He'll have to break all the rules to keep her, but first she has to break just one and let him in...
It's taken four years, but Anna Fray has finally put the past behind her. Mostly. She fills her days working in a bar and her nights watching bad ro...
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The ride back home drifted into darkness as I was lulled to sleep by the steady drone of the engine. It was only when the monotone rumble and soft vibration stopped, that I woke to see us parked in the back lane behind the flat. The dim glow of the streetlights bathed the lane in an orange glow, illuminating Gina perched on her balcony stealing one last cigarette before she headed to bed. Her shock of dyed orange hair bobbed above the old brick wall as a plume of smoke billowed into the cool night air.
It all seemed so normal. It was almost comforting to know that life had plodded along at its usual pace.
I uncurled and glanced at the digital clock glaring from the console.
"How is it only 10 o'clock?" I rasped as I tried to clear the sleep from my eyes. It had felt like a lifetime since I was last here.
I twisted in the seat and looked across to Atticus at the still silence that followed. His eyes tightened as they roved over the various cuts and bruises blemishing my skin. Sparks flickered across his irises, disappearing from view as soon as his eyes met mine.
I reached for his hand where it gripped the gearstick. A buzz of energy vibrated across his skin, making my skin tingle wherever ours met.
The silence of the car ride had only served to concentrate his anguish.
"I know I look like shit, but I'm OK," I jested with an empty smile.
"I know... I know..." He loosed a breath as he hung his head. The glow of the streetlight shone off the ebony strands, tousled from where he'd ran his hand through it throughout the drive. "But when I think about how she hurt you, and let him..." His words were strangled by gritted teeth, and his knuckles went white where he gripped the steering wheel.
"She gave me her best shot and she failed. Largely down to you..." If he hadn't shown up, I don't know what I would have done. I shivered with a chill of realisation. I'd had a knife in a supernatural gun fight.
Rage flickered in his eyes as he replayed what could have happened if he'd been too late. "I should have burned her to ash. At least then I'd know you'd be safe," he seethed, but his voice was heavy with regret.
"I'm safe now."
"But for how long?" His blue eyes shone with anguish. "If she ever remembers..."
Before he could spiral any further, and damage Aslo's beloved Betty, I rested my palm against the chiselled contours of his jaw and gently turned his face towards mine.
"If it's a month, a year, or a lifetime, it's time we wouldn't have had." His beautiful eyes searched mine; the fear falling away as the pad of my thumb swept softly against his skin. "So can we just enjoy it. For a little bit?"
I dropped my hand and cupped his between my palms. The thrum of energy slowly dissipated until all I could feel was the same warmth he'd always had. That slightly raised temperature that marked him as something other.
