by Haley Weir
Sapphire frowned down at her plate. “No. She never mentioned it. Which one?”
“The Human Condition.”
“Wayward souls wander through the dense fog that obscures wealth and the fatality of clawing poverty. Here in the darkness we are all equals, for paradise and the inferno are interchangeable when one establishes commonality. And only those struck by madness will claim that pain is not the foundation of humanity.”
“It sounds so…”
“Jaded?” she chuckled. “It is. I wrote it when I was in a bad place. I realized that we walk around blind, our vision shrouded by the things we use to numb ourselves to the pain we’ve endured. Eventually, we forget that pain is what brings us all together. We all suffer from something—no matter how small or extreme. If we could realize this and stop passing judgment, then we could establish equality without borders.”
“So, you’re saying that pain and suffering is our commonality, that it humanizes us. Like Scrooge from A Christmas Carol? We view him as a monster more than a man until we realize his hardship. And in turn, he becomes more human when he is exposed to the suffering of his business partner. Suddenly, the things he thought mattered like his wealth are no longer meaningful.”
“And that means that this Corey Reed guy has a story too,” she insisted. “One that we need to learn before we write him off as the villain of our tale. If he didn’t, then he wouldn’t be reading my work and taking his time to capture one of you. I think…I think Corey wants someone to hear his story so that at least one person remembers that he’s human. We need to consider that these hunters might feel just as alone as you do.”
“You might be reaching. Sometimes looking for the good in people only leaves you disappointed. These hunters aren’t worth the risk of your life.”
“When Patrick tried to tell me that you were…that you had made mistakes in your past, I didn’t hesitate to give you a chance to speak your truth.” Sapphire set her fork down and leaned over the table a little. “No life has value over another. If it comes down to saving a thousand people or me, I hope you make the right decision. Because if these hunters don’t get what they came here for, you might be forced to make that choice.”
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Lights cast shadows upon the buildings as they walked through the barren streets of Haden Springs. Anders entwined his fingers with Sapphire’s, pulling her close enough to tuck her beneath his arm. He watched the blush spread upon her cheeks and resisted the urge to lean down and kiss her. “Did you want to call it a night? I have to be honest, I’m not too eager to say goodbye just yet.”
“Neither am I, but I’m sort of in the process of moving or else I would ask you to come back to my place,” she chuckled nervously.
“You’re moving?”
“You didn’t hear? I thought Brock would have said something on his crusade to put my life back in order. Well, my landlord found out about the attack and evicted me. He’s selling the repair shop, so I can’t stay. I have to be out by tomorrow.”
Anders stopped walking and spun Sapphire around to face him. “Do you need anything? Money, a place to stay, anything?”
“I don’t want to start this relationship indebted to you. Thank you for offering. It means a lot that you care enough to even ask.” Sapphire chewed the inside of her cheek and rocked back and forth on her heels. Anders closed the distance between them and embraced the petite woman. She stiffened at first, but sighed and wrapped her arms around him once the tension bled from her limbs. “You can’t imagine how good this feels. I’ve only ever been held like this by you, you know?”
“Really?”
“The times you would lay with me in the clinic were some of the best moments in my life. It’s sad to say it out loud, but it’s true,” she giggled. “Even when you hated me, you were the best part of my day.”
“And you were mine. When I wasn’t too busy trying to convince myself that I wasn’t interested in you, I spent my time thinking of holding you until I got the opportunity to sneak in your room. There was just something about you that I couldn’t stay away from even long before I realized you were my mate.”
“Did you miss me? When I was in the coma,” she clarified. “Did you miss the trouble I used to cause?” Sapphire lifted onto her tiptoes and pressed a kiss to the exposed flesh at the base of his throat peeking through the opening of his shirt.
He swallowed past the lump in his throat and breathed deeply through his nostrils. “I did. You were a nagging pain most of the time, but life was always more interesting with you in it. The amount of time I spent talking about you is embarrassing, now that I think about it.”
