by Lisa Simmons
What?
"Lauren?" I repeated, blinking in surprise.
"Yeah. She's a shitty ass friend, by the way," he grumbled, his gaze never dropping from mine. I couldn't find it in me to care about Lauren anymore. My eyes darted once more toward the hallway I'd come down, but there was no one in sight.
"Abigail," he said, drawing my attention back to him. My head snapped back toward his own, our eyes locking once more as the fire roared inside me. "I'm not okay."
I couldn't speak as I watched him, the pain written so clearly over his face digging at me harshly. It was obvious from the dark circles under his eyes, similar to mine, and the haphazard way his hair lay atop his head that he wasn't okay. His breathing matched mine, ragged and uneven and completely taken over by the emotion flooding through him.
He took a tiny step closer, the space between us diminishing by a few inches and causing my heart to pound even harder than it already was.
"I know what you're doing," he said slowly. His head was ducked down as he looked up from beneath his brows, trying to get through to me. Panic flashed through me.
"I'm not doing anything," I lied weakly, my voice unconvincing.
"Yes, you are," he said, nodding his head.
I swallowed harshly. After everything I'd done to try and protect him, it hadn't worked. He'd seen through my guise and figured out what I was doing somehow. How he knew it was all a lie was a mystery to me, but it was obvious now that he knew. I could feel it in the way he was looking at me and see it in the desperation on his face, and I knew he could tell the connection between us burned as strong as ever. He knew that I didn't want to leave him and that I was only trying to protect him, but that didn't stop the pain and hurt from settling into his bones.
There was no way he would believe I didn't love him now, but I had to try.
"No, I'm not," I repeated. My attempts to make my voice sound firmer failed miserably as I sounded just as shaken as I had the entire time.
"You don't want to be with him," Reece said, the certainty in his voice contradicted by his expression. He sounded more convinced than he looked as his vulnerability showed through his eyes. I could practically feel him shaking as he hovered a foot away from me, his hands hanging by his sides. Or maybe that was me.
"Yes I do." My voice was a mere whisper now, my ragged breaths nearly drowning out my words. I could feel the familiar sting of tears forming behind my eyes, something I'd gotten used to over the past few days but felt oddly new again now that I stood in front of Reece. I was breaking all over again. He sighed heavily, his shoulders sagging as he shook his head in disbelief.
"No, you don't Abby!" he said, a hurt anger flashing through him. "I know you wanna be with me. You feel what I do, I can see it in your face."
I sucked in a gasp of air in an attempt to fight off the tears as my head turned to the side. My eyes darted to the entrance again as my hand rose involuntarily to cover my mouth, my shaky breath blowing out across my fingers. My entire body was shaking now as I tried to fight off the emotion from taking me over.
My skin seemed to melt off my bones when his finger tucked under my chin to turn my face back to him. Tears leaked from my eyes despite my efforts to hold them in, and my breathing was more ragged than ever. This was too much.
"I don't need you to save me. I need you to be with me," he pleaded quietly. He stepped even closer to me, the distance between us only a few inches now as his hand remained on my chin. My eyes squeezed shut as my face screwed up, the gasping sob I'd been trying to hold in erupting from my lips. His wrist was wrapped in my fingers as I placed my palm to his skin and pulled his hand from my face.
"I have to save you, Reece," I said, finally dropping the pathetic attempt at deceiving him and admitting what I'd been failing to deny. My body shook as I sucked in a breath and tried to maintain any sort of control under his gaze. He shook his head urgently, ignoring my attempts to remove his touch from me by wrapping his hands around my cheeks. His palms heated my skin as his fingers disappeared into my hair, the familiar embrace sending a searing inferno through my veins.
"No, you don't," he said desperately. His chest rose and fell quickly as he breathed, the tension of the moment clearly affecting him just as much as it was affecting me. Intensity so strong flowed between us that I could practically feel it taking over the air around us.
