Chapter 16 \u2013 Doubts\u00a0<\/p>\n
DARIUS\u00a0<\/p>\n
I could feel Sera trembling against my chest, her whole body shaking like she was about to collapse. When I pulled her back against me again, she didn\u2019t fight it anymore, but she didn\u2019t melt into me either. She just stood there, rigid and broken.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cPlease, Sera. Let\u2019s talk.\u201d My voice came out rougher than I meant it to, desperate in a way that made my chest heavy and tight.\u00a0<\/p>\n
She was crying now. Silent tears that rolled down her cheeks and dripped onto my arms where they wrapped around her waist. Each tear felt like it was burning through my skin.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s nothing to talk about,\u201d she whispered, but she wasn\u2019t trying to pull away anymore. \u201cI saw what I saw.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cYou saw me helping a sick woman.\u201d I turned her around to face me, my hands gentle on her shoulders. Her eyes were red and swollen, looking anywhere but at me. \u201cLook at me, Sera. Please look at me.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
When she finally met my eyes, the pain I saw there nearly knocked me over. This wasn\u2019t just about today. This was months, maybe years of hurt all stacked up and ready to crush her.\u00a0<\/p>\n
If I let her leave now, we were done. I knew it in my bones, the same way I knew my own name. She\u2019d walk out that door and never come back, and I\u2019d lose the only woman who has ever really genuinely cared about me with no conditions or strings attached.\u00a0<\/p>\n
It didn\u2019t matter if we weren\u2019t on good terms now, Sera was a good partner and despite everything, a great mother.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I can\u2019t lose her.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I couldn\u2019t let that happen.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m going to prove it to you,\u201d I said, my hands coming up to cup her face. Her skin was warm and wet from tears, and I brushed them away with my thumbs. \u201cI\u2019m going to prove nothing happened.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
She looked up at me, expectantly, almost as if she was desperate for me to prove it.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Her eyes\u2026did things to me.\u00a0<\/p>\n
It had never happened before, or maybe it was because we\u2019d never been in such a position before. I could feel every inch of her chest pressed against my abdomen, the heat, the racing of her heart and it was like she became a different person, or perhaps it was me.\u00a0<\/p>\n
When I learned down, my eyes settling on her parted pink lips.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Before she could protest, before she could pull away, I kissed her, stealing a small gasp that slipped past.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Her lips were salty from crying, soft and familiar in a way that made my chest ache. She went stiff at first, her hands pushing against my shoulders, but I didn\u2019t let go. I poured everything I had into that kiss \u2013 all my desperation, all my fear of losing her, and something else more complicated, something I feared to name.\u00a0<\/p>\n
When we finally broke apart, we were both breathing hard. Her eyes were wide, confused and hurt and a heat\u00a0<\/p>\n
1\/2\u00a0<\/p>\n
Chapter 16 Doubts\u00a0<\/p>\n
+25 Bonus\u00a0<\/p>\n
that wasn\u2019t there before.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cDarius, what are you\u2014\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
I pulled my shirt over my head and dropped it on the floor. Sera\u2019s eyes went wide, her cheeks flushing red even through her tears.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cLook,\u201d I said, turning slowly so she could see my back, my chest, my arms. \u201cNo marks. No scratches. Nothing.\u201d I faced her again, my heart pounding. \u201cIf something happened, don\u2019t you think there would be evidence? Lipstick? Perfume? Something?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Her eyes traveled over my skin, searching. I stood perfectly still and let her look, even though every instinct told me to cover myself up, to stop being so vulnerable.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cYou could have showered,\u201d she said quietly, but there was doubt in her voice now. Hope, maybe.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen? You walked in a few seconds before I woke up.\u201d I stepped closer, close enough to touch her face if I wanted to. \u201cSera, I swear on Luna\u2019s life, nothing happened. I would never do that to you. To us.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
She was studying my face now, looking for lies. Looking for proof that I was the cheating husband she thought I\u00a0<\/p>\n
was.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThen explain it to me,\u201d she whispered. \u201cExplain why she was in our bed. Why you left me at the airport. Why the nanny looked terrified when I came home.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
I didn\u2019t know how that happened.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But there was one person who would definitely dispel my doubts.\u00a0<\/p>\n
P\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Souls Remember What Matters \u2014 Corey Gibson 16 Chapter 16 \u2013 Doubts\u00a0 DARIUS\u00a0 I could feel Sera trembling against my […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[59],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23462","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-the-day-i-signed-the-papers-novel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23462","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23462"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23462\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23462"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23462"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23462"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}