Surfacing

Tiny shards of ice bounced off the bathroom sink, some falling to the floor, some landing amonst the girls vast array of make up and toiletries as she leant into the mirror. Her eyes locked on her swollen cheekbone, only barely visible under the towel full of ice she had pressed against it.

She didn't know what hurt more.

The fist that had smashed into her face...

Or the fact that it was Matt's fist doing the smashing.

Kalli knew he didn't mean it. He'd never hurt her. Not on purpose... But still her heart ached that it had been her best friend who's hand had flown in anger.

If Adam had hit her...

For some reason the aftermath would not have been nearly so bad.

The girl sighed, resting the makeshift ice pack in the sink. She wiped her slightly damp hands on the WWF tiny T she was wearing as a pyjama top for the night, turning and heading out into the bedroom of her hotel room. Flicking off the bathroom light, she hoisted up the legs of her pyjama pants as she walked. They were slightly too long for her and she was always stepping on them and tripping herself up. It would probably be just as easy to just take them up, but... She smiled dismally, where would the fun be in that?

Moving across the room, she wondered how her sister was, and how she had even managed to be hurt in the first place. And most of all...

It seemed that her family were doomed to disaster after disaster these days and Kalli, like every other McMahon, was sick of waiting for the next thing to go wrong.

And for it to be Krissy this time...

Damn it. Hadn't her sister already been through enough?

"Please," she whispered to whichever God out there that might be listening, "Please just let the baby be okay."

Kalli dropped onto the plush Queen Size bed, burying her face in her pillow, her body craving some kind of rest but her buzzing mind not allowing her a moment's peace. If she just closed her eyes, if she could just fall asleep, surely the world would go away and for but a few hours, everything would seem okay.

Except that it wasn't okay.

Sitting up, she leant across the bed, picking up the phone, for a moment contemplating calling Jeff to ask him how Krissy was. But she knew better. She set the phone back down in its cradle. Jeff would be wherever Krissy was. He would not leave her side, not even for a moment.

Kalli missed having a friend like that.

She buried her face back in the pillow.

Kalli jumped back out of the way as the two men flew toward her, smashing the window of one of the nearer offices with the sheer force they hit the wall just beneath it. “Shit! Guys! Stop it!!!” She hurried forward again, this time as Matt pinned Adam beneath him, punching him over and over, years of anger that had been locked away, years of pain that had never been dealt with, all coming out at once. “Matt!” The girl ran around the back of him, taking a hold of his arm...

Without thinking, Matt flung his arm back, his fist smashing, full force, into Kalli’s face. The girl fell back, landing against the wall, her hands instinctively cupping her injured face.

Completely by accident.

But he had hit her all the same.

And though she was trying to get past that, something held her there.

Maybe it was because she was the reason that Adam and Matt had been fighting in the first place. To some degree, Adam was right. Kalli and Jeff, Kalli in particualar, had certainly pushed to reunite Krissy with Matt. But Kalli didn't do it out of spite... Or...

“You know what I think, Kalli? I think you push Krissy and Matt together so desperately because you’re trying to prove to Jeff, and to Krissy, that you don’t want him. That you really are,” he spoke the words in the most sarcastic voice he could muster, “best friends.”

Under her breath Kalli replied as she walked, desperate to get away, “Stop it, Adam. You don’t know anything about Matt and I.”

“Oh, don’t I?”

“You don’t.” She struggled, growing more angry, and much more uncomfortable as the conversation progressed.

“Then how do I know that if the two of you actually managed to get a clue, you’d realize that all you’re doing with Krissy and Jeff is wasting their time..?”

She shook her head. It had *nothing* to do with her and Matt. Nothing at all. She wanted Matt and Krissy back together because in her eyes, that was exactly where they belonged. Together. Forever. And she of all people was not going to stand in the way of that.

She rolled over in the bed, staring up at the ceiling.

The Adam Copeland's and Stacy Kiebler's of the world could think what they wanted.

Kalli McMahon and Matt Hardy knew the truth.

The girl reached her fingetips up to gently outline her swollen cheekbone again.

Let them think what they wanted.

A heavy knock shook the hotel room door and Kalli groaned. By the fury she could make out in the knock, she was certain it was her father. Yet again he would be coming to belittle her and chastise her for making yet another bad decision tonight.

When Adam had approached her, she should've walked away...

