Page 61 of Scent Of Obsession
“Radcliff, your face,” Hugo gasped, throwing himself in the sand next to us.
“I don’t fucking care!”
Again and again.
Thirty compressions. Two breaths.
Lily, come back to me.
My face twisted grotesquely. Hugo was calling for help on the phone, but I couldn’t leave her fate in the hands of someone else. They’d be too late. The hope I had slowly vanished into the icy air. She wasn’t moving despite all of my frenetic pushes, using all of my strength.
My view blurred, and I started reducing my speed. Perhaps we’d both die at the beach. My instincts led each of my movements, and miracle of miracles, her chest rose. I stopped, angst taking possession of me.
“Lily…” I sighed a low growl, my eyes boring into each of her features.
Lily’s eyes opened slightly for a fraction of a second. A lightning bolt pierced through my core at the view of her amber eyes. She seemed to have awakened from a long sleep.
“You’re back…” she muttered before her eyes shut again, and she fell unconscious.
“Hugo, take care of her.” A vein popped out in my neck, my expression hardening. “If she asks, you rescued her.”
“But, Radcliff, you—”
“Do as I ask!” I screamed, my gaze darting crimson flames of rage at him.
“You jumped… You jumped for her,” Hugo realized, his pupils flaring under the shock of the impossibility. “You need help—you’re bleeding. Your face is—”
“Go,” I hissed.
He carried my Lily gently in his arms to take her further away from me. She would make it. My whole body hit the sand. I was drained of my strength. On my back, I struggled to hold my gaze on the rays of sun trying to pierce through the sky.
I heard the barks of Cerba getting closer—that careless dog was rushing to me. The beach was dangerous for her; she should be with that flower goddess and Hugo. My eyelids struggled to stay open. In the distance, I peered upon a bird darkening the sun, its shadow reflecting on my face. The raven.
Cerba arrived next to me, her barks becoming incessant. She snuggled into the hollow of my neck, her head on my shoulder. I felt her eyes gleaming at me with worry.
“I’m fine,” I lied.
For the first time in a long time, I felt.
I was cold.
Weak.
And most importantly, I needed warmth.
“She’s gonna be okay, Radcliff. She just needs rest, and so do you.” Hugo tried to get some sense out of me.
I locked my eyes on Lily’s sleeping face. She was tucked inside her bed, lights posed all around her bedroom in case she woke up during the night. I tucked a strand of her hair away from her face before drifting my gaze to the naked parts of her skin.
The fall had left bruises trying to—unsuccessfully—take away a glimpse of her beauty. She was miraculously alive—the worst could have happened. She could have ended up just like me. The thought of it repulsed me. I’d condemned her to the possibility of this fate.
But she’d heal.
The merciless ocean had spared her.
Perhaps, because her soul was too pure to be taken away.
“I’m looking out for her. You need to take care of yourself,” Hugo insisted.
