Page 79 of Sundowners
He clung to my back and exhaled against me. He was all hard angles, so thin compared to three weeks ago.
“What’s happened to you?”
He pulled back and wiped at his face.
“I’ll tell you, I promise. Just let me get through the rest of this before I collapse. I can’t talk much longer before I’ll stop making sense.” He stepped away and into the stall.
“If you need to stop—”
“No, I want to tell them what I know. At this point they’re the only hope I have of stopping Stephen.”
He flushed and stepped out of the stall, washed his hands and then stood before me.
“I’m so sorry, Roman. I wanted to keep you away from all of this.”
“I know you did. And I’ll be pissed at you later. Come here.” I pulled him in tight, and this time he felt a little stronger. “I’m so worried about you. What do you need?”
He barked out a laugh. “This.” He inhaled against my neck, rubbing his nose back and forth. “You. You make me feel better.”
I squirmed a little. “I want to know how, though, Creed. Will you tell me?”
He pulled back and sighed. “You’re doing it right now, being strong for me.” He closed his eyes and breathed in through his nose. He pressed his hands to my chest and they felt…warm, warmer than the skin of his lower back, where my hands were resting just under his t-shirt. “Your energy is so…different than when I met you. Back then, you fed me with your sadness, your anger. Now, it’s pure strength and…” He paused, his eyes filling with tears. “And love,” he whispered. “I haven’t felt that in so long.” His chin quivered, and he sobbed.
“Idolove you, dammit. Now stop.” I pulled him against me and held him as he cried, but instead of weakness, his grip was strong, like I remembered. He grabbed fistfuls of my shirt and he took deep breaths to center himself.
“The last person who loved and trusted me was killed, Roman. I’m terrified you’ll be taken from me.”
I cradled his jaw in my hands. “Then let’s work together and take these guys out, once and for all.”
“So brave,” he said, then he sucked in a breath.
Rey opened the door. “Everything okay in here?”
“Guess we’re taking too long,” I said, brushing my lips over his. “I’m right here, Creed. Take what you need from me. For strength. And then let’s go home.”
“Home,” he breathed and let his eyes flutter shut. “I kinda don’t have one of those anymore. I gave up my lease three weeks ago. I thought I would be gone by now.”
“Well, you’re not, and you’re not leaving, so let’s do this and get on with our lives. Together. Got it?” I don’t know where all this boldness was coming from, where I had the gall to decide that was how things were going to be, but it was what I wanted, what I could see coming to fruition. It was part of that “fast forwarding” I’d wanted to do earlier, when I could only see a distant light at the end of the tunnel, and I wanted to be there now.
Perhaps that was part of what people called manifesting your desires. I wanted Creed in my life. I wanted life to get to a place of peace, and dammit, I was going to make it so.
“I kinda love this side of you, Professor.”
And there it was, Creed’s smile. A little dimmer than the one I desperately needed to see returning, but I’d take it.
25
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
Creed
I cameout of that restroom not quite a new man, but one ready to do battle, sort of. And it was all thanks to a grad student still trying to find his way in this world with a powerful sense of intuition to guide him.I was still weaker than I’d been in many,manyyears, but I had resolve.
Perhaps he knew I’d needed an intervention at the moment I entered the restroom, that I’d contemplated an escape, or that I’d feared I was ready to collapse, never to rise again.
I’d spent the past three weeks isolated except for tracking Stephen and the others, and therefore I’d been starving. I desperately needed energy. I hadn’t realized how strong my time working at the home had made me until I made the attempt to see Mr. Fletcher earlier out of desperation. I was depleted, and I’d begun to imagine the type of demise Cross and Mark had described to me.
I entered that restroom fully believing I might not make it out, but then Roman came to my rescue with that special brand of energy that always soothed my weary soul. I’d been through so much in my long life that I knew better than to ignore the signs.
