Page 42 of Erik's Salvation
It didn’t take her long to find him. Of course, he was standing right beside the fast-moving water.
She weaved through the last of the trees before stopping beside him. She made sure that she wasn’t too close to the water’s edge, planting her feet firmly into the ground.
He didn’t say a word. He didn’t even look at her. But despite that, she felt the heaviness of his mood. It was as if there was a thick pane of glass between them…and she instinctively knew if she hit too hard, it would shatter.
So instead of speaking right away, she bent down and lifted a handful of small rocks and threw them one at a time, watching as they sunk into the water.
“Nico and I used to have competitions on who could throw the rocks the furthest,” she eventually said, quietly. “When I was eight, I almost drowned in a river because I’d never learned to swim. After that, I flat-out refused to be near the water. But he made it fun, always letting me win. He almost made the water feel safe.”
The only hint that he heard her words was the small flex of his forearm. He wore a T-shirt, no jacket, but didn’t look cold at all.
She let the quiet seep into both of them for a while, the rushing water the only sound around them. Then, finally, she asked, “Are you okay?”
His jaw tightened. “No.”
At least he was honest. “Want to talk about it?”
He shook his head.
She nodded, then one side of her mouth lifted. “You know, I should really be riding your ass for being on my land.”
There was the tiniest hint of a smile. “I know. I’m sorry. I used to come out here when I was a kid. There’s something about the flowing water that I always found calming.”
Found…past tense. Because he didn’t anymore? Because nothing could calm him now?
“When I was nineteen,” she started softly, sliding her thumb over the smooth curve of a rock, “I started seeing this therapist. I’d seen a few before her, but I always felt like they didn’t really care about my problems. This one was different.”
She turned the stone over, letting its coolness soothe her skin. “I told her about some of the stuff I went through in my foster homes.”
Erik’s eyes were on her now, heavy like a weight. Hot and questioning.
“Some of it was so heavy…” she continued. “Stuff I’d never told anyone but Nico.”
She lifted her gaze to the water and threw the rock, watching the ripples it created when it hit the surface. “I’d just finished telling her the worst story of all, when she said something I’ll never forget.” Hannah swallowed, remembering the woman’s words like she was speaking them in her ear now. “She looked at me and said, ‘And you think you went through all that fornothing?’”
Her gaze caught on a leaf that drifted through the water. “She said that our darkest moments aren’t meant to cripple us. They’re meant to make us stronger. Teach us, then turn us into warriors.”
Finally, she turned to look at Erik. He watched her as if he was trying to peel back her layers to see beneath the surface, the one he just now realized she showed the rest of the world.
“So you’re a warrior,” he said quietly. It wasn’t a question.
Still, she answered it as if it was. “Yes. And so are you.”
Anyone could see he’d been through some kind of hell. Something that had twisted his world in a way he still hadn’t recovered from.
He noticed she was out of pebbles and reached down to lift another, handing it to her. Their fingers touched, and that familiar electricity ran down her arm. “I don’t know about that, Angel.”
“I do.” Two words of which she was absolutely certain.
There was that familiar tilt of his lips again. “Thank you.”
She wasn’t sure if he was thanking her for her words, or her company, or for not kicking him off her property—it didn’t matter. “You’re welcome.”
When she just kept rolling the small rock over and over in her hand, he asked, “Are you going to throw that?”
She shook her head. “I think I’ll keep this one. I’ll give you some space now.”
She’d made it five steps away before he spoke, causing her to stop.
