Not when danger is breathing down our necks.
Not when she’s still remembering.
“Kelly,” I rasp, “you can’t say things like that right now.”
“Why not?”
“Because I’ll believe you.”My voice breaks.“And I can’t afford to believe anything tonight.”
Her breath catches.She lifts a hand and touches my jaw, slow, delicate, careful, like she’s done it a hundred times before.
And maybe she has.I just didn’t pay attention because I was too busy denying what we have.
“Ledger Masters,” she whispers, “I’m already choosing you.”
My heart stops.
For a split second, the storm, the danger, the underground hideout it all fades.
Then my phone vibrates.We both jump.I check the screen.
Nitro.
Got a hit on the guy in the trees.Sending location now.Might be connected to Bratok’s last lieutenant.
My vision tunnels.
My breathing slows.
My rage sharpens.
Kelly grabs my wrist.“What does that mean?”
“It means,” I say quietly, “we’re done running.”
She pales.“Riot.”
I step close, closer than before, and lower my voice to a promise.
“They came for you once.They got you.The keep coming for you to get me.They won’t get a second chance to have you again.”
Her eyes widen.“What are you going to do?”
I cup her cheek.
“Whatever it takes.”
Her breath shudders not in fear, but something deeper.
“Don’t go,” she whispers.
“I’m not leaving,” I promise.“But someone’s gotta bleed before sunrise, sunshine.”
She closes her eyes.
When she opens them again, the fear is still there but so is something else.
Trust.
