Page 113 of Shattered Omega: Part Two

Schooling and me, well, we might no longer be friends, but I wasn’t totally stupid.

Yet, those scars were hers, and I didn’t need to see them unless she wanted to share. I had spotted a dressing peeking from beneath her T-shirt sleeves, though.

“Can you keep them out of the water easily?” I asked, suddenly concerned.

“Oh, yeh. They’re uh… they’re higher up.” She got all flighty when she said it, even in the bond.

She needed to know she was safe with us, no matter what.

I could do that. One little bit at a time.

The water bubbled around us as I drew her close, savouring the feeling of her arms around me. Her body pressed to mine. Her scent tangled with the hot tub and earth and pine from the trees beyond.

We sat for a while like that, and I felt her unfurl like a flower in the bond. Frenzy fading for that fear again. It wasn’t nice, but it was good. If she stayed curled up tight like that, it would eventually start tearing its way out from the inside.

“I love you,” I breathed as the bubbles died down, running my thumb up and down her waist where my hand rested.

She leaned back, something so sad in her eyes that it broke my heart. “What if you and Ransom see, and you don’t want me anymore?”

“That, Nightshade, is never going to happen.”

I caught her wrists gently, lifting her hands and pressing her palms to my chest. I lifted them slowly so she could feel every bump of endless scars that marked my body as the canvas it was. My payment.

And she’d never run from me.

She shut her eyes, the soft wing of a butterfly smothering gold as a tear tumbled down her cheek, glittering beneath the stars and the moon above us.

I wiped it away, cupping her face as I left her hands pressed to my chest.

“You’re strong, Shatter. You’re going to be okay.”

I know she didn’t believe it, but I knew it.

“Willyoube?” she asked.

“I’ve decided… yes.” Dying wasn’t an option anymore. “I need to see you in glasses.”

Her brows bunched, all cute-like. “My eyesight is actually quite good…”

“Might not be when you’re old. I’ll wait.”

A smile trembled on her lips for a moment, and then she settled back against me.

“You haven’t used the dark bond,” she whispered after a long time.

“No.”

Surprisingly, I felt a trickle of worry from her.

“Would you like me to?” I asked.

There was a pause. “You didn’t want it, did you?”

“I didn’t want anyone taking that choice away from you,” I replied.

“He didn’t.”

I knew that now. “I want you,” I told her. “That’s what matters.”

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