Love in Darkness (Castles on the Sand 2)

Twenty

I try to wake up but find myself trapped in a memory from more than two years ago.

Madison lays next to me on my bed, dozing while I read. I can’t concentrate on my book with her right there. It’s as if I’m just a run of the mill human, and she’s got so many extra touches that she’s another sort of being entirely, from her adorable, rounded ears to the delicate pink softness of her lips to the graceful lines of her neck, the swell of her breasts, the narrowing above her hips, and the curvaceous lines of her long legs.

She stirs in her sleep and opens one eye. At the sight of me staring, she opens the other. “What?”

“Nothing.”

She lifts a hand from where it rested on her chest and strokes my cheek. “You always stare at me when I’m asleep?”

“Pretty much.”

Her mouth broadens into a smile. “Alex?”

“Yeah?”

“Would it freak you out if I told you I love you?”

Adrenalin surges in my veins. Love? The l-word? It’s something I feel for her, of course, but I never thought it’d go the other way. “Why do you ask?”

“Just… wondering.” She rolls onto her side and presses her lips to the side of my throat.

I move to kiss her back and she tickles my ribs, knowing this’ll make me squirm. She laughs.

“Play nice,” I say. I slide one leg over hers to pin her down, my hand caressing her jawline as I kiss her forehead, her cheek. When I pull back for a moment, she looks up at me with a mix of desire and just the slightest touch of fear in those ice blue eyes. “I won’t ever hurt you,” I whisper. “Not ever, okay?”

“I know.” Her arm slides around my waist and she pulls me down for a long, lingering kiss that goes on, and on, and on. For eternity I ride the trigger edge of control, wanting more than anything to slip my hands under her shirt and feel her skin against mine, but knowing that she doesn’t belong to me. I’ve borrowed her for a short time from the guy who’s worthy of her. I’ll only ever be her high school boyfriend and I just need to make the most of this before she moves on.

***

I don’t know how long it takes me to come to, but when I open my eyes, nothing that I see surprises me. I was aware that I was in a hospital bed and that John is seated in the chair next to me.

Once he sees me awake, I’m sure he’ll go after me for that nasty black eye that he’s got. It looks like I bruised his cheekbone too. I’m lucky I didn’t hurt my hand.

Sensing my gaze, he looks up at me. “Hey,” he says.

“You here to press charges?”

“So you’re okay? You know where you are and stuff?”

I look around. The walls of my room are an avocado green and the ceiling is white, tessellated tiles. The air reeks of iodine and rubbing alcohol. “This Sequoia Ridge Hospital?”

“Yeah. And no, I’m not pressing charges. I’ve told everyone who’ll listen that this-” he points to his bruised face “-is my fault. I insulted you and tried to pick a fight with you and you beat me to the punch. Literally. I should’ve known I was no match for you.”

I roll my eyes. “That isn’t what happened.”

“You lied for me once. When you got home and I talked to you without telling Madison.”

I don’t bother to reply to that.

“Alex, you don’t need rumors that you’re violent going around town. Not on top of all the rumors about your schizophrenia.”