The pressure of Gemma’s thumb swiping a tear from under my eye makes me blink. I’m thrust back into the present with her, pressed against the closet shelving in the dark as Trevor enters my apartment.
“Come out, come out, little fairy,” I hear him say.
My body quakes at the sound, reacting viscerally. Gemma shakes her head slightly, pleading with me to stay quiet. She keeps her hand over my mouth, her arm around my waist.
“I know you’re still here,” he goes on. “Is your friend here, too?”
My fingers curl around my gun. Tears swell in my eyes. A rage unlike anything I’ve ever felt pierces the fear daring to surface. I’m trembling, breath rattling against her palm.
“I have you,” Gemma breathes, the noise barely audible despite the stiffness in the room. “Let me handle this.”
I move my head a fraction, displaying my resistance. Her jaw ticks, and she slowly releases my mouth.
“I want him dead,” I hiss.
“I know, baby.” Gemma leans in. I’m taken aback when her lips press softly to mine, yet for a beat, I forget I’m supposed to be pissed at her. My heart sinks to my knees. My mind goes entirely blank. Maybe we die together in this embrace. Maybe the outside world can’t get to us here—
Cold steel clicks around my wrist.
My eyes snap open. I jerk my arm, causing the drawer I’m suddenly handcuffed to hit me in the ass.
Son of a bitch.
Sneaky little—
“I hate you,” I say through clenched teeth.
“You can keep the gun,” she whispers before stepping out of my grasp.
I glare as she pushes the spiked bracelets around her wrists, the chokers wrapping around her knuckles.
“I should shoot you with it,” I grunt quietly.
“Are you hiding from me?” I can hear Trevor asking, his voice amused. “I just want to talk.”
Still, I’m more pissed at Gemma for wanting to keep me out of this.
“You can shoot me if you still want to when we get out of here,” she whispers, entering my space again.
She leans in and kisses my jaw, and it prompts the memory of every other time she’s kissed me in the exact same taunting manner. I pathetically lean into it, unable to stop myself no matter how pissed I am at her. I am mad at her. I’m sofucking angry. There were so many times she could have told me who she was, all the tears we shared, the touches, the kisses, the ease and vulnerability between us…
I can’t let it go.
“Come out, come out wherever you are,” I hear Trevor say.
She catches my cheek with her hand. The spikes graze my skin, and I suck in a breath as our eyes meet.
“I love you, Bonnie Miller,” she whispers.
And I’m a goddamn wreck at the declaration.
“I’ve always loved you,” she goes on. “You make me the worst and best version of myself all at once. And I have zero intention of ever letting you go.”
“Sounds like I need a restraining order,” I hiss.
She huffs, the corner of her lip flickering upward. “Go ahead. You can watch as I set it on fire.”
My teeth set, nostrils flaring. I don’t like that she’s saying this now. She could have waited until we were safe somewhere, not right before she’s going to throw herself into danger to protect me.
