Page 255 of Haunt Me

I’ve not actually asked her if she wants to be my girlfriend in so many words. I should have done that—I was ambushed by my own feelings today. But I’ll ask her. And if she says yes, she will hear me call myself her ‘boyfriend’ so many times, she’ll get sick of it.

Although it was totally worth it to say it without warning, just so I could make her blush like this.

“Oh, you are, heartbreaker,” the captain says, to my surprise. “I’ll tell you one thing: The day we found her, I was scared. Truly scared for this kid. I have never seen a case of kidnapping so severe—never expected to find her alive in the first place. You have a miracle right there. But even so, I wondered if and how she would survive. And boy did she survive. She exceeded expectations. She thrived. Now I know why: it’s you.”

“You’ll give him an even huger ego,” Faith murmurs. I texted her to come down at some point after the ‘who do I have to kill’ sisters. Now she’s making everyone laugh. I wink at her.

“This is Faith,” I say to the captain and Kim.

“The sister,” Faith adds ominously.

They both shake her hand warmly. She sits down next to Eden, and she doesn’t thank them for saving her—although I know she wants to. But I know her, and if she thanks them, she’ll cry, and she hasn’t cried. Yet.

“Before I forget,” the captain points a finger at me. “I always listen to your songs while I’m on duty.Saint Hope… Man. What a talent.”

Wait—he what?

“Indeed,” Kim says dryly. “My teen daughters are obsessed with you, and against my will, I know every single one of your lyrics.”

“Sorry,” I murmur, grinning.

“No need to apologize,” she says, “but, here’s a thought, how about making a happy song once in a while?”

“I am making them now,” I say, my eyes on Eden.

We talk for a bit, but as soon as they lapse into relaying various first-responder stories, I see Eden go pale and I gently remind them that they have to leave. I have been around my share of first responders because of my concerts, and I know that these guys deserve nothing but my utmost respect and admiration. But once they get started on all the horrible, tragic, or plain-out weird accidents they have witnessed, they can’t stop. It’s just stories to them, stories they lived through and survived, usually saving multiple people in the process. But to us mere civilians they sound like horror movies.

They leave soon afterwards, and Eden just sits there, digesting everything.

“Thank you,” she tells me and hugs me tightly.

“I just wanted to find someone else to tell you what I have known since the minute I met you.”

“And what was that?”

“How strong you are. I know you don’t always see it yourself but… It’s true. Eden, do you know what you did the first time I met you after four years? You jumped off a cliff to save a dog’s life. When you didn’t know how to swim.”

“Not any dog,” she smiles. “Pooh.”

I close my eyes. “Pooh, yeah. But you almost drowned, Eden.” The memory makes my chest stop working, even now. “The danger meant little to you, because that’s the way you love. Fearlessly. Bravely. You just… That was the moment I recognized you. You were my Eden. I knew you.”

“Because I nearly drowned?”

“Because you jumped into the water for a dog.”

“Doesn’t that just prove I’m stupid?”

I laugh. We need to work on that, on her always getting to the wrong conclusion. I have the rest of my life to do the work. I’m not scared of it. I’m looking forward to it.

“Stupid?” I repeat. “Who writes my songs, huh? MyGrammynominated songs? If they are stupid, then you are millions worth of stupid, Elliot.”

“How romantic,” she says, but she’s beginning to smile. “Are you a poet, by any chance?”

“No,” I say, as I always do. “I’m just a singer. You’re the poet.”

She rises on her tiptoes and kisses me.

She hasn’t done that in more than four years. I kiss her back like a man consumed by hunger, my hands raking her hair. Her breath hitches as she slides her fingers into the hook of my belt, pulling me closer and my body goes hard all over. I stop breathing.

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