Home > Work > Burn (The Rephaim, #4)
1 " I straighten and stretch my neck side to side. ‘I really need to hit something.’Rafa’s mouth quirks. ‘I know what you need.’‘In your dreams.’ I know where this is going: it’s been the same banter for about five decades now. Usually he saves it for an audience.‘In my dreams, Gabe, you end up slick with sweat and moaning.’‘I have food poisoning?’He laughs, a beer halfway to his lips. Condensation drips from the bottle. He’s completely at ease here: three-quarter cargoes, frayed t-shirt, bare feet. ‘I’m just saying that if you need distracting, I’m your man.’‘If I wanted to go places everyone else has been, Rafa, I’d take a trip to Disneyland.’He leans in closer. ‘Yeah, but don’t you want to know why everyone loves Space Mountain? "
― Paula Weston , Burn (The Rephaim, #4)
2 " I glance down at my threadbare t-shirt and baggy flannelette pyjama bottoms. "
3 " How can you forgive what I did?""Because I know you. Because I've seen the best and the worst of you. Because of everything we've been through in the last hundred and thirty-nine years and what we've been through since you found me in the bar. God, because I want to move forward.""Yea, but --""Because I love you, you idiot! "
4 " Because I love you, you idiot!’ The sentence hangs in the air. It’s taken us both by surprise. We blink at each other, take a breath. I feel the flush climb my neck, check that I mean it. I do. Not just for who he’s been for the past two weeks, but for our friendship before that. Before we screwed everything up. ‘No you don’t,’ Rafa says. But the guilt and frustration are gone, replaced by something more fragile. ‘Don’t tell me what I do and don’t feel, Rafa.’ He watches me, unreadable. The seconds stretch out. ‘Then say it again.’ I look him the eye. They’re difficult words because they strip me bare. ‘I love you. You idiot.’ Rafa doesn’t speak and I can’t tell what he’s thinking. This quiet intensity is something new. I close the distance until I’m standing between his legs. I don’t touch him. ‘That’s not easy for me to say.’ ‘Because it’s me?’ ‘Because I’ve never said it before, and because I mean it. Rafa, the way I felt about you a few hours ago . . . that hasn’t changed. If I’d told you then, would you have believed it?’ His eyes soften at the memory. ‘Then believe it now.’ I press my hand to his chest, feel his heart thump against my palm through his t-shirt. ‘Do you want to add anything, or am I out on this limb alone?’ He guides me closer, his fingers light on my hips. ‘How I feel about you scares the hell out of me. I’ve got no counter-moves. No defence. And now you remember everything, I’ve lost the upper hand.’ ‘You had the upper hand?’ A short laugh. ‘Apparently not. "