Page 31 of Scars Run Deep

He trailed off, his eyelids drooping.

I felt his hold loosening, his body weakening against me.

“No Round Two. You need to sleep now.”

He released me and pinched the bridge of his nose. “That sly bastard. Those meds weren’t mild, like he’d claimed. He’s trying to put me out.” He blinked hard, but it did nothing to clear his glazed eyes. “More like ensuring it. Jesus Christ.”

“Don’t fight it. Let it come. You need your rest. Really badly, Asher.”

I pushed off him, the both of us groaning as his cock slipped from me.

I reached over to his nightstand and pulled some tissues from the box there. I wiped us both clean, snatched my shorts off the floor and pulled them on.

“I need a smoke,” he murmured.

“No.”

“What was that?” he tried to snap, but his voice was weak, the meds, the fuck, and his sheer exhaustion all working in concert to pull him under.

“You heard me. All you can do now is close your eyes and fall asleep.”

He cursed under his breath as he jerked his boxers back up with some struggle with only being able to use one hand.

His sleepy gaze followed me as I climbed back onto the bed, then reached over him, and started adjusting his pillows. “What are you doing?”

“Getting you comfortable,” I answered.

I managed to adjust them so that he could half lie down, half sit, in a way that didn’t aggravate or put any pressure on his injured right shoulder.

“Aurora—”

“Shh. Sleep,” I said, as I turned off his bedside lamp and the room descended into darkness.

I slipped into the bed beside him and turned onto my side to check that he was actually settling.

The moment I did, his left arm came around me and pulled me close, his hand splaying on my lower back. “Always challenging me,” he murmured.

“Well, maybe you shouldn’t get under my skin so much,” I said with a chuckle.

He shifted right up against me, apparently needing to be closer still. “It’s not a bad thing… the challenge.”

“It’s not, huh?” I teased, staring into his sleepy eyes that were so vibrant and all-encompassing that they even cut through the dark.

“No,” he murmured. “There’s nothing bad about you.” I started in surprise as he nuzzled my hair. “Don’t leave, sweetheart.”

“I won’t,” I said, settling into his embrace, getting comfortable for the night. “I promised you I’d stay with you tonight.”

“Not just tonight. Just… don’t leave. Promise… promise me?”

I sucked in a breath, the emotion in his voice, his need, hitting me deep. “Asher, I—”

My words caught in my throat when I looked to see he’d fallen asleep.

I frowned as I took him in.

Those raw words, the vulnerability he’d put out there.

I mean, there was no way I could even imagine him doing that under normal circumstances when his head was clear and he wasn’t wounded and battling exhaustion. But the fact that the sentiment was there at all for him to have put it out there… that was the part that had me sitting up and taking notice.

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