Page 52 of Cursed Fox

"I didn't though. I'm alive and I'm well."

"You have a bullet hole in your leg," he reminded me.

I didn't have to look down to know that was true. I felt the pain despite trying to block it out.

"I'd like to think of it as a battle scar."

That got me a small laugh. "One hell of a battle scar, don't you think?"

I shrugged like it was no big deal. "I just wanted to be cool like the rest of you."

That time I earned more than just a little laugh. I got a full-blown belly laugh with Lex's head thrown back and all.

I waited until he was done before saying, "I like when you laugh. You need to do it more often."

"I haven't had a reason to laugh in a long time, but something tells me my future is going to be full of it."

I could feel the smile stretch across my whole face. He was seeing a future with me, which reminded me …

"While I was bleeding out in that house?—"

Lex cut me off with a groan. "Don't remind me."

"No, I'm not trying to, but I thought I heard you say something to me and I wanted to know if you really said it or if my delusional mind was playing tricks on me."

"What do you think you heard?"

He was going to make me say it, the jerk. I could tell by the small upturn of his lips.

"Did you tell me you loved me?"

Lex gave me a serious look. "If I did, would you have said it back?"

My heart sped up.

Holy shit! I hadn't been hearing things. Lex really did love me. "Yes, I absolutely would've said it back to you."

Lex leaned in so his lips were just a hair’s breadth away when he said, "I love you very much. And I'm sorry it took until you were lying in a pool of blood for me to tell you."

CHAPTER THIRTY

Lex

"You're supposed to be taking it easy." I rushed over to help Nancy get out of the chair she’d just sat down in barely ten minutes earlier.

"I can't just sit here and do nothing while you straighten up my house."

Since coming home from the hospital, I’ve spent every night at her house and in her bed. Most nights I barely slept. Sometimes because I was nervous about my night terrors, and other times because I needed to watch her breathe while she slept.

Ever since the shooting, I had the irrational fear that I would wake up one morning with Nancy lying dead in bed with me. I knew it was unlikely. The doctors expected her to make a full recovery, but the fear was still there.

My therapist said it was because I’d already lost so many people in my life that I was afraid to lose more. That session had gone splendidly when I told the therapist, “No shit. Why the hell am I paying you to tell me what I already know?” If it weren't forMaverick and Nancy pushing me to attend the sessions and get help, I would've ended them that day.

Instead, I pushed on. Twice a week I was seeing the therapist. Until I got a handle on my sleep. I didn't know how long it would take, but I was determined to be able to sleep a full night next to Nancy without worrying that I would wake up with my hands around her throat.

"You relax. I'll handle the cleaning," I said after I had her back on the recliner.

"Move in with me and I won't mind you cleaning the house."

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