I sucked my lips into my mouth to try and stifle the gasps that rattled through my throat. All I managed to do was shake my head and squeeze my eyes shut in a weak attempt to deter him.
"I need you to be with me. I'm not okay without you, Abigail. It's like my entire body is dying," he said, his voice dripping with honesty and pain. It was so clear how much he was hurting without me, his words describing exactly how I felt while the emotions that rolled off him echoed my own. We were both falling apart without each other.
"Reece-"
"No, baby, stop it," he said urgently, his thumbs stroking up the sides of my cheeks as he shook his head again. "Please stop lying to me. You promised you'd never lie to me. You need me, too."
It was like I'd lost the ability to speak. He was right, in every single way, but I couldn't confirm anything without putting him in danger. I also couldn't lie to him anymore because the pain of it would surely kill us both if I kept it up. It was better to just not speak at all.
"Abigail," he said, his voice heavy with a begging tone. The usual depth and strength of it was all but gone now as he let the vulnerability take him over.
"You need me," he said. He sounded like he was trying to convince himself just as much as he was me as his thumbs continued their desperate tracing of my cheeks, wiping away the tears that hadn't stopped falling since I'd let them. I felt like I couldn't move. My back was pressed into the wall while Reece held my face, his chest now pressing into mine while his face, ducked to my level, hovered inches away from my own.
My eyes pressed shut yet again, the overwhelming intensity of his gaze burning through me and clouding my mind. I needed to think clearly, but it was impossible with him here. When my eyes opened, I saw he was closer than ever while he waited for my response. His eyes searched mine desperately, silently begging me to confirm what he already knew even though I was too stubborn to admit.
Finally, after what felt like years, I gave the tiniest of nods. His chest sunk quickly as he sucked in a breath, his eyes flashing in elation as he absorbed the meaning. I couldn't stop the tears that leaked from my eyes nor the way my jaw shook with the effort to hold back my sobs.
"You love me," he whispered. We were both shaking now as we stood alone in the dark, the vulnerable words being exchanged nearly drowned out by the pounding of our hearts. Again, I didn't move as everything I'd worked so hard to do crumbled down around my feet. My attempts to keep in the dark had failed miserably as we stood inches apart in a secluded hallway, his words breaking me down bit by bit.
"Abigail," he whispered again, the almost nonexistent distance between us making it easy to hear his every breath. My eyes stayed locked on his as breath ripped from my lungs.
"Stop me if you don't love me. Stop me and I'll leave you alone forever," he said, the words physically paining him to say. His eyes searched mine frantically, looking for signs of resistance. My heart pounded harder than it ever had in my chest and I was sure he could feel it against his as he hovered an inch from my lips.
He waited, the moment in time stretching on for what felt like eternity as the sizzling tension lingered between us. His lips were a mere inch from my own, and his strong hands held my face gently as he waited for me to stop him. I didn't move, unable to pull myself away from what I so desperately wanted, desperately needed. Everything I'd worked for to keep him safe had been all but destroyed, but in that moment, all that mattered was Reece.
I couldn't stop him.
My hands shook by my sides as he hovered before me, his eyes positively burning into my own as he searched on last time for any sign
that I was going to stop him. In a split second, it became clear to him that I wasn't going to as he closed the distance between us, our lips colliding in a physical desperation backed up by all the turmoil and pain rolling inside us.
The moment his lips touched mine, it was like a vacuum surrounded us to suck out all of the sound, the people, anything that could have possibly interrupted. The ache I'd felt down to my bones lifted, the pressure of his lips on mine evaporating the debilitating pain I'd been dealing with since the moment I left him. Fire stronger than anything I'd ever felt seared through me, burning me up from the inside out as it melted all of the ice that had settled over my heart.
I couldn't breathe and my heart felt like it was going to pound out of my chest, but it was the first time since I'd left him that I felt alive. His lips pressed firmly to mine, neither of us moving or deepening the kiss but reveling in the way it felt to be reunited. His hands held my face firmly, holding me to him while my arms finally recovered enough to wind themselves around his neck.
