A Single Touch by W. Winters

Author:W. Winters [Winters, W]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Willow Winters Publishing LLC

Bethany

My eyes feel so dry but I can’t keep them closed. Every time they shut, I see Jenny, in the hands of a villain. She’s out there and I’m lying in a comfortable bed, protected and doing nothing.

The thin slit of light from the hallway that lays across the bedroom floor and hits the dresser widens as a soft creak fills the quiet room. Jase’s footsteps are cautious and muted.

“You don’t have to be quiet,” I let him know although I have to clear my throat after. It’s raw and in need of a hot cup of tea. A luxury I can afford, as I’m not missing and presumed dead.

“You’re not sleeping?”

“How could I?” I answer Jase with the question as he walks to the bed and lowers himself to sit by my side, making the mattress dip where my legs lay.

He tells me, “I didn’t expect you in here.”

For a moment, I reconsider every thought that brought me back to his bedroom and ask, “Do you want me to leave?” If he does, I will. If he doesn’t, I’ll stay. Simply because I want to be here. I still want to be next to him when I do fall asleep. I want him to hold me, but I’m too prideful to ask. More than that, I’m ashamed that after all the lies, I still feel like I need him.

His answer is quick. “Never.”

“I don’t want to give you an ultimatum.” I spit out the words that I’ve been saying over and over in my head the last hour or so. “I hate them and I think they’re awful.”

Jase is deadly silent, listening to what I have to say. I can feel his eyes on me although I don’t look up at him. Resting his head on my thigh that’s covered by the blanket, he waits for me to continue.

“It hurts to even say it. I can’t deal with lies. I don’t want to be a woman who lets a man lie to her.”

“I won’t.”

“I don’t know that I believe you.” Finally looking into his eyes, I suck in a deep inhale to calm my words. “I can’t stay if I find out you’ve lied to me about something. I can’t be with you if that’s all there is between us.”

“There’s nothing else and there will never be anything else.”

My mother used to warn us about ‘always’ and ‘nevers.’ Especially about the people who speak them with certainty.

With the window cracked, a gust of cool air blows in trailing along my skin and with it, the ends of my hair tickle down my bare arm as I prop myself up. “You sound so sure.”

“I am.” His hard jaw seems sharper in the faint light with the shadows from the moon. There’s an intensity that swirls in his eyes, but it seems different now. Not so much riddled with fear as it is with loss and regret.

Or maybe it’s a reflection of myself, maybe it’s just what I want to see. He may be certain, but I’m not so sure of anything anymore.

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