucked under the pillow, watching me with her eyes half shut.

“I know it's your bar, and you had to be there,” she says, voice already thick with fatigue. “But I'm glad you came.”

I sit down on the edge of the mattress, close enough to feel the warmth of the bath coming off her, and for a second I don't trust myself to say anything at all.

She yawns and mumbles, “I didn't want to want you there. But when I saw you, I was glad. Even after all this time. I feel like I'm always looking for you. Isn't that silly?”

I nod, knowing just what that's like. What it’s like to think every room that is missing her, is incomplete.

“There is nothing in this entire cosmos that would have kept me from getting to you tonight.” I pause. “I’m not an easy man to rattle. You'd know that better than anyone.” My jaw works once before I make myself keep going. “But tonight, when I heard you'd been hurt, I felt unmoored from my own sanity. And it wasn't losing control I was afraid of. It was the thought of losing you forever.”

A soft sadness softens her eyes. “You’ll never know what it’s like to lose me. Not entirely. Not like I already lost you, Rhys.”

I run the back of my finger along her soft, pink cheek. “You never lost me, beautiful. Not even a little bit.”

She takes a deep breath, and her eyes flutter closed. “I'm going to sleep now,” she says. “Will you be here when I wake up?”

I lean over and tuck a curl behind her ear. “If you want me to be.”

She falls asleep before I get an answer. But I know I will be here, no matter what the answer would have been.

TWENTY-EIGHT

Zachary

She sleeps through the whole night, and then most of the next day, and by the time Saturday evening rolls round, the house has settled into a kind of held-breath quiet that will only release when she properly wakes.

I find Rhys exactly where I left him hours ago, sitting at the foot of the bed with his back against the frame, watching her breathe like he can't take his next breath until she takes hers.

I put a hand on his shoulder and whisper, “Hey, man, you really should get some rest.”

“I'm fine.”

“Yeah, and so is she. She's past the danger zone. You need sleep.”