See How She Runs (29 page)

“I’m just so tired Kennan. I am tired of
fighting. I am tired of being strong. I tried to be strong for you.
I did, but I don’t think I can anymore."

“Well then I will be strong enough for both
of us." His gravelly voice was like a balm to my soul.

He forced me to meet his eyes once more and
just looked at me. A thousand emotions played behind his eyes.
Regret, fear, anger, compassion, and most of all love swirled in
their depth. I stared back as the tears streamed down my
cheeks.

“I love you. No matter what happens, nothing
will change that. Do you understand me?" he said.

“But what if I don’t get better? I don’t
want you to be with someone like this. I can’t do that to you," I
whimpered and knew that it was the truth. I loved him too much to
force him to stay with me as I wasted into nothing.

He stood up and pushed me back on the bed.
He lowered himself over my body effectively caging me in. He looked
me over assessing me. I started to avert my glance, afraid that I
would find repulsion in his eyes. He took his hand and held my face
in place, forcing me to meet his gaze once more.

“I am here. Now, tomorrow, the next day and
the rest of forever. Nothing, and I do mean nothing, can take me
away from you. I fought for too long against myself, against
Xavier. Now that I really and truly have you, there is no escape.
Got it?" he said as he stared at my lips.

“Got it," I whispered. I licked my lips
under his steady gaze which caused him to moan.

He lowered his weight on top of my body as
his lips met my own. His kiss was a slow prayer that soon built
into a frenzy. It was as though we could not get enough of each
other. He kissed down my chin and neck and back up. I wrapped my
legs around his back and tried to pull myself as close to him as
our clothes would allow. He pulled away and looked down at me. The
heat burning behind his eyes caused a similar heat to pool bellow
my belly.

He looked at me questioningly. I understood
what he was asking without any words and I started to pull his
shirt off in an answer. Once it was off, I stared at his glorious
torso. His muscles rippled in all the right places. I ran my hands
down his chest and traced the scar from where he had been shot. I
set about tracing each of his tattoos with my hands my mouth
following close behind. I had dreamed of kissing his skin a
thousand times. Those wretched dreams paled in comparison to the
reality.

The heat of his skin met my lips as I slowly
explored his torso. He growled and pushed me back down onto the bed
pulling my shirt off in the process. He pulled a breath in through
his teeth as he took in the sight of me. He landed a brief kiss to
my lips before working his way down my neck, my collar bone, and
finally just between my breasts. The scruff from his five o’clock
shadow gently scratching as he went causing bumps to rise all over
my body.

He kissed down the rest of my torso to my
hipbone, causing me to raise my hips up to meet him. He took his
hands and removed my pants slowly, leaving me lying in only my
underwear. He kissed further down as he removed my jeans. I moaned
and I longed for more. I needed him in a way that I had never known
I could need anything.

He stood and looked down at me.

“Are you sure this is what you want, Izzy?
Because there is no going back," Kennan said in a voice that almost
sounded menacing.

“I have never been surer of anything in my
life," I said, pulling him back to the bed while unhooking his
pants.

He pushed his jeans off, revealing all of
his glorious perfection. He bent over me and pulled away the last
barrier between us. We spent the next few hours playing out every
scenario I had ever dreamed. I could not get enough of him. Each
time I cried out he would push me farther. I was sure anyone
remotely close to us would be requesting a room change the next
day. I did not care though. I had waited far too long for Kennan
and now I had him.

We were entwined in one another. My legs
wrapped in and around his and I rested my head on his chest. His
heartbeat was a steady rhythm that soothed my weary soul. I lay
there, unable to speak as he ran his fingers up and down my back,
memorizing the contours of my body. I sighed, if I were to die
today, I would die happy.

“What are you thinking, Izzy?" Kennan
grumbled out, drowsily.

“That this is perfect. It was worth
everything that I have been through. If I had to do it all over
again, I would," I said, and realized it was the truth. It had all
brought us together and I would not change a second of it.

He bent over and kissed the top of my head
and continued to trace my body making my flesh rise under his
touch.

“Not perfect yet, but it will be,"he said,
and I was confused. I wondered if I had done something wrong. I
looked up into his face and saw concern there.

“What’s wrong?"

“I just keep thinking about the way your
body looked strapped to that machine. I keep thinking about that
night in the recovery room. I was not strong enough to help you
then. I hope I am now," he said as his brows furrowed.

I turned onto my stomach so that I could
look at him. I brushed my fingers across his furrowed brow trying
to smooth it out. I planted gentle kisses all along the face that I
loved so much.

“Well, we have to sleep soon because I
really am exhausted. If you want to wait and try tomorrow, I will
understand. If it gets too bad, just go find Molly. She can usually
break into my thoughts and pull me from the dream." I hated putting
any pressure on him.

“No, we are going to do this together. So
you just rest and if it happens I will be there," he said, pulling
me in for a kiss before I snuggled back down.

**********

THIRTY

I laid my head against Kennan’s chest and
let his heartbeat lull me to sleep. I felt myself slip into the
dreaming even as I clung to the present. I could not stop it no
matter how hard I fought. It always managed to drag me under.

**********

I was in a car dangling off of the edge of a
bridge that had collapsed. I knew the bridge. It was a favorite of
my tortures. This was the very bridge I had stopped from
collapsing. That did not change the fact that it was gone now.

I looked down and saw water rushing below. I
looked back toward the back of the car and wondered if this time I
would be able to make it out of the car. I unbuckled my seatbelt
and started to crawl toward the back of the car. I hoped that I
would be able to put more weight on the back and keep it from
falling.

As I moved the car began to slip, just like
it always did. I looked back down through the windshield and saw
remnants of cars that had fallen before me. I tried to get in the
back more quickly. I made it and went to open the door. The doors
seemed to be welded shut.

