Amaranthine

Chapter Thirty One

 © Copyright 2011
All work is property of Leah Crichton, any duplication or reproduction of all or part of the work without explicit permission by the author is illegal.

Capricious: (kuh-prish-uhs)

governed or characterized by a whim or impulse

 

Bliss can only linger so long, and as long as it lasts, it’s never long enough. No matter how hard you wish to stretch it, how hard you wish to freeze it, it still manages to somehow get away like water running down a stream. I had fallen asleep last night, quite possibly the happiest I had ever felt. I knew drifting off into an oblivious slumber that I would never regret what had happened between us.

When I awoke the next morning, the reality of my situation did more than sink in.

It slapped me in the face.

Orion hadn't moved during the night and still lay on his back, staring up at the ceiling, just like he had been doing when I fell asleep. His arm was wrapped securely around me while my head lay on his chest. “Morning.” I smiled at the recollection of last night.

“Morning,” he said softly. He was back to being serious again. At least it was better than his anger or his irritation.

“What are you thinking?”

“I’m thinking about you,” he said. I noticed, then, that he looked exhausted. I was pretty sure he hadn’t slept at all.

“Did you dream about me?”

He raised an eyebrow. “Do you even need to ask?”

“You’re lying,” I stated. “You didn’t sleep.”

“Sure I did.”

“No, you didn’t. I can tell.”

“Oh, you can, can you?” 

“I can. You usually look—better.”

He cringed. “Ouch. What, you think you can just tell it like it is now, use me and abuse me, is that it?”

I shoved him, but his body was solid. “You know what I mean.”

He smiled bleakly. “We need to get up, get going.”

“What? No! Where are we going?” I was sorry I’d said anything. I should’ve pretended to be sleeping just a little while longer.

“You. You are going to stay with Mona and the twins. Mona can protect you.”

“No! You’re not leaving me.”

“It will all be over soon, I promise.”

I sat up in bed, startled back to the terrible reality, away from the contentment that was there moments ago. “No! You can’t. You can’t leave.”

“Ireland,” Orion said. “I have to. I have to go and find him. This isn’t over. The moment he decided to put his filthy hands on you, he brought this fight to his doorstep.”

“No! No! Don’t do that. Don’t be such a...” I tried to find the words. “Don’t be such a guy.”

“Sorry. Surely after last night you are aware that I am very much a guy.”

He was making me angry. He didn’t need to do this. He could kiss me now like he was supposed to in the first place and everything could be over.  

How dare he risk everything when we were so close! This could be over in minutes. I jumped out of the bed after him and ran toward him, putting my hands on his arms. “Orion, please! Don’t do this. We can be together, it can be over!”