Chapter Twenty-Four
“Sit, Khải, you look bad.” She directed him to a stone bench that overlooked the water. He sat, and she brushed the hair from his clammy forehead with cool, soft fingers. “You need water.”
When she tried to pull away, he wrapped his arms around her waist and held her close. “Don’t go.”
“Okay,” she said, and she urged him to rest his cheek against her chest. Her fingers smoothed through his hair and along his scruffy jaw.
He breathed her in. She smelled slightly different than she used to, like she’d changed laundry detergents, but he found the comforting feminine scent underneath it all. Her scent. The scent of woman and clean skin and Esme.
The ash of incense slowly faded from his senses, and he let everything slip away but her. The sick feeling receded. He could breathe again. People began to walk by, a few at first, but gradually more. Still, he didn’t let her go. He needed her touch, her smell, the steady beating of her heart, her.
“Mỹ,” his mom said, making Esme stiffen against him. “Come help me with—oh, never mind. I’ll have Quân help me.” His mom’s footsteps quickly retreated.
Esme ran her fingers through his hair before asking, “We have eggrolls here. Want some?”
“Not hungry.” It would take something catastrophic to lure him away from her right now. He was like a wounded beast who’d found a respite from the pain of his injuries. “Unless you want them?”
She laughed a little. “No, I ate too many already.” She brushed her fingers across his scratchy cheek.
He hadn’t thought he’d ever have this again, and he let his eyelids fall shut as he soaked up her touch. She was better than sunlight and fresh air.
Time passed, he didn’t know how much, and his mom came back and said, “You two should go. Khải, take Mỹ home for me, ha?”
“Cô, I can help clean up.” Esme pulled
Sayfa 268
Chapter Twenty-Four
“Life was about taking chances. Going for what you wanted so that you didn't get old and have pages of regrets. Sometimes you won and sometimes you lost, as much as I hated it.”
Sayfa 509
Chapter Twenty-Four
People spend so much time wondering why the women don’t leave. Where are all the people who wonder why the men are even abusive? Isn’t that where the only blame should be placed?
Sayfa 264
Chapter Twenty-Fourİlişkiler
“But for the life of me, I don’t want to run away from him, if anything the need to be close to him is all I can ever think about.”
Mera smiles and nods her head. “This life…his life, it isn’t easy, and the likelihood is, it never will be.”
“Do you think I’m crazy? For wanting this? Wanting to be with him?”
I search her cornflower blue eyes for any signs of worry over my decisions, but I get none.
“No, Sophia. I don’t think you’re crazy. You’re human.”
Chapter Twenty-Five
"...I feel like a racehorse with four broken legs most of the time."
Cora Guerrero
