Page 111 of Black Light: Cured

something else you can judge me about. It doesn’t feel good, you know.”

“Now you listen here,” he growls, bringing my hand up to his chest. “The fact that you’re in a

profession I feel is more of a placebo effect than actual care doesn’t mean I think any less of you.

Okay? Let’s make that fucking clear right now.”

“That’s not how it feels. You look down on me. You scoff at what I do, how I help people, heal

people.” I have no idea where this courage is coming from. Perhaps it’s from the high of being in

subspace. Perhaps it’s that I really like this guy and need this obstacle out of the way. Either way, I

can’t stop now that I’ve started.

“I see. So tonight’s scene was definitely the wrong thing to do. Got it.”

“No!” I cry out, desperate for him to understand. “I don’t know how our conversations keep

getting so jumbled, but you’re not comprehending what I’m saying. Tonight was amazing. But mostly

because you finally took some aspect of me seriously. I may not have the same tools or education as

you. But that doesn’t make me less valid.”

“Lila,” he breathes. “You have to understand. It’s not personal. I think everyone else is less valid

than I am. It comes with the territory. I may be a hot shot surgeon, but it wasn’t handed to me.

Everything I did, every achievement, every accolade, it was in spite of the hardships thrown at me. I

say I’m the best because I am. No one has worked harder than me. No one has had to overcome the

way I have.”

Tears gather in my eyes as I hear the pain in his words. From what little time I’ve spent with him,

I get the impression that he doesn’t open up to anyone. It must kill him inside to admit even that much.

Pulling my hand out of his grasp, I place it on his cheek, my heart breaking as he nuzzles into it. “I

don’t want to fight with you. I don’t want you to think I don’t think highly of you. I do. You’re one of

the smartest men I know. All I’m saying is that you don’t have to make me less than to make yourself

more so. You, by yourself, are already amazing. You don’t have to climb higher by shoving other

people down and stepping on them.”

“One of the smartest?” he teases, breaking the tension.

“Don’t push your luck.”

I go to open my car door, but Master Aiden yanks me back. “When you’re with me, you stay put

and allow me to open the door for you.”

Dropping my hands back into my lap, I watch as he leaves the car and makes his way to my door.