by Lisa Simmons
I repeated my careful actions until I had his face nearly wiped clean of the blood that wasn’t his. His gaze never wavered from my face as he watched me closely. It was hard to focus with him examining me. I put the soiled rag down in the sink before grabbing a second and wetting it like I had the first. Reece’s breath washed lightly across my face as I raised the rag to the less severe of the cuts on his lip. “What?” I sighed, unable to resist his gaze any longer.
“Are you okay?” he surprised me by asking.
“Yes,” I answered immediately. I wasn’t the one who’d gotten in a fight and had an asthma attack immediately after. He sighed as I continued to wipe away the blood from his cuts. Satisfied with the way his lip was looking, I moved to his eyebrow. His hands rose from his sides and rested on my hips, pulling me against him while I tended to him.
“Abby, I’m serious, are you okay?” he asked again. My hand paused against where it had been dabbing against his eyebrow as I shifted my gaze to meet his.
“Yes, I’m fine,” I said gently. I watched him closely; his face was pinched together in concern.
“If you’re not, please tell me. You’ve had a rough night too,” he said quietly.
“Do you mean because of Jack-“
“Don’t say it,” he cringed. “But yes, that, partially.”
“I’m fine, really Reece. You got there before anything really happened,” I said. A sudden rush of gratitude flooded through me again. “Really, I’m fine.”
He didn’t look like he fully believed me but he sighed and nodded slowly. “And what about... what happened after? Are you okay with that?”
“You fighting him?” I clarified. This was what I suspected bothered him to the deepest level- that I would be afraid of him after seeing what he’d done.
He nodded but didn’t say anything as he continued to peer at me through his beautiful eyes.
“I’ve never been afraid of you, if that’s what you mean,” I said clearly. He watched me closely, trying to make sure I was being completely honest.
“I mean it, Reece. If you hadn’t come when you did...” I shuddered.
“That’s what terrifies me, Abby,” he admitted earnestly. A hand rose from my hip to cradle my face. “I keep thinking what would have happened if I hadn’t been there to come find you.”“Reece, you can’t think like that. You were there and... you saved me,” I said sincerely. He didn’t say anything as he held my gaze, his brows pulled low over his eyes. Thankfully, his cuts had stopped bleeding and I had managed to clear nearly all of the blood from his face. He ran his thumb along my cheek as he remained quiet. “I can’t thank you enough,” I whispered, the moment stealing the volume from my voice. The rag was dropped unceremoniously on the counter behind him as my hands rose to cradle this face. My fingers were feather light as they ran along his quickly bruising jaw. His hand on my face continued its careful tracing of my cheek while his other slid around to my lower back and pulled me against him even further. My feet were planted between his, and his thighs formed a protective wall around my body. “You don’t have to thank me, Abby,” he whispered back. My forehead dropped to his and my hands left his face to allow my arms to wind around his neck. I sighed heavily.
“Yes, I do,” I insisted.
“I should have gotten there sooner,” he said, his tone heavy.
“No, Reece, you got there just in time,” I said, not wanting him to blame himself for something that hadn’t even happened. He had saved me and I didn’t want him to doubt that.
“Still...” he muttered. “He shouldn’t have been able to even talk to you.”
“You can’t be with me all the time, Reece.”
“I wish I could be.”
I was quiet for a few moments as I absorbed his words. So badly did I want for him to be with me all the time, even if I knew it wasn’t possible or practical. I wanted him with me every second of every day, forever.
“I can’t believe you got hurt for me, Reece,” I said quietly. My heart seemed so full of emotions it was hard to sort them all out.
“It doesn’t matter,” he said, shaking his head slightly. “I’d do it all over again to save you.”
“You did save me, Reece.” I repeated. I could feel tears threatening again, and I wasn’t even sure why. I had too many emotions flowing through me that they were trying to force themselves out in any way possible. He sucked in a breath in a sudden gasp. “I just love you so much, Abby. I’ve never been angrier in my entire life than seeing him...” he shuddered. “Like that.”
I let my fingers move through the soft, untainted hair at the back of his head in an attempt to soothe him. As soon as he had said that, his entire body had tensed up.
“Reece, baby, it’s okay,” I said calmly. “Nothing happened. You stopped anything from happening.”
His muscles were still tense as I talked him down. His hand fell from my face to circle around my waist, pulling me into a hug. My face buried itself into his neck, and I felt him take a deep breath. “Say you love me, Abby,” he whispered. I had never heard him sound more vulnerable.
