Page 84 of Claimed By Ruin

Asia squeezed his hand and then got in beside him while I put the wheelchair in the truck bed.

He was out before we got back to the farm and stayed that way when I carried him upstairs, Lourdes and Asia a step behind. “I’ll look after him,” she said.

Asia squeezed her shoulder, and then went downstairs. Miles waited in the kitchen. “Everything’s good, right?”

I smiled at the kid, then looked at Asia. Held her gaze as I spoke. “Never been better, kid.”

“Cool! I’m on watch,” he said as he grabbed a cucumber off the table and rushed out of the house.

“I should go beat him up and take that cucumber,” Asia said.

I chuckled. “You got no shot, Counselor.”

She huffed, blinking with mock offense. “You wound me.”

“Yeah, right. Go get cleaned up. Food will be waiting.”

She didn’t move immediately. Just sat there for a moment looking around the kitchen, which was dimming by the moment as the sun started to set.

She exhaled and then stood.

“I’m impressed!” she exclaimed when she came back in.

I arched a brow. “By ham and eggs and bread you made?”

“Yup,” she said as she grabbed her fork and dug in. She paused and looked at me. “I hope you weren’t expecting me to share.”

“Now you wound me. But have at it. I’m going to clean up.”

I left the kitchen without looking back. Went through the motions of showering, trying to focus on the memory of Christopher’s brain seeping out of his skull and not the block of ice lodged in my chest.

Asia wasn’t in the kitchen when I left the bathroom, but I knew where I would find her.

When I opened the door, she had her back to me, and I stayed still, taking her in, willing myself to breathe.

Then she turned, smiling, and for what felt like the first time, air left my lungs.

I walked towards her, and she held out her hands, reaching for me.

I reached back, the quiver of my hand impossible to miss.

She squeezed my hand. “You’re shaking.”

“Yeah.”

She squeezed again and then pulled me closer. Pressed my hand flat against her stomach and held it there. The little bump there was firm, a little warmer than the rest of her, but that was probably my imagination. I stopped shaking, spreading my fingers wide.

I looked into her eyes and saw the awe I felt reflected back at me.

The moment shifted. She stepped closer, and her breath warm on my jaw. “Take your clothes off, Jack.”

I did and she did, too. She walked to the bed slowly, like she had all the time in the world. She lay down. I followed and settled over her, bracing on my forearms. Her stomach pressed against mine, and I shifted my weight.

She chuckled. “I’m not going to break, Jackson.”

“I never said you were.”

She looped her arms around my neck. “Then stop hovering.”