Fate Attracts

Chapter Fourteen

"How is he doing?"

"Not any better than he was yesterday or any of the days before," Taylor says, joining me next to the patch of wild blackberries Jesse had found a couple of days ago on his patrol. Standing up from where I have been crouched for the last hour or so, I stretch my back, hearing my bones crack and feeling my muscles unwind.

"Is he still not talking?" Looking over at Taylor, I see him nod his head, a frown on his face and a furrow in his brow. Knowing how upset he is about Micah and his unresponsiveness, I wrap my arms around his waist and pull him against my chest. Taylor lets out a heavy sigh, resting his head above my heart and relaxing against me.

"I don't know what to do anymore. He won't even let anyone in the room, except for Meeka. All he does is lay in there with her and refuse to talk to us. I'm honestly starting to worry about him." Taylor looks up at me, resting his chin on my chest so that he is able to meet my eyes.

Every time I see him, my heart skips a beat. A week ago, I almost lost him, almost lost everyone. Whenever my mind wanders to how close I was to being alone again, my chest tightens so much that it is difficult to breathe.

Looking at Taylor, I take in his tawny colored eyes and how they are framed by dark lashes, his mahogany colored hair streaked with strands of blonde, lightened by his time outside in the sun. His beard, despite his displeasure with it, is one of the many things about him that gets my heart pounding. Even when he is complaining about how itchy it is, I can't help but admire how well it suits him, despite it being a couple shades darker than his hair.

"-ate?" A hand is waving in front of my face, and blinking my eyes, I am able to focus on what is in front of me. "Are you okay? You kind of just spaced out there for a second."

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine." Smiling, hopefully reassuringly, I give Taylor a kiss on his pouting lips.

"Hey, don't distract me," he murmurs against my lips, but he doesn't pull away. Instead, he deepens the kiss, his tongue sweeping against my own. His hands find their way into my hair, fingers twining in my curls as he holds me close to him. Just when I think I may collapse from a lack of oxygen, he breaks the kiss, nipping my bottom lip with his teeth before pulling away completely.

"What do you think we should do?" I ask, giving Taylor one last squeeze before unwrapping my arms from around his waist. Taylor joins me where I have started to pick some more of the ripe blackberries.

He lets out a long sigh, hands joining mine where they are picking the berries from the mass of thorns guarding them. "I honestly don't think there is anything more we can do. He is going to have to learn how to overcome his grief in his own way. He knows we are all here for him, and I know it is driving Jesse crazy to hear Micah cry and not talk to us, but as long as he doesn't want to let us in, there is nothing else we can do for him but to show him that we care."

Nodding my head, I go back to my task of stripping the bushes of their berries with my one good hand. A silence falls between us, the sounds of the animals in the forests making it a calm period of quietness. Looking up, I see that the sun is starting to set, meaning that it is time for us to walk back to the house.

"Looks like it is time to get back," I say, dumping the last of the berries I had picked into the now completely full bowl I had brought with me from the house.

"Oh, thank god. I don't know how you were out here for so long picking these berries. I feel like my hands have been sliced apart." Taylor holds up his purple stained hands, a fake pout on his lips.

Laughing, I grab his hand with mine, twining our fingers together before raising the back of his hand up to my lips in order to press a kiss there. "All better."