Saving Scout O'Brian

24- Deception

•Find Me By Christina Grimme•

Twenty Four

When I woke next, it was to greet the city lights as they twinkled in the darkness. Rain spilled over the windows. I laid there for a long moment, letting myself wake up. My hand slid down my side to the bandage around my stomach. My abdomen felt hard and heat radiated from it. I breathed a deep sigh and plopped back against the pillows, my exhaustion spend just from moving that little bit.

"The doctor said the inflammation should start to go down soon." A voice spoke to the right of me.

I jerked in surprise, letting out a small gasp as I whipped my head to the side. Tendrils of heat caressed my insides as I found her eyes in the darkness. She was barely visible in the corner, but the barest of lights the city gave off made her silver eyes shine.

She leaned forward, her mahogany colored hair spilling forward as her striking features came into view. My eyes devoured every plane and crevice, like a starving man being offered the tastiest morsel. I had deprived myself of her for too long.

Evelyn laced her fingers underneath her chin, leaning her elbows on her knees as she studied me.

Heat rose to my face under her sharp gaze, but I could do no more than look back at her. Shame rose within me, my eyes filled with tears. I bleakly wondered how I'd become this, a blubbering mess. I never used to cry. Well, I suppose that's what love does to you, forces you to feel what you wish to bury.

Unlike the many other times I'd fallen apart, she didn't comfort me this time. She just let me cry, offering her form of silent comfort to me as I buried my face into my hands and sobbed. I am unsure how long I cried, but when I finished my eyes were puffy and swollen, my stomach burned. I was sure that I was quite a sight.

When I finally gained the courage to look back up at her, she wasted no more time. She abruptly stood and walked over to me, climbing into the bed beside me and wrapping me gently within her arms. My head fell into place against her chest, my weak heart pounded in tune with her powerful one.

I felt we did not need to speak to say what we were feeling. The bond we shared wrapped around me and tugged us together. Evelyn understood me, I'd give my last breath to atone to that. I felt her soothing words through the soft caress of her fingers tips as they danced across my skin.

My own fingers traced her form with familiarity, aching. My body sighed, relieved to finally be near her again. My eyelids drooped as every ache and pain washed out of me. Evelyn mimicked my sigh and placed a soft kiss into my hair. My lashes fluttered at the sweet sensation.

I suddenly had a need to see her face and started to push myself away from her. She unwrapped her arms from around me and watched me carefully, her expression slightly confused. Her storm cloud grey eyes swirled with love.

I slowly reached out my hand and palmed her cheek, rubbing my thumb over the softness of her. How was it that I, someone so battered and broken and lost, had come to receive such a priceless gift? I did not understand.

She watched me carefully, her body sinking into my touch, her lips placing a gentle kiss into the palm of my hand. Her fingers entwined in mine, melding together perfectly. New tears formed in my eyes. "I am sorry." I whispered.

Pools of silver glinted at me in the light, softening. "You have nothing to be sorry for, Scout."

Unable to bear a gaze I didn't deserve any longer, I looked down at our entwined fingers. "I hurt you."