“Not like—”
“Not until you knoweverything,” he yells, pressing his palms against his temples. He’s more undone now than he was before. There’s so much pain in his voice, so much utter turmoil. “Not until you’re sure you truly want me.Allof me. Because I want you, Nova. Every fucking piece of you. And once I have you, I’m never letting you go. I will be yours. I will never not be yours, and if you change your mind?” He shakes his head again. “Fuck. No, we’re not doing this.”
I force a swallow, my heart racing even faster, then faster still.He would be mine.
“And what if that’s exactly what I want? What if I want all of you, too?”
How can he not see that? How can he not realize how much I crave to know every part of him?
It’s all I’ve wanted forweeksnow.
He groans. “You don’t know what you’re saying.”
“I know exactly what I’m saying.” My fists tighten as rage courses through me. “I’m saying that I never want another man to ever touch me, to ever kiss me, to everhaveme. Only you, Ryjax. Just you.”
“You don’t know what you’re saying,” he says again, but this time, his gaze finds the ground, as if he can’t stand to look at me.
“Then explain it to me.” I’m on my feet, crossing the room, so I’m standing right in front of him. I grab his arm, and his eyes snap up.
He scans my face, breathing in a way that looks slow and painful, like he’s breaking right in front of me.
“Ask me what I did to get you out,” he demands, his lips close to mine, his breath hot, and his words hard to process.
To get me out…
“Jax,” I say slowly, my voice trembling as dread wreaks havoc on my system. I thought I wanted to know. I really did, but I don’t. I don’t because there’s a reason he’s bringing it up now. There’s a reason he wants me to ask, and suddenly, the room feels smaller, like it’s closing in on me, like at any moment, we’ll both disappear. “What did you do to get me out of that cell?”
His shoulders fall, as if they’re simply too heavy to hold, and my entire body feels the same.
“I promised to wed Helena.”
My heart stops. It gets sucked into a gaping fucking hole that I will never be able to recover it from.
“Princess of—”
“Bragunda.” I finish for him because I knowexactlywho she is. I take a step back, and I seered.
“Still want me now?” It’s a taunt.
A fucking taunt, this gods-damned bastard, this fucking ass—
Wait.
This is exactly what he wants. He wants me mad. He wants me to hate him. He wants me not to want him.
Too fucking bad.
“Yes.” I raise a brow.
He wants me.
He wants this.
Us.
I know he does because not only can Ifeelit, but he just fucking said it. He said if we were to do this, then he would never not be mine.
And he meant it.