“I love you, Reece,” I answered. I squeezed him tightly, forgetting momentarily about the potential pain it could cause him. “I love you more than I’ve ever loved anyone in my entire life.”The tears I had felt before escaped my eyes, and my throat tightened, straining the last half of my sentence. This had to be what it felt like to love someone so much it physically took over your entire body. “Do I still have all of you?” he asked, his voice muffled by my hair. I sucked in a deep breath and pulled back, pinning my forehead to his again. My hands slid up his neck to rest below his ears. “You have all of me, now and every day after,” I promised. His gaze was burning so strongly into mine that I could feel it through every fiber of my soul. My pulse pounded through my ears as I struggled to take a full breath. I felt like I was on the verge of starting to shake from how much I loved him. I had no idea that him seeing me in such a position would cause such vulnerability to come out in him. “I’ve never loved anyone before, but I swear I’ll love you until the day I die,” he said quietly. “I know I will, Abby.”
My heart practically shattered from complete and utter happiness. His words were like a physical fire, searing through my body and melting away any of the cold that had been placed there from tonight. There was no doubt in my mind that we were meant to be together. It didn’t matter how we had gotten to this point, only that we had. Just as I had expected from the moment I laid eyes on him, he was so much more than what met the eye, so much more than I ever expected to find.
He was my hero.
"And how my thoughts, they let me down... then there's you."
Chapter 50
A strange sense of dejavu settled over me as Reece and I stood silently in his kitchen. Only days ago we’d stood in nearly the exact same position, holding on to each other as we let the silence settle around us. I could still feel the sudden vulnerability Reece was feeling in the way he held on to me; his arms were wound around my waist and his fingers pressed firmly into my skin in a gentle desperation. His head tilted forward, his forehead resting on my shoulder while I had my arms wound around his neck. I couldn’t stop myself from tilting my head every once and a while to press a kiss into his neck. I breathed in the scent of him and was disappointed to find the metallic hint of blood still tainted it. My hand rose from behind his head, my elbow resting on his shoulder as my fingers pet through his hair. The wet blood that had been there earlier had dried, crusting the usually smooth strands together. “Reece,” I whispered. I had managed to clean his hands and face, but there was still a lot of mess to clean up.
“Hmm?”
“Let’s take a shower,” I suggested gently. I wanted to clean him of any reminders of what he’d been through tonight. He squeezed his fingers against my skin once before nodding into my shoulder.
He straightened up, his grip on me just as tight as ever as he looked me in the eye. My
eyes flitted back and forth between his for a few seconds before I leaned forward to press my lips lightly into his. It was the first time I had kissed him on the lips since this all had happened, and it felt like it had been years. He returned the light pressure, and I could feel the cut on his lip against mine. I pulled back, smiling at him softly before he unwound his arms from me and took my hand to lead me down the hall. He led us into the bathroom and flicked on the light. I released his hand to start the shower, and we were immediately surrounded by the soft sound of the water splashing against the tub. I straightened up to see him standing exactly where I’d left him. He was watching me closely with the same intense expression he’d worn for the last hour or so. It was hard for me to tell exactly what was going through his head, but I guessed it was linked to his vulnerable state right now. I walked up to him, my lip sucked lightly into my mouth as I looked up to his face. My hands gently gripped his shirt, which I now noticed was also stained with blood, and pulled the hem up over his stomach. He watched me closely as I pulled it up further, lifting his arms to allow me to pull it off. I sucked in a gasp when I saw the angry red blotches covering his ribcage from when Jack had kneed him. My gaze was trained on his torso while my fingers lightly drifted over the marks, their touch feather light as they took in the damage. I could feel him watching me still but I couldn’t look away from the injury. The darkest spot seemed to be situated on the bottom of his ribcage on his left side, but he didn’t flinch away from my touch as it passed over his skin. “Reece...” I breathed. My eyes flitted up to meet his gaze, which was searing intensely into my own, before they returned to his side. Slowly, I ducked my head down to press my lips lightly into his side. He watched closely as my lips touched the heated skin, the area feeling warmer than usual because of the damage done beneath the surface. My lips lingered for a few seconds before I straightened up again.
“Let’s get in, Abby,” he said, ignoring my expression of concern from before. He reached forward to run his thumb lightly across my lip before he shifted to undo his jeans. I followed his lead, taking a deep breath before I started to peel my layers off. I could feel his gaze on me as I did so, but it was different from the burning, lustful gaze he normally would have worn if I were undressing in front of him. Soon, all of our clothes, most of which were stained with blood in some way or another, were piled on the floor. I watched as he loped forward and stepped into the shower. The wide slope of his shoulders tapered down to his slim waist, and I was somewhat transfixed by the way he moved. I shook my head, reminding myself to move as I followed him. He stood with his back to me, the water hitting his shoulders and running down his back in rivets that curled around his muscles. I watched as the little streams curved and diverted their paths, the clear liquid running over the curve of his shoulders before dripping down his lower back. He tilted his head back, letting the water hit his neck as I stepped forward to close the small distance between us. My hands landed lightly on his ribcage before sliding down to his hips as I pressed my lips lightly into his shoulder blade. He leaned into my touch as my lips separated from his skin only to press back down in a slightly different spot. I just wanted to show him how much he meant to me and how incredibly relieved I was that he was okay, despite being battered and bruised. He turned around, breaking the contact of my lips and his skin to look down at me. His movement caused the water to hit the top of his head, and I watched in slight shock as the clear liquid that ran down his face turned to a dark pink as it lifted the blood from his hair. He didn’t seem to notice the dark pink streaks that ran down the sides of his face before dripping to his chest until he caught the apparent change in my facial expression. Slowly, his eyebrows pinched together as the realization struck. He raised a hand to wipe the drips running down his face before bringing it in front of his line of vision. He took in the red stained droplets before shifting his gaze to me once more. He rinsed his hand off in the stream as he took a deep breath. “I didn’t want you to see that, Abby,” he whispered. “Or this...”
