Page 136 of My Revenant
Another pause. “I’m okay. We’re okay. We’re… safe.”
He spoke quietly, his words not exactly a question but still sounding on the edge of one.
“We’re safe,” I promised him.
“I love you,” he answered. “So much.”
“I love you too, baby. More than anything.”
“No matter what?”
“No matter what.”
Jonah relaxed into me further, and I kissed along the skin at his neck and shoulders. My fingertips traced patterns over the bare skin of his sides and his stomach until his breathing deepened and he fell asleep. I followed him shortly after.
It was early when I stirred awake again at the movement beside me. Jonah wriggled out of my arms and out of bed.
“Okay?” I grumbled, my voice sleep-deepened.
“Yeah. I just… I want to go for a run.”
My brows pulled together, and I attempted to chase the remnants of sleep away as I rubbed my eyes. Jonah rarely woke up before me, and he certainly didn’t go for runs.
“What’s wrong?”
“Nothing,” he answered too quickly. “I just want some fresh air.”
“Baby—”
“I’m fine, Dex. I just want to go for a run.”
“But… your leg.”
“You think I don’t know about my leg? Trust me, I fucking know, but I’m going to try. Okay?” Jonah huffed.
I had no idea what was going on with him, but I didn’t like it.
“I’ll come with you.”
“No. I want to go alone.”
Something twisted in me, some dark urge, similar to panic but not quite. I didn’t want him to do anything alone. Didn’t want him to push me away like he seemed intent on doing. I preferred when he was unreasonable and wouldn’t even let me go to work without him coming with me. Because that was honest.
“Talk to me.” My voice sounded more pleading than I intended, but it reached him, and conflict clouded his features.
“I will. Just let me go clear my head, and we can talk when I get back.”
I fought the urge to grab at him, to hold him to me until whatever this distance was faded away. “I have something I want to give you,” I said instead.
His eyes flicked to the door, as if he was desperate to escape. I didn’t give him a moment to try, pulling back the covers and heading for my jacket.
I found what Harper had given me in the pocket, and clutched it tightly in my fist as I brought it over to Jonah, offering him my most precious possession.
“Your father’s lighter?”
“I want you to have it.”
His eyes were wide when they snapped to mine. “Why?”
