My ears can’t be teasing me right now. This is what I wanted. This is what I fought for when breaking out of that basement. A chance with my best friend. A chance to be truly happy.

I scurry and write down something else. I have to know the answer to this.

“Is this so you can keep a better eye on me?” he reads and caveman grunts. “Piper, seriously? Baby, I know after this, your gun isn’t leavin’ the holster on your body. This has nothin’ to do with wantin’ to keep a better eye on you. Grant you, tomorrow, when Storm comes to sit with you, I’ll be a nervous wreck leavin’ you, but I know you can handle yourself. You’re fuckin’ Piper,” he taunts. “My badass best friend that weathers anythin’ thrown at her.”

If he only knew how close I was to giving up, he wouldn’t be saying these nice things to me. He would be so disappointed, but I don’t dare say a word. He would be beyond hurt.

“This, between me,” his hands ghost between us, “and you, has everythin’ to do with me wantin’ you to be mine.”

Come again? He is not suggesting what I think he is. He wants to date? He wants to be boyfriend and girlfriend? What the hell is he saying? I don’t speak guy language.

“I see the confusion on your face, beautiful. I want to be with you, and more than just friends. We’re both looking for love while we live so carelessly, so why not look for that love together? With one another?”

Oh, sweet baby Jesus. The tears begin to roll down my face. I fought like hell to survive for him, and maybe deep down, this is what I really wanted. To be with him. To be his and him be mine. Maybe I am dreaming, and I am still in that god awful basement. Sniper wanting to be with me is too good to be true. It is like the heavens are finally pouring the light that I crave down on me.

“I know you can’t say anythin’ because it’ll mess up your jaw more, but I expect some sort of response here, babe.”

I snatch up the pad and scribble my words as fast as I can. It takes me forever, but my best friend is patient with me and understands. Another reason I love him. When I hand the paper over, he again reads out loud.

“When I was down in that basement and going through my past all over again,” he chokes out, “I wanted to give up.” He reads my honest words. “I wanted to give up so bad, but during those last few hours, I thought about our photo booth fun at the mall. You know the day,” he strangles out while he lays the pad down, reaches into his back pocket for his wallet, and hands me our photos before going back to finish reading my true words.

“Your face was all that replayed in my mind. Your gray eyes, your crooked smile, your boisterous laugh, the way you are with me, and the night we were together that you begged me forget. It was there, stuck in my mind, and it made me fight, fight like hell, because I deserve someone like you. Someone who cares about me. Someone who would die for me,” he whispers those last few words, “I know deep down that you, Perseus… that person is you.”

Sniper takes a deep breath to regain control of himself and continues. “I believe there is a reason you and I click so well together. Everything about us is in sync, in fine tune together. You know that song you hate that I play over and over again.” He chuckles and nods his head as he reads more. “I am your lighter to your cigarette. You wouldn’t burn without me and vice versa for me.”

He sets the pad down, goes to his liquor cabinet to pour a shot, and returns to his seat after he downs it.

“I have been through a place far worse than hell in my life. I deserve happy, and I want that happy to be with you. So what I am saying is that if you are serious, and you want to see where we can end up, I’m here. I will always be right here with you, forever and always,” he says quietly as he reads my last words.

He scoots his chair closer to mine, lays down the paper, and gently takes my swollen face into his hands to peer directly into my eyes. “I’m right here, are you?” he says with the most caring tone I have ever heard from him. And when I nod my head, he brings his mouth down to mine, and gives me the most sensual, soft, slow kiss I have ever had in all my life.

When he lifts his lips away from mine, my toes still curl and the butterflies in my stomach still flail about as he leans his forehead with care against mine. “We were looking for love in the wrong places. Wanna bet it was right here all along?” His voice cracks and he gives a nervous laugh. I’ve never seen my best friend so emotional.

I reach a shaky hand up to his face and caress his cheek to force him to look into my eyes again. It may be selfish, but I know this special moment between us is just that, between us. I won’t get this Sniper when others are around, and I will cherish every bit of him when I do get these small glimpses.

“You called me Perseus.” He laughs under his breath. “You, and only you, could ever get away with that. I fuckin’ hate that name.”

I secretly love it. It is a very strong name. The only reason I even know it is because we trade one secret for another, and that is a secret he gave me in return. This is the first time I have used it.

“So we’re gonna do this, Pipe? Huh, darlin’?”

I nod my head and he brings his lips down to mine once more. When our mouths touch, we both sigh. It is as though our hearts are meshed together as one, and we have finally found what we have been looking for all along.

Each other.

***

Chapter Twenty Four

Sniper