Page 40 of A Damaged Soul
I nodded my confirmation. "Do you see now why I'm not good enough for you?"
Sadness filled Elle's eyes, but she didn't pull away from me like I expected her to.
"What I see is a man who was forced to make a terrible choice in order to keep himself alive."
Of course that was what she would see. Pulling my hand out of hers, I wasn't nice when I spoke again. "I killed a child. How the hell can everyone think that's okay?"
"Was he trying to kill you?" she hollered back.
"It doesn't matter if he was. I ended a child's life before he even got the chance to live it."
"No, those terrorists did that when they forced them to pick up a weapon. You would never kill a child who was defenseless."
She was right about that. Children were innocent and should stay that way as long as humanly possible.
"Weapon or not. I killed that boy, and now I need to live with it."
"The fact that you feel anything shows what a good man you are."
That stopped me in my tracks.
"If you felt nothing about killing a child, then I would be worried, but you obviously care enough to beat yourself up about it and refuse to be happy. That just proves you're a good person."
I never thought of it like that.
"But am I good enough for you?"
Elle gingerly touched my face and cradled my cheek in her palm. "I wouldn't still be here if I didn't think so."
I leaned into her hand and soaked up all her goodness. "How did I get so lucky?"
"I'm the lucky one. You could've fed me to the wolf instead of saving me in that bar."
I just chuckled. "No way. One look at you and I knew I would do anything you ever wanted."
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Elle
Rhett was going home today, and who knew the man would be so damn prickly after a couple of days in the hospital.
"What's taking the nurse so long with my discharge papers. She said she would be back soon. That was almost an hour ago," Rhett grumbled.
"It's only been ten minutes," I chuckled when his jaw dropped.
"No way. It's definitely been longer than that."
"It only feels like that because you've spent the entire time complaining," I reminded him, which earned me a scowl.
"I don't like hospitals," he said while crossing his arms.
"Gee, I never would've guessed."
Zack snickered from where he sat in the corner, listening to our exchange.
"What's so funny?" Rhett snapped at his brother.
"I like her. She keeps you on your toes."