“What did you say?”
“I complained mostly, but I think Dorian saw right through it. He used to tease me about having a juvenile crush, that I was mean to you because I liked you.” Anders kissed the center of her forehead and watched her smile brighten. “I think he was right.”
He felt a surge of butterflies in his stomach when she laced her hands behind his head and brushed her lips against his. Anders groaned and tasted the sweetness of the chocolate cake she ate for dessert and the tartness of her wine. His body shuddered as he supported her weight against him as if he was trying to make them one being. Sapphire’s teasing kisses were more intoxicating than any liquor Anders had ever tasted. “I like kissing you,” she whispered.
The night closed in around them like a cloak of intimacy, giving the illusion of privacy. “Let’s go to your place,” he offered. “I can help you pack.” She smiled and led him down the street to her apartment. Anders was tempted to vandalize the windows of the repair shop on the ground level, but took the high road and followed Sapphire up the stairs. He was so entranced by the sight of her swaying hips that he tripped on the third step and buried his face in his hands, mortified at his clumsy behavior.
Sapphire was spooked by his fall and ended up sliding down the stairs on her rump. They lay at the bottom of the steps in a heap of tangled limbs as she laughed so hard tears spilled from her eyes. Anders rolled them onto their sides and found himself joining her. “You’ve cursed me with your clumsiness,” he accused.
She snorted and knocked her forehead against his. Anders rubbed his head and kissed her temple. They tottered the rest of the way up the stairs and greeted the quirky felines he had befriended while Sapphire was in a coma. “Do you know their names?” she asked delightedly. “The ginger is Puffer, the hairless one is Legolas, the fur ball is Melby, and….” Sapphire crawled onto the floor and searched beneath the couch. When she emerged, the impish one was in her arms. “This is Rocco.”
“Well, Rocco owes me a new pair of shoes. He tore into them one night when I crashed on your bed. I had to go to work with holes in my loafers.” Anders knelt down and picked up Puffer. “But this little guy and I sort of bonded.” The sweater-wearing cat purred loudly in his ear and nuzzled Anders’ neck as he stood up.
“You slept in my bed?”
His ears turned bright red in a rare moment of bashfulness. “I did.”
“I don’t mind…I’m glad you were comfortable here.”
Anders helped fill the feeder and then rolled up his sleeves to help pack Sapphire’s belongings into boxes. He organized everything meticulously, which did nothing but cause her to roll her eyes and bunch things up in bubble wrap before tossing it into a box. It wasn’t surprising to find that she placed little value on possessions.
“What about the memories attached to them?”
“After waking up, I didn’t trust my memories anymore,” she revealed. “Everything was scrambled around and nothing made sense. So, how do I know what was real and what was just made up in my head?”
“Sometimes I think you understand me more than anyone else in this world.”
***
The teakettle screamed and Sapphire dashed into the kitchen. She stumbled halfway there, tripped over a cat, and rolled onto her feet in a matter of seconds. Her long, lavender hair was braided down th
e length of her back. Legolas hopped up on the counter and watched her prepare the tea. She patted his head and wandered back into the living room, handing her guest a cup before sitting down.
Anders sat on the floor with his back against the couch and his long legs stretched out across the rug. Sapphire wiggled closer to his side, trying to warm herself with his body heat. He must have caught on to what she wanted, for he lifted his arm to allow her to get closer. Anders flipped through a photo album that rested on his thigh.
“Who’s this?” he asked.
“My mom. We were really close.”
“And this?” Anders pointed to the man standing beside her beautiful mother.
“That monster is my father,” Sapphire replied venomously. She moved aside the collar of her shirt and showed a pale scar along her clavicle. Anders watched closely as she then lifted the hem of her dress and showed the various scars along her legs. Sapphire turned her back to him and pulled her hair over her shoulder to show the scar on her back. When the collection of old wounds was pointed out among the ones she sustained during her fall, Sapphire curled up in Anders’ side. “When you’re as clumsy as I am, people believe stories of falling down the stairs and running into things.”