Although, she had tried to.

But the way he spoke about her and Matt.

Kalli cast a little look at the clock. It was nearly 2am. A little late for her father, but then, if he had just come from the Hospital...

Another knock could be heard rattling the door and she called out, "I'm coming!" She climbed off the bed, her dread in every little step until she got to the door, taking the handle, turning it and pulling the door open as she said, "Daddy, I know..."

She fell silent when she saw Matt in the doorway.

He was a ghastly white, his eyes bloodshot, his fist clenched together in the kind of anger she had seen him direct with avengance at Adam earlier that night.

Afraid for him she whispered, her lower lip trembling, "Matty? What happened?"

But the Hardy Boy did not answer her. He stepped inside, brushing past her, his steps unsteady, his back remaining turned to her.

Confused she closed the door over, following him. When she stepped near him, her fingers only just touching the back of his shirt, he stepped away from her, whirling quickly, his eyes locked on hers.

Kalli backpeddaled. She had never seen him so angry. "Matty?" She whispered, "Is Krissy okay? And the baby?"

"She lost the baby," he snapped at her.

Tears filled Kalli's eyes, "Oh God... I'm so sorry..." She went to step toward him but he stepped away from her again. She shook her head slightly, completely taken aback by his response to her, "Matt..."

"It's your fault, Kalli. All of it is your fucking fault!"

All the color drained from Kalli's face, shock marring her features as she whispered, completely lost, "Matty..."

His blood boiling, his heart virtually pounding right out of his chest, Matt Hardy paced back and forth in front of Kalleasto McMahon as she stared at him, tears filling her eyes.

Because Kalleasto McMahon was to blame for everything.

He looked over at her, his voice barely level. An angry scream dying to emerge from him. He held it, but only just beneath the surface. "She lost the baby... She lost the baby because of you!" The first of Kalli's tears slipped onto her painstricken face and before she could even push the words sitting on the tip of her tongue out he was talking over her, "Everything that has EVER held Krissy and I apart has been because of you, Kalli. EVERYTHING!"

The girl was shaking, "Matt..." Her voice was so soft he could barely hear her, "I don't understand..."

"She saw us together! She saw us and she ran away!" He was shaking too now, filled with a kind of rage he had never known. "She runs from me because of you. Because she doesn't trust me with you. Its always there, in the back of her mind, 'whats really going on with Matt and Kalli?' She always wonders, she always has to worry about you..."

"That's not true," she stammered weakly in her defence.

"Isn't it?" He stepped up to her and Kalli, completely intimidated by his temper, backed away. "When she walked down that hallway tonight to see what was going on, what did she see? You! You crying your little fucking head off once again and me! Me, the blind idiot holding you, comforting you. The same thing she's seen over and over again." She continued to back away and he followed her, "YOU were the reason she ran."

She sobbed quietly, "Matty, please... I don't understand... Please, just calm down... Just tell me what happened, please," she reached up a hand to soothingly stroke his cheek but he slapped the hand away.

If she had thought his words hurt...

His total rejection of her then hurt worst of all.

Somehow keeping his voice cool, but scathing, he explained to her, "Tonight when Krissy saw us together, she saw me holding you... She heard me call you baby..."

Kalli's surprise at this was evident.

She didn't remember even hearing him say that.

"Krissy thought she was seeing evidence of what she's been afraid of all along, Kalli. So she turned and ran down that hallway. And she kept running. She ran all the way across the fucking arena and then she ran out into a loading bay. A loading bay that the WWF wasn't using. A dark, abandoned loading bay." He leant forward, breathing into her face, tears filling his eyes now, "And she fell. She fell 4 feet." He growled, "Not enough to kill her," a tear ran down his cheek and he wiped it away furiously, "But enough to kill her baby."

"Matt..." Was all Kalli could stammer, crying heavily now, not sure what else to say.

Again, instinctively, she reached out for him, but again he moved away from her, marching across the room. "If she hadn't seen us together..."

"B... But Matt... I was hurt... That was all..." She practically tip-toed up behind him, "I was just hurt and if she had just waited... She... She would have seen she had no reaosn to think that was anything more..."

"She's not Jeff," he snapped, "She's been hurt so many times, Kalli. She doesn't trust the way he does. Jeff looks at you and he sees nothing else. He's fanatically loyal to you and he believes in his heart you feel the same way, but Krissy," he turned, glaring at her, "All she's seen lately is her sister and the man she loves getting closer and closer... Every time she sees us together, she sees that kiss."

