10 - THE KISS I THOUGHT I’D NEVER HAVE

I ran outside before my mind was caught up, and then saw Ethan standing near the entrance with his phone still in his hand. When he saw my face, he moved toward me. “Where is she?” I demanded while grabbing his sleeve.

“She’s in the back seat of my SUV,” Ethan answered while pointing to the curb. “An ambulance is coming, but we can get her there faster.” I ran to the SUV and pulled open the rear door to see her.

My gaze met Serena as she was slumped against the seat. One of her hands was pressed against her forehead. Blood had slipped between her fingers and also marked her black shirt. “Serena,” I breathed while moving closer to her and also touching her shoulder. 

Her eyes then opened halfway. “Maya?” She murmured while I caught her hand. “I’m here, I’m right here.”

Ethan immediately got behind the wheel and then started the engine. “What happened?” I immediately asked while still holding Serena’s wrist. Ethan pulled away from Velvet with his jaw clenched.

“Someone started fighting outside,” he explained as he watched the road while driving. “Serena moved in between them when one of the men shoved a staff member, and unfortunately she took the hit.”

My stomach turned as Serena shifted and tried to sit straighter. “Stop looking at me like that,” she whispered while making a weak smile. I increased my grip on her fingers. “You don’t get to tell me how to look at you after scaring me like this.”

The hospital lights blurred past the SUV window. Serena’s head lay against the seat, and then every few seconds, I checked if she was awake. When Ethan was at the emergency center, I reached for the door. 

A nurse came running with a wheelchair, while Ethan helped Serena out, and I stood beside her, refusing to release her hand until another nurse slowly told me I had to. “I’ll be here,” I promised while Serena was wheeled through the doors. 

Ethan remained beside me as the doors swung shut, and for several seconds, none of us spoke. He then dragged a hand over his face. “You were terrified.”

I stared at him. “She’s Serena.” My voice immediately broke around the name while Ethan stared, and I knew there was more to what he heard than I had admitted.

The clock barely moved in my eyes. I was waiting in the area with Serena’s blood faintly visible on my fingers while staring at the treatment-room doors. Ethan was sitting across from me with his elbows on his knees, saying nothing. 

A doctor soon stepped out. “Family of Serena Walsh?” He asked while checking the waiting area. I stood up quickly. “I’m her friend,” I replied to the doctor even though it felt wrong for me to.

“She has a heavy cut that needs stitches and a mild concussion,” the doctor explained. “She is awake right now, but needs a lot of rest and observation tonight.”

“Can I see her?” I asked, stepping forward to the doctor, and he nodded. “One person for now.” I turned toward Ethan while expecting him to object. 

“Go,” he asserted. “She was requesting you.”

As soon as I entered, I looked back at Ethan through the glass as he was staring at the floor now with his hands locked together, and for the first time, I wondered if he was frightened for Serena too, as I was, or frightened for what her injury had revealed. I turned before I could ask him, as there was no courage for that yet.

I pushed open the ward door where Serena was and found her beneath a white blanket with a small bandage close to her temple. Her eyes opened when she heard me enter; her eyes curved.

“You came,” she whispered while watching me come close to her. I pulled the chair close and took her hand. “Of course I came. You scared the life out of me.”

Serena’s fingers curved around mine. “I’m sorry,” she said while looking down. “Don’t apologize for getting hurt,” I whispered. “Just don’t ever do that to me again.”

Her eyes immediately softened. “You were crying.” I wiped beneath one of my eyes. “I wasn’t.” Serena soon gave a little smile. “Maya, I saw you. You were.”

I laughed and had to laugh through my tears and then lowered my head beside our joined hands. “I thought I was going to lose you or something worse could have happened.” The words came out of my mouth before I could stop them. 

Her expression was still, and I then forced myself to continue. “I believed that leaving for university would kill it. I also thought that I’d come home and finally get to see you like everyone else does.”

Serena’s gaze was still on me without any interruption. “But I didn’t,” I accepted while rubbing her fingers. “I still wanted you. I still had to look for you in every woman that I met, and I even hated that more because you are my brother's best friend.”

Serena’s eyes glistened. “Maya,” she whispered, and then I shook my head. “Let me finish. I’ve been running from this for four years.”

Serena soon closed her eyes and immediately opened them. “Your return from university somehow changed something that I’d spent years controlling,” she made the confession while lifting my hand toward her cheek. “I thought I could keep it buried.”

I leaned on her palm. “Are you still afraid of wanting me?” I asked, while Serena stared at me and then pulled me closer. 

“No,” Serena whispered.

Her hand slid behind my neck gently even though the tremor remained in her fingers, and she drew me down until our breasts met each other and there was no space left between us. 

I felt my breath against her lips, and then she kissed me. It was slow and was as if she wanted me to feel every second she had spent refusing herself to me.

I kissed her back, making the French kiss heavy between us, and whatever careful restraint we’d taken into the room began to crack. Her thumb soon moved close to my jaw while I held the front of the hospital gown she was wearing slightly. I was afraid of hurting her where she is injured, while also unable to make myself leave her and the kiss we had.

Serena pulled back from the intimate kiss just for us to breathe, with her nose brushing on mine. “I don’t want to stop,” I breathed while closing the small distance between us.

Her lips immediately found mine again as it was deeper, warm, and not so frightening. I shifted closer to her, also being careful of her injured side, and Serena’s quiet breath caught me when my forehead was resting against hers. 

She smiled against my lips and then kissed me again, lingering there until I forgot about the hospital room, Ethan, Claire, and every other reason we had deceived ourselves with to stay apart.

When we finally separated from the deep kiss, I kept my face still close to hers with our breath uneven and mingling right in the small space between us. She brushed her thumb across my lower lip. The tenderness of how she did that somehow felt more intimate with her than the kiss itself. 

“You have no idea how many times I imagined doing that,” she whispered while still staring at my lips. 

My fingers tightened around hers. “And then you stopped yourself from doing it,” I said while studying her face. 

Her smile soon disappeared as she touched my cheek once more, but there was no teasing in her eyes this time. “Though wanting you was never the only thing I was afraid of.”

“This changes everything,” I whispered to her. “I know,” Serena immediately answered while keeping her fingers against my cheek. Her gaze met mine, and then she turned serious.”

“Maya, there’s something you need to know.” She swallowed, while I held my gaze as she continued. “I need to tell you why I was fighting this long before you came home.”