“I’m sorry. Nobody’s going to disrespect you again. I promise. That’s my word,” he said. “Come on, we’re done.” He let out the water and held open a towel, as she stepped out of the tub. Her body glistened. It was the work of art he had always suspected existed beneath her clothes. He felt like not even he should have had the privilege to see it. It only angered him more about the events that had landed her at his house tonight. She tied the towel, securely, around her body and followed him into the master bedroom. He dressed her and then sat beside her on the edge of his bed. There were so many things he wanted to say to her, but they had an entire language between them.

“You’re going to have to teach me some signs. There are things I can’t say because I don’t know how. Things I can’t understand. I want to be able to. It’s important,” he said, as she stared at him.

Morgan nodded, her heart aching for this moment, but realizing it was ruined by everything that had occurred. “I can teach you,” she signed.

He pulled his phone out his jacket pocket and handed it to her, opening the notes. She typed in the words instead.

He nodded, not liking the bruised feeling that existed inside his chest. It was like he had been hit and the tenderness that an injury left behind was inside him, consuming him. It was like she held the key. The key that unlocked the cage surrounding his heart. She was digging, past all the muscle, past his ribs, past all the walls he had formed over the years, determined to touch him on the inside. He didn’t like the feeling. Unfamiliar with the way infatuation left a man weak, he only knew that Morgan being around him was a potential problem. He had his choice with the women in the city and no one made him feel as touchable as this young girl. Morgan affected him, despite his efforts to keep her in the off-limits zone. He stood to his feet.

“I have to go,” he said. There was no more delaying the inevitable and concern flickered in Morgan’s eyes.

“I have to,” he repeated, before she could protest. She knew there was no stopping it. Her recklessness had set a chain of events in motion that no one would be able to prevent. “I’ll be back. Try and rest,” he said. She watched him walk away, his stride filled with rage and determination. She was flattered. Wars had been sparked over less, but Morgan didn’t want Messiah shedding blood on her behalf. She had already lost too much. She couldn’t stand the idea of losing him before she even got the chance to know him - fully… to love him, to have him as her own.