The McMahon Heiress' eyes fell the floor, shame on her cheeks.

She knew that was true.

It was the very reason she and her sister were still struggling to find some kind of holy ground on which they could keep the peace with each other.

Everytime Krissy looked at Kalli, Kalli *knew* she saw her with Matt that night in the Hospital. The night of Unforgiven.

She managed a smile, looking up at him adoringly...

But for some reason, the look didn’t fade away.

Instead, the two remained locked there in each other’s gaze, supporting and adoring each other, the irrevocable bond between them stronger than ever.

But on this day, for some reason neither could grasp, the bond pulled in ways it never had before...

Almost simultaneously, the two leant forward, and before either could draw breath to clear the haze in their heads, their lips pressed together in a tender kiss that lasted minutes.

"I'm so sorry," Kalli whispered painfully.

Matt shook his head at her in disgust, "I'll tell you what I'm sorry for, Kalli." Again he neared her, speaking right into her face, "I am sorry that I *ever* let you kiss me that night!"

Kalli's jaw dropped, and she stammered, more hurt by those words than she had ever been by anything in her entire life. "Matt..."

"If she hadn't seen what you did that night... If she hadn't seen you kiss me... She would never have left me in the first place, this would *never* have happened..."

The girl murmered softly, hurt and anger all starting to build into one overwhelming emotion, "This isn't my fault."

"It is your fault! Krissy is right about you! You couldn't get Jeff back with your stupid ladder match, you did the next best thing, you used ME!"

Without thinking she retorted, "I have *never* used you!!!"

"Oh, really? Then what do you call that kiss, Kalli?"

Her voice climbing an octave or two she snapped, "If I remember rightly Matt, you kissed me just as much as I kissed you!" She nearly shoved him, her hurt was infuriating her so violently, "That kiss? That kiss wasn't just a fleeting peck on the lips, Matt. When we kissed, that lasted minutes!!! MINUTES! If you didn't want to be kissed, what the *hell* were you doing kissing me back, huh?"

The elder Hardy stammered, "I just got caught in the moment, who fucking wouldn't with you pouncing on them?"

"I pounced on you??? Matt, I *remember* that kiss perfectly. Every tiny little detail, I've played it over and over in my head a million times and I *know* that you wanted to kiss me that night. I saw it in you! I saw it in your eyes! When we were sitting there," her voice was an impassioned yell and she was giving herself over completely to her emotions without even realizing it, "We were locked there and in that one moment, the *exact* same moment, we kissed. Not me first, not you first, *we* kissed. It was a two way street!"

She cut him off, screaming, "You wanted it to happen as much as I did and you know it!!!"

Not entirely aware of the feelings that hid vainly beneath those words Matt rushed on, desperate to defend himself, to wipe away the guilt that Krissy's words at the Hospital had lain upon him, "I fucking love you, Kalli, I would do anything for you, *anything* to help you out! I slip up once, just that once, and it gets to ruin my God Damn life?" He breathed nastily, "I always thought you being my best friend was a blessing," his next words were the most scathing of all, "For me and Krissy? You've been nothing but a fucking curse!"

Kalli McMahon stepped back as though he had dealt her a physical blow, she barely managed to sob painfully, "I have done everything I could to keep you two together!"

"No, you've stuck your nose in our business again and again and again and ruined everything!!!" He demanded furiously, "Why the hell can't you just stay out of my life?"

"I can't stay out of your life because I can't live my life without you in it!!!" She screamed into his face, this time, the truth in her words, the undeniable emotion, plainly spelt out for Matt to see. Lost to it, she went on, planting her hands in his chest and shoving him, "I can't breathe when I think for one second that you're not going to be there!" She sobbed again, her hands surging into his chest again, "I can't sleep without knowing that all I need to do is call and you'll be there!" Breaking totally she cried out, "I need you, Matt! God dammit! I fucking need you! Don‘t you see that? And I hate it! I fucking hate it!" Her sobs racked her body and she nearly collapsed where she stood, murmering softly over and over, "But I do. I do..."

And in that moment, Matt Hardy's rage was gone.

In that moment, their entire world stood still.

