All this time—every moment I've kept my distance, every time I couldn't meet her eyes, every silence I thought was protecting her—she read it all ashatred?
Fuck.
I'm such a goddamn idiot.
My hands move before I can think, signs sharp and desperate.Don't hate you. Could NEVER hate you.
"Then why?" Her voice cracks slightly. "Why have you been avoiding me? Why won't you even look at me?"
I can tell she's trying not to look too long at my face, at the scars visible above the mask. Her eyes stay fixed on mine instead, giving me the privacy I've always demanded.
Didn't know what to do.The words feel inadequate as I sign them.
"What do you mean?"
This.I gesture vaguely between us, at the space that used to feel comfortable and now feels like a minefield.All of this. Don't like it.
Her eyes widen slightly, genuine surprise flickering across her face. "You don't like what? The contract?"
Any of it.My signs are sharper now, anger bleeding through.Kade's bullshit. The collar. Treating you like property.
She's quiet for a long moment, studying me intently. "I guess I'm not as good at reading you as I used to be," she murmurs, and there's something sad in her voice. "I thought you wanted this too."
Want you safe,I sign.Want you happy. Not... THIS.
She stares at me for long enough I forget how to breathe. How to think. How to do anything other than watch her like she's the only thing in this world that exists because she's the only thing that matters.
"Tank…"
She says my name so softly. The way she used to. The way only she ever has.
Then, something changes. She moves closer. Closer than anyone's been to me since…
Since her.
Since she was riding on the back of my bike, her arms wrapped around my waist, and everything in my world was right.
"Since you didn't like your dessert," she says, her voice dropping to something softer, "maybe you'd want to try something else instead."
I stare at her, convinced I'm hearing wrong. Understanding wrong.
There's no fucking way she means…
"Unless you're also hung up on letting Kade be first," she continues, and there's challenge in her voice now.
Heat.
Fuck that,I sign before I can think better of it.
Her lips curve into something that's almost a smile. She backs up a few steps, slipping out of her shoes to rest her feet in the bare grass, pink heels dangling from her fingertips.
"Then come here."
But I don't move. Can't. Because this doesn't make sense.
Why?The sign is simple, but it carries the weight of every doubt I've ever had.Why would you want this? With me?
She closes the distance between us again with slow, deliberate steps. Each one makes my heart beat harder, makes my breath come faster through the mask.
