“And you?”I ask.
His knuckles whiten on the wheel.“Yeah, sunshine.Me too.”
The nickname sends a jolt through me.
I whisper, “I like when you call me that.”
He shuts his eyes for half a second, as if steadying himself.“You always did.”
Heat creeps into my cheeks.
We turn down a private gravel road that winds deep into forest.Riot slows near a heavy steel gate.Two men, Kings cuts on, both armed, both nodding at Riot.He rolls the window down.
“She’s with me,” he states the obvious.
They nod again, open the gate, and we drive through.The compound is small but fortified — a large workshop, two storage buildings, and a small house perched at the center with reinforced siding and windows with glass so thick everything is blurred.
Riot parks behind one of the garages and steps out, coming around to my side before I can open my door.
He helps me down, hands steady, strong, warm around my waist.
My breath hitches.
He hears it.I see it in his eyes.He ignores it anyway.He’s being painfully careful with me, too careful.
“Ledger?”I ask softly.
“Yeah?”
“What were we, before all this?Really?”
He stiffens.
“You said earlier we were ‘something.’What does that mean?”
His mouth works like he’s fighting the answer.
“You want the truth?”he asks.
I nod.
He stares at me, long, unblinking, and for a second, I feel everything he’s holding back.“It means I was an idiot,” he says quietly.
I blink.“What?”
He exhales roughly, hands dragging through his hair.“It means I had you in my life and didn’t give you what you deserved.Means you were right in front of me wantin’ more, I knew it even when you wouldn’t admit it, and I pushed you away.Means I thought I was protectin’ you by keepin’ things simple.When all I was really doin’ was bein’ a coward.”
My throat tightens.“Ledger.”
He shakes his head tightly.“Not done.”
I fall silent.
“It means I lost you before the accident,” he states on a tight breath.“And now I gotta live with the fact that you don’t remember any of it, the good or the bad.”
His voice cracks just the smallest fracture, but I notice.
“And I gotta earn you all over again.”