“But I take it those weren’t accidents.”
She shook her head. “My mom saw it for herself one day and we left that night. We traveled fifteen hundred miles before we found someone we felt safe enough to rest. She married a good man. My stepfather believed me right away. As a cop, he knew the signs of abuse. He was the only one to ask how far it had gotten.”
Anders tightened his arms around her shoulder and silently comforted Sapphire as she relived the fear of being a helpless child again.
“I didn’t tell him at first, but day by day I told him a little more. When he heard everything, he got on a plane back to my hometown and killed him. In one instant, my father took away the only good thing I had known in my life.”
“What did your mother say?”
Sapphire covered her mouth as a sob escaped. Anders set the album aside pulled her into his lap, rocking slightly as her body was jerked with the force of her tears. “She got sick when he went to prison. I was sixteen when she died. After that, I was on my own…wandering around with no shoes on my feet and only the clothes that I made myself on the floor of a truck stop bathroom.”
“How the hell did you survive?” Ander asked.
“I used what my stepfather taught me about staying safe and knowing how to defend myself. Sometimes I would waste time in cafes and write in my notebook, listen to music, and talk to the people there. One day a man approached me about my writing and a year later I had several collections on the shelves.”
“When did you go to Italy?”
Sapphire wiped her tears and looked into his eyes. “I got my high school diploma and then enrolled in university classes. I focused on the arts, of course, but I was required to take a foreign language class, so I chose Italian. It helped with my romantic studies and I just fell in love with the culture.”
Anders nodded.
“When they took us all to Venice to visit some of the landmarks, I decided to stay. It took a long time for Brock to convince me to come back to the states, but I did. For him.”
“You’re a great friend, Sapphire. Brock is lucky to have you.”
She placed a swift peck on his lips and climbed to her feet, but he pulled her back down. Sapphire squeaked as she fell across Anders’ lap. He kissed her deeply, tilting her head until his claim was stamped onto her soul. She felt the urgency of their lust lower to a simmer as it made way for something more dangerous to come forward.
Ander’s released her after a few more seconds. “I’ll never tire of kissing you.”
“Good.” She retreated over to the kitchen and refreshed her tea. A week ago, she would never have expected to have Anders McKinney sitting in her living room and listening to her life story. Sapphire still kept a few things to herself to keep from ruining the rest of the night, but she would tell him eventually.
In fact, Sapphire decided to put her all into what was drawing them together. Even if it ended in disaster or Anders was her first and only love, she wanted to lose herself in something that was bigger than herself. Long fingers brushed her braid aside and soft lips caressed the side of her neck. “Can I stay here tonight? I haven’t slept well since you left the clinic. There’s something very wrong with my bed.”
“What’s that?” she snickered.
“You aren’t there. I need to hold you, Sapphire. You’re the only thing that makes me feel more like a man than a beast.”
She lifted his chin. “Man…beast…as long as it’s you, I’m ok with it.”
As if he were one of her cats, Anders buried his face in her neck and a low rumble vibrated from his chest. Sapphire swatted his glorious butt and pointed to the closet. “There should be oversized shirts in there and some of Brock’s sweats for you.”
“Are you sure you want me to wear clothes to bed?” he teased with a sassy lift of his brow. Sapphire lightly drew lazy patterns against his chest and rose to the challenge.
Her breath flowed over his shirt and warmed the twitching muscle that rested beneath the fabric. “Do you want me to wear clothes to bed?” The look on his face was worth the twinge of embarrassment that stole through her.
CHAPTER TWELVE
The cats curled up in their beds as the sun rose slowly beyond the curtains. Anders stretched out across Sapphire’s sheets and surrendered to the comfort of her presence. He sank into the pillows and waited for her to return from the bathroom. Anders was fine knowing that she was uncomfortable changing in front of him so soon. If she had, he may have been concerned.
