[1] Midnight Lips | Ghost

𝐂𝐇. 37

VAL
༻❁༺

     I sighed deeply out loud, the rise and fall of my chest told me how tired my body felt but I refused to give it what it wanted—correction, what it needed. And then Alejandro said something. Something close to my return back home, and my stomach twisted strangely, almost as if it wanted to give up.

I was staring lazily out the window of this moving car, my head swaying back and forth, right and left, watching the trees go by as we made our way to Alejandro's safe house. The trees in the dark looked like they were shadows haunting me, creeping up on me and wanting the worst of me, but it wasn't eating my mind alive like Simon's issue was.   

I spent the whole ride wondering why the hell Simon didn't join me in the car when all I remembered was being carried out in his arms, his whispers in my ear, and promises that everything was okay now that he was there with me. I believed it. All of it. The main reason why right now I felt so uncomfortable without his presence–so insecure.

Alejandro leaned closer to me and brought me back to the present, saying in Spanish, "... and I'll get everything ready for you to return home."

I wiped my head around, wincing a little at the shot of pain that went through my skull. "What did you say?"

"When we get to the safe house, you'll be getting that head of yours checked, and then I'll get everything ready for you to return home."

I stared, mouth agape. "What?" Alejandro opened his mouth to repeat it once again, but I held my hand up. "Stop it. I heard." His mouth fell shut. Rather, his lips pressed together into a frown. I couldn't believe it. He wanted to send me home? Did he even have permission to do that? I exhaled slowly and looked straight into his eyes so he would get deep into his head what I was about to say. "I will be getting this concussion checked, yes," I said. "But I am not returning home."

He laughed as if I was joking. "Of course you are."

"Alejandro."

"Are you fucking kidding me, Valentina?" He turned his body to me. "You got three blows to your head. We don't know how dangerous your concussion is yet, but I suspect it is not nothing if you lost consciousness those three times. If you stay here, you are risking your health, and that's not something I'm going to allow. You need to properly rest and you are not going to find that if you stay here. A lot less when we are in the middle of a fucking war."

"Oh, please," I cringed. "I'll be fine tomorrow morning."

"You don't know that. We don't know that."

"But I do know that, though. It's not the first time that it's happened and last time I checked, my concussion was absolutely nothing to worry about."

"Don't be ridiculous. Concussions are not 'absolutely nothing.' They're fucking dangerous and you very much know it."

"You're exaggerating."

"He's right, Val," Rudy jumped in from the driver's seat.

I sighed again—yes, for the third time. "You don't understand. There's still a missile out there that needs to be found before it's too late. Our work here is not over yet."

"Our work though?"

I glared at Alejandro. "What's that supposed to mean?" He sighed and looked away, completely deciding to ignore my question. But I knew exactly what he meant. "Wow. You're a fucking asshole."