{"id":2857,"date":"2016-05-11T00:00:12","date_gmt":"2016-05-11T04:00:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/?p=2857"},"modified":"2016-05-10T22:07:27","modified_gmt":"2016-05-11T02:07:27","slug":"thirty-one-07","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/?p=2857","title":{"rendered":"Thirty-one – 07"},"content":{"rendered":"

[This post is from Matt’s point of view.]<\/em><\/p>\n

Hecate gave a startled little cry, blinking at him. \u201cWhere are we going?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cInside,\u201d Matt said as he carried her up onto the porch. \u201cWhere else would we be going?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2014I don\u2019t know. This is a little sudden.\u201d She rested her forehead against his jaw, her arms tightening slightly around his neck, balancing herself. \u201cWeren\u2019t we fine where we were?\u201d<\/p>\n

Matt smiled crookedly. \u201cMaybe. But I can think of better places.\u201d<\/p>\n

Her brows knit and she looked up at him again. \u201cLike where?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019ll see.\u201d<\/p>\n

He carried her through the living room, back toward the bedrooms. Her eyes widened as he bypassed the kitchen and its stairs down to the basement in favor of that other little hallway.<\/p>\n

\u201cMatt,\u201d she whispered.<\/p>\n

\u201cShhh,\u201d he hushed gently, stepping into the room he\u2019d guessed had been her bedroom once upon a time\u2014before she\u2019d started hiding herself away in the basement of that little house by the water. Tears pricked Hecate\u2019s eyes and she covered her mouth with one shaking hand.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhy here?\u201d she asked in a bare whisper. \u201cMatt, why here?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s time for this to be home again.\u201d He kissed her ear and set her on her feet. She stared at him, biting down hard on her lip.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhy now?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhy not?\u201d He gave her a crooked smile and brushed his fingertips along the side of her face. \u201cWhy not now?\u201d<\/p>\n

Her hands shook as she wrapped them around his arms, squeezing hard. \u201cThere should be a thousand reasons, but I\u2019ve lost them all\u2014they\u2019ve scattered like shards of glass against a slate floor. I just\u2014Matt, I\u2014are you sure? Really, really sure?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAs long as you are.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hecate sucked in a breath and nodded. \u201cOkay. Okay. As long as you\u2019re sure.\u201d<\/p>\n

Matt kissed her again. She leaned into his chest, squeezing her eyes shut as tears welled up behind her lashes. He stroked her hair and she shivered, her arms sliding around his waist.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust remember that I\u2019m not him,\u201d he murmured.<\/p>\n

\u201cOf course not,\u201d she whispered against his lips. \u201cOf course not, you\u2019re you. I know that.\u201d She put a hand against his chest, breaking the kiss so she could meet his eyes, her own sparkling with unshed tears.<\/p>\n

\u201cTake me to bed, Matthew Astoris,\u201d she said softly. \u201cMake me feel real again.\u201d<\/p>\n

Matt\u2019s voice was gentle. \u201cWith pleasure.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[This post is from Matt’s point of view.] Hecate gave a startled little cry, blinking at him. \u201cWhere are we going?\u201d \u201cInside,\u201d Matt said as he carried her up onto the porch. \u201cWhere else would we be going?\u201d \u201cI\u2014I don\u2019t … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[124,206,14],"tags":[150,171,170,194,181,149,148,168,147,165,146],"class_list":["post-2857","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-book-5","category-chapter-31-book-5","category-story","tag-awakenings","tag-fantasy","tag-fiction","tag-hecate","tag-matthew-astoris","tag-original-fiction","tag-post-apocalyptic","tag-serial","tag-serial-fiction","tag-story","tag-web-fiction"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1EBlN-K5","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2857","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2857"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2857\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2858,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2857\/revisions\/2858"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2857"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2857"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2857"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}