Chapter 15PATIENCE
Chapter 15
PATIENCE
I was watching the news when they broke in with a special report about an unidentified man being shot in front of the Seattle courthouse. A sniper had taken him out after he gave testimony in a high-profile case. My heart stopped in my chest, and I cried out as agony and pain sliced through me.
It was him. I knew it was Tucker they were talking about. He was gone, and my heart was breaking in my chest. I felt like the earth had just got swept out from beneath my feet. Tucker was gone, and there wasn’t a damn thing I could do about it. I wouldn’t ever see him again. I’d never be able to hold or kiss him again. Our life together was over before it even got started.
“Oh, honey.” Mom lowered herself onto the couch beside me. Laylah was at my feet, looking around, trying to figure out what was going on and where the danger might be. “Maybe it isn’t him?” she offered hopefully, but she didn’t know everything I knew. All she knew was that he had to go back to Seattle, and he would be at the courthouse. “You can’t know if that’s him.”
“It’s him, Mom. It’s him.” I dissolved into tears, waiting for a call that I knew would be coming at some point that day. I felt numb and broken.
“Patience, there are a lot of people in Seattle. It could be anyone.”
I gave her a half nod, though I knew it wasn’t true. “You’re right, Mom.” I only agreed to placate her. “I’m going to bed to wait for his call.”
***
Eight o’clock came and went and he didn’t call. Maybe I was holding out a little hope that he would, but he didn’t. It was around midnight when I finally fell into an exhausted sleep, wrung out from the emotions of the day. I was sick with grief, and I didn’t want to eat, move, or do anything. I just wanted to escape the pain for a little while, so I slept.
I smiled in my sleep when I felt the warmth of his body next to mine again. The dreams I had were filled with bliss because he was next to me. I could feel his heat on my back. I could feel his arms around my waist. Tucker’s lips were on my skin and his voice whispered sweet nothings into my ear. He was next to me, holding me. Telling me how much he loved me and that it was all over.
“I want you back, Tucker,” I pleaded with the man in my dream. Tears ran down my cheeks from beneath my closed eyelids. My heart was breaking as reality and my dream blended, and my heart broke all over again.
“I’m right here, Patience. Wake up and open your eyes, baby. I’m right here.” My hand was on a warm chest with a thudding heartbeat, and I opened my eyes to see him lying there.
“Tucker,” I cried out, launching myself into his arms.
“I’m here, baby. I’m here.” He pulled me closer to his body, and I absorbed everything—all of him.
He was in my arms. He wasn’t gone, I say to myself over and over again.
“I’m sorry. It was the only way I could end it all. I had to make them think I was dead.”
“And me too?” I grumbled, even as I cried tears of joy knowing he was alive. “Don’t you ever fucking do that to me again, you freaking toad,” I grumbled, bringing back his nickname for when I was annoyed at him.
“Aww, honey, you kissed me, remember? I’m a prince now,” he joked, and I laughed around my tears as I pulled him tighter into my arms. Holding him close, I vowed to never let him go.