Bleeding Heart (Captured Miracle Book 2)(8)

“Too bad.” He trailed his fingertips over the exposed flesh of my side and I hissed in a sharp breath. “I want to swim and I want you next to me.”

“Calix,” I moaned his name, both at the feel of his hand on my body and the thought of submerging myself into the currently black waters. “Please,”

“Please what, love?” Calix asked and I knew he heard the dual plea in my tone.

“Please don’t make me swim.” I replied.

“Why are you so against it?” He cocked his head to the side.

“I don’t like being in water at night - when I can’t see something coming for me.”

“There are no sharks in this lake, love.” He teased and I stiffened. He just had to go and put the image of a big human-eater in my mind. Great.

“There are other fish.”

“Nothing that will hurt you.” He stepped forward, circling his arms around the small of my waist until his bare chest was flush with my face. “You know I would never allow anything to hurt you.”

“I want to believe you, Calix.”

“Why don’t you?” He asked seriously, all the play that had been in his tone vanished.

“Because you’ve already hurt me so deeply.” I replied, looking straight at his chest. I couldn’t find the courage to meet his blue eyes. They were - intimidating. But it wasn’t only that, I was afraid I would see a flash of pain in response to my words, and being the coward I was, I avoided that pain.

“How?” He held his breath and I knew my reply was going to surprise him.

“You left me.” I whispered. I didn’t say anything more. I didn’t need to. I was being truthful with him in a way that both shamed and liberated me.

He hissed in a breath, pulling away to catch my chin in his hands. He tilted my head back, forcing my eyes to meet his. “Look at me, love.” He commanded gently. I obeyed. “What do you mean I left you?”

“After telling me why I was here - after telling me why you took me - you just left me. For six days. You didn’t think that would hurt me?” I felt my throat close with emotion I choked through. “You didn’t think I was confused, shocked, afraid? You thought you could just walk away and not return for six days?”

Calix caught my face in his hands, resting his forehead against mine. “Shhh,” he cooed. “I’m sorry. I wasn’t thinking. You’re right, love. It won’t happen again - I’ll never leave you again.”

“You will.” I predicted through an unsteady breath, before half-heartedly joking. “You still have to work.”

“You’ll come with me.” He vowed, kissing the top of my head. “I won’t leave you.”

Closing my eyes, I wondered where my outburst had come from. Deep inside, I had known I was hosting these feelings of anger and resentment and hurt toward Calix, but I hadn’t expected, in my wildest dreams, for them to surface. At least not like this - and I hadn’t expected his reaction either. To say I was surprised, by both of us, was an understatement.

Without thinking, I wrapped my arms around his middle and reveled in the intimate contact. Calix was solid and warm - always. There was something both unsettling and soul-quenching every time I found myself in his embrace. My feelings should be unsettling, but they weren’t. I was done fighting feelings for him. There was no point - not when there was no possibility of my freeing myself from this man.

Wrapping me tight in his embrace, Calix sighed. “I’m truly sorry, Nova. Leaving you to deal with everything alone was selfish of me. I should have stayed, but when you looked at me that night, the horror and disbelief in your eyes - I couldn’t stick around.”

I shook my head against his chest. “Why won’t you tell me what happened - between our parents?”

Calix hissed in a breath. There was a long pause before he answered. “Because you’re innocent to the evils in the world, love. I don’t want you to change.”

“I,”

“Nothing you can say will change my mind, Nova.” Calix announced firmly. “I’d prefer you accept that as fact and move on.”

“But,”

Calix lifted me in his arms - and before I knew it - he’d jumped from the end of the dock. The cold water was a shock at first. It submerged us entirely before the fight or flight response ignited in my brain and I kicked, flailing my arms desperately in my need to resurface.

Somehow, I’d broken away from Calix, and when I surfaced, I heard him laughing deeply.

Wiping my eyes of the water, I sputtered. “You’re, you’re,”

Calix swam closer to me, his hands finding my waist in the water. “I’m what, love?”