Page 137 of Single Teddy
“But he passed out.”
Teddy raised his other hand and cupped my cheek, and I turned to him.
“I’m fine, see? I’m just a wuss. Me and blood don’t get along,” he groaned.
“You don’t sound fine,” I said.
I didn’t know if I believed him, and not that I didn’t trust Azrael, but I definitely wanted a doctor’s opinion.
I helped him off the table with Azrael’s assistance and carried him to a chair. Autumn came up from behind me with a large glass of water and pills and helped him take the pain relief. I didn’t let go of him for a second. I wasn’t going to ever again.
“I’m sorry,” I said.
He cocked his head.
“What for?”
I dropped my gaze to the floor and breathed through the knot in my throat.
“This. This whole thing. It’s my fault.”
“How exactly?” he croaked.
I sighed.
“If I hadn’t picked up the kids off the street?—”
“You couldn’t have left them to their fate. What if something happened to them?” he said.
“Yeah, but if I hadn’t taken them to the police?—”
“And where would you have taken them if not an institution that’s meant to protect people?”
“But they didn’t.”
“And you didn’t know that, did you? I mean,Ibarely knew it.”
“Still. I feel responsible. You got shot because of me.”
Teddy lifted our hands between us and squeezed, planting a kiss on the back of my hand while he placed his other hand on my nape.
“Listen to me, Wesley Crawford, because I will say this only once, and you better believe it. None of this, none of it, is your fault. You did your job as a teacher, a compassionate man, as a human, and they took advantage of that. You did what was right, and I won’t take any objection to that. Okay?”
There was the stinging burn in my eyes again. God. What was wrong with me today?
Oh right.
“Okay,” I muttered and looked back down, only for him to lift my head back up and make me look into his eyes that still shone bright despite everything.
“And just in case it wasn’t clear, I’d take a bullet for you again. I’d take all the bullets if it meant saving you. So remember that. No matter what happens, I’ll always come save you.”
I couldn’t hold it in any longer. I burst into the tears I’d been holding for the last few minutes. Or more accurately, the past half hour.
Oh who was I kidding? I’d been choking down the tears for the past few hours, trying to keep my composure for the kids and to not give those evil men the satisfaction, but…I couldn’t anymore.
So I let go.
And everything that had happened today, the abduction, the betrayal, the fear, the shoot-out, blew over me like a storm. A storm that could only be tamed by his touch, his gaze, his lips.
