Chapter 6 - Avgust #2
The moment stretched between us as Ilana watched me with those wide, shaken eyes that had already managed to wedge themselves somewhere deep inside my ribs.
Her knees brushed my chest again when she shifted ever so slightly beneath the blanket, and I felt it.
The spark. She didn’t even know what she was doing.
How close she was sitting.
How soft she looked, wrapped in wool and moon-pale skin.
Her voice was barely a whisper as she looked at me. “You don’t have to keep… hovering.”
“I am not.”
She gave the smallest, trembling exhale, half laugh, half sigh. “You’re two inches from my knees.”
“Your point?”
“It’s intense.”
Her voice broke on that last word, like she wasn’t sure whether she meant it as a compliment, a warning, or just a truth she didn’t know how to handle.
And the worst part? She wasn’t wrong.
I let my hands settle on the sofa cushion beside her hips, bracketing her gently. Her breath stuttered, eyes flickering down my chest before snapping back up again. She felt it too. I could see it.
“I’m intense because you nearly got kidnapped again,” I said quietly. “Forgive me for not pretending otherwise.”
She swallowed. “I didn’t mean for any of that to happen.”
“I know.”
And I did.
Even if I wished she’d been smarter. Safer. A little less na?ve.
“I just wanted to call them,” she whispered, referring to her brothers once again.
“And instead you found two men ready to drag you into a van.”
Her shoulder shook, the blanket tightening around her as she drew in a shallow breath.
“Please don’t remind me.”
“I’m not trying to hurt you, Ilana.” I softened my tone instantly.
“I know,” she said, barely audible. “I just… don’t want to think about their hands on me.”
Something hot and violent flared up inside me, and the image of their fingers grabbing her popped into my head. I had to swallow down the growl crawling its way up my throat. I did not want to scare Ilana. Not right now, when she was already terrified.
“You won’t have to think about them again,” I promised. “They won’t touch you. Not while I’m breathing.”
Her lashes lowered at the ferocity in my voice, as though the certainty itself made her heart pound harder. “Avgust…”
“Yes?”
“That is a very intense thing to say.”
I allowed a slow breath out. “I am a very intense man, Ilana.”
Her lips parted, just slightly, and for one suspended moment, something shifted in the air between us. It wasn’t desire. Not yet. But something heavier. Something that hummed low and warm beneath her fear, threading itself into the cracks left by the trauma.
Connection.
She stared at my mouth before she caught herself, jerking her gaze upward so fast she nearly winced. I felt that small flicker of awareness all the way through me.
But I couldn’t act on it.
Not tonight.
Not with shock still clinging to her.
So I leaned back a fraction, giving her space, even though every instinct told me to pull her against me again, to tuck her beneath my chin until the trembling stopped for good.
“Are you hungry?” I asked, trying to ground her.
She blinked once. Twice. “I don’t think I can eat anything.”
“What about water?”
She hesitated. “Maybe.”
I stood slowly, testing her reaction. She watched every movement like she didn’t want me out of sight, even for a single second, even if she didn’t realize it.
“It’ll only take a minute,” I assured her.
She nodded, clutching the blanket tighter. When I returned with a glass, she reached out with both hands, fingers still unsteady. The moment her skin brushed mine, she froze. I did too. Her pulse fluttered rapidly against the base of her thumb, and I could feel it in the silence.
I guided the glass into her hands anyway. “Easy.”
She drank in small sips, each one loosening the knot in her throat but not quite relaxing the rest of her.
“Better?” I asked.
“A little.”
I set the glass aside and sat beside her, before scooping her into my arms and pulling her closer to me.
A soft whimper escaped her mouth at my touch, but she did not resist or pull back, her small frame easily settling into mine like the pieces of a puzzle.
The blanket slipped off her shoulder, exposing the bare line of her collarbone, and I reached over and pulled it back up.
Her breath caught again.
“Please don’t leave me alone tonight.”
Something inside me snapped into place. “I wasn’t planning on it.”
“I am not asking you to stay because I am scared,” she added quickly, eyes still down. “I just… don’t want to be alone with my own head right now. Having you here helps.”
“I know.”
“And you, make everything feel a little less terrifying.” I smiled at her words.
She winced afterwards, as if she regretted admitting it.
But the confession hit me like a strike to the sternum.
I wrapped both my arms around her shoulders, and she melted into the warmth instantly, her body softening, her cheek pressing against my chest where my heartbeat was loud enough for both of us to feel.
The scent of her hair, clean and rain-soaked, slid under my skin as her breath warmed my shirt. Heat coiled through me, but I forced my muscles to stay relaxed, controlled, and unmoving.
Her whisper brushed my throat. “You’re warm.”
“And you’re freezing.”
“I am warmer now.”
Her honesty scraped something raw inside me.
“Good,” I murmured. “Try to relax.”
“I’m trying.”
She was. I could feel it. Every breath slowly easing, every tremor fading inch by inch as her body yielded to the safety I shouldn’t have wanted to give her this much. Her head grew heavier against me as her breaths became slower. I could sense that she was almost asleep.
I pulled her closer, letting my mouth hover near her temple without touching, but close enough that my breath stirred a stray wisp of her hair.
“I’ve got you,” I whispered, unheard but necessary. “No one’s taking you anywhere ever again. I promise.”
Her fingers curled near my ribs and tightened imperceptibly in my shirt like her body heard me even when her mind didn’t. I stayed there, holding her, guarding her, watching the rise and fall of her breathing as her exhaustion finally dragged her under.
And even long after she fell asleep.
I didn’t move.