Heart of Fury - Stone and Fire # 2 [17+]

Chapter 41

sry so late enjoy

Aurora's POV

I turned to him with blood speckled across my neck and face. Handed him the gun with a blank expression.

The heat of his stare burnt into one-half of my face, burdened with an emotion I didn't have enough energy in me to face.

A part of me ached to stop looking at Xavier's body, to turn away from the blood seeping into the dirt, making it look black, but I couldn't. After all of that.. I just couldn't. The air whizzing past us geared up, telling me he was about to say something.

Don't talk.

Hell, what the fuck was I thinking?

Please talk.

After all that, all I wanted was to hear the comforting roughness of his voice and let it dry up all my nerves. But somehow, amidst the heat of the flames and voices rumbling the dark night behind us, every word I'd said to him lay naked between us.

"Why do you continue to leave when I'm the only thing you've ever wanted?"

But he didn't leave. He came storming right back. The conversation ran through my memory like an outdated film reel.

"Would I be loved?"

My chest clenched, growing vulnerable with each beat that passed. The words thrummed behind my lips, fighting to get out.

I love you.

I love you.

I don't know why I felt the sudden need to say it again. Maybe it was to act as a reminder, to tell him I did. Maybe it'd finally click.

Every bone in my body screamed for him to say the three words back.

Why?

The answer was the same truth he'd uttered to me with a conviction that still had me shaken. 

"You don't love me."

And to that, I thought, why would I bother trying if I didn't?

My hair whipped across my face. 

I waited. 

Luciano's urgent voice hit my back.

I waited.

I turned to him, and the look he had in his eyes hit me to my core. It was deep, full of longing, and vulnerable. I could see my reflection in his dilated pupils. So raw, I had trouble finding my next thought much less a word. I glanced at his clenched fists, the only visible part of his skin.

Touch me. Anywhere. Hug me. Kiss me. Stroke my hair. Just do something that says you care.

I know you want to, I said with my eyes, and he heard me clearly. But that was the difference in the two- being heard and being listened to. I've been heard all my life. But that's just a result of being born as something worth looking at- no one takes you seriously otherwise. They bow to your level, give you their ear, and snatch it back once your done.

He heard me, but he didn't listen to me.

My heart fell as he blinked away the look in his eyes, swallowing as if just my presence was clogging up his thoughts.

"Let's head back."

An overwhelming disappointment fell under my skin. I'd expected it, but some part of me wished we'd changed. For fuck's sake, he'd just saved my life.