{"id":3367,"date":"2017-10-02T00:00:25","date_gmt":"2017-10-02T04:00:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/?p=3367"},"modified":"2017-09-30T11:05:17","modified_gmt":"2017-09-30T15:05:17","slug":"twenty-three-02-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/?p=3367","title":{"rendered":"Twenty-three – 02"},"content":{"rendered":"

[This post is from J.T.’s point of view.]<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cCarolyn.\u201d His ire dropped right along with his stomach. What was she doing<\/em> in his room? It had been\u2014<\/p>\n

What does this mean?<\/em><\/p>\n

She\u2019d lit the lamp and was sitting next to it, a book open in her lap. The flickering flame danced along her features, casting half her face in shadow and illuminating the other, her brow slightly furrowed in concern but her eyes bright, not tired at all.<\/p>\n

She closed the book and stood up. \u201cI\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n

He opened his mouth to speak but closed it again as she broke off, staring at him uncertainly. He swallowed hard.<\/p>\n

\u201cSorry,\u201d he whispered. \u201cIt\u2019s been a long day.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI know,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd I knew eventually you\u2019d make it back here. That\u2019s why I came.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s late,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cActually, it\u2019s early.\u201d She smiled weakly, gesturing slightly. \u201cClose the door, huh?\u201d<\/p>\n

J.T. had been in such a state of shock that he hadn\u2019t realized that the door was still open, that he was still standing in his doorway. He took a step forward, then another, closing and locking the door behind him, hoping against hope that \u00c9riu would have sense enough to stop following him. \u201cI didn\u2019t expect to see you here.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI know,\u201d she said, glancing toward her feet. \u201cI\u2019m sorry, Jay. It\u2019s just been weird lately and I\u2019ve been taking it out on you. That\u2019s not been fair.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNo, it\u2019s fine.\u201d He slunk across the room, skirting the space where she stood so he could drop his kit next to the bed. \u201cYou needed space. It\u2019s a big commitment and I kind of sprang the question on you without our really discussing it first. It\u2019s okay.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI was scared.\u201d<\/p>\n

He froze, barely daring to breathe. His throat thickened, choking off any words that came to mind. J.T. just stood there with his back to her, silent, waiting, hoping<\/em> she\u2019d say more.<\/p>\n

She said \u201cwas.\u201d Not <\/em>is. What the hell does that mean? Is it the commitment? Something else?<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cIt hasn\u2019t been because I don\u2019t love you, Jay, because god knows I do. I\u2019m scared because I love you\u2014I\u2019m scared because of what I see happening to you, of this power that you\u2019ve got that keeps getting stronger and sinking its claws deeper. I\u2019ve been afraid I\u2019ll lose you.\u201d<\/p>\n

Her hand touched his back and he stiffened. Carolyn didn\u2019t withdraw, only stepped closer. J.T. sucked in a quiet breath, squeezing his eyes shut.<\/p>\n

\u201cPromise me I won\u2019t lose you,\u201d she whispered. \u201cPlease, Jay.\u201d<\/p>\n

The words came out strangled. \u201cI promise. I\u2019ll never leave you. I swear. I swear. They\u2019d have to banish me and I would still find a way to come back.\u201d<\/p>\n

Her arms slid around his waist and she leaned against his back. He could breathe again and he squeezed his eyes shut against the sting of tears.<\/p>\n

\u201cDoes this mean\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYes,\u201d she whispered into his shirt. \u201cYes, it does.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[This post is from J.T.’s point of view.] \u201cCarolyn.\u201d His ire dropped right along with his stomach. What was she doing in his room? It had been\u2014 What does this mean? She\u2019d lit the lamp and was sitting next to … 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":[240,272,14],"tags":[150,163,171,170,160,149,148,168,147,165,146],"class_list":["post-3367","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-book-6","category-chapter-23-book-6","category-story","tag-awakenings","tag-carolyn-roberts","tag-fantasy","tag-fiction","tag-j-t-mackenzie","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-Sj","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3367","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=3367"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3367\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3368,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3367\/revisions\/3368"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3367"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3367"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3367"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}