Redemption (The Alexa Montgomery Saga) by H.D. Gordon Read Free Book Online Page A

guess.”
    Another nod. “And you?”
    I looked up and met Tommy’s
crystal blue eyes. “Well, I guess I’m still going, too.”
    He stood from the bed now. “Here,
lay down,” he said.
    I raised a brow, and now he
smirked. “You look exhausted. You should rest.”
    I shook my head, but Tommy came
forward and gently pulled me to my feet. My breath caught unexpectedly. Then he
pulled me over to the bed and sat me down. “I insist,” he said.
    Laying back, I tucked my feet
under the covers, suddenly feeling too exhausted to resist. Tommy pulled the
blanket up to my chin and smiled down at me. “What about you?” I asked.
    He went over to a dresser that
was by the far wall and took out a t-shirt and pulled it over his head. I
sighed before I could stop myself. Then he sat down in the chair I had vacated.
“I’ll watch you,” he said.
    Now I smirked. “That’s not
creepy.”
    I bit my lip to stifle a giggle
when Tommy’s cheeks grew a little red. “Not watch you,” he amended.
“Watch over you, I mean. Like a dream catcher. I’ll keep the bad dreams
away. Swat them out of the air like flies if they try to get you.”
    I stared at him for a moment, and
saw that his face grew redder still. Tommy had always been so cool and witty. I
had never heard him ramble before. It was oddly endearing. Something popped in
my head then, and I let it out of my mouth before I could lose the nerve to say
it. I scooted over in the bed and drew down the covers. “Come sleep with me?” I
asked, my voice small.
    Tommy studied me, his blue eyes
searching my face for what seemed like an eternity. Now it was my face that I could
feel going pink. Then, without a word, Tommy stood and slid into the bed beside
me, all too careful not to touch my skin. He pulled the cover up over us and
rested his head facing me. “Okay?” he asked.
    I breathed out slowly. “Okay.”
    We seemed to lie like that for a
lifetime, just looking into each other’s eyes, before I spoke again. “Thank
you, Tommy,” I said. “For everything.”
    His hand came up and brushed a
lock of hair from my forehead, cupping my cheek in his warm palm. “You’re
welcome.”
    I couldn’t have stopped what
happened next even if I had known it was coming, which I didn’t. It just seemed
to pour over me like a bucket of cold rain. I brought my hands up to cover my
face before Tommy could see the tears that were rapidly forming in my eyes. But
there was nothing I could do to keep my breath from hitching as I sobbed behind
my fingers.
    Faintly, I heard Tommy sigh.
“Hey, it’s okay,” he said. “Shh, Nell, it’s okay.”
    I wanted to tell him that it was
not okay, and that just because everyone kept saying that it was did not make
it so. But I didn’t. It was embarrassing enough that the first time—which I
registered with some horror, that this was the first time—I been in the
same bed with a man that I was crying like a two-year-old denied a second piece
of cake. What I said was, “The only way for this to end is withdeath.” And this
brought on more sobs and more hitches, what seemed like a whole bottled
lifetime of them.
    Tommy’s fingers wrapped around my
wrists gently and pulled my hands from my face. I shut my eyes and was too much
a coward to open them. I guessed this was the price of having held it in the
whole time. I should have known that I was not as strong as my sister, that I
could not bear the pain and just keep on trucking without breaking down. In my
entire life I had only ever seen Alexa cry a handful of times. I, on the other
hand, had cried more times than I could count.
    Tommy’s voice, softer and gentler
than I had ever heard it. “Death isn’t necessarily the end.” Silence. Then, in
a whisper, “Sometimes I think that maybe it’s really the beginning.”
    And then something warm and soft
pressed against my lips, hesitant and light. When I opened my eyes, Tommy’s
blue eyes were regarding me carefully, and I realized belatedly