Tyler's hands travelled up and down my body, which was straddled perfectly on his thigh, as he sighed into my neck, kissing my scar over and over.
"June... June..." he kept muttering, a mantra.
My hands grip the hair at the back of his head, as I went slack underneath the skin of his mouth, and he pressed his fingers gently into my sides. I had to keep my mouth firmly shut, preventing little whimpers escaping.
"I promise I'll keep you safe. No matter what, I'll be the reason you wake up each morning."
Another kiss against the side of my head. In the darkness, his voice was light.
"I'll make you fall in love with living before you fall in love with me."
I'm already in love with you.
"Because I love you more than this life. I love you more than I love the sea, the sky, and I always have."
I've loved you before everything else, Tyler...
... Were the words I wanted to speak, but tears kept flowing down my cheek, my throat heavy, as he kissed each and every one of them away.
"You asked me, one day when we were younger, if I'd ever save you if you were in trouble."
He pressed his lips to mine, and I tasted the bitter salt of my own tears, and pulled away, sobbing into his shoulder.
"My answer was wrong. I... I'd save you a million times over. I'd come back and I'd do it again if I failed. I'd turn back time and take your hand and run."
He kissed the side of my neck on my scar again. The feel of his lips was addicting.
"I'd do the impossible. Whatever it takes to see you live. To see your smile. To feel your joy like its my own."
He hugged me. He held me so tight, as if he was afraid I'd slip through his fingers.
I couldn't blame him. I already had, once.
"Fall in love with yourself. Fall in love with life. Then, if you still have room in that wonderful heart of yours, fall in love with me, June."
I was about to do it twice.
~~~ ~~~
"Is Jojo your boyfriend?" the Serpent asked.
"Brother in law."
"I wonder if he has you in his contacts as Juju. That would be so cool."
I sighed, and it bounced off the constricting walls.
"This vent only has so much room. Don't fill it up with useless conversation."
"Hey! I'm the one breaking you out of here!"
"I still smell cat."
I heard her sigh behind me, as she stashed away my phone again.
"So... you're certain this Jojo will come for you?"
"Yes."
"You place too much trust in people..."
At breakfast, the Serpent relayed to me her master plan to escape from the hellhole that was this place. We were to shimmy through the vents and into one of the control rooms, so we could activate the gate. I sensed some bull, but she had seemed serious that day.
"This is perfect. I've been studying the guards' patrols ever since I've come here. And I've been waiting for the perfect opportunity to be free of the King and his nefarious schemes. Heck, do you think any of us wanna be here?!"
YOU ARE READING
North
General Fiction"Iriehen was a dreamer's city. It wasn't a city for the faint of heart, not for someone like me, who was just waiting for the next big thing. It was a city for the people who were in the next big thing." ... When June Winters, a young attorney aspir...
