Page 30 of The Final Storm
We must be more than just a fling spawned from fear. I wasn’t running into another man’s arms. We fell in love. We’ve survived things because we were together.
Right?
He refuses to look at me, too, not ready to face the reality of what he just said. He placed a bomb in our lives that might destroy everything. Or had it already?
Is he leaving me?
Sam’s wife is alive and on this ship. She must have escaped the Assembly of the Eternal at some point. She didn’t… take the swim? Sam felt sure they had her in their grasp, so something must have happened after he left her that day. Maybe someone else got her out, or she came to her senses. My sister faked it for her husband until the bitter end. Was Cecilia doing the same?
That meant the Cecilia he knew, the one he loved, was back. No longer lost to the AOE, she’s the woman he was married to.
They’re still married.
I open my mouth to speak several times, but no words leave my lips. Sam nuzzles my neck. “Rowan,” he pleads. The panic rises within me, causing my arms to wedge between us, pushing him away. He pulls me harder against him, his chest trembling from shuddering breaths.
His lips slide along my neck, still lingering on my skin, begging me to respond. “Rowan.” That’s all he can say.
Rowan, Rowan, Rowan.
I know my name, and I know hers.
I have nothing to give him, no answer to his pleas.
“I love you,” he says. There it is, the admission of love, but it may not be enough. I loved the life I had before. I loved Dean once.
Fingertips dig into my sides, putting so much pressure on my body, I wince. Hot tears sting at the corner of my eyes as I look around the room that starts to spin.
He moves his mouth to mine, and I want to refuse him, deny him my kiss. But I open for him, and he presses his lips hard against mine, making my head bend back. His tongue invades, and I whimper. Our embrace isn’t familiar this time. His desperation comes through with every movement, every breath. This feels different because everythingisdifferent.
The lips I love that bring me so much pleasure.
The lips that utter words that change everything.
Caleb opens the door, and Sam jolts, giving me space to pull free.
I shove myself to the side, landing back on my sore hip, and hiss. His brow furrows, reaching for me. “Rowan,” he pants, but I crawl away tired of the sound of my name, rising to my feet and running for the exit.
“Rivera,” Caleb says.
“Not now,” Sam bites back. “Rowan!”
But I’m already out the door, sprinting down the hallway back to our cabin. The only escape is no escape at all.
Trapped again on a fucking ship.
“Rowan,” I hear behind me. Sam’s frantic voice rings through the halls. The pain is clear in his call for me. “Rowan.” His voice rings out, closer this time. His steps sound behind me, making up the distance between us. He’s faster and stronger, and I know I can’t outrun him or this, but my feet move anyway.
I press the buttons on our cabin entrance with shaking fingers. When the door unlatches, I hurl myself through only to see his arm clasp on the door frame to my left, pushing himself inside after me.
I refuse to look at him, stretching out my arms to keep him at a distance. “You’re leaving us,” I choke. My chest heaves with the panicked words. “You can’t take Morgan. She’s mine. You can’t have her. BeLew are mine.” My mind tells me Sam won’t leave and take our children, but the words spill out, anyway. It’s my greatest fear, losing the boys and her. His face deflates, and he moves closer.
His hands grip my shoulders, giving me a soft shake. “I’m not going anywhere. I’m right here, with you.”
“You haven’t been. You’ve been so fucking absent,” I yell, trailing my fingers up his chest, curling them, and scratching at his skin.
“I’m so sorry for that. I’m trying to juggle it all. The shit with the Galene and the storm. And they want us to stay here, and Cecilia.”
The sound of her name makes me see red, and I slap his hand off of me. “One fucking thing at a time. We’re talking about Cecilia right now. Don’t throw in all that other garbage.”
