Page 91 of The Savior

CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR

Liam took Chelsea by the hand, and that was what she needed to leave the side of her Jeep. Not explanations or absolution. Just the simple safety of holding his hand.

She couldn’t explain how it became so simple to climb the stairs, but when they came to the landing in front of his door, she was emotionally spent.

The day had been too hard: the bedroom clean-out, the engagement ring, and the confrontation compiling on the heels of their night together.

“It feels like centuries have past.” She stepped to the side as he opened the door.

“Since when?” He grazed her arm when she entered.

Chelsea turned toward him and pursed her lips. “I don’t know.”

He strode closer, and her nerve endings hummed.

“Do you know?” he asked.

“Know what?”

“If it was just sex?” He watched as if he wanted to tear their clothes away.

A zing of electricity raced down her spine. “Does it matter?”

His eyebrows arched. “Yeah. A lot.”

Her heart pounded. The hairs at the back of her neck stood. Would it be worse to simply sleep with him? Or to fall for him? Chelsea didn’t understand how he didn’t feel guilt and spiral with second-guesses.

“Did you need to get laid,” he asked. “Or did you need me?”

Him. A thousand times over. She needed him and couldn’t escape the riveting pull they shared. “You,” she admitted.

He lifted his chin wordlessly, and she didn’t know what should happen next. A grand gesture? The ground to open up and swallow her whole?

Instead, he took her hand again and led them to the couch. He plopped down, seemingly unfazed by their conversation, but she couldn’t fake his relaxed manner.

The movie was long since over, and the streaming app rotated through suggestions for what he should watch next. Every time the movie suggestion changed on the television, new hues shadowed the boring white walls.

Their legs were close but not like before, and she was too tense to crawl under his arm again.

“I want to show you something,” Liam said.

Chelsea choked then laughed. “Haven’t I seen enough tonight?”

He chuckled but left the living room. A minute later, he returned with a package.

She scooted to the edge of the cushion as he laid a towel-covered square on the coffee table. Then carefully, as if he were unwrapping the keys to a bygone golden city, he peeled back the fabric cover. Whatever he had hidden, it must be important to him, to keep it under wraps.

Her heart seized. “Liam…”

“I thought you might be looking for this.”

She slipped off the couch and kneeled. Her eyes watered. “How… when…”

But it didn’t matter. He’d found the draft copy she’d given up on and thrown away after the queso incident. She’d torn out the pages that she didn’t think were on par with Julia’s work and then destroyed the rest, because even the best part was no good if she couldn’t finish the project without her best friend.

Her hands pressed against her chest as if she didn’t dare touch the pages that had been patched together and taped.

“This seemed too important to let you shitcan it.”

---