I hugged myself as close to him as I possibly could without breaking our kiss, my body craving the warmth of his after so many days of feeling cold. I could feel the tears leaking from my eyes, the wetness stinging a hot trail down my cheeks but I didn't care. All I cared about in that moment was Reece and finally getting him back, even if it was only for a moment.
One of his hands left my face to wrap around my waist, pulling me even tighter against him as his lips remained pressed to mine. I could feel his fingers curl around the back of my head as he cradled my face, his lips shifting for the first time to mold around my own. I could feel the pure desperation in the kiss and the pure longing behind it, the emotions we both were feeling echoed in his actions.
I was certain I had never held him tighter than that moment as we kissed, my body wrapped in his arms with our lips never parting. The fire that ripped through me never lessened as it went on, the force of it completely taking me over. I could have kissed him forever until the fire inside us burned us to a crisp and been more content than I'd ever been in my entire life.
The kiss ended far too soon as we pulled back at the same time, both of us gasping for air thanks to our already fragile state and the intensity of our kiss. His forehead pressed against mine while his eyes burned into my own, the fire ignited within him making them practically glow in the darkness.
"Abby, I love you," he whispered, his voice completely overcome with emotion. I could see the wetness gathering in his eyes, the tears about to spill over as the muscle in his jaw flexed. "I need to hear you say you love me."
My chest heaved against his as I tried to calm my racing heart, the affect of our kiss still very much flooding through me. I sucked in a breath to try and regain some control but it was useless. His chest was hot against mine and his shoulders rose and fell drastically in time with his breaths beneath my elbows where they rested. My arms bent, allowing my fingers to snake their way into the soft strands of his hair on the back of his head. Everything about him felt achingly familiar and right as he pressed himself against me.
"I love you," I whispered, giving in to him yet again. His body sagged with relief, the air visibly whooshing out of him as he surged forward to hug me to him. His arms wove around my back while mine tightened once more around his neck, pressing my face into the warmth of his skin. He hugged me so tightly that it was hard to breathe, but I didn't care. The warmth of him enveloped me completely, and I never wanted him to let go.
"Come back to me," he murmured, his voice muffled through my hair as he spoke. Again, I squeezed my eyes shut, his words painful and desperate. There was nothing I wanted more in the entire world than to be his again, but there was one glaringly large obstacle in the way: Jack. When I didn't respond, he pulled back enough to look at my face while keeping his arms wrapped around me.
"Whatever he said he'll do, it can't be worse than losing you again," he said sincerely. His eyes were blazing as they spoke and I had no doubt in my mind that he was speaking the truth. Or at least, what he believed to be the truth. In his mind, there really was nothing in the world Jack could do to him that would be worse than losing me. My heart pounded painfully.
"Reece, you don't know that," I said, shaking my head. He stilled my movements by dropping his forehead to mine.
"Yes I do. I can't go through that again," he said honestly. I believed him, because it was exactly how I felt. My eyes searched his, stalling in hopes that some solution would come to me that didn't involve risking his life to be with him again. Nothing came. I swallowed harshly while yet another shuddering breath ripped through me.
"Please, Abby. Come back to me. Be with me."
My heart pounded in my chest while the fire lingered in my veins. It was all too much to handle, too much to process, too much to feel all at once. I sucked in a breath, desperately trying to clear my head but to no avail.
"Okay."
"You and I, we don't wanna be like them. We can make it 'til the end. Nothing can come between you and I."
Chapter 66
"Okay?" Reece repeated cautiously. His eyes were wide and hopeful but still holding back in fear he had heard wrong. My cheek was still warmed by his palm that held me to him while my arms stayed locked around his neck. I could feel his heart pounding through his chest, the heightened pace matching my own.
