With All My Heart (A Devons Series)

Chapter 20

Chapter 20:

"Love is the only medicine for a broken heart."

Emma POV

I wake up in the morning, my body not even halfway on the bed. Three quarters of my body is on top of Gabriel's and another quarter of me is on the bed. My head is resting comfortably on his chest, one hand draped across his abdomen, and the other curled around his bicep.

I yawn silently and lift myself off him. He murmurs in protest, still sleeping and he rolls over. I prop up my head and watch him sleep, wondering how long it will take him to wake up.

Finally, he stirs and opens his eyes. When he notices that I'm watching him, he smiles sleepily and pulls me back on top of him. "What're you doing up so early?" he murmurs.

I grin and plant a kiss on his lips. "Well, I couldn't sleep anymore so I just figured I'd watch you sleep."

He nuzzles his face in my hair, his hand crawling up my shirt. "You know that sounds creepy, right? Stalkery."

I gently slap his hand. "That's not even a word, Gabe. Speak English."

He pulls back and brushes his lips over mine. It's feathery light but it makes my heart stutter anyway. Why does Gabriel have such a strong effect on me?

He finally sits up and yawns. "Come on, Em. Try to get out of bed."

I sit up and watch him stretch and marvel at the rippling muscles that move with each of his movements. He stands up and I swallow hard when my gaze slips to the scar on his torso. I crawl over the edge of the bed and stand on my knees. Gabriel watches me silently.

I lean over and begin tracing the wide and long scar on his torso. Gabriel starts to pull back immediately but I shake my head. "Oh wow."

He looks away and doesn't say anything.

I touch it again and his body jerks. "It's so..."

"So what? Ugly?" he fills in for me. "Unattractive? Gruesome? Big? Deep?"

I nod to all of those.

His face pulls into a frown and he steps away from me. He runs a hand through his hair in frustration.

I come a little closer to him. "Do you want to... talk about it?"

"OF COURSE I DON'T WANT TO TALK ABOUT IT!!!" he suddenly explodes. "I CAME BACK FROM THE DEAD! I DON'T WANT TO BE REMINDED!!"

I swallow. "You're right," I whisper. "I wasn't thinking. I'm sorry."

"No, you weren't thinking," he says in a cold voice that I don't recognize at all. My hand goes to my throat at my shock that his voice has such potential to be so uncaring and icy. Emotionless.

I stand up and walk out of the room, after grabbing my clothes. I enter the bathroom, turn on the shower and climb in. I let the steaming hot water cascade down my back, erasing all traces of Gabriel's scent that enveloped me during the night.

How could I have been so stupid to mention the accident? How did I not realize that that was a taboo subject for him? He was dead, for G-d's sake and I just brought that up! I'm the biggest moron in the world!!

The whole rest of the day, I avoid Gabriel, not wanting to see him after my idiotic mistake of bringing up the worst day of his life. After my shower, I eat breakfast quick and immediately leave the house. I climb into my Infiniti and go shopping with Shona and Sabine. We return after three in the afternoon and we each have at least five shopping bags with our purchases.
I return home and spend the rest of my day with Landon at the gym, practicing my self-defense. I return with my brother by nine. I retreat to Landon's room-- after collecting most of my stuff from Gabriel's room-- to catch up on my show. I watch until late, then shut the TV off and close my eyes.