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I find him in his bedroom, standing bare-chested in front of the mirror over his dresser. His expression is haunted, his fingers ghosting over his chest, over one of his fresh scars, the skin still pink and rough. I’m eternally grateful he can’t see the worst one, a jagged line down his back where the surgeon cut him open to retrieve the bullet that pierced his heart.
My own heart twists painfully. So close. I had come so bloody close to losing him.
He catches me in the reflection and turns.
“Bodie…”
He sounds so lost, those blue-green eyes filled with uncertainty. His slow recovery is taking its toll on him. Making him doubt himself. Doubt…everything.
I move to his side and he reaches for me, searching for an anchor in this turbulent sea he finds himself being cast about in. I hold him close for long minutes, his scars pressing against my chest, my palm, burning me. I will him all the strength I possess. Wishing I could do more. Wishing it was me that had taken those bullets. Me that bore those scars.
“Ray…” I whisper into his tousled curls. “Talk to me…please…”
Those expressive eyes meet mine and for the first time I see…fear. Caught off-guard, my breath catches and stutters.
His throat works, his words sandpaper-rough, as if he’s forcing them out.
“What if I can’t do the job anymore? What then? I can’t…I can’t lose—“
You
His voice breaks on the unsaid word and my chest seizes up. My God, is that what he’s afraid of? The change in our relationship too new for him to understand where my loyalties truly lie?
I swallow hard past the constriction in my throat. Even so, my words are shaky with the overwhelming love I have for him.
“You listen to me, sunshine, and you listen good. Where you go, I go. Whether that’s CI5 or running a bloody chip shop, I’m right there at your side. We’re partners. In every sense of the word. You’ll never lose me.” I squeeze his arms and give him a tremulous smile. “It’s not the job I love, Ray. It’s you, you daft sod.”
The corners of his mouth quirk and I cup his face tenderly, his eyes now shining bright, the fear receding. But I make sure my kiss leaves not a single doubt in his mind.
Together. Forever.
THE END