He bit his lip gently as he waited for me to respond.
“It’s okay, Reece. I’m not afraid,” I said honestly. Admittedly, it was somewhat shocking to see him with what looked like renewed blood streaming down his face, but I knew it was just the dried blood from his hair. “Are you sure?” he asked gently.
“Yes,” I said, nodding. “Let me help you.”
He didn’t respond but continued to watch me as I reached for the shampoo off the shelf. I poured some into my hand and rubbed my palms together before taking a deep breath and pushing them lightly through his hair. Almost immediately, the suds were tainted a ruddy pink, and I tried not to wince at the meaning behind it. I didn’t know exactly who’s blood it was that I was washing out of his hair, but I knew I wanted it out. His hands twitched at his sides slightly before he raised them to let them rest on my hips. His thumbs swirled little circles into my skin as my fingers worked the soap through his hair. For what felt like the first time, he broke his heavy gaze and closed his eyes. He took a deep breath through his nose as he let me clean him up. Again. His hair was soft and smooth beneath my fingers as I worked them in light circles, and I was finally satisfied with my work.
I pushed him back lightly so his head fell under the stream of water where it pushed the suds from his hair. The pink foam rinsed from his hair as I pushed my fingers lightly through it, the suds falling to his chest before washing down the drain. His eyes remained closed as I ran my palms over his head, finally ridding his hair of the soap and any lingering hints of red or pink. My hands trailed from his hair to rest on his shoulders.
“Okay,” I said quietly, indicting I was done. He opened his eyes slowly, their gaze immediately falling to mine.
“Thank you,” he said. His hands remained on my hips and his thumbs never stopped massaging light circles into my skin. “For everything.”
“It’s nothing, Reece. I love you so I’m gonna take care of you. Like you did for me,” I said quietly, sucking my lower lip into my mouth. He leaned forward and pressed his lips into my forehead lightly. “That’s what we do,” he said lightly. “Take care of each other.”
“Exactly,” I said, smiling softly up at him. The water continued to hit his wide shoulders, and the now clear rivets of water ran over them and down his chest. The liquid seemed to highlight his tattoos, and I leaned forward to press my lips to his chest. One of my hands fell from his shoulders to trace the sparrows on his chest. “What are these for?” I asked gently. My eyes took in the subtle details of the birds inked there and the way they curved under his collarbone. I hoped he would be willing to tell me the actual meaning behind some of his tattoos now that he was feeling so open and vulnerable. He was quiet for a long time as he considered telling me. I let my eyes flit up to meet his once more to find him staring at me with his lower lip sucked into his mouth. I waited patiently, my fingers never stopping their gentle tracing of his skin. “They're for my... godchildren,” he said slowly. I blinked, not sure what I had been expecting but definitely not that.
“You have godchildren?” I asked in awe. The idea of him with children was so foreign to me, because not only had he never mentioned them whatsoever, but he didn’t strike me as the type to be a godparent. He nodded, smiling slightly at my obvious shock. “Yeah, two of them,” he said. He looked, for the first time tonight, like his old self as a ghost of a smirk appeared on his face.
“But you never talk about them to me...” I said, still trying to wrap my mind around it. He shrugged.
“I don’t talk about them to anyone,” he said casually. “And it never came up.”
I blinked again, still finding it hard to believe someone had chosen him as godparent for their children. It wasn’t that I didn’t think he’d be a good one- in fact, the more I thought, the more sense it made- it was just I didn’t know he knew people of that age, settled down with children. Images of him playing with little children and allowing them to pull on his hair and lips whil
e he entertained them suddenly flashed before my eyes, and I grinned widely.
“I bet you’re an amazing godparent,” I said sincerely, my smile growing bigger by the second. I suddenly, desperately, wanted nothing more than to see him interact with these mystery kids. He looked torn between feeling proud and feeling embarrassed, his face falling somewhere in between with a soft smile. “Shut up,” he mumbled quietly. I giggled quietly, the heavy mood from before lifting by the second as we talked about something else.
“What are their names?” I asked, restraining myself from asking a thousand different questions at once.
“Layla and Stevie,” he answered, somewhat reluctantly. I could tell he was already regretting telling me simply because of the numerous questions he knew I would ask.
“Girl and boy?”
“Yes.”
“How old are they?” I pressed, my curiosity growing more and more by the second.