For the longest time, Matt Hardy did not move. Kalli McMahon stood, her head pressed against his chest where she sobbed desperately, barely able to breathe. And though her pain was evident, for the longest time, he could not bring himself to lift his arms to wrap around her.

In fact, her could barely bring himself to breathe.

Had she just said...

Could she have meant...

"I can't stay out of your life because I can't live my life without you in it!!! I can't breathe when I think for one second that you're not going to be there! I can't sleep without knowing that all I need to do is call and you'll be there! I need you, Matt! God dammit! I fucking need you! Don‘t you see that? And I hate it! I fucking hate it! But I do. I do..."

They were the hardest words she had ever spoken.

He knew because he had never seen her as broken as she was right there and then.

And he was overcome.

Because he never saw this coming.

"K..." Trying to same her name nearly choked him, his lungs seemingly devoid of the air it took to actually speak. He cleared his throat quietly and tried again, "Kalli?" She did not speak and though he was not even sure it was the right thing to do, he finally wrapped his arms around her, hugging her tightly to him. His instincts kicked in and his fingers immediately moved to her hair, stroking gently. "Kalli?"

Her eyes clenched closed, she continued to cry against him, breathing deeply trying to calm herself, not even sure what was happening to her.

If nothing else, she knew she meant them.

He stammered softly, "I don't know what to say..."

The girl managed a half-hearted nod, pondering desperately before eventually whispering, "Don't say anything." She took another soothing deep breath but a sob escaped her regardless, "Just forget that this ever happened." She pulled away from him, "Forget it."

He grabbed her arm before she could back completely away, "I can't."

She shook her arm away from him, "Forget," she whimpered, "Go away and just forget it."

"Please," she whimpered again, "Please just go..." She turned away from him, hurrying across the hotel room, heading straight for the bathroom, determined to get in there and lock the door and keep him away so she never had to face him again.

She had never felt so stupid.

And she had never felt so bad.

Matt was Krissy's. Jeff was her's.

Matt was Krissy's...

Her bare foot touched the tiles of the bathroom floor and she moved to take that last step inside.

But Matt hooked a hand around her arm. She was still only partially aware he had followed her until he whirled her to face him.

Matt was Krissy's...

But it didn't stop him from doing what his instincts told him to do in that moment.

Pulling her firmly against him, he tangled his fingers in her hair and pulled her into a heated and adoring kiss.

Shocked to her very core, Kalli froze beneath him, her arms hanging by her sides, her eyes wide, her lips still trembling from her tears. When he pulled away from her, she looked up at him, her eyes meeting his, "Matty?"

Loosening one hand from her hair, he pressed his palm against her cheek, his thumb stroking lazily back and forth, "Kalli," he whispered, her name falling from his lips so perfectly, so naturally that when he looked at her now, he wondered why he had never truly seen her before. He leant down, kissing her forehead, then placing a light kiss on the tip of her nose before nuzzling it softly with his own. Her warm breath swept across his face and he breathed in deeply, not sure what else he could say.

Taken by the sheer tenderness with which he touched her, one hand crept shakily to his waist, resting there softly as the other took a gentle hold of the hand he pressed against her cheek. She closed her eyes, tears still softly running down her face, and then she opened them, looking into his eyes. As if building courage she wasn't even sure she had, she leant forward, balancing on her tip toes, and this time, she pressed her lips to his.

The chaste embrace intensified quickly....

The first time they had kissed, the only time they had kissed before this night, their kiss had been filled with gentle adoration, each comforted by the warmth and familiarily that rest within, seemingly trasnported outside themselves to emotions they had never dreamed of having for each other.

This kiss surpassed that. This kiss deepened it.

If they had thought the first kiss had changed everything between them, this one would alter their entire lives forever.

Images swept through each of their minds. Old memories of nights they had lay together innocently in her bed or his, talking all night, smiling and laughing filtered back. Pictures of times when he had comforted her, when she had comforted him, more than anyone else could ever comfort either of them. Tiny moments in time, a whispered word here, a playful grin there...

And finally Matt and Kalli understood that each and every one of those things had led them here.

Their entire lives had been leading them...

