Beacon in the Darkness

23. False Security

Camila's breath caught in her throat and Shawn stopped singing.

"How long have you been up?" he asked. "Did I wake you?"

She shook her head. "Not too long."

"Sorry." He leaned down and brushed his lips on the top of her head.

She snuggled herself in closer, tightening her hold on him. "I'm not. I love hearing you sing."

He chuckled and hugged her to his side. "I know you do."

Camila moved her hand slowly from his stomach up to his sternum, tentatively allowing her fingers to ghost over the raised lines scattered over his skin. Small scars dotted the expanse of his chest, some looked shallow and others particularly deep. A couple of others—one stretching from his breastbone to his side, and another a few inches below his collarbone—were larger and darker. She ran her thumb along the one extending over his ribs.

"How did this happen?" she asked quietly.

He raised his hand and placed it on top of hers. "That one was my own fault. I got caught up with the wrong people back in the city. They liked playing with knives."

Camila gasped and propped herself up on one elbow, her eyes meeting his. "You were stabbed?"

He grinned. "Cut is more accurate." He shrugged. "I picked the wrong moment to mouth off."

"Is there ever a right moment?"

"For me? Every moment is the right moment."

Camila rolled her eyes and shook her head, lowering her gaze and moving her hand up to the one under his clavicle. "What about this?"

"Angry foster-father." He didn't elaborate and his eyes conveyed he didn't want to. Camila didn't want to push him to tell her more than he was ready to, so she let it go.

She moved down to the center of his chest and laid her palm flat against him, her fingers spread. 

"And these?" she whispered.

He took in and released a deep breath. "Those are from the night my mother died."

Camila looked up and met his eyes, the pain and vulnerability from the night before shone through once more. She bent down and touched her lips gently to his. Closing her eyes, she whispered, "Will you tell me about it?"

Shawn raised his hands to cup her face, their foreheads touching. He let out a shaky breath and nodded. "Okay."

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