What he saw instead was something he wouldn’t trade the world for. Sapphire popped her head out of the bathroom door with her hair in a floppy bun and some sort of clay mask smeared on her face. She shuffled out awkwardly with perfectly straight posture, wearing panda bear themed one-piece pajamas. Her feet were covered in purple striped socks with kitty ears as she joined him on the bed. “Don’t look at me.”
“I feel like we’ve been married for a few months and you’re just now showing me this side of you,” he jested. Anders swiped a finger against her cheek. “What is it?”
“It’s avocado, aloe vera, and organic Greek yogurt.”
“Go get it,” Anders said. Sapphire huffed, but went to retrieve the strange green goop. He sat cross-legged on the bed and gestured toward his face. “Come on. Give me a mask. Even though I’m a doctor, it’s important for me to test these things.”
She knelt in front of him and applied the mask. He was surprised by how cool it felt on his skin. “Are you doing this just so I’m not embarrassed by my bedtime routine?”
“If I agree, does that earn me any points in my favor?”
“It might,” Sapphire giggled. “But this really is good for your skin…I think.”
“You mean to tell me that you weren’t born this beautiful? Because I find that very hard to believe.” Anders and Sapphire cringed at the same time, laughing at his cheesy line. The smile on her face was breathtaking and her laughter lit something inside him that he hadn’t known existed.
“Don’t say things like that!” she protested.
“Why? It’s true. I bet every inch of you is just…adorable.” He pounced, knocking her back onto the bed and pulling off those weird socks. Her toes wiggled, painted with a vibrant teal color that perfectly matched her personality. Anders discovered how ticklish Sapphire was and how easy it was to make her laugh. “I knew it!”
“Stop! I yield! I yield!”
He gave in and let her wash their faces free of the mask before crawling back into bed. Anders instantly laid his head on her belly and wrapped his arms around her hips, slotting himself between her legs. Sapphire scuffed and poked his cheek. “If I get too hot, you’ll end up on the floor, buddy.”
“Try pushing me off this bed and see what happens, sho
rty.”
Sapphire gasped and tried to jostle him. “You did not just insult my height!”
“Your height is perfect. When we lay down like this,” Anders growled. “We match in every way that counts. I can just lift my head and kiss you.” Sapphire grew flustered and pulled the hood of her pajamas over her head to hide, but he tugged it back down. She pretended to put up a fight when he slid his arm under her head and cuddled up to her, but he saw right through it.
They slept so late that Anders’ phone vibrated hard enough to fall onto the floor. He lifted his head up and rolled over to answer. “Yeah?” he asked quietly. Voices morphed into angry shouts on the other end of the line, but he couldn’t make out anyone in particular. Anders pulled the phone away and saw Michael’s name. “Michael?”
“Sorry about that. We need to meet up in my office right away. No delays, Anders. There’s something big going on that I think you need to be aware of.”
“Alright. I’ll be there when I can,” he replied. Anders hung up and kissed Sapphire on the cheek. “Wake up, beautiful.” She stirred and blinked open her eyes in a way that was all too similar to the cats that now slept at the foot of her bed. He kissed her cheek again and brushed a tendril of hair from her forehead. “Rise and shine.”
“Ugh…what time is it?”
“Noon.”
“I need coffee before I’m able to function,” she groused. Anders stood up and lifted her along with him. Sapphire fussed and lightly slapped at his arms. Her head shot up when she realized that his shirt had disappeared sometime while they slept. “Never mind. I’m completely awake now. It really is unfair how good-looking you are in the morning. You don’t even have morning breath.”
Anders set her down in the bathroom. She brushed her teeth as he showered and he dressed while she showered. In the middle of putting his socks on, he paused. The sound of water hitting the tiled floor of the shower was the only disturbance in the quiet. His thoughts ran through the past twenty-four hours. The ease in which he had fallen into a domestic atmosphere with Sapphire…disturbed him. Anders had no intentions of backing out of this, but part of him recognized that they needed to slow down.
