the Knight brother you met first would be me, and our lives would have been so different.”
“You don’t know that” I say. “Kendrick could have saw me and decided he wanted me, regardless if you and I were together. I’m here now, and I’ll admit this, Sebastian—I have never felt such peace.”
His fingertips run down my spine, and my lids relax. There is so much to talk about, but I am so tired. I’m not on high alert to keep myself safe, I’m relaxed; my body and mind trust Sebastian. The longer I lay my head against his chest, the sleepier I feel. So many thoughts run through my mind like, will Kendrick find me? What does this mean for me and Sebastian? Will we finally get our chance? I should be afraid. I am in a new place that I don’t know, I nearly died, Kendrick is still out there, and I have a feeling he’ll stop at nothing to get me back to fulfil the sick plan he has for me.
The one thing that overpowers every other thought.
When is Sebastian finally going to kiss me? Isn’t seven years long enough? What is he waiting for? Did his feelings change for me? Maybe he found me pathetic because of how weak I was with Kendrick. I hadn’t been the strongest person, but Kendrick knew how to wear my down.
If after all this time, all these dreams, all these make-believe fantasies of us that I had in my mind, if he doesn’t want me, what the hell will I do? My survival focused on him for so many years. I let myself become dependent on him, and he wasn’t even there physically.
“What is it?” he asks, kissing the top of my head again.
I close my eyes and wrap an arm around his stomach, feeling the muscles flexing between me. I feel his abs, and my eyes wonder down his body and the bulge between his legs. He always liked his jeans kind of tight and he pulls them off. The tight denim cups every inch of him right, and my cheeks darken with heat when I realize I am staring at the length against his left thigh. I glance away, burying my face in his body to stop myself from ogling him. He probably doesn’t want me.
“Nothing,” I lie. “I’m just tired.”
“You’ve always been a bad liar, Gabriella. You have the worst tells, but I won’t reveal my secrets. Go to sleep.”
I tighten my arms around him, afraid he’s going to leave me alone, and the heart rate monitor beeps annoyingly, giving away my fear.
“I’m not going anywhere, ever, baby. Someone would have to kill me to get me out of this bed with you.”
Part of me isn’t convinced this is my life now. A murky part of my mind tells me I’m dead, and I finally get to rejoice and feel happiness.
Sebastian is my peace.
In the darkest of times in my life, in the instances of fear and pain, in moments of sadness and tears, he is the man who brings warmth to my heart that grew cold. My mind might have forgotten little details of his face, but how he made me feel could never be forgotten.
Sebastian Knight is burned, engraved, and sewn into the fragility of my psyche, and he has no idea just how much stronger he made me.
Chapter Eleven
SEBASTIAN
Quinn is helping Gabriella shower. Gabby has been five days, and every day is pure fucking torture. I want to kiss her so bad. The need engulfs me. I want to take, take, take! It has been years, and I fucking deserve to feel her lips against mine once and for all.
But she is healing, not just physically but mentally, and I have to wait. If I have to wait another seven years before she tells me I can kiss her, then I will wait. I don't want to wait, but Gabby is the only woman I will wait for.
I sit on the couch, leg shaking with anxiety as I stare down the hall where my room is. I in the reading room, where the doors open to the infinity pool outside. Books upon books surround me. It smells like I library, and it is part of the reason why I picked the room closest to it.
I stare daggers into my bedroom door. I can hear the shower running, and my cock is painfully hard thinking of Gabriella all wet and soapy, the foam gliding down between