"Okay," I said, a gasp of disbelieving laughter blowing through my lips. I couldn't help but laugh: there was almost no positive way for this to end, but I couldn't help it. I needed him. He echoed me, a ghost of a smile flitting across his lips before he ducked forward to reconnect our mouths in a kiss. His arm behind my back tightened as he hugged me to him, kissing me firmly as if to make sure all this was actually real.
It was as if the entire world fell away when he kissed me. Everything I had worried about disappeared as I lost myself in Reece and the feel of his lips against mine. All that mattered was feeling his warmth and the beat of his heart and the how safe he made me feel when he held me. It was everything I had ached for, everything that I had lost, and everything I needed.
When he pulled back, he rested his forehead against mine once more. His eyes were closed as he blew out a soft, still uneven breath. My heart gave a painful pang as I realized that I'd been gone far longer than a typical trip to the bathroom warranted. Jack would be coming for me any second now.
"I have to go back," I said. He shook his head slowly, his eyes opening to meet mine the short distance away.
"No," he said simply. My fingers tangled helplessly in the hair at the back of his head as if begging me to stay with him. I could feel the desperate tension lingering in both of our bodies. Now that we had finally been reunited, it would hurt even more to tear us apart again. My mind, body, soul, everything really, ached to be near him again and never leave. I wanted to curl into his side and let him throw his arm around me so I could rest my head on his shoulder and listen to the steady thump of his heart. I wanted to go back to the world where nothing else mattered but Reece and I. I wanted to shut the rest of the world out forever and be with him.
But I couldn't do those things. I still had the massive problem of Jack. I couldn't just run away with Reece now, no matter how much I wanted to. The fact remained that Jack was lurking in the same building, his patience surely growing more and more thin as he waited for me to return. His threat to harm Reece remained just as real as ever. Just because I'd been too weak to stay away from Reece didn't change anything; I still had to keep him safe, just with a new plan.
A knot twisted in my stomach at the thought of, essentially, starting back at square one. My first plan had failed miserably, nearly killing Reece and myself in the process, and we had still accomplished nothing. Reece was safe, for now, but I'd just agreed to come back to him and put him in danger once more.
"Reece, I have to go. He can't find me with you," I said. I attempted to pull myself away from him but my muscles screamed in protest, refusing to move and allow me
to leave.
"Let him, I don't care," he said fiercely. His eyes blazed a bright green, his gaze determined and strong. It was clear that he wasn't afraid of Jack even though I was terrified.
"But I care," I said. I needed him to understand. "He'll hurt you. Kill you if he can."
"He won't kill me," Reece scoffed. His hand dropped from my face only to wind around my back like his other. He hugged me tightly against him.
"He will! Either he will or one of his friends will," I said. Terror was starting to creep through me again as the words brought back the severity and reality of the threats he'd issued. My body began to feel panicky and jittery, like I needed to get away from Reece as fast as possible before he found us.
"He said that?" Reece asked incredulously.
"Yes," I said. My eyes darted from his toward the hall where I fully expected to see a seething Jack. Thankfully, we were still alone.
"That's why you left me," he said, finally putting the last of the pieces together. He didn't sound surprised after he'd finally gotten me to admit I still loved him.
"Yes, now I have to go," I said again. My eyes flitted once more away from his face. "But we'll figure this out. We'll figure something out."
"Just come with me now," Reece begged. "Leave with me now and we'll figure out what to do next as we go."
I sucked in a breath, trying to decide what to do. Part of me wanted to agree and run out the door with him right now, but I knew if I did that, it would solve nothing. Jack would know what I'd done and would carry out his threat to hurt or even kill him. I needed time to think of a better plan, one that could actually work, before I made any drastic decisions.
"I can't," I whispered weakly. "That doesn't fix anything, I can't."
"But-"
"Abigail!"
My heart nearly dropped out of my chest at the sound of my name echoing down the hall. My head whipped to the side where I was confused to see it still empty. Uneven breath ripped from my lungs as my name sounded again, the tone more urgent and annoyed this time.
