Chapter 64

Sean couldn t take it anymore and immediately turned to face her, putting his wounded back out of her view. He pulled her into his arms and placed his forehead on hers, "it s just body wounds, it would heal."
"If…if you hadn t run in after me, if you hadn t…" she was hyperventilating in no time, "I m so sorry," she paused, trying to steady herself but it was so hard to do when she was crying so hard and breathing so quickly.
Sean quickly cupped her cheeks in his hands, "Athena, look at me," he ordered, "look at me," she finally did, "If I am to repeat that action a thousand times, I would do it without blinking an eye. I don t care about the pain of the damages; the most important thing is that you are right here, standing in front of me, breathing and fine. You think I would rather save myself but let you die in that fire? If that had been the case, I will not only have a damaged back, I would be dead, Athena. So having a wounded back is having it easy, I would rather have burnt marks all over my body than to live and know that I left you in that fire. I have lost people very dear to me because I couldn t help, I can t lose you too, Athena, do you understand that? I need you here with me, by my side, even if I m going to be in pain every single day. Do you understand? That s how much I love you," he wiped away her tears with his thumbs.
"I will be fine, it would heal. Body wounds heal faster, and in my case, I will always choose body wound to emotional wound. You don t know how it has been for me all these years living without my mother and sister, I never stopped blaming myself for their deaths. Do you want me to feel that on your sake, to blame myself for the rest of my life?"
Athena stared deep into his hazel eyes, her breaths still coming in fast; she closed her eyes after and tried to calm herself, her sobs surrounding them. She felt his forehead on hers soon after, his breath brushing on her face. "It s okay, everything will be fine now, it would heal. The most important thing is that you are here now, with me. I love you, Athena, and I will always do," he whispered to her.
"I m sorry," she whispered with a sob.
"Shh," he shushed her, "it s okay, everything will be alright." His thumbs softly caressing her face, "it s alright." He pulled her into his arms, wrapping his arms around her and she stayed in his arms like a lost puppy. Minutes passed with them staying like that before he said, "come, let s go into the bedroom.
She said nothing but he proceeded to leading her into the room. When they were inside, he made her sit on the bed and watched her as she was hiccupping. He smiled, "for someone who said she wants to take care of me, I m the one now taking care of her."
Athena looked up at him with accusing eyes and that made him laugh. He sat beside her on the bed and draped his arm on her shoulders, he pulled her in and kissed her head, "don t worry, I will always take care of you, even if you claim to take care of me, I will let you but still take care of you." She chuckled then and he smiled, it was the reaction he has been waiting for.
"What have you been using on the burns?" She asked after a while.
"Well, Leo got me the best ointment money can buy," he sighed, "he also got some medications from the doctor and he came in yesterday to look at me and tried to talk me into coming back to the hospital."
"The doctor knows where you are?" She was surprised; she thought no one knows and that only Leo does.
"Of course, how else would Leo know the medicines to bring me?" he asked.
She shrugged and they remained silent once more. "When I was younger, I had a burnt on my leg; my mother nursed it with honey. It may be slow in healing, but it heals better and heals the scars as well."
"You want me to get honey?" He asked tenderly and she nodded, "I will call Leo to bring some tomorrow then."
"No need, I know my way around here, I can always buy from Mrs. Wicket."
"Do you have to go through that trouble? Leo could easily get one from the mall."
"No, I trust Mrs. Wicket s, she gets it from the bees herself and it doesn t undergo any process."
"Fine then, whatever you say," he kissed her hair again.
"I will go now," she sat up from his body, "we need to start using it already."
"It s late and there is a storm coming," he protested.
"Sean, I was born and brought up here, if anything would happen to me in the city, it won t happen to me here, I know my way around," she smiled.
Sean bit his lower lip, "I will come with you."
"No, stay here, you can t put on a shirt and the last thing we want is for the burns to be infected," she leaned closer and kissed his lips, "I will be back soon," she stood up and rushed to the door before he could stop her, only to stop when she remembered she had no money with her and turned to see him smiling.
"There are some in the wardrobe," he nodded to the wardrobe at the far end of the room which she didn t notice since she was in the room. She walked to it and opened it to see wads of cash lying on its floor. She bent down and picked a few dollar bills before turning to Sean and smiling again, then leaving the bedroom.
***
By the time Athena returned, the storm had started and she took a few of the drops, leaving her drenched. When she entered the house, Sean was sitting in the living room waiting for her, he looked up when he saw her and sighed seeing her drenched. Athena smiled to him, "it s heavy, I wouldn t have been drenched with how short I was in it."
All Sean did was stretched his hand out to her and she went to him and took it while he made her sit on his legs, he breathed in her scent, nuzzling his face on her neck. His breathings brushing on her skin made her shiver and close her eyes. "You are cold," he whispered, his eyes closed as he let her scent travel through his bloodstreams, he had missed it, he had dreamt of it and he just couldn t have enough.
"Um…" she tried to answer but didn t know what to say. When she came in, she wasn t cold neither was she hot but right now, sitting on his legs, with him placing his face on her neck, she could feel fire building inside her and she was getting hot.
"Let s get you changed before you catch a cold, you can make a dress from one of my shirts," he whispered, but still not letting her go.
"Okay," Athena answered hoarsely and waited for him to release her but he didn t. "Sean," she rasped when he softly touched his lips on her skin. Her skin was burning hotter with each breath she took.
Sean sucked in a deep breath and removed his face from her neck; he placed his forehead on her shoulder and fought to control the desire that has already aroused in him. Seconds passed and he looked up at her, his hazel eyes a bit darker than usually, "go change," he said with a light push and she gulped before walking into the bedroom. He sat in the sofa for a while before going into the room. She was done changing, wearing his white shirt that stopped on her thighs, giving him a clear view of her long slender legs. He found the desire he took longer to quench consuming him again and he had to force himself to look away from her.
Athena tried to ignore the look she saw in his eyes and what it was doing to her, she gulped and said, "lie down, I need to massage the honey into the wounds." She didn t have to say it twice for he quickly went to the bed and lay on his tummy, his face turned to the window to keep her out of his view. She quickly went to the window and dragged the chair to the bed, causing Sean to turn his face to the door. She picked the bottle of honey from where she dropped it, then sitting on the chair; she opened the honey and tried to fight back the sob that rose in her throat when she saw his wounds.
"It would heal, Athena," he whispered, already hearing her silent sobs.
Athena nodded to herself and sniffled, then she started applying the honey on the wounds, blocking out his silent winces so as not to cry. She still found it hard to believe that he was going through such pains all because of her, whereas she came out of the fire perfectly fine. Her heart went out to him when she heard how much he was trying not to groan out in pain with the contact of her hand to the burns and even though she tried not to cry, she couldn t keep the tears from trailing down her cheeks. And right then and there, she made a vow to herself, never to leave his side, come what may.