just... trying to keep my expectations low for the scar removal part of the surgery.”
I swallowed the lump in my throat and forced the thoughts of his lips touching mine out of my head, instead taking my chance to touch on a subject that I’d been wanting to mention since the day before.
“I didn’t like it when Shaw said... what he said about your face.”
Brandon’s throat visibly bobbed, but the only other physical response was one shoulder rising and falling. “I’m sure he could have found a better way to phrase it, but—”
“If you’re going to say he wasn’t wrong, don’t you dare finish that sentence. Your face is not mutilated , Brandon,” I said forcefully, hoping he would be able to hear the honesty in my voice. Before he had a chance to argue, I raised my hand to lightly graze against the rough flesh as I whispered, “They’re just scars.”
“I’m a monster, Vanessa. Why do you think I came here after the accident? Isolated myself like I did?”
His words said one thing, but the way his wide eyes searched my face for any sign of dishonesty told me that he was desperate to believe what I was telling him. Desperate for me to argue my point.
But first, I needed a clearer picture.
“You never told me what happened.”
His eyes fluttered closed when I let my fingers trail down the scars on his neck and he sucked in a shaky breath. I used the brief reprise from his attention to roughly swallow down my nerves, then closed my eyes when his warm fingers came up to lightly rest on mine.
“There’s not much to tell. I was on my way to meet with a potential client who was located out of the city. On the highway, the eighteen wheeler in front of us took the off-ramp too fast and flipped. Between the impact with the truck and the pile up of cars that smashed into us from behind, I’m lucky to even be alive. Toby—my driver—didn’t make it.”
When I first saw Brandon’s scars, I knew that the most likely cause was from a car accident, but that didn’t make hearing even the barest details about the wreck any easier. It hurt my entire being just imagining the crash—the sounds, the pained cries he likely let out before succumbing to unconsciousness. Judging by the state of his face and the little he had told me about the rest of his body, he was right. He was incredibly lucky to be alive.
I couldn’t even consider how I would have felt if I’d lost him. In a way, I had sort of lived it with his disappearance, but it wasn’t long before I knew he was at least alive. I’d take never speaking to him again over knowing he was really gone any day of the week.
I didn’t even feel the tears rolling down my face until he leaned forward to brush one off with the pad of his thumb, the tender touch jolting me back to the present and making me even more emotional. I felt my face beginning to crumble as light sobs started to shake my shoulders.
“Please don’t cry,” he whispered, his eyes briefly closing with pain before opening to refocus on me. “I’m okay, Vanessa. Don’t cry.”
“I’m sorry, I’m trying not to,” I admitted, drawing in a shaky breath before I cleared my throat in a vain attempt to stop myself from crying. “It’s just— I didn’t know. Why didn’t you tell us?”
Brandon was silent for a long time, staring at my face intently while I tried to keep myself from breaking down. I could always let everything out later, in the isolation of my own bedroom. But right now, I needed to hold it together.
“Our last bridge was burned down long before the accident.”
“Then why reach out to me now?”
“Because as much as I’ve tried to deny it, I’m not ready to give up on you yet.”
There was a moment of shock that I’m sure crossed my face if the look of regret that showed up on his face was anything to go by. When he moved to pull his hand away from my cheek, I firmly gripped it and leaned forward, unwilling to let this monumental moment slip by.
It
I swallowed the lump in my throat and forced the thoughts of his lips touching mine out of my head, instead taking my chance to touch on a subject that I’d been wanting to mention since the day before.
“I didn’t like it when Shaw said... what he said about your face.”
Brandon’s throat visibly bobbed, but the only other physical response was one shoulder rising and falling. “I’m sure he could have found a better way to phrase it, but—”
“If you’re going to say he wasn’t wrong, don’t you dare finish that sentence. Your face is not mutilated , Brandon,” I said forcefully, hoping he would be able to hear the honesty in my voice. Before he had a chance to argue, I raised my hand to lightly graze against the rough flesh as I whispered, “They’re just scars.”
“I’m a monster, Vanessa. Why do you think I came here after the accident? Isolated myself like I did?”
His words said one thing, but the way his wide eyes searched my face for any sign of dishonesty told me that he was desperate to believe what I was telling him. Desperate for me to argue my point.
But first, I needed a clearer picture.
“You never told me what happened.”
His eyes fluttered closed when I let my fingers trail down the scars on his neck and he sucked in a shaky breath. I used the brief reprise from his attention to roughly swallow down my nerves, then closed my eyes when his warm fingers came up to lightly rest on mine.
“There’s not much to tell. I was on my way to meet with a potential client who was located out of the city. On the highway, the eighteen wheeler in front of us took the off-ramp too fast and flipped. Between the impact with the truck and the pile up of cars that smashed into us from behind, I’m lucky to even be alive. Toby—my driver—didn’t make it.”
When I first saw Brandon’s scars, I knew that the most likely cause was from a car accident, but that didn’t make hearing even the barest details about the wreck any easier. It hurt my entire being just imagining the crash—the sounds, the pained cries he likely let out before succumbing to unconsciousness. Judging by the state of his face and the little he had told me about the rest of his body, he was right. He was incredibly lucky to be alive.
I couldn’t even consider how I would have felt if I’d lost him. In a way, I had sort of lived it with his disappearance, but it wasn’t long before I knew he was at least alive. I’d take never speaking to him again over knowing he was really gone any day of the week.
I didn’t even feel the tears rolling down my face until he leaned forward to brush one off with the pad of his thumb, the tender touch jolting me back to the present and making me even more emotional. I felt my face beginning to crumble as light sobs started to shake my shoulders.
“Please don’t cry,” he whispered, his eyes briefly closing with pain before opening to refocus on me. “I’m okay, Vanessa. Don’t cry.”
“I’m sorry, I’m trying not to,” I admitted, drawing in a shaky breath before I cleared my throat in a vain attempt to stop myself from crying. “It’s just— I didn’t know. Why didn’t you tell us?”
Brandon was silent for a long time, staring at my face intently while I tried to keep myself from breaking down. I could always let everything out later, in the isolation of my own bedroom. But right now, I needed to hold it together.
“Our last bridge was burned down long before the accident.”
“Then why reach out to me now?”
“Because as much as I’ve tried to deny it, I’m not ready to give up on you yet.”
There was a moment of shock that I’m sure crossed my face if the look of regret that showed up on his face was anything to go by. When he moved to pull his hand away from my cheek, I firmly gripped it and leaned forward, unwilling to let this monumental moment slip by.
It
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