Page 256 of The Night Shift
Her eyes meet mine, amber with flecks of gold, shimmering with tears. God, she’s beautiful. She looks like a miracle.
She swallows a lump in her throat. “You’re imagining things. I never said anything of the sort. Your drugs are evidently working overtime.”
“Do I have to nearly die again to hear those words again?”
She flinches. The joke doesn’t land the way I thought it would. “That’s not funny.”
“I’m sorry.” I wipe her tears with the side of my hand. “But you have to know I’d never leave you, Hollister. We’re tethered, you and I. Something as simple as death isn’t going to keep me from getting on your nerves.”
Her voice wavers. “Stop calling me that.”
“Not gonna happen.”
“Promise you’ll never leave me like that again.”
“I promise.”
“Because if you do, I won’t be sticking around for much longer either.”
“Holly, don’t say that. Come here.” I pull her close, my arm wrapping around her. She fits against me like she always does. Like she was made for me. Because I know I was made for her.
I kiss the crook of her neck. “I love you so much, you know that?”
She cries into my shoulder. Doesn’t say anything.
“Say it back, Holly.”
She doesn’t lift her head. “The last time I said it, you almost bled out. I don’t want to risk it.”
“What last time? I thought you didn’t say anything of the sort?”
“Stop being a jerk.”
“Never.”
A long silence.
She exhales shakily. “You’re going to make me say it, aren’t you?”
My hand finds its way into her hair again. “Say what?”
“You know what.”
“I think you should say it.”
“You’re such a smug little shit.”
“Say it.”
“You look like shit too.”
“Incorrect. My face is art.”
A sigh. She looks up. “You were passed out fortwodays.”
“And yet still devastatingly handsome. Must be exhausting for you.”
Her palm smacks into my forehead. I wince, but I can’t stop myself from smiling. My body has evidently missed being smacked by her.
