GREAT AROUSALS (THARNTYPE ONE-SHOTS 18+)

Yours, always- II

I climbed over to the other side of the balustrade.

"keep your guns down or else I'll jump" it took every ounce of courage in me to say that.

Just the same it did threaten them somewhat. 

bullets or not, I was ready to jump.

All I had to do was look down once. Tharn, he was finally here. 

Something shifted inside me. A surge of adrenaline I hadn't felt in years.

I simply jumped, heard the man yell behind me — "Hey!" .

I felt the air split around me as I fell form the 2nd floor.

It was a short fall, but it would've have crushed my bones if it wasn't for tharn catching me.

This time the arms that caught me were the right ones.

Solid. Familiar. Safe.

"Got you," Tharn said, breath warm against my ear, already pulling me into the dark.

We didn't stop to look back.

He had a car idling by the tree line, lights off. I barely remembered the sprint to it. All I remembered was the sound of the door slamming shut behind me, the roar of the engine, the rush of wind as we sped away.

And Tharn's hand on my knee.

Grounding me.

I didn't cry.

Not yet.

I just looked at him.

Three years.

Three years and he looked older, sharper, angrier — but not at me.

At what they tried to do to me.

"You're safe now," he said, eyes still on the road. "They're not going to touch you again."

I wanted to believe him.

But all I could say was:

"You came."

He glanced at me then, and something in his expression cracked.

"Of course I would." he said softly almost sad for me doubting.

And that — that was when I let myself fall apart, my eyes stung with tears, i looked the other way. there was a lot to say honestly, but this wasn't the time.

The silence in the car wasn't empty — it was loud. Pressurized. Heavy with the things we weren't saying.

I sat in the passenger seat, staring out at the blur of trees and streetlights, hands gripping my knees like I had to hold myself together manually. My heart hadn't caught up with my body yet. It still thought I was running. Still thought I might get dragged back.

Beside me, Tharn drove like the road owed him. One hand on the wheel. One hand still occasionally brushing against my leg. Not possessive. Not casual. Just... steady. Real. Like he was checking if I was still there.

I was.

But barely.

"Your lip's bleeding," he said after a while.

I touched it. He was right — a split on the inside. I hadn't even noticed.

"Guess I bit it," I murmured.

"You've always done that," he replied quietly. "When you're scared or nervous."

I didn't look at him.

"I'm not scared or nervous," I lied.

He didn't call me on it. He didn't have to.

Instead, he reached into the glovebox and handed me a bottle of water, a sub with my favorites (that i again almost teared up at) and then a clean cloth from a folded stack. Prepared. As if he'd expected to find me broken and knew just perfectly how to put me back together.