didn’t trust anyone outside of who she knew taking care of my medical needs.
She usually came around right before I fell asleep. She would drop in for a few minutes of awkward conversation. She had asked me to forgive her for handing me over to Raymond, and I hadn’t given her a reply right away.
Once Arjen let me know that I had coded twice before they had gotten me to the hospital, and I’d lost so much blood I had to have a transfusion, I relaxed my anger towards her.
Silvia was the one that had ended up giving me her blood. It was ironic that I had gotten a transfusion the first time I was shot, from Raymond’s blood, and now Silvia’s. The mother and father I knew nothing about had saved me, not once, but twice.
Since I was given a second chance at something as important as life, I saw no reason why I couldn’t give her a second chance as well. I forgave her, but we had a long road of healing ahead of us.
Was I going to be able to find enough room in my heart to have a relationship with her?
42
Mecca
Three more weeks of rest and recovery, and I was strong enough to stand and walk on my own, but Arjen was like a big looming hawk, fussing over every little thing I did. Desiree wasn’t any better, running around like my limbs were chopped off.
When she and Arjen attempted to spoon feed me, it was where I drew the damn line and put them out of my room. Khane was the only one I had allowed in until I started missing Arjen a day later.
After weeks of being caged inside of Silvia’s palace of a house, I was finally set free to explore. Arjen had an early birthday present he wanted to give me, and we had ended up scaling the side of a mountain until we reached Khane’s house where he claimed the gift was temporarily located.
My jaw hit the floor of the car at the sight of the modern-day replica of an old-fashioned castle. The draw bridge was all that was missing. The steep drop-offs surrounding the place weren’t water, but it could have acted as the moat. Desiree probably lost her mind at the first sight of this place because it was something that she would die to explore and paint.
“Dayem,” I murmured when I took the first few steps inside. The gothic theme was something straight from the medieval period. Desiree stepped towards me with, of all things, an apron on that said, “Chef in Training.”
The sight lifted my eyebrows as she had flour or something on one of her cheeks. Our embrace was soft and soothing. The knowledge that we were sisters always squeezed my heart tighter when we were around each other.
The house’s interior retook my attention when we separated, and I took another leisurely look around until Khane greeted us, bumping chests with Arjen and placing a tender kiss on my cheek that I didn’t expect. What was my sister doing to the man?
A serious side-eye was cast in his direction before my gaze turned to meet hers.
“This house is amazing,” I said, allowing my curious gaze to roam while taking a slow stroll through the living room. The rest of the group chatted in hushed murmurs, no doubt talking about the surprise Arjen had for me.
“Now I understand why Desiree is truly here,” I stated before returning to the couch, eyeing Khane.
“No matter what she tells you, I’m sure she married you for your house.”
Her playful tap caught me in the arm as I attempted, but failed to dodge it. We enjoyed a round of small talk and Desiree’s tasty crab bites with a glass of white wine.
Her excitement spilled out and warmed me as she announced that Arjen and me were her and Khane’s first official guests. We were also the first to sample something that he had taught her to cook.
Other than Arjen, the outside view of Khane and Desiree’s relationship was one of the most beautiful things I had seen since my return to the living. After she discarded her apron and returned from the kitchen, she casually walked past him on the couch, bumping his knee on purpose before she took her seat.
She angled her body so that she was scraping it against his side as he and Arjen were talking about a boring financial matter that I had long stopped listening to.