She closed her eyes and lay back on the couch. She was so tired. When she opened them again, Rafael was gone. She closed her eyes and found him in his room. She curled up next to him on the couch there and felt his arms around her.
“I shouldn’t let you do this.”
She put her hands on his arms, holding him, keeping him there with her. “I know.”
“It’s not good for you.”
“I know.”
They sat, unmoving, for a long time. He finally broke the silence. “We need to have a talk.”
“I’m not ready to let you go.”
He didn’t push it. When she was ready, he hoped she’d go along with the plan, but he wouldn’t—couldn’t—force her. He could always leave if he felt she was being harmed. For now, he knew losing him again a second time this soon would crush her.
He swallowed his guilt. “You need to love the big guy. He wants you to love him. He loves you, would die for you.”
“I know.”
This wasn’t helping. “Don’t push him away anymore.”
“I won’t.”
She gave Rafe free range of her mind, places she didn’t even know existed. He knew more about her and her past lives than she would ever consciously know. She still held memories, feelings of before. While she and Matthias were in Key West, Rafe spent the time lost with Cassandra, enjoyed loving her, being with her, reliving the past.
Truth be told, he didn’t want to leave. Not if it meant he could still love her that way.
Taz eventually made it back to the kitchen. Her dad had gone to bed but left his paperwork on the table. She resisted the urge to go through it, and instead played with the pen he left next to the pile. She spun it, watching it make lazy clockwise circles on the table.
Staring, she tried to clear her mind of the jealousy she already felt for the woman she’d never met, the one everybody assured her was absolutely no threat.
And her guilt over what she’d done with Rafe that made her the biggest friggin’ hypocrite in the whole freaky world.
The pen slowed, stopped. As she stared, it started a slow, creeping, counterclockwise turn.
The opposite way it was spinning before.
Her heart skipped. Taz focused on the pen as it slowly gained speed until it was lazily spinning, like before, this time propelled only by her mind. She felt Rafe’s presence and hoped he was watching.
“Well, that’s creepy,” Rafe said.
“You see that, right?” she whispered.
“Uh, duh, baby girl. I wouldn’t be weirded out right now if I didn’t.”
When she heard the garage door open, she snatched the pen from the table. Turning, she saw Matthias and forced a smile. “Hi.”
“Later, Taz,” Rafe said, withdrawing deep into her mind.
Matthias smiled and kissed her. “Glad to see you’re still up.”
“Yeah?”
He nodded, kissed her again, this time deeply and leaving her gasping for breath. “Yeah.”
She put the pen on the pile of papers, making sure it wouldn’t roll off. “Let’s see if I can get you up, big guy.”
“No worries there.” He scooped her into his arms and carried her upstairs.
No, no worries there at all.
THE END
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