“Maybe, I don’t know. Have you been sitting here the entire time I was asleep?”
He blinks at me and my strange question. “Yes. You asked me to stay with you, so I did.”
“You are sure? You didn’t go anywhere?” I press.
“I am quite sure. Is there a problem with that?”
I smile in relief. “No, not at all,” I say as I lean over and kiss him. He responds to my kiss but doesn’t deepen it, so I pull away as he obviously isn’t ready yet.
“I like being here while you sleep,” he says. “I feel like I am watching over you, keeping you safe.”
“I feel safe when I am with you.”
He smiles in pleasure. “Want to tell me about your dream?”
“No, it’s already forgotten,” I say. “Although, I wonder if I can ask you something?”
He looks at me with dread. “Please, Aefre, no more drama. I don’t want anything to spoil our time together.”
“No drama. Just a question.”
“Tell me about what and I will decide whether to answer you,” he says in the tone he usually reserves for negotiating deals.
I too, however, am a good negotiator and come back with, “I’d rather you say you will answer me first.”
“Now that makes me think that I would rather not answer.”
“Constantine,” I say in my most coaxing tone. “If we are to be together, shouldn’t I be able to ask you anything and have you answer me?”
He narrows his beautiful, almond-shaped eyes at me and puts his pen in his mouth as he thinks over my question. “Yes, I suppose you should. Although, if you are going to ask me a serious question that requires my full attention, you might want to cover up a little bit. Your tits are far too distracting.”
I look down and pull the sheet up with a smile. “Better?” I ask.
“Well no, I would rather be looking at them, but I am guessing this question is regarding an unpleasant topic and therefore a modicum of modesty should be acknowledged. Fire away.”
I take a deep breath to steady myself. This is going to go one of two ways: he will either answer me or he won’t. “Before Lance took me, was he normal?” I ask in a rush, looking him square in the eye, wanting to see his initial reaction.
The pen that had been resting between his teeth drops to the bed as he takes in my question. “I beg your pardon?” he says, raising his eyebrows as he recovers quickly. Too quickly, dammit, I didn’t see anything, exasperating man.
“You heard me. Don’t make me repeat it.”
“Yes, I think I heard you. I certainly heard words, although I don’t think that they belong in the sentence in which you placed them.”
“Just answer me, CK. I want to know if I…”
“If you what?” he pounces on my slip-up. I wasn’t going to ask if it was me that broke him, but as usual I need a muzzle.
“Did I break him?” I ask quietly.
He looks stunned. “Aefre, what makes you ask a thing like that?”
“Something that Rem…err, The Thirteen said to me.”
“Do not believe anything that creature has to say to you. It lies,” he says fiercely, still upset about him taking our intended life and playing with it in my dreams.
“Why would he lie about that? He has all of Lance’s memories and feelings. He told me what happened.”
“When did it tell you?” Emphasis on the “it.”