Page 73 of Indigo Sky

Her fingertips traced my hairline until they fell to my beard, where her palms held my cheeks. Her eyes danced over my face as her grin grew, beautiful and bright.

"We should've done that weeks ago," she whispered as though she didn't want anyone else to hear.

"Worth the wait," I replied, just as hushed.

Her fingers lifted to touch the crinkled skin on my forehead, the scar I seldom thought about these days. It'd become just as much a part of me as my arms or legs, but now, I was aware all over again, though I felt no need to hide, out of shame or fear that I grossed her out, the way I sometimes did when other people stared.

"How did this happen?" she asked.

I realized then that, after all this time, she had never asked. Most people … it was the first thing they thought of, the first thing they wanted to know about. Maybe it was even the only thing theycaredto know about me, as if the accident and disability were the only defining things about me.

How did you become a freak, Rev? What horrible, fucked-up thing happened to you to disfigure your face and leave you half blind?

But not Kate.

She saw beyond the things that didn’t matter on the surface. She sawme.

"A firework hit me in the face when I was a kid," I explained, speaking matter-of-factly without any hint of emotion. I guessed when you told a story so many times, it stopped having an impact on you. "I should've died."

"But you didn't."

I couldn’t help but smile at the gratitude in her voice. “I didn't."

She dropped her hand from my face to press it to my chest, just over my heart. "I'm happy you lived.”

"So am I."

She gnawed at the corner of her bottom lip, her eyes skipping from mine to my lips and back to holding my gaze with a wanton, deep-seated lust that I knew all too well.

"I want a do-over," she said, her voice trembling and hushed. "I want to invite you back to my place. I want you to say yes and come with me. I want … God, I want you so bad, but …"

She paused, and I didn't dare say a fucking word. I didn't dare tell her how fucking badly I wanted her too. I didn't dare do a damn thing, all to allow her to finish her thought, despite the crazed thrumming of my heart and the heavy ache between my legs.

"I … I live with my dad, and …" Her gaze dropped with a shame I didn't approve of.

I cocked my head, not understanding where this sudden shift in demeanor had come from. "You say that like it's a bad thing."

"No, it's—"

"I told you, I live with my parents too. I get it. It's okay. You don’t need to be embarrassed about that.”

She sighed, and a look of devastation washed over her face. "No. It's … I’m not embarrassed. But my dad issick, Rev. I, um … I take care of him."

I sucked in a breath and was slow to nod as a few pieces seemed to fall into place. "Oh …"

She wilted with what could've been relief or humiliation—or maybe it was both. "Yeah, it's a, um, a long story, and when I have a minute, I'll tell you about it. But I-I should get back to work before anyone realizes I’m gone.”

“Yeah,” I agreed, brushing a strand of flyaway hair behind her ear. “We can talk later, if you want.”

She mustered a smile that didn’t touch her eyes. Like dread had already begun to mar the happiness we’d found just moments before.

“We will.”

***

I watched her dance as a member of the audience for the first time in years.

I listened to strangers whistle and holler at her as she undid her bra and let the straps slide over her arms and to the polished floor, revealing her bare breasts to me and everyone else. I witnessed their hands reaching out to tuck dollar bills beneath the waistband of her G-string, her barely covered pussy mere inches from their faces. And, no, I didn’t care for the waythey looked at her, but I did care about how much she loved dancing. How confident and happy she was. She became a truer version of herself on that stage, and while I might not have appreciated the smiles she gave other men, I did appreciate the sincerity in those smiles. She enjoyed what she did, truly, and wouldn’t it be nice if we could all be as lucky in what we did for a living?

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