Every time I looked at her, I felt like my skin was melting from my bones. I didn’t find relief until she came to me and touched me. It’s so funny. For years my dad abused me and not once had I ever truly felt angry about it, but one hit to Patience and I wanted his blood on my hands.

I thought I’d never see her again, but she was here and she was here to see me. Even after the drama from the night before, she still wanted to see me. So when she said she wouldn’t leave without me, I knew I had to go with her. I walked away from my dad’s house with barely any money in my pocket and a bag full of anything that would fit.

The strangest thing was, when we got to my car and she tried to pull away, I almost couldn’t let her go. The world felt like a jumbled mess. I felt nauseated just being a part of it, but when she was near me or touching me everything stopped spinning and I was filled with a heavy dose of clarity.

Looking through the rearview mirror, I took her in as she followed behind me in the car I didn’t know she had. I had no idea where I was going. I just knew as long as she was with me I’d be okay. The idea of needing someone to hold me together scared me shitless, but it was out there. There was no taking it back now. I needed Patience and I couldn’t shake the feeling that somehow she needed me too.

My El Camino threw out a puff of smoke when I cut the engine in front of the cheapest motel in town. Patience stood by the door in the front office as I paid for two nights. I could’ve stayed with Finn, but I wasn’t the kind of person to live up on my friends.

The lady behind the counter handed me my room key then smiled sheepishly at Patience. I grinned over at her when her cheeks filled with fire. She followed me to my room and I held the door open for her as we entered the dark room.

“I should probably go.” She picked at her fingernails.

I threw my bag onto the queen-sized bed then turned to her. Covering her hands with mine, I stopped her from picking at her nice fingernails.

“Don’t,” I said simply.

I wasn’t sure if she realized I was asking her to stay, but she looked up at me through those long lashes of hers and I almost forgot I was officially homeless. I almost forgot that I laid my dad out cold and destroyed the last thing I had from my mother. I couldn’t seem to remember anything from the last few hours.

Pushing aside a thick piece of blond bangs, I let my thumb skim her swelling cheek.

“I’m so sorry, snowflake.” I swallowed hard.

I’d never felt more like a failure in my entire life. I let her down. He should’ve never been able to get near her.

“You did nothing wrong, Zeke.” She covered my hand with hers.

Turning her face into my palm, she closed her eyes and smiled.

“I never thought I’d enjoy this so much,” she whispered.

“Enjoy what?”

She rubbed my palm with her cheek again.

“Your touch.” She grinned up at me.

“Well, since you like it that much…” I said as I wrapped my other arm around her waist and pulled her close to me.

Her body fit to mine with perfection. It made me question every other woman I’d ever touched in my life. My hand shifted from her cheek and down her neck and my eyes took in her full, pouty mouth. After last night’s kiss, kissing Patience didn’t seem like a tragedy. If anything, her kisses were tiny miracles. They turned the asshole inside me into a big teddy bear.

The smell of her hair filled me when I leaned in and ran my nose up the side of her neck. She stiffened in my arms, but pulled me closer at the same time. When I got to her ear, I laid a tiny kiss on her earlobe.

“I’m going to kiss you now,” I whispered my warning.

I’d been thinking about kissing her since the moment the last kiss ended.

I felt a shiver run through her body and I knew I’d won the opportunity for another kiss. Her skin felt smooth against my lips as I ran them across her cheek to get to her mouth. When I pressed my lips to hers, she leaned into my kiss and exhaled a hard breath through her nose.

It was small, not much more than us pressing our mouths together, but it was enough. Everything was enough when it came to her. Her hand tightened in the back of my shirt and she wrapped her other arm around me. I pulled away first, not because I wasn’t enjoying it, but because my mind went into sexual overdrive. I didn’t want to get to a point where I pushed her too far.

I nudged her nose with mine and grinned down at her.

“I’m pretty sure I’ll never get tired of that,” she murmured.

“Only pretty sure?” I teased