Page 23 of Remnants
The woman deserves…whatever she wants. I have no idea what that is because the only woman I’ve ever paid that much attention to is Raegan. Maybe I can ask her to find out what Cibrina wants most. I doubt she’d admit that to me.
Once she leaves to work miracles, I return to Raegan’s room, knocking softly to let Jack know it’s me and then entering.
I frown when I only see Raegan in bed with no sign of Jack. The door clicks shut behind me, and I slip my hand into my other sleeve to grasp my nearest metal to prepare for an attack.
“It’s me,” Jackson says coolly, and I drop my hand. “Guarding the door, like you asked.”
I nod, suddenly bone-tired as the weight of the last day, no,weekif I include the party’s most recent preparations, finally sinks in. My eyes catch on movement in front of him, where he’s folding together a paper animal.
“Go get yourself something to eat or take a bathroom break. I’d like a moment alone, if you don’t mind.”
Jack pauses, his stare penetrating mine. I hold it, unyielding, for seconds, maybe a minute, before he finally smiles. “I’ll grab us some snacks.”
“Sure.” I could personally care less about snacks right now, but my stomach growls angrily at being forgotten and the promise of food.
I wait until he’s gone, and then I turn to look at Raegan. She’s still fast asleep like when I left her, but her position has changed. One arm is thrown over her head, and the other folded across herabdomen. The low beep and chugging of the IV is a steady background noise. More paper animals of every color litter the flat surfaces in the room, even over the keyboard of the nurses’ computer. Raegan is surrounded by a mini paper zoo.
Taking a seat in the stiff, overstuffed chair by her bedside, I lean back and cross my ankle over my knee, clasping my hands together. Even in the odd position she’s splayed in, she looks comfortable. Her face sinks into the pillow I brought from the Loft, and her body is wrapped and bundled in the sheets and blankets I pulled from my room as well. She may be in a paper zoo, but she’s still surrounded, first and foremost, by me.
As she should be.
Everything about her in her sleep is soft. The curves of her body. Her hair. Her lips. Her expression. It invites me in, drawing me inadvertently closer until I’m leaning in. My lips hover over hers. My hands twitch with the need to touch her. It would take nothing to act on it, to close the distance between us.
But acting on what Idesireto do rather than what Ishoulddo is a slippery slope from which I won’t be able to come back.
I withdraw, dropping back into the chair with my mood souring. It’s almost comical how I’d described how soft she looks while I’m the epitome of hard, immovable lines. Just like the metal I command, I’m meant to defend and protect. Cut and attack. I don’t knowsoft.
And here I am, craving it like a fool who wishes for the moon.
Raegan shifts in her sleep, and her hand falls over the edge right in front of me.
This time, I take the offering—I stroke the back of her hand with my thumb. “You know I’m terrible with what to say when it comes to you. But I’ll do my best.” I slip my other hand under hers, capturing it before I continue. “I’m sorry for what happened with your father. I sought him out, and I brought the danger to you and the Guild in my obsession with proving something to you.”
“Nnngh…” Her hand spasms. “Aiden?” she asks at the end of a low groan.
“Are you awake?” After Cassandra’s healing, I thought it wouldn’t be until tonight at the earliest that she’d wake.
Her lips stretch into a smile even though her eyes remain shut. “I think I’d wake from death if I heardyousay sorry.”
Huffing, I lightly tighten my grip on her hand. “Very funny.”
She peeks an eye open, looking at me with that smile. “You look grumpy.”
I frown at her assessment. “I’m not.”
“He says grumpily.”
“I think I’ll call the nurse in to have her check your pain medication dosage. It may be too high.”
She moans sleepily, the sound doing nothing good for me here, and snuggles her face deeper into the pillow. “Leave me alone.” I think she’s fallen asleep again when she startles and pops her head up. “Where’s Dane?”
“He’s here in another room. But he’s safe.”
“I want to see him,” she demands, sleep still coating her throat so it comes out cute rather than intimidating.
“He’s resting, and I don’t want him to wake up until he’s gottenenough of it. Cassandra healed him, but now he needs sleep to recover.”
Raegan lowers her head, burrowing back in. “As long as he’s okay.”