Matt's arms crept around Kalli's waist, and as her lips parted beneath his and he dart his tongue against hers, passionately deepening the sweet kiss they shared, he lifted her into his arms. Her legs moved around his waist as though it was the most nautral thing in the world she could do, and they stood like that a few moments before he turned, carrying her across the room and laying her down on the bed, his lips never leaving hers for a moment. Simutaneously, they reached for each other, Kalli's fingers desperately pulling undone the buttons of Matt's black shirt, his hands digging into the bottom of Kalli's tiny T and pulling it up slowly. As his palms rubbed slowly over her naked flesh, his fingers brushed the sides of her breasts and she shivered slightly, notions of pleasure filling her mind. He pulled back from her, finally breaking their kiss to pull the t-shirt up. She willingly raised her arms so he could remove it over head and cast it aside.

Though her hands moved back to his shirt, Matt's eyes locked on her naked chest and for a moment, he wondered if he should pinch himself, so sure was he that this was all some surreal fantasy playing out in his head. Her hands slid his shirt back off his shoulders, a blush painting her face when she realized where his gaze had fallen. She cleared her throat and his eyes met hers, a smile curled onto her lips. He crept his hands forward slowly, softly brushing her nipples with his fingertips as her hands crept into his long, dark hair. She pulled him down to her and their lips met again.

He pressed down against her on the bed and it was only then that she became aware of how aroused he truly was. She sighed softly into their kiss, her hands locking around his belt, somehow managing to get it undone. Shaking with desire, she moved her hands to the button on his pants, undoing it before moving her hand to the zipper. He broke away from her and their eyes locked...

It would be the only moment for the night that he would hold any doubts, "Are you sure you want to?"

And the smile she gave him in response was an answer in itself.

He kicked off his shoes, yanking off his socks as she sat up on the bed to kiss him again, helping him slide his pants and boxer shorts to the carpeted floor. When he was naked, he lay her back on the bed, an amused smirk touching his face when he saw the way she took in his naked form.

For the thousands of times that they been near naked together, she had never seen him actually naked before. She had never seen him the way she was seeing him now period...

And in Kalli's eyes, he was beauty like she had never known.

Matt bent over her, burying his fingers into the top of her pyjama pants, ensuring her took hold of the soft panties underneath and sliding both from off of her. He threw them to the ground without so much as a second thought, and as he crawled onto the bed over her, she sat up again, her arms wrapping around his neck. Kneeling before her, he kissed her tenderly, his lips moving sweetly to her cheek, and then to her neck, down to the base of her throat. She moaned softly and he kissed his way further down, eventually taking a nipple into his mouth to suckle on her gently.

Her fingers locked in his hair again and she whispered, "Matt..." as he moved to her other breast, lavishing as much attention on it as he had the first until she gently pulled him away, laying him down on the bed. She crept over him slowly kissing up his chest before nibbling gently on his throat, perching above him, one knee on one side of his waist, the second at the other.

She hovered above him like that, completely unmoving, her eyes locked on his for minutes.

Matt touched her face, her shoulders, her arms, her breasts, his hands gently caressing their way across her body, slowly, tantalizingly. He savored every moment as though he would never get to love her like this again.

And maybe he wouldn't...

Be he couldn't bare to think it. Not here. Not now.

"Kalli," he whispered, "I..."

"Ssshhh," she cooed, a loving smile on her face, shaking her head softly. The action a silent plea for them to forget all else . A plea for them to have this moment.

Matt reached up, pressing his fingertips to the cheek he had injured earlier in the night with an angry, and misdirected fist. Shame flushed his face as he touched. How had he done this to her..?

The thought drifted away as she gently took his hand, kissing his fingertips adoringly, before taking both his hands and guiding them gently to her waist, moving her own hands to take him in her tender grip, and then she slowly lowered herself onto him. She gasped sharply as he entered her, pleased when she heard him moan softly beneath her.

Though they began to move slowly together, though his hands were on her, it was not enough.

She wanted to be in his arms. She always wanted to be in his arms.

Sitting completely upright, she took hold of his shoulders and pulled him forward. Sensing what she desired from him, he shuffled slightly beneath her until he was sitting upright as well. His arms wrapped around her waist, holding her, squeezing her against him as again she toyed adoringly with his hair.

Together they moved like this.

Loving and adoring each other as though tomorrow would never come...

Until eventually their lips met again, their tongues dancing in and out of each others mouths, both moaning as they were unified. As they were one.

And though they collapsed back onto the bed together... Kissing together, cuddling together...

Neither one knew if they would ever be together again.

