Page 79 of Even Vampires Bleed (Even Ever After #2)
Cassiopé
D ad is awake.
It’s like all the stars in the sky aligned the same night.
Technically, it wasn’t all the same night, but since I slept over a day, it feels like it.
The new Michael is dead. Hopefully, Gabrielle will never wake up from her coma.
Léandre is safe, and he loves me.
He also thoroughly ravished me all night.
And I’m going to see my dad while smelling like sex.
I should be ashamed, or at least self-conscious, but I couldn’t care less.
I’m happy.
Yes, I’m so freaking happy.
I might have started a war two days ago, but everything is going to be alright.
I have my family. I have my friends. I have Léandre.
Together we can win anything.
I open my dad’s bedroom door, and I find the doctor inside.
“Slowly,” he tells my dad, as he inclines the medical bed to a sitting position.
He still has his eyes closed, but the grunts the doctor gets as an answer is the only thing I need to know it’s true.
Dad is finally out of his coma.
I feel like crying with joy.
Léandre wraps an arm around my shoulder, and I lean against him as we walk to my dad’s bed.
“Dad,” I choke on the word.
Oh, well, maybe I’m crying.
I’m totally crying.
“Cassie?” my dad asks, with a hopeful voice.
“It’s me,” I tell him as I grab his hand.
It’s cold and less callused than it used to be, but I feel his comforting presence all the same.
“I missed you,” I add.
Dad finally opens his eyes. Slowly, so very slowly.
And even if he looks in a bit of pain, there is a genuine smile on his face as he looks at me.
“You look good, Cassie,” he tells me.
“Murder would do that,” Léandre says with a chuckle, and I elbow him to shut him up.
“Can I hug you?” I ask, and then I turn to the doctor. “Can I hug him? I saw him in pain when he opened his eyes and I don’t want to hurt him more, but I really want a hug. I can be very careful. I won’t squeeze and I won’t jump on him. I’ll be super duper careful.”
Léandre squeezes my shoulder in comfort, and I calm myself a bit.
“Come here, Cassie,” my dad says. “It’s just a headache. Squeeze away.”
I’m still careful when I get closer to the bed, but then my dad wraps his arms around me and tucks me to him.
I react on instinct and burrow my face against his chest and inhale the comforting scent of my dad.
It feels good.
It feels right.
“Now that I have you trapped,” dad says, “I’d like to know what is this ‘murder’ that Léandre is talking about? I leave for a few days…” He pauses when he sees the dark eyes I’m giving him. “Okay, more than a few days, but then I discover my innocent daughter went on a killing spree.”
“I killed one person,” I grumble against his chest. “The other is in a coma.”
“That’s still more violence than I’ve ever seen in this little package,” he answers with a chuckle.
Well, at least it seems that my little mission is making the men in my life laugh—or at least chuckle.
I look at Léandre, who stayed a few steps away against the wall. He has a small smile on his face that makes me feel like he’s happy for me, even if he doesn’t remember my father.
And in this instant I know everything is going to be alright.
Until my dad takes a big inhale of air.
“You reek of sex, Cassie. Is that a way to greet your father?”
Oh well, I should have taken a shower.
“I couldn’t wait to see you,” I say instead. “It’s not like you smell great, either.”
And then I laugh.
It’s meant as a joke, but he’s been bedridden for a while and washing him wasn’t the easiest.
Dad shrugs before he beckons Léandre closer to us.
“Anything to say in her defense, young man?” he asks.
“She knows how to defend herself,” Léandre answers with a small smile.
“Did I already tell you I like that one?” Dad says.
“About that…” I start saying, hesitate, and then add. “He’s not the same person you knew.”
And then I proceeded to tell him everything he missed while he was asleep .
Léandre chimes in every now and then, but at some point, I see my father’s eyelids dropping a bit, and we leave him to rest.
We go grab some food, and then we’re back in our room, ready for the rest of our new life together.