Page 66 of Code Word
I’d never noticed how perfectly he fit in my arms, how he fit against me. His face against my neck, his arms around me, holding me just as tight.
As right.
“I should have known you’d understand,” I whispered.
He nodded into my neck. “Fuck, I’ve missed you. I’ve missed this.”
“I was just thinking that too.” I rubbed his back.
He inhaled deeply and tightened his arms around me. “Can we really just hug like this whenever we want now?”
I laughed and pulled back, cupping his face. “Yes. Please. I’d like that very much.” Then I found myself looking at his lips again, because they were right there, and now I knew how soft they were, how they felt. “I’d really like to kiss you again,” I whispered.
He grinned. “You can do that anytime you want now too.”
I pinched his chin between my thumb and finger. “Kinda hard when you’re grinning at me.”
He laughed and leaned up to kiss me instead, just a soft, sweet kiss. “I love you, Blake,” he said, and then my stomach growled super loud and ruined the moment.
“Okay, okay,” he said, going back to the containers of food on the counter. “I’m feeding you. When did you eat last?”
I let out a sigh. “I don’t know. I wanna say yesterday, but?—”
He shot me a look. “Blake.”
“It’s been a rough week. There was a pizza. I think Jeremy bought that, but I was still drunk. Bec did order some groceries, but I didn’t cook anything. I did have a lot of vodka, tequila, and bourbon. And Scotch. Not sure that counts though.”
He put the container of meat in the microwave. “Drinking alone, huh? Didn’t we have a pact about that too?”
I shrugged. “I wasn’t alone. I was with my own misery, and the twins self-loathing and self-sabotage were there.”
He chuckled but his eyes were sorry.
“And anyway,” I added, “the pacts we made as Atrous don’t count anymore.”
He studied me for a second before coming to stand in front of me again. “Okay, so a new pact between you and me. No drinking alone.”
I nodded. “Okay.”
He smiled then. “And that we tell each other how we’re feeling. No more hiding anything. No more saying we’re fine when we’re not.”
“Deal. And you’re not allowed to leave me again.”
He smiled and offered me his pinkie. “Promise.”
I hooked my pinkie finger with his. “Promise.”
Then the microwave beeped, and the smell made me realize just how ravenous I was. He put together a quick fajita and I swear it was the best food I’d ever eaten.
“Holy fuck,” I said with a groan.
He laughed. “Told you Alma could cook.”
I inhaled three of them before I took a second to breathe. I took my time on the fourth, but then I was suddenly full and really freaking tired.
“I take it you didn’t sleep much either,” Luke said.
I shook my head. “Not if drinking until unconscious counts.”
