As I puked into the toilet, I felt my hair being lifted gently away from my face and secured at the nape of my neck. Once I felt a little calmer, I sat back and Wrath hunkered down beside me, handing me a wet washcloth. “Thanks.”
“You want me to get you a Sprite, or hang here?”
“Stay.” I reached for his hand. “I need you more than the Sprite.”
Pushing myself up, I brushed my teeth, then followed Wrath back into the bedroom where we sat on the bed facing each other.
“Need to know you’re not gonna leave me, Moonbeam,” he rasped.
“For killing Cletus?”
He nodded.
“I’m not going to leave you, Booth,” I said. “You know why?”
“Why?”
I settled my chin on my upturned knees. “Because I wished for this.”
“You wished for me to kill him?”
“Sort of. In my kid brain, in the middle of the abuse, I wished for someone to kill him,” I said. “And I know, now that I’m an adult, it’s not something that’s morally ‘right,’ but he was a monster,and he needed to be unalived.” I met his eyes. “And the fact you avenged me, only makes me love you more, which proves how unbelievably fucked up I am, but I don’t care. I knew Rabbit had my back, but he’d never kill for me, and I’d never ask or expect him to. Same goes for Raquel.” I scooted closer to him. “I have never had anyone in my life who truly guarded my bodyandmy heart.” I blinked back tears. “I don’t know what I did to deserve you, but it must have been something really good. Like, saving nuns good.”
“Fuck,” he breathed out, practically jumping me, pushing me onto my back, and hovering over me. “You finally get it.”
I threaded my fingers into his beard. “I finally fucking get it.”
“Now, what’s this about threatening my president?”
“I didn’t threaten,” I countered.
He ran his nose over mine. “That’s not what I heard.”
“A mild request.” I slid my hands down his chest. “No threat.”
“Hmm.” His hand slipped under the waistband of my panties and between my legs, palming my clit. “I heard the word ‘flexible’ was thrown around.”
I arched into his hand. “I will neither confirm nor deny whether or not I may have offered to provide crystals to promote helping Sundance learn to be a little more flexible.”
He paused his hand and met my eyes. “Are you fuckin’ serious?”
“He wouldn’t bring you home,” I said. “I was desperate.”
“Woman!” Wrath knifed off the bed. “Jesus fuckin’ Christ. You do not, and I repeat, you donot, make demands of my president, do you understand?”
I sat up. “You weren’t here.”
He dragged his hands down his face. “Yeah, I’m aware. I was dealin’ with your shit.”
“I didn’t ask you to deal with my shit!”
“And yet, I was doin’ it, Sierra, so what the fuck did you thinkyouwere doin’ when you strutted your ass down to Sundance’s office and started orderin’ him around?”
“I have never strutted a day in my life,” I hissed. “And I was trying to get you home safe.”
“Oh, you fuckin’ strut, Moonbeam, but I obviously didn’t need your assistance getting home.”
“Well, excuse me for worrying about you.” I turned on my heel and escaped into my bedroom, locking the door between us.