Page 119 of Broken

“My nose is being weird. I just don’t think it’s normal.” I shrug. “Plus, I’m still weak, and my headache won’t abate no matter how much medication I take. Then there’s how quickly I tire. I don’t think there’s anything wrong, per se, but?—”

“—a hospital is the best place for you.” He dips his chin. “That seals it. I want you on a plane within the next few hours.”

“Hours?!” My mouth drops open. “No way! I want to spend some time with you before we have to part!”

He shakes his head. “I’m not endangering you, Andrea. I’m sharing information about Corelli’s grunts with the police. They’re not going to be happy about that. If they have eyes on me, then they have eyes on you?—”

“My name is on the witness statement.”

“Yes, and you’re leaving the country. You should be fine. But if you’re seen with me, then who knows what might happen? Plus, they could piece the situation together. That’s the last thing we need. I’m even going to talk to my parents about moving for their own safety.” He runs his thumb along my cheek. “For us, for our future, you should fly out today. Let us do this the right way.”

My eyes narrow at him because there’s something he isn’t saying… “Why?”

He shrugs and sighs, but his gaze stays on my cheek and the finger he pressed there. “I want to give you time to contemplate what you’re taking on.”

I stiffen in his arms. “Are you being serious?”

“Deadly.”

“You can’t think that I’d be the one to back away from this.”

“I’m broken,” he mutters as he presses a kiss to my temple, his words vibrating through his kiss. “I’ll always have night terrors, and I might hurt you in my sleep. I won’t ever let you moan when we’re together that way, and the lashing? I won’t be able to stop that. Not immediately. I’m a lot to take on.”

I pull away, not going far but separating us so I can grab his hand and rest it on my stomach.

“What if I’m pregnant?”

“Then we don’t have a choice.”

“Good.I don’t want a choice. This isn’t about choice. There’s no free will in this situation,” I growl. “And if God is in his right mind, then Iwillbe pregnant so we have no say in this.

“You and I are made for each other. Just because you’re a little nuts, well, that doesn’t scare me.”

“I’m a killer,” he breathes, tugging me back into his arms.

His erection tells me he likes what I said though.

“So am I. I condoned what you did,” I counter with a shrug. “And I’ll condone it again. So long as I think it’s right.”

“Only God can help me now...?”

My lips curve. “I’d say he’s been helping us for quite a while.”

PART FOUR

Abiogenesis

“For truly we are all angels temporarily hiding as humans.”? Brian Weiss

Chapter Thirty-Six

Dear Andrea,

I miss you.

I’ve been apart from you longer than I knew you. Some nights, I wake up in the middle of a bad dream, wondering if you’re real.

I find solace in your books then. I have them on my nightstand. I usually pick ‘Revel’ up and hold it to my chest. Not just because it’s my favorite, but because your words are real. Therefore, YOU are real. And that means what we have is real too.

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