Page 116 of Unspoken Words
“He’s about to start balling his little eyes out because he thinks you’re hurt,” I answered like a seasoned ventriloquist. “Because he thinkshehurt you.”
“He did,” he mumbled again.
“Oh come on, it’s just a little blood.”
“Yeah,myblood.”
Max’s bottom lip trembled and it broke my heart.
“Should I whack him again, just to make sure?” I whispered.
Max smiled and nodded.
Before I could swat Connor with my notebook again, he caught my arm with his free hand and bent it to tickle my side. I squealed and stumbled toward the back of the car, pulling Connor with me.
“Smooth move, McBusted Nose Head.”
He chuckled but kept his head tilted back.
“Do you have a first aid kit?”
He nodded and opened the back doors of his Nissan Patrol then riffled through music equipment and automotive tools until he pulled out a small, dark green canvas bag with a red cross on it.
I took it from him, unzipped it, and pulled out antiseptic wipes and two large gauze pads. “Sit down,” I ordered, gently pushing on his shoulder to coax him to a more manageable height. “Let me clean your face before Max thinks you’re a monster.”
Connor did as he was told and sat on the back of his car, opening his legs for me to stand between. I paused for a moment then stepped closer, brushing the insides of his thighs with my own, my skin heated and buzzed where we’d touched. His body was more defined now. Bigger. Stronger. Robust. Memories of the last time we’d been this close came flooding back into my mind as if they’d only been made yesterday. So vivid. So real. So heartbreaking. I wanted to scream and cry, but, more than anything, I wanted to pull him to me so I could feel everything he used to make me feel, everything and so much more.
“This … er, this might be cold,” I stuttered, dabbing the wipe across the stubble on his chin and lip.
“Your touch could never be cold, Ellie.”
Our eyes met and I froze. Pressed together, we were electric, familiar, but this also felt unknown and forbidden, and I wasn’t sure I could handle it any longer.
Biting my lip, I shifted my stare to his jaw and calmed my breathing.
“You’re still so beautiful.” His voice was laboured, quiet, and slightly nasal, and together with the featherlight touch of his thumb on the outer edge of my thigh, I almost lost the ability to stand, my knees weak, my muscles trembling.
“Connor, what are you doing?” I whispered, barely able to speak at all.
“Trying to get you back.”
“What?”
He removed his hand from his nose. “You taught me that when you lose someone, you can always get them back in one way or another. Like when I lost Aaron, you showed me how to get back the parts I’d deliberately let go. So that’s what I’m doing now, trying to get you back in every way you’ll let me.”
“But I can’t let you. Not in that way.” I put a gauze pad over his nose and guided the hand he was resting against my thigh to hold it firmly in place. “I have a boyfriend. You know that.”
“I do.”
“So there’s no getting me back. Not like that.”
He didn’t answer and, yet, his eyes glimmered.
“Why are you smiling?”
“Because Iwillget you back. One day.”
I shook my head. I even smiled.