The bed shook slightly beneath her sleeping frame, and slowly but surely, Kalleasto McMahon was drawn from her whistful slumber, her eyes slowly opening to take in the still darkened room of the hotel.

Her eyes crept over the satin sheets that were wrapped around her naked body, her gaze leading her across the bed.

Matt sat, his bare back turned to her.

A near giddy grin touched her face, a kind of excitement filling her that she hadn't felt in a very long time. Her heart raced just that little bit faster and she just knew that her eyes would be glistening with little tears of joy because he was actually still there.

He hadn't waited for her to fall asleep in his arms like she knew she had and then roll her over in the bed and leave her there. When he could have, he had not run.

She was about to speak when he stood for a moment, zipping up the pants she had not realized he was wearing when her eyes first locked on him. He buckled his belt and then bent to retrieve his socks, pulling them on.

He hadn't run before.

But he was running from her now.

While he thought she was still sleeping, he was getting dressed, as close to silently as he could, the slight movements of the bed the only thing that might threaten to give him away.

Her lower lip trembled and she bit down on it painfully, knowing that the tears were going to come.

Why did it hurt so bad? Why did she care that he was going to run?

The plain, simple truth pounced on her as she lay there, sinking its teeth it, painfully tearing at her.

Krissy McMahon held Matt Hardy's heart.

Jeff Hardy was supposed to hold hers.

Her heart broke. That was the first time she had thought of Jeff since just before Matt had grabbed her in that bathroom doorway and kissed her. How easily she had forgotten the man she professed to love more than life itself.

For the first time in the three years she had known Matt and Jeff Hardy, Kalli McMahon honestly didn't know who it was she was truly in love with. She sighed under her breath, when had it gotten this complicated?

It had all been so simple once. She loved Jeff. Jeff loved a bunch of other girls a little, then he loved Beth a lot. Beth and Jeff went their seperate ways, and after years of adoring him from afar, he suddenly noticed that the little McMahon he had been kicking around with since 1998 was alive. Alive and in love with him.

She had always loved Jeff Hardy.

Matt turned slowly on the bed, bending to pick up his shirt. As he climbed back to his feet, she closed her eyes, somehow keeping her breath level, praying she could maintain the act of sleep...

Pulling his shirt over his head, Matt looked over to Kalli, her face still peaceful as she lay, nestled into the bed, her long mousy brown hair falling gently around her shoulders.

To him, she was beautiful in a way the other McMahon girls were not. Which was not to say they were any less beautiful than she. But while the other girls all bore some feature that saw them strongly resemble either Vince or Linda McMahon, Kalli, like Stephanie before her, only had Vince's deliciously wicked smirk. The rest of Kalli McMahon was almost entirely Terries Jacobs.

She so looked like her mother that he knew she hated it.

But she was far more beautiful than her mother could be. Her smile was gentler, her eyes browner, deeper, the sparkle with in proof of her unwavering zest for the extreme.

That had always been the very thing she had most strongly in common with his brother. The thing which ultimately woke his brother up after years of seeing Kalli as little more than one of the boys. For the first years of their friendship, Jeff had treated Kalli no different than he treated Shannon or Shane.

But Matt had known there was more to her than that.

All he wondered now was why it had taken him so long to figure it out...

He paused mid-thought.

He knew very well why it had taken him so long.

Shame flushed his face. How would he ever tell her about this? He would break her heart. After all this time, these last few months where she suspected there was more to his relationship with his best friend than he knew.

Krissy knew his heart better than he did.

He shook his head, trying to shake that notion away. Whatever else, he loved Krissy. He knew he loved Krissy. He had loved her for as long as he could remember, so taken was he that first time The Hardy Boys met the McMahon family when he came to the WWF three, nearly four years ago.

She was his everything. Wasn't she?

Matt crept across the bed, he knelt, hovering above Kalli, he's eyes running up and down her a few times before they locked on her face.

He never saw her coming.

She had been there all along.

But he never saw her coming.

He knew Kalli. He knew her heart. And her heart had always been Jeff's. Just like his heart belonged to Krissy.

Whatever this was...

Forever was the life Kalli shared with Jeff.

Forever was the life he shared with Krissy.

That was how it was meant to be.

Why hadn't he seen her coming?

Reaching out a hand, he ran his fingertips over her swollen cheekbone. He still clouldn't believe he had hurt her like that. It was completely and utterly by mistake, but he had hit her and hurt her all the same.