Page 56 of Hidden By the Gargoyle

“It’s okay. You didn’t hurt me.”

“No, I mean—” He sighed. “I’m sorry about a moment ago, but I’m also sorry about before, when you were younger. I know what it’s like to lock a part of yourself away because the pain is too much to bear. And I hate that you had to do that. But, if there’s anything I’ve learned in the centuries I’ve been on this earth, it’s that we do what we must to survive. Even if it hurts us to do it.”

Minerva had told me that Dax’s past was a hard one. I suppose that was why I responded to his presence as a child. I recognized a kindred spirit in him. I still did.

We were silent the rest of the journey to the cabin. I leaned my head against Dax’s chest and listened to the steady thump of his heart, letting it comfort me with its mere presence, just as the gargoyle managed to do fifteen years ago when I first came to Devil Springs.

ChapterThirteen

We never got to do what I had planned for the day because Dax laid me on the couch as soon as we walked into the cabin, tucking a blanket around me with the admonishment to rest.

That was the last thing I remembered until he woke me up to eat dinner.

After I scarfed down the cheesesteak sandwich and potato chips Dax piled on a plate for me, he surprised me yet again.

He stretched out on the couch with my back to the rear cushions and he was on his back. My head rested on his shoulder and my arm was thrown over his waist. Then, he turned on the TV and pulled up a streaming app.

“Have you seen Schitt’s Creek?” he asked.

I blinked a few times before I answered because that was not a question I was expecting.

“Um, just the first season, but it’s been a while.”

“Want to watch it?”

“Sure,” I answered.

“We’ll start with the first episode.”

As the show began, Dax tucked me deeper into his side before his hand went to my hair, trailing through the strands.

Before I noticed it, I was completely relaxed against him, thinking of nothing at all. I realized that I’d been tense for days now, stressed about everything happening with Sommerton and the fact that I was struggling to access my power.

I also wondered what it would be like to have nights like this with Dax all the time. Dinner and watching TV on the couch together. When I was younger, my fantasies were much more romantic—he would take me out on dates or for picnics in the forest. Maybe a trip somewhere like a beach or the mountains but always secluded.

Now that I was older, I understood that moments like the one I was experiencing now were more important to me. While a picnic in the forest sounded like fun, this was more precious. Simple, everyday moments that could make up a lifetime. This was what I wanted for my future.

“Feel better?” Dax asked me quietly when the second episode ended.

I tilted my head so I could see his face. “Yes.” I raised my eyebrows. “So, all this was to make me feel better? Do you even like Schitt’s Creek?”

His expression was solemn rather than impassive. I wasn’t sure if he was showing me more of what he was thinking and feeling or if I was finally learning to read him more easily.

“I do like the show. I thought it might help you stop thinking about everything that is going on.”

“It did,” I answered. “I mean, it is. But so is this.”

“This?”

My heart rate sped up at the idea of blurting out what I was thinking, but Minerva’s words were haunting me. For whatever reason, Dax wasn’t in a place where he could meet me halfway. I was going to have to take a risk and let myself be vulnerable with him.

“Being here with you. Cuddling on the couch after dinner. It helps.”

He stared at me for a moment before the hand stroking my hair cupped the nape of my neck to pull me forward. His lips were light and gentle as he kissed me.

When he released my mouth, he pressed my head back down on his shoulder. I snuggled back into his side as the next episode began.

Dax didn’t speak, but his lips had said it all.

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