I moved to shut the door when his voice stopped me. “Wynn.”
“How are you?” I slipped inside the room, shutting the door behind me.
He sat up and swung his legs to the side. Leona had helped him change his shirt and put on a fresh one, but he still had on the same pants as before.
“Okay. How about you?”
I pulled a chair from his desk to sit in front of him. “I’m perfectly fine. It’s not me you need to worry about.”
“Are you sure?”
I looked up at him. His hair had curled around his ears, some of it pressed to his temple where his head had rested in his leep. I opened my mouth to say something, twice, before I sighed, and hung my head in my hands.
“I’m sorry.” If he would have gotten more severely hurt, I could never have forgiven myself.
“Wynn,” he whispered as his good hand grabbed mine. “I’m not upset.”
“Why?” I shook my head. “Why aren’t you mad at me? I wouldn’t blame you. We’re trained better than that. I let my guard down, and you got hurt.”
He squeezed my hand. “Because I still have you, and Leona, and all the guys. I’m going to be okay even if my hand is fucked up.”
Emotion choked my throat. I blinked away the moisture gathering at the corners of my eyes.
He was so different from the Cielbefore. Before Leona. Before all this.
He used to be so self-conscious, so unsure. Everything he did was to prove that he belonged with us. His work was his most important thing. He used to be terrified that we’d all turn on him on day. But now? He was light. Confidence. Changed.
But I was the same. Unmoored. Praying that I’d find redemption for the sins of our pasts. Ineededall of them to ground me. I needed Leona and my brothers to make me feel like all this was worth it. I had no idea what I would do if I lost them.
That’s why I couldn’t let anything like this happen again.
They were my purpose, and I came dangerously close to losing one of them tonight.
“I don’t know what to say,” I murmured.
“What, are you guys going to kick me out if I can’t type with this hand anymore?” he asked with a tilt of his head.
“No, of course not!”
“Exactly.” His eyes crinkled. “This is home.”
A bit of the choking guilt eased. “Nobody is going anywhere.”
“There’s plenty of options. I can type with one hand. There’s dictation. Accessibility is a thing.” He pulled me closer. I scooted forward in my chair and our knees touched. My heart thumped inside my chest. “Worst comes to worst, I’ll just invent some solution.”
“You’re brilliant,” I murmured. I held his good hand up and rested my forehead on the back of it. “I’ll take care of you until you’re back to normal. Just let me do that.”
If his hand could get back to normal, I’d make sure that it did. It was the least I could do.
He said nothing in response, so I looked up. His cheeks were dusted with pink, and his breathing had increased. I searchedhis face, unsure what I was looking to find. His tongue darted out to wet his lips and I found myself leaning in.
I wanted to kiss him.
The realization stole the breath from my chest. I swore he could feel my pulse through where our fingers were still joined.
I’d never wanted to kiss a boy before. But I wanted to kisshim.
I’d been barreling toward this since that night in the library—maybe even long before that. All the times I’d yearned to touch him. All the moments I caught myself staring at the curls on the back of his neck.
