Page 39 of Velvet Deception

It was fast. We’d fallen into bed after only a couple of weeks, and they weren’t ordinary days of getting to know each other. I was a blank man, a stranger to myself, but still, I was me inside. And I wasn’t grasping for something comfortable in this time of confusion. I wasn’t reaching for whatever was close and convenient for the lack of anything else to focus on.

I wanted Sofia.

I wanted her to see me as her man, her hero, her supporter.

And I could start my half of that arrangement by heading out to the living room and starting to clean up the mess from fighting those men yesterday.

For a couple of hours, I did just that. Sweeping and collecting debris. Sorting out what seemed salvageable and only slightly broken. Clearing out the grime and dirt that the commotion stirred up. I was fortunate and proud that I found not a speck of blood. I’d been thorough when I cleaned it yesterday, but as I realized how well I’d done, I hated the morbid questions that crept in.

Was I a crime scene cleaner?

She’d found me in that doctor coat.

Did I work in a morgue at the hospital?

Neither sounded right.

I sighed, standing and stretching my back after I finished. Making sure to be quiet so Sofia and Ramon could sleep in, I glanced at their closed doors and smiled. Not a peep. They were still out.

Even though the couch was back to right and the room was cleared up as much as it could be, it felt different in here. It wasn’t the same after all that happened. Also, the living room where I’d started my recovery seemed different since I’d slept in Sofia’s bed with her last night. There was no doubt that the bed was a better rest. Sex helped, too, but I had to wonder if Sofia would let me back in there. If she would let me sleep in her bed with her again.

After brewing some coffee, since I recalled how to use the kettle and pot, I sat and mused about how much had shifted in just one day.

Ihadlearned a little about my former self, but it didn’t seem like a good step. Knowing I might have been a violent man didn’t seem like something to be proud of. And Ramon’s words of wisdom stuck with me, too. His comments and opinions about feeling in my heart that I could be missing someone or a part of me were kind of like a daydreamer’s idea, but it did make sense.

I didn’t feel a connection that was left incomplete. I didn’t worry about a family being out there wondering what happened to me. I didn’t feel like I was cheating on someone when I had sex with Sofia.

While that gave me clearance, in a way, to start a life with them here, I wondered how I could’ve been so alone and untethered for my whole life. I had to have had a connection with someone before, right? I had to have.

Too soon, Ramon and Sofia woke up. They both hurried with their morning routines, but today, I could help. It was like I’d broken out of a shell, metamorphosed into a new man. It was a testament to how well I’d recovered. Yes, I had some new and fresh aches and pains from fighting those men, but it didn’t slow me down. I helped make some toast for them and smiled at Ramon’s little jokes about hurrying his mom along.

Fortunately, Ramon didn’t question that I was still here or that I was pitching in to the household at all. Unfortunately, Sofia seemed uneasy.

I went into her room to check on her, asking if she was all right. My biggest fear was that she regretted sleeping with me.

But that wasn’t the case.

“How come you didn’t stay in bed?” she asked as she put earrings in her lobes, crouching to see in her mirror.

I liked that she’d wanted to wake up with me.

“I got up to clean the living room.”

Her shoulders sagged. “I didn’t want you to have to?—”

I kissed her, smiling when she replied and wanted more.

“I wanted to.” I shrugged, watching her hurry to get ready. “I’ve been bored,” I admitted honestly. “Once the headaches stopped, I got restless. I haven’t been napping as much.”

“What can you do?” she asked.

“I pace. Stretch. Read Ramon’s little magazines.” I shrugged again. “Think.”

She nodded. “I can try to find some more things to read? I’m sorry the TV was stolen. I can’t justify replacing it yet, but?—”

I kissed her again, enjoying the ease with which I could do that. “Don’t worry. I’ll preoccupy myself.”

“Are you…” She frowned. “Are you going to… wander?”

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