Page 119 of Perfect Liar

“That’s a beautiful thing to say, Will.”

“That’s you, baby.”

Losing him still weighed on my mind. I didn’t want to go on without him. I tapped on his chest.

“Do you believe there’s an afterlife, that our souls are eternal, and they go on, still knowing, still feeling? Do you think Ethan will find Isabel?”

“Elle,” he warned.

“Will, but he loved her.”

We would never know their story, only that he loved her.

“Seems he did. He never made a commitment to another woman.”

“When we’re gone, are we going to find each other? I mean, will there be more time for us to be together?”

“Listen, baby. I don’t want to disappoint you, because I don’t quite know what I believe, but you should understand that I don’t subscribe to the idea of heaven and hell. Christ, if there were such places, we certainly wouldn’t be together.”

He lifted my chin with his finger.

“Neither of us is going anywhere. No one can take you from me, and I’ll always come back to you. Rather than wading into philosophical reflection, I need you to trust that…need you to trust me.”

And I had from the minute he pulled me out of that bloodstained foyer in Stonington.

“I do trust you, Will.”

But it was hard to not worry. He was forced to fight assassins, to kill or be killed. And that wasn’t your run-of-the-mill relationship hurdle. It would never be as easy as that for us.

His warm fingers brushed my lips.

“Relationships scare you…I can see it in your eyes. In time, you’ll trust what we have and feel safe with it.”

Then he crushed his mouth against mine, putting a brutal kiss on my lips before he got out of bed and headed for the bathroom. He called out his brother before shutting the door.

“John, you fucked up, little brother. Get your arse up, hydrate, and get to the gym.”

Will’s mood shifted right then as his grief evolved.

John and I immediately understood he would be punished for the whisky binge. I slipped my robe on over my pajamas and got him some water, and he pulled himself upright, grumbling about his heavy head.

Thomas called out from the other side of the bedroom door.

“Will, I’m coming in.”

“He’s in the bathroom, but come in, Thomas,” I said.

He opened the door and Lissie slid down from his back and raced inside.

“She’s been roaming the house, looking for you.”

I caught her, and she hugged my waist.

Thomas looked at his younger brother and shook his head.

“Jesus, John. Don’t do that shit again. He told you to get on to the gym?”

John bobbed his head and gulped down more water.