Page 133 of Under the Waves
“Even when I’m like this?”
“Especiallywhen you’re like this, Wellsy.”
“Broken and all?”
“Broken and all,” he confirmed.
I smiled at him, unable to help myself. “Hi, Jasper.”
He grinned right back at me, tucking a strand of hair that had fallen loose behind my ear. “Hi, Poppy.”
I want to believe you, Jasper Ridge.
Ever so desperately.
“I wish you were sober, Jasper,” I sighed softly, letting my head fall against the palms of his hands.
“I know you do, Wellsy.”
“I wish I could kiss you right now…and I wish that it would mean something.”
“I know,” he rasped. “But don’t worry, Wellsy, all of my kisses belong to you. We have all the time in the world.”
Jasper tried and failed to smile because no matter how hard we tried to forget it, we both knew we were running out of time.
“I wish we were real, Spiderman.”
“I do too, Gwen Stacy.”
“Because, no matter what we do, none of this isreal,” I shook my head. His eyes captured mine across the small distance between us with such intensity it almost winded me. “You have to know that, right?”
We were under contract. There was nothing stopping him from leaving after it expired. Absolutelynothingat all.
“Shhh,” he soothed, pressing a gentle kiss to my scars, one by one. “If this is all some cruel fantasy of mine…please let me live in this dream a little while longer. I don’t ever want to wake up if it means losing you.”
“Okay,” I whispered back, holding my breath as his hot lips pressed against the skin at my wrist in a gentle kiss. “Okay.”
A few beats passed between us, and I didn’t dare move, fearing that I’d ruin this small moment between us. As he showered my scars in love and affection, I realized that this was the most I’d seen him relax ever since I found him on the beach fighting off a panic attack.
“Someone’s hurting you, Wellsy,” he breathed, tucking my palm back against his heart as he succumbed to a yawn that stretched his jaw so those big veins on the side of his neck peaked. Pulling me down next to him, Jasper tucked me into hisside, hands scooping around my body, cradling me to him.
He turned over my small wrist in his, eyes locked onto the layers upon layers of scars that resided there like a battlefield. “Who is hurting you? You can trust me, Poppy.I’ll help you. I’ll protectyou. That should be my character title in the movie of us:Jasper Ridge, Poppy Wells number one protector, for infinity.My character would always find you, Wellsy,” he murmured sleepily. “No force on this earth could keep me from crawling my way back to you.”
Me,I thought.I was hurtingme, Jasper.
“No one is hurting me, silly,” I soothed, the lie leaving a bitter taste in my mouth.
“I’ll fix it, I promise,” his drooping eyes locked onto mine; the impenetrable force that was Jasper Ridge. “I’ll keep you safe.”
“Not even you can save me from this,” I whispered, pressing a feather-light kiss to his hair.
“From what?”
Inhaling a sharp breath, I pressed my lips close to his ear, voice trembling as I whispered, “From me.”
Several beats passed without a single word from his lips, and that desire to scratch the back of my neck to relieve this overwhelming pulse of anxiety grew. As I looked across to the boy who had become my anchor, I realized why.
He had fallen asleep.