GUN IN MY HAND

CHAPTER 76: FOR THE REST OF OUR LIVES

'And I'm thinking 'bout how people fall in love in mysterious ways

Maybe just the touch of a hand

Oh me I fall in love with you every single day

And I just wanna tell you I am'

I needed some fresh air. I needed to get away from all the memories this room was bringing me. I needed–

"Fuck! Saturn, not again! Don't come clucking at me when you end up as a Thanksgiving feast for the foxes."

The sharp tone answered my silent wish before I could even look up for the stars, the tall silhouette on the other side of the backyard standing like an invitation to forget. Well, Blade hadn't noticed me, but as soon as my eyes adjusted to the darkness around, I was hypnotized, watching him trying to put the hen back in its house.

Every time he managed to get her inside, Saturn was finding a way to follow him before he could even close the pen, and the sight of the dangerous bad boy losing his cool in front of the feathered outlaw was something to see – as much as to hear actually, because he was using his gang leader tone, the one that would have scared the most fearless gangsters, and yet Saturn stayed unfazed, retorting 'clucks' to each of his curse words.

It was priceless and so improbable that it pulled me a giggle, calling his attention just when he'd been about to catch Saturn.

"That's not funny," he groaned as another giggle escaped me, and he was right; the quiet and hoarse sound didn't feel like laughter. It was just a spark of lightness, which opened slightly my ribcage until I breathed in a shaky breath when I joined him.

There was something so fragile in the intake of air, in the cold surroundings, in this instant. Though I didn't get to savor it – neither the oxygen, nor his gaze meeting mine – as Saturn flapped her wings between us, and we both jumped forward, almost bumping into each other.

Maybe, that was funny, especially as my feet slipped slightly on the wet ground, but I still managed to lead Saturn into the henhouse and close the fence, all of that under Blade's wide stare.

"How?! She kept following me!" He pointed at the henhouse as if it was sheltering a wild beast, and he actually looked like he'd fought one, as his cheeks were red and his quiff disheveled, one strand even falling in front of his eyes that I stood on my tiptoes to brush off.

"I guess it's what happens when you're attracting all the 'chicks'," I quipped, twisting the expression his 'non-friends' liked to use and hoping he didn't catch the waver, underlying in my voice like the truth in my words.

However, it was my waist that he captured firmly before I could fall back on my heels, and my breath as he replied in a low, raspy murmur,

"But I'm only interested in one chick."

From the penetrating look in his eyes, I was pretty sure he wasn't talking about Saturn, and although there was no hint of his bad-intentioned dimple tonight, the blood rushed faster than ever to my cheeks. He could probably see it, as his gaze danced all over my face, and not even the uneven puffs slipping from my parted lips in the cold dimness could prevent him from piercing through me... from my popping freckles to the redness of my eyelids.

"About that..." Before the question or murderous thoughts could cross his mind, I decided to go straight to the point, or more exactly, crash. "I... I've made my choice."