Death Touch novel · Chapter 12 of 24

Chapter 12: Knew

He lay on a hospital cot at the far end of the ward with an IV in his arm.

The black lines ran from his wrist to his jaw, and under the dim light they looked like cracks in a plate.

I stood at the foot of the bed with Fenn's folder against my chest.

"You knew."

He nodded once.

"Since when?"

"The first time you touched me."

He closed his eyes.

"I sold her the blood when I was twenty."

He took a slow breath.

"Two thousand for a tuition gap. The next day I walked out of that clinic and forgot it."

"And then she asked for you by name."

"And then I saw the lines come up my arm, and I remembered the clinic."

"You let me touch you again." My voice cracked. "You let me touch you again, and again, and you knew it was killing you."

"It's not killing me yet."

"It's at your throat!"

"Keep your voice down."

"No!"

I threw the folder onto the foot of the bed.

It slid across the sheet and landed against his shin.

"You don't get to die for me," I said.

My hands were shaking.

"I did not ask for that. I would have stayed in that lab for the rest of my life before I let you."

"I know."

"Then why?"

He opened his eyes.

They were bloodshot and dark green and utterly steady.

"Because you slept," he said.

His voice was rough.

"The night you slept in my bunk, you slept like you had never been afraid."

He looked at the ceiling.

"I lay awake and watched you breathe. It was the best thing I'd ever seen."

I couldn't speak.

"I've done two deployments, Mara. I've watched men die in front of me."

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