The only way out was blocked. I was trapped
and I was going to fall. Just as the car began to make its final
slip off of the bridge, I felt a strong hand grasp my arm and pull
me out. As soon as my feet touched the ground the car fell from the
bridge.

“
I’ve got you, Izzy. You are safe,"
Kennan said as he pulled me against his chest. I breathed out
slowly as everything went black and I was sucked into
oblivion.

**********

I spent the rest of the night sleeping
peacefully for the first time in more than a month. He had kept his
word, he had come for me. The next morning I woke up feeling more
like myself than I had in ages. I was still wrapped in Kennan’s
arms and I looked up to find him watching me.

“Thank you," I mumbled against the
sheet.

“What? I can’t understand you with sheet in
your mouth, Iz.”

I turned my head away from his and said it
again.

“Thank you.”

“What are you doing?" Kennan asked,
bemused.

“I have stinky breath. I am trying not to
kill you," I said into the pillow.

He pulled me so that I was looking at him
and I tried to keep a sheet or something between us so that I did
not murder him with my swamp breath.

He just pulled me closer and gave me a firm,
closed-mouth kiss.

“I love you, you strange and glorious girl,"
he said into my hair as I tried to hide my face again.

I squirmed out of the bed and went to the
bathroom to brush my teeth. I looked at myself in the mirror and
noticed that some of the swelling had already gone down under my
eyes. I also had a spark back in them that had been missing. I was
not back to being one hundred percent myself yet, but I knew with
Kennan’s help I would be just fine.

I returned to the bed and threw myself on
him. I ravaged him thoroughly before we left for the second Council
meeting.

**********

We got to the meeting and took our seats. I
noticed that there were far fewer people present at this meeting. I
knew we did not have to be there, but I felt like I wanted to take
in everything I could. I wanted to gather all of the information I
possibly could so that I would be able to figure out what to do
next. I knew that there was something amiss. I could tell from the
look on Kennan’s face that he felt it as well. Molly and Ian joined
us just before the meeting started.

“You look better, Izzy," Molly whispered as
she sat with a knowing twinkle in her eye.

I blushed violently as the room was called
to order. The meeting passed with little excitement. There were
interviews conducted of all of the Guardians. They pretty much
regurgitated one another’s story. It was utterly boring. I had
gotten absolutely no useful information from any of it. As we were
released, the old crone leader smiled down at me.

She really unnerved me and maybe I should
find out her name so I could stop referring to her as "the old
crone."

“What’s her name?" I asked Kennan.

“That is Isadora," Kennan said with a
knowing look.

“Wait. That is what my dad wanted to name
me," I said, looking back over my shoulder.

“Yeah, well she knew your family quite well.
She was very close to your mother. She helped to put your parents
into hiding," Kennan said, barely above a whisper.

“So she is definitely on team good guy
then?" I asked as we made our way back toward our room.

“Yeah, definitely team good guy. But right
now all I really want to talk about is what is hiding under those
clothes," Kennan growled causing me to giggle.

He chased me into the room and I squealed as
he tackled me to the bed. He went about having his naughty way with
me. Not that I put up too much of a fight. I quite liked it.

**********

We spent the next few days in and out of
meetings. I never gleaned any useful information from them. I
considered it to be an exercise in self-control. I had a hard time
keeping my hands off of Kennan, and the meetings seemed to cool my
engines enough to make me focus.

Kennan was able to pull me out of all of my
dreams and I had started to sleep well for the first time in ages.
It seemed like his presence was scaring off whatever was haunting
my dreams. By the seventh night, I did not have any nightmares.

“Nightmare free," I said in wonder when we
woke that morning.

“Thank the gods," Kennan breathed. “I don’t
know how you survived them as long as you did, Izzy. Just seven
nights of that was horrifying.”

“Well, I had someone worth holding on for,"
I mumbled into his chest. “Hey, I have a question for you.”

“Well, enlighten me. What would you like to
ask from your very handsome, very giving Guardian?" Kennan preened
while I smacked him in the chest.

“I wanted to know if we could give the house
to Molly and Ian. I don’t really want to go back there. There are
too many memories there. I was thinking maybe we could relocate," I
said hopefully. It was something I had been thinking of for a long
time.

“Sure, I have no particular attachment to
Chicago. Well, other than you of course. The bar is doing really
well, so I feel fine leaving it in Marky’s capable hands."

“Wait, what? Do you own that bar?" I asked,
confused.

“Oh, yeah, I own the bar. So there is that.
I own a few businesses. I have been around for an exceedingly long
time, Izzy. So just tell me where you want to move and I will make
it happen.”

“Um, are you rich?" I asked, wondering why
it had not occurred to me before.

“We are rich," he said as he ran his hand up
and down my side.

“So, you are rich," I corrected.

“Nope, we are," he said not bothering to
open his eyes.

“What is with this 'we' business?" I asked,
starting to get frustrated.

“Oh, you are going to marry me," he
said.

“Oh, I am, am I? This is news to me. You are
awfully sure of yourself there buster," I said, glaring at him.

“Hmm, did you say something? I was thinking
a fall wedding would be nice," he continued like I was not even
there.

“Fine, but let me be absolutely clear on one
thing. I am not ready for the 2.5 kids yet and I am not sold on the
whole picket fence thing," I sighed. I knew fighting him would be
futile and in the end, I really did not want to. He was everything
I had ever wanted.

“The 2.5 kids can wait and the picket fence
is completely negotiable. So where are we going to be raising these
hellions anyway? You said you wanted to move.”

“I am thinking I want to go back down to
L.A.”

“I think that would be perfect. I know just
the town. It is quiet and small and no one will bother us down
there. Plus it is an easy drive to the beach.”

“So where are we going K.O.?" I asked as I
climbed over him to straddle his body.