Bedmates Soulmates
CHAPTER 203

How Did Deborah Die?

Austyn

dithered.

Kira watched emotions chase each other across his face.

He was frowning one moment, gritting his teeth the next, then pursing his thin lips into a tight line.

A sensation from her legs gave her an idea. 'I think I know."

"Hmm?"

Austyn's pulse accelerated.

Could she have wised up?

"What do you know?' he asked with a trace of a smile in his voice.

Kira darted her eyes around. 'I know you have amazing stamina and all, but I really don't think we should do it again.

She shifted her legs so his manhood, excited again, wasn't poking her thighs.

'Let's not overdo it. You're in your thirties, and you have work tomorrow. You don't want to show up at the office with heavy bags under your eyes, do you? Like Elsie said, let's enjoy all good things in moderation. Austyn's face fell.

He should have known better than to expect the girl to reach sudden enlightenment.

He rolled to the side. 'Shut up.'

'Oh.' Kira stopped talking.

He threw an arm around her waist.

Her back was pressed against his chest.

'Go to sleep.'

Kira squirmed.

She was made the little spoon in their cuddle, but she wanted to sleep with her arms and legs stretched out.

Austyn's breath was hot on her neck.

Unable to sleep, Kira played with her fingers in the dark.

Then she remembered the photograph she glimpsed earlier.

How Did the barah Die?

Maybe it was the apologies, or maybe it was the man's unusually gentle attitude toward her tonight, Kira felt emboldened enough to ask, 'How did Deborah die?' Elsie didn't mention it.

Kira had been curious about this for a while now!

Deborah must be close to Austyn's age, so it couldn't have been a natural death.

The grip on her waist tightened.

Austyn's eyes were closed, his long lashes fluttering.

Kira's question opened the floodgates of memory.

Deborah took a bullet for him.

She died in his arms, covered in blood.

"You are the only one I love,' she said weakly as life slowly drained out of her. "There's nothing between me and Liam. Please believe me..."

That was the last thing she ever said.

Then she closed her eyes and departed from this world.

But she never departed from Austyn's mind.

For the first two years after her death, Austyn dreamed of her almost every single night.

She always appeared to him as on the day she died, wounded and bloodied.

Her mouth was open like she was trying to tell him something.

But he couldn't hear what she said.

He ran towards her, arms outstretched, but she vanished before he could reach her.

He would wake up, drenched in sweat, and repeat the same dream all over again when he closed his eyes.

Kira felt the pinch on her waist.

It was starting to hurt.

She blamed herself.

She shouldn't have asked about Deborah.

She'd promised Austyn never to pry into his past again, but she broke her word.

Deborah was the man's first love.

Of course she had a special place in his heart.

How D Deborah the?

So special that he couldn't stand it if anyone else mentioned her name.

Deborah was no longer of this world, but she would probably live on in his heart forever.

No woman could take her place.

That thought depressed Kira a little.

She chided herself for getting greedy..

So the man had been nice to her today, but that didn't give her the right to covet something that couldn't be hers.

When Austyn didn't speak for a long while, Kira debated apologising.

'I'm sorry,' she said.

He didn't reply.

She heard his steady breathing and sensed the rhythmic rise and fall of his chest.

'Austyn?'

She removed his hand from her waist and turned around.

His eyes were closed.

Austyn was fast asleep.

"Oh." Kira was relieved.

Maybe he didn't hear her question.

Kira traced the contours of his face with her eyes.

He didn't look so intimidating with his eyes closed.

He had a prominent chin line, with the beginning of a five o'clock shadow above and below his lips.

Even when he wasn't frowning, there was a thin, vertical line between his brows.

Kira giggled quietly at the image of the man turning into a curmudgeon in old Fredricksen in 'Up." She had more questions.

Like, if he loved Deborah so much, what was Kayleigh to him?

He said he would take care of Kayleigh because of a promise to her brother.

What exactly would 'take care' encompass?

Financially, emotionally...romantically?

age,

like Carl

How Pd Deborah Di

She wished Austyn would talk in his sleep.

Maybe an unconscious version of him would be more forthcoming than a conscious one.

Kira was about to roll away when she caught something shiny out of the corner of her eye.

It was part of a glossy paper, glinting in the moonlight.

Kira hesitated, then she eyed Austyn's peaceful face.

Her hand stole towards the pocket of his pyjama bottoms.

She lifted the paper with two fingers.

There was enough light to make out the faces in the photo.

The woman was stunning.

Her slender form was wrapped in a white summer dress.

Her long hair fell over her shoulders..

She looked straight at the camera with a brilliant smile on her face.

She was linking arms with the man standing beside her.

He wore a dark blue peaked cap and a dark blue uniform, double-breasted with a peak lapel.

Some kind of insignia was sewn onto the left sleeve.

A row of medals was pinned above his left breast pocket.

There were three golden-coloured bands on each cuff.

He wore combat boots.

The man stood ramrod straight, staring right at the camera.

Austyn in his early twenties looked almost the same as him in his thirties.

Minus the frown line, maybe.

The woman next to him must be Deborah Connelly.

His first love.

The woman who lived in his heart.

The photo was laminated, kept safe and intact.

Austyn must have treasured it a great deal.

She Should Leam To Compartimentalise