Page 9 of Catch Me

“You have a concussion. It’s serious.”

“So is loving you.”

I take a step back, but he holds me in place. His eyes get a faraway look. “I feel like maybe I heard you say this. It’s a vague memory, almost like a dream. But when I was in the hospital, did you tell me you loved me?”

My chin wobbles. I bite my lip to try to stop it, but it doesn’t work, so I end up nodding.

“I tried to say it back, but I don’t think the words came out. In my head, I was screaming them. I was telling you how much I loved you. I knew the look in your eyes, but there wasn’t anything I could fucking do about it, so let me say this one thing. I fucking love you, Briar. You don’t ever have to run away from me or anything else ever again because as long as I have control, I swear I won’t let anything bad happen. I might’ve been trapped in my head, but I was fighting. I was fighting for us. I was fighting for you. I’ll always fight.”

I move to my tiptoes and press my lips to his. I leave them there, savoring the moment like he’s the perfect day and I can’t get enough of it. Eventually, he deepens the kiss, forcing my mouth open so he can delve inside. He moves me back until my knees hit the bed, and then he’s slowly lowering me to the mattress.

Fire heats my core as he presses into me. He’s already hard, ready, and waiting. His hand moves to my chest, unravels my towel and opens both sides, taking his time getting his fill of me. “You’re so unbelievably beautiful.”

He dips his head to kiss a line down my chest, between my breasts to my belly button and back up. My knees drift open, and he nuzzles himself between my legs, grinding against me.

I don’t know how or why I left this, this safe space. I can’t exactly explain it, but I know it had something to do with the fear of never feeling any of this again. Of never having Reid look at me the way he is right now. Of never having him touch me like this again. I didn’t run away from him. I ran away because I didn’t want to face a world where he was gone too. I thought I could just shut it out. I thought if I didn’t know, it would be better. I can’t face a world without BradyandReid.

“I wanted to be there for you,” I say in between kisses. “I was scared. I thought I was going to lose you.”

His hot mouth lowers to my nipple. My head drops back as he pulls it into his mouth with a gentle suck. Heat makes a war cry toward my core until I need him there. I pull his shirt up until he has to move back to help me take it off. It ends up on the floor and then I start with his jeans. I work the button through the hole and slide my hands inside, grabbing him until he moans. “Christ, Briar.”

I work him in tune with his subtle grinding until we’re both clawing at his clothes to get them off. Before his jeans drop, he grabs his wallet and takes out a condom, throwing it next to us on the bed.

He crawls back over me. “I missed you in every way possible. Not just this, but your quiet strength. Just being next to you eases my soul. I didn’t even realize it until you weren’t there.”

“I should never have left you like that,” I tell him, pressing my hands to his cheeks. “I’ll never forgive myself.”

He drops his forehead to mine. His body shakes like a current, and he’s sweeping me right along with it. He closes his eyes, taking a deep breath before reaching for the condom, ripping the package open, and taking it out. He rolls it over him while I stare into his face, seeing it for the first time in what feels like forever. When he looks back at me, he poises himself at my entrance. He bites his lip and pushes inside. I gasp, sighing when he’s fully seated.

He lets out a breath, dropping his head to my chest. “Fuck me.” A shiver courses over his body as he starts to move. First, with all the precaution someone should have with a concussion, but then faster like he can’t get enough. I hold on to him, reveling in the way we come together until he’s revved me all the way up and then some.

My toes start to curl as the feeling unfurls. “Reid,” I gasp out.

His attentions quicken, driving his need higher along with my own until I come. I press my lips together to keep from screaming and dig my fingernails into his arms. His body jerks inside me. He grunts, the noise loud in the otherwise quiet room.

Moving inside me until he shudders, he drapes himself over me after kissing my nose. “I’m staying with you tonight,” he breathes. “I already told my parents. I’ll leave a little early, then come back and get you before school.”

I nod into him, wrapping my body around him while we fall to our sides. There, I find the safest, coziest place I can and fall asleep in Reid’s arms.

5

As promised, Reid leaves early. He doesn’t slip out unnoticed. He wakes me up, kissing me, telling me he loves me and that he’ll see me in a little while. He goes out the same way he came in, and I snuggle under my blankets as he lowers the window. I’ll have to put the screen back when I get up, but I just watch the window for a moment, even when he’s left and I’ve heard a car start up down the street.

After a few minutes, I pull myself out of bed, fix the screen, and head into the shower. The guys, thankfully, saved me from everyone at school looking at me again with the story they told. Everyone knew I’d run away before. Now, everyone thinks I was at my grandparents’ house if they thought about me at all.

I take a shower, dress in something appropriate, dry my hair, and put makeup on. For the first time in a while, I put all my energy into getting ready for school. When I first opened the closet, I noticed my bookbag was there, too, probably retrieved from Jules’s car at some point over the last week. Pulling it up my shoulder, I walk from my room and into the dining room. No one’s up yet when I get there. I’m still a little tired from everything that happened recently, but honestly, I did a whole lot of nothing while I was at the motel other than the time it took to scrounge up the one night’s motel fee and some money for a bit of food. Checking the time, I realize I’m early and decide to make breakfast. I pull out the eggs, the griddle, and a loaf of bread and start making French toast. By the time my mom comes down the hall from the opposite side of the house, I already have the first four slices ready.

She pauses in the entryway, blinking at me.

“Good morning,” I say, my cheeks reddening.

She unties and reties her robe. “You’re making breakfast?”

I shrug because it’s obvious what I’m doing. I think my mom is just searching for something to say.

My dad comes out next, dressed in a pair of suit pants and a nice polo. He stops just behind Mom, smiling. “Breakfast? Awesome.”

He angles around her and sits at the bar. I pull out a serving platter and dish up the French toast that’s done already. My mom still stands in the entryway while my father takes two slices, pouring syrup over them like nothing’s bothering him.

---