Page 94 of Savage Seduction

“But if you don’t get your behind back in your own room so I can clean you up, I’m going to have your doctor order you an enema.”

I burst out laughing, and Ben turns a deeper shade of pink.

“Come on now, I’ll push,” she says before turning back to me. “It was sure nice meeting you, sweetheart. I’ll take good care of Dr. Ben for you.”

“I appreciate it, Nancy.” I wave goodbye and lay back against the bed.

As they exit the room, Bretton comes in to see me. “Hey man,” he says.

I smile. “Thank you so much for saving my life. If it hadn’t been for you stalking me, I would never have made it.”

Bretton chuckles. “I’m glad I could help.” He comes and stands next to the bed. “Max, I want to tell you something, and I don’t want it to be weird.”

“Okay, lay it on me.”

“First, I want to express how happy I am that you survived. You and your friends and boyfriend are lucky to have escaped the clutches of The Butcher. I don’t know if you’re aware of it or not, but during those two-plus years he was supposedly dead and gone, he’s linked to ten homicides. Each and every one of those innocent people met with a gruesome death. You ended that. It was you, Max. Don’t ever second-guess yourself again, because you’re a badass.”

I smile. “Thank you, Bretton. Your words mean more to me than you can possibly know.” I think about how hard it had been the past few years; unable to pull the trigger of a gun, difficulty sleeping, always feeling something was off, and not feeling open and vulnerable enough to date.

“Anyway, I just wanted you to know that.”

“Well, that wasn’t weird at all. What was supposed to make me feel weird?”

Bretton clears his throat and looks out the hospital window for a few moments. “A few years ago, I lost my wife. She was murdered, bled out right in front of me as I drove herto the hospital. A crazy-ass psychopath had walked into our home and shot her point-blank in the chest.”

A lump forms in my throat.

He turns and faces me. “I’ve been living my life in a daze ever since, unable to connect with anyone and not really caring that I couldn’t.”

“I’m sorry, Bretton. I had no idea.”

He shakes his head and shrugs. “How could you? I lied about who I was. I guess I wanted to thank you for being such a good person. I’ve somehow passed through my daze and finally connected with someone.”

“Me?” I ask.

He nods. “Please don’t take this wrong, but you’re the first person I’ve cared about in so long, I started questioning my own sexual orientation.”

I smile and look down. “I mean, I am pretty hot.”

Bretton laughs through the tears. “You sure are something.”

The room grows quiet. “I hope we can remain friends,” I say.

Bretton nods, wipes his cheeks dry, and smiles. “I would love that.” He shakes my hand and makes his way to the door but stops short and turns back. “Please take care of yourself, Max.”

“You, too.” I watch as my new friend leaves the room.

I rest my head back into the pillow and close my eyes. Fatigue is settling over me like a warm, soft, blanket. While I have a lot of physical and emotional healing to do, sleep will soon be here. It may be naive to hope, but there’s a big part of me doing just that, to fall asleep without nightmares. To have a peaceful rest throughout the night. Allowing myself to leave my past where it belongs… in the past.

CHAPTER 37

Max

Months have now passed and the soft glow of candlelight flickers across our table, casting gentle shadows that dance in the corners of Ben’s smiling eyes. We’re tucked away in the corner of a quaint Italian restaurant, one that’s become our little sanctuary on the nights we celebrateus. Tonight, marks four months since the chaos that nearly tore us apart and nearly ended our lives. Four months of healing, of growing together in ways neither of us anticipated.

“I can’t believe it’s been four months,” I murmur, squeezing Ben’s hand across the table. His skin is warm against mine, a comforting anchor in the soft din of dinner chatter around us.

“Me neither,” Ben replies, his thumb tracing small circles on the back of my hand. “Feels like a lifetime of memories with you have passed, but I’m grateful for every moment that has brought us here.”

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