Every Day has a Memory

Chapter Ten

He's sleeping, don't wake him up, Carol.

Oh shit. Was I sleeping again? Damn it.

In my mind, I was wide awake and chatting up a storm with Tamsyn—I actually thought that I was doing that in reality, too—but clearly, I wasn't doing that. I just felt so exhausted and weak that I could barely strain to keep my eyes open; everything these past weeks was finally wearing me down to the point where I could barely function at all.

It was slowly killing me.

Honey, I heard Carol say with exasperation in her tone, Micah knows the rules.

God. This woman was set on not stretching the rules anymore for me. In a way, I admired what she was doing; which was standing her ground; but at the same time, I absolutely hated her for it. She was revoking the time that I wanted—and needed—to spend with my girlfriend. I was so scared of leaving this girl enough already but... like my fear of elevators, it had gotten worse.

But he's sleeping! He's exhausted. The more Tamsyn argued, the more frustrated I could tell she was getting. Her voice was still raspy and hoarse, but there was a note of anger in amongst it all.

She was adorable when she was sticking up for me.

But Carol was right.

I fought to open my eyes, feeling the slight burn as I opened them, even though I knew that all my brain wanted me to do was keep them closed and sleep. "No, baby," I said groggily, gathering my bearings once my eyes opened. "It's okay." I blinked a couple of times to clear the bleariness, then found myself looking across the slowly-darkening room to where a sympathetic Carol stood, her wise eyes showing no signs of irritation, like I'd expected. "I'll be outta here soon. Fifteen minutes, tops."

She looked like she wanted to say something else, but instead, gave a brief nod and walked away from the door room.

"You don't have to go."

I smiled at how persistent Tam was being tonight. She was never this reluctant to let me go before. I let my eyes travel over to her, taking in her hunched posture and scowling eyes. Her hair had been loosely pinned back over the hours that I'd been sleeping and she had also changed clothes. "I have to go, baby," I said, nudging her gently. "I don't need to get into anymore trouble with the nurses."

Her eyes teared up a little.

My fingers raised to touch her jaw. "I'll be back first thing." I kissed her gently, letting my lips draw at hers slowly, to savour the feeling of her lips on mine. There was definitely an addictive pull that kept us tied together, our tongues tangled in a dance of passion.

Behind my closed lids, I could see colours flashing, reacting to the sensuality of the moment. My cheeks felt warm and her touch sent shivers over my body as her hands roamed under my shirt, through my hair, and over my face. Her arms looped around my neck and her fingers drew patterns against the back of my neck.

I grinned a little against her lips, breaking the kiss, but kept my eyes closed. "I love you so much," I breathed. The world currently felt somewhat lighter, like I was on a high—Cloud 9—and there was no way in hell that I was going to come down any time soon.

"You make me feel alive," she whispered, pressing herself tighter against me.

My body liked that a lot. "Stop it." I chuckled, ducking my head to kiss her neck. "I need to go, baby."

Tam sighed, disappointed. "Yeah," she settled beside me again. "You're right." She sighed and smiled, leaning towards me again. "I love you," she said, cheekiness clear in her voice.