Wild and Free (The Three #3)(90)

And she was bitching.

“Why can’t I have something cool, like being able to speak in your head?”

“Maybe you’ll get somethin’ like that,” he responded in an effort to get her to quit bitching.

It was like he didn’t speak.

“Or talking to animals?”

Abel decided this time to say nothing.

“All I’ve got is the ability to give good sass.”

“And you got that down,” Abel muttered, and she focused on him in order to narrow her eyes.

“And be clingy,” she hissed. “What’s the good of that?”

“You cool it and be patient, we might find out.”

She glared at him.

He had shit to do and he needed her asleep so he could do it. Therefore, he had to deal with her mood to get on with it.

He also had to give her something, something she needed, something he had no idea he’d withheld until she told him.

And he was hoping, in giving it to her, he’d kill two birds with one stone.

So he set about attempting that, taking one of her hands from where it rested on his chest and lifting it.

“Abel—” she started and he had no clue what she was going to say but she snapped her mouth shut when he kept lifting her hand until he touched her middle finger to where he knew the scar began on his forehead.

“She started here,” he murmured then slowly slid her finger across his forehead, down through his broken eyebrow, and picked up the scar on his cheek. He kept going, trailing her finger to his jaw where he stopped but held her finger there. “She ended here.”

She didn’t look pissed anymore, thank f*ck. She looked something he wasn’t sure he liked much more, but it was better than pissed.

She looked sad with a hint of angry.

He lost her look when she leaned up and put her lips to the start of the scar on his forehead. Her hand cupped his jaw and his cupped hers as a thrill chased down his spine while she traced the scar with her lips until she had to move their hands away to get to the end.

Delilah’s touch, how it made him feel, he wouldn’t have been surprised if he went to the mirror, looked, and saw the scar was gone.

He didn’t reckon that actually happened, but in his gut, the touch of her lips had a different kind of healing power that meant almost the same thing.

Finally, she slid her lips to his and looked in his eyes.

“You’re awesome,” she whispered.

“So I’ve been told,” he whispered back.

“You beginning to believe it?” she asked.

“Maybe,” he answered.

He watched her eyes smile.

Then he asked, “You good to go to sleep, or do I need to f*ck you again?”

The smile in her eyes got brighter before she closed them to press her mouth to his. Then she, broke away to settle over him, snuggling close, her face in his throat.

“I think I’m all f*cked out,” she replied.

Abel grinned at the ceiling as he wound his arms around her.

“For today,” she finished.

That was when Abel tightened his hold and started chuckling.

“It’s been a good day,” she said softly.

“Yeah,” he agreed.

“Best part, outside the bestest best part, was telling your family and my dad about the bestest best part. That we can be together, literally forever.”

That had been the best part, outside the part where they learned they could be together forever.

After they told them, Jian-Li had excused herself, but Abel knew she’d begun crying. Fuck, even Hook had lifted a hand to squeeze the bridge of his nose before sweeping his thumb and a finger under his eyes to hide the wet gathering there.

Delilah’s dad got it. He’d sorted it out way before Delilah did and his relief was extreme, for the both of them.

Delilah cuddled closer. “So Snake died for forever love. It was beautiful before. But now…” She sighed. “Now maybe I can start to understand the gift he gave me. Gave us. And settle into it.”

Thank Christ.

Abel kept her held close as he replied, “Yeah, baby.”

“We’re gonna be happy,” she told him, sounding like she was getting sleepy but still sounding convinced.

He hoped she was right.

“Yeah,” he agreed.

“Wild and free and happy,” she kept talking.

“Yeah,” he repeated.

“For eternity.”

He rolled them to their sides but kept her close as he whispered his final, “Yeah, *cat.”

She drew in breath and let it go.

In five minutes, she’d relaxed, asleep in his arms.

Abel waited fifteen more to make sure that sleep was deep.

Then he carefully extricated himself from her, rolled off the bed, tugged on his jeans, and moved silently to and through the door.

He walked five doors up the hall, stopped at one, and knocked.

It was opened in thirty seconds by Poncho, who was like Abel, wearing nothing but faded jeans, his hair a mess, his eyes alert.

“Everything okay?”

“Not really, but there’s nothing new that isn’t okay. Just need a chat,” Abel replied.

Poncho kept his eyes sharp on Abel and guessed, “My auntie.”

“Yes, and no,” Abel told him. “See, found out today that the vampires killed off a bunch of witches a long time ago.”