65. Chapter Sixty-Five
Chapter Sixty-Five
Kat
Henry slept for five hours. It was getting a little late by the time he woke up, but I knew the car wouldn’t be ready for me yet anyway. I easily could’ve slept. I was exhausted.
But something stopped me.
I wasn’t sure if it was the memory of his horrible nightmare the night before, or the fact that he’d hurt himself badly if he thrashed around right now.
But I just wanted to… keep an eye on him.
Make sure he was comfortable and happy and sleeping peacefully.
So, I just sat there, stroking his hair, watching that little smile on his face.
Sandy had come by a few times to make sure he didn’t need anything, but it seemed all he had needed was me.
When he finally stirred, he groaned deeply. Then winced at the pain it pulled in his ribs, then hissed a breath through his teeth at the pain the wince caused in his face. He was a fucking mess. I just stroked his hair again.
“Henry, don’t move too fast, honey,” I said softly, unsure how much the sedation was still working. He tilted his head up to look at me.
“I thought it might’ve been a dream,” he murmured to me, his eyes looking a lot clearer.
“What?” I asked, even though I thought I knew.
“You being here,” he said quietly. I didn’t want him thinking that anymore.
He’d said something similar about other things lately.
And if I did my best to remove the me abandoning him at the hospital heartache I was carrying, I could see why he’d be surprised regardless. And I needed that to change.
Because no matter what happened between us, no matter where we landed, no matter who tried to come between us.
I would always come for him when he needed me.
That I could promise.
I slid my fingers into his hair to hold him looking at me.
“Henry, when you need me, I’ll always come, okay? I didn’t know,” I said softly. He nodded, accepting that answer.
“I didn’t have my phone and I couldn’t… I could barely talk before they gave me the loopy juice, and then after I couldn’t remember how to find you.
I may have been a little upset after that,” he said sheepishly, turning a little red.
He gave me a self-deprecating smile. I kissed him on the forehead.
He looked serious for a second, and flushed even more.
“Can you maybe…” he mumbled, looking away from me. I just waited patiently for him. I could wait all night.
“Can you maybe just assume, next time?” he asked softly, his voice cracking at the end. I hugged his head to me gently.
“Fuck I hope there isn’t a next time, but I’m not that na?ve. But what do you mean? Assume you want me here?” I asked gently. He nodded, his eyes big and slightly teary. He must’ve been in so much fucking pain still.
“I never have my phone. And I tend to be out of it after a crash. Even the smaller ones, they’re just really disorienting,” he admitted.
A sharp shard of fear pierced through my chest at that.
It could be relatively normal. But I wasn’t so stupid to not add all of his head trauma together in a slightly frightening way.
I kissed him on the forehead again. He was still red, and looking away from me.
“They asked me if I wanted to add you to the list of people to just let come see me. I… I didn’t tell them yes.
Yet…” he murmured, trailing off. He paused and took a decently deep breath, which made me happy.
I kissed his forehead yet again. Fuck, I couldn’t stop with this man.
He didn’t let people see this side of him.
No one. Ever.
But he needed to be able to. And besides the fact that I obviously hated the circumstances, I wanted to see the open, trusting, walls down side of him. I wanted to see him let go of that control. He didn’t NEED it with me. He could just… BE. Be HIM.
He alone was more than enough for me.
“But I know you work with the team. And I know how that would look. I know the thing with Jim at the airport really didn’t look great. And-“ he blurted. I cut him off before he could get upset again.
“Okay,” I whispered. He looked up at me in surprise. I gave him a small smile.
“But I don’t want people to start saying things. That sounds bloody awful, I know. But I know that’s how garages work. And-“ he started again, getting fully worked up. I could see tears in the corners of his eyes.
“Henry,” I whispered, cutting him off again. He looked up at me, just as a tear fell down his cheek. I thought maybe the sedation was still working, a little. But either way, it didn’t matter.
THIS mattered.
“I own my own company. If people want to say I got ONE contract because I was sleeping with someone, they can go fuck themselves. I’m not going to let that keep you alone when you’re hurting. Okay?” I said fiercely, feeling a few tears gather in my eyes as well.
I meant it. I knew how it could look. I didn’t want that. And I KNEW it would happen if we kept doing this. But it wasn’t a permanent position. It was for a few months. And it was one of HUNDREDS of contracts I’d won just in the last three months.
So, fuck them all.
I’d already gotten it for being my father’s daughter.
So, fuck them all.
He so very slowly wiggled his way up to have his head on my shoulder instead of my chest, hissing in pain as he went. He nosed the underside of my jaw with his nose like I hadn’t seen him coming from a mile away.
“Yes?” I said lightly, a smile on my face.
“So, you’ll come?” he asked, sounding very vulnerable. I knew why. I knew what he was asking. This was future. This was reliance. This was not only will you come, but will you stay.
There was no answer other than yes.
“Always. Have them put me on the list,” I whispered. He sagged against me, like he’d been holding a terrible amount of tension waiting for that confirmation. He kissed my neck, spreading goosebumps from that point.
“Thank you,” he said simply.
“You’ve got me, you silly man. I promise,” I said, just as simply.
He held up a hand, pinky out.
“Pinky promise?” he asked, sounding so much like the little boy that asked me the same thing twenty years ago.
The same protective, self-sacrificing, inherently GOOD person through and through.
I linked my pinky with his, knowing he didn’t remember.
Knowing that memory was only mine, for now. Until a better time to talk about it.
But he hadn’t changed a bit.
“Pinky promise.”