Page 41 of Love Bleeds
Sweat broke out on my skin as I fought to crack my eyes open. The light in the room was too bright. I was in a room.
There was a hand on my cheek.
And there in that chair, that was Damian.
I said his name. I tried to, anyway. I'm not sure any sound actually made it past my lips, but he gave me a smile that was so brilliant it made me want to smile too. He leaned over me. His mouth touched my forehead. He was kissing me. Because he loved me.
I needed to show him that I loved him too. That was more important than closing my eyes again, even though it was so, so hard to keep them open. I didn't feel confident about my ability to speak, though, and I had a pretty limited range of movement.
"Damian." I sounded the name out carefully, because I wanted him to look at me, I wanted...
His face tilted toward me. I took the opportunity to lean up and touch my lips to his. I couldn't hold the position for long, but his mouth followed mine when my head fell back onto the pillow. I let myself relax, even as heat burned through my veins.
This time, it was a good kind of heat. It didn't threaten to consume me, dissipating into the air around me and Damian instead. I felt liberated as it washed over me--and out of me.
"Luke," Damian whispered my name, his thumb stroking my cheek in a gesture that felt almost reverent. "You back with me?"
I opened both of my eyes to take in more of the room. My body didn't feel so heavy anymore. My brain was starting to come back online too. It told me I was in my bedroom at the safe house.
I turned my head toward Damian again. He was really here with me. So close.
Still a vampire. I hadn't dreamed that part. I groaned, involuntarily. Part of me wished I could have had more time for my brain to make sense of the world again before being confronted with things that made no sense, like witches and vampires.
But still, I was glad that Damian was here, even if he had become part of a world that made no sense.
"Luke?" he tried to get my attention again, almost as if he was afraid I might slip off again.
"I'm here." My mouth felt impossibly dry. I glanced at the bedside table. There was a glass there, but no water. Fortunately, I didn't have to speak anymore for Damian to understand what I wanted. He took the glass and filled it with water from the tap in the ensuite. I tried to sit up as he came back into the room. Quickly, he set the glass down and sat on the edge of the bed, one hand on my back to help me position myself. With the other, he grabbed a pillow for me to lean against.
Only when he was sure that I was comfortable did he let go to hand me the glass of water. I eyed him thoughtfully, even as I drank. He'd always been a gentleman. As the son of an upper-class family, he'd been raised to be polite and proper. He didn't usually fuss over me, though.
Then again, he didn't usually kiss me either.
A faint blush colored my cheeks as the thought crossed my mind. I hadn't really been thinking when I'd kissed him. I'd just... I'd only wanted him to know what he meant to me.
It had felt nice to share that with him. To beallowedto share that with him after I'd thought him dead for so long.
Damian's fingers brushed mine as he took the glass from me when I was done drinking. Before all this, the innocent contact might not have registered with me, but now it made me shiver, which was weird as hell. I wasn't sure where that feeling was coming from. If I was just being confused or if there was some part of me I'd been repressing forever... but it was there all the same.
"How are you feeling?" Damian asked, shifting my focus away from my state of mind and on to my physical heath.
"Tired," I admitted.
"You would be," Damian said. "You've lost a lot of blood. They tell me you got transfusions, but still... I'm sure it'll take a while for you to sleep this off."
I nodded, not at all worried about that. Not at all worried aboutmewhen there were so many other things to be worried about. Like Damian and his being a vampire and his finally being here and then worrying how long he would be able to stay because I wasn't ready to let go of him again. I inhaled deeply, trying to quiet the storm in my mind. "I thought I'd never see you again."
"I'm sorry," Damian said, again, as if he had anything to apologize for.
"Please don't."
"Don't what?"
"Don't apologize."
Damian thought for a moment. "You're right. I'm not sorry,” he said then. “Your brother says I saved you. I don't know if that's true, but if it is, that's not something I'm sorry about. My sire said I sacrificed myself for someone who didn't deserve me, but I know now that's not true. Not that I should ever have believed anythinghesays in the first place."
I cringed. Damian's words, hissire'swords hit me right in the gut. That he'd sacrificed himself for someone who didn't deserve him. I wasn't so sure that wasn't the truth. Had I really deserved Damian's sacrifice? Had I ever really deservedhim?
