“Hmm.” I rain a line of kisses up her neck, nibbling right under her ear, and she purrs in contentment. “I’ve thought about it, and I’mnotletting you come.”
“Asshole! Jerk! I hate you!”
I edge away from her, smirking, and flip her around. Her face is annoyingly clear of tears, and my smile falters. But she must misread my expression, because she bites her lower lip.
“I… I don’t hate you at all, Logan. I’m sorry, I don’t know why I said that. I love you, I don’t hate you at all.”
“You… what?”
Her face flames when she realizes what she said. “I didn’t mean… Please just ignore that. We’ll pretend it didn’t happen. I’m sorry, it was stupid, I didn’t mean—”
I interrupt her word vomit with a kiss to her lips. I suddenly realize it’s the first time I’ve kissed her since that night when we were fifteen years old. I fold her to me, deepening it, my tongue slipping gently past her parted lips to claim her. She hooks her tongue around mine, moaning softly as I devour her.
“I love you too, Lia,” I breathe into her mouth. “I fucking love you too. And you know what?” I tear myself away from her lips to kiss her second set.
“What?” she whispers.
“I changed my mind. I think Iamgoing to let you come, after all.”
One month later
30
Lia
Iguess I do deserve happiness, after all.
Well, maybe I don’t really deserve it. But somehow, I have it.
I’ve found the soft, sweet boy of my youth again. I see it in his eyes when he cooks us dinner, or reads Aurora a bedtime story, or strokes my hair while I lie on the couch beside him, watching old movies on the tiny television in the living room.
The day after we got here, he went down to the nearby village and brought back three bags stuffed with toys, dolls, puppets, books, play-doh, and markers for Aurora. It’s hard to realize that this man who should by rights hate the living proof of the pain I caused him, acts more like a father than Aurora’s own dad ever did.
But everything changed the moment I let those words slip.I love you.And now, with each passing moment, the threat of Carmelo seems to grow more vague.
It’s never farther from my mind than during my favorite moment of the day, when I lie in bed with Aurora until she falls asleep, while Logan hums quietly beside us. Often, I end up falling asleep before she does. I wake up to him carrying me to bed. Then he takes out my contact lenses and even brushes myteeth so I don’t have to get up. When I try to protest, he tells me I deserve at least this, since he’s the reason I’m so tired.
That’s definitely true, and if he’s soft and sweet during the day, he’s anything but at night. Which I’m secretly thankful for, because I’ve come to terms with the fact that his cruelty does something to me. I like being tortured to tears, and I like that my tears make him hard. I don’t know what that says about us—nothing good, probably—but I’ve come to accept it. Not just accept it, but embrace it.
Thank god the living room and the kitchen separate us from Aurora’s and Dolores’ bedrooms. The walls are thick, and I’ve tested it—they can’t hear us.
I mean, I guess they could hear me if I screamed. I do my very best to muffle my screams at night, but all bets are off in the afternoon, when Dolores takes Aurora out to play.
Thank god for Dolores, too. We’ve found the perfect balance between family life and time alone. I know that wouldn’t be possible without her. Damien never struck me as being particularly thoughtful, but I guess I can thank him for that. I don’t know how we’d manage if it weren’t for her.
She takes care of the house so well that it leaves me enough time to figure out how to piss Logan off.
And the more pissed off he is, the better it is when we’re alone.
Today, he’s looking pretty pissed off as he stands in front of me, his hands folded. I’m glad Dolores decided to take a long trip with Aurora to the village, because I have a feeling we’re going to need all that distance at least.
He looks like he has every intention of pulling every single scream out of me he can.
“Remember what I told you would happen last time?”
I do remember, and I eye the bathroom with a mix of excitement and apprehension.
“Ibarelycursed you out, Logan. I mean, I don’t thinkassholecounts. Don’t they allow that in PG-13 movies? Anyway, it’s become second nature to me, so—”