“Ready to go home, Rich Girl?” He smeared the tears away from my cheek.
I nodded.
Grim lifted me into his arms, and I melted into the warm heat of him. His chest sturdy against my cheek. His arms tight on my body.
Grayson stepped in front of him.
This time, when Grim spoke it wasn’t threatening or taunting. There was a sober, dark edge to his words. “You don’t know what this is,” he said. “You never did. You never paid attention to her. So step aside, Grayson.”
A moment later, Grim carried me out of Crowne Hall.
FORTY-SIX
GEMMA
Violent sobs had left me, but tears still poured. I couldn’t stop them. It was like something had burst in my soul, leaking out of my eyes. Grim carried me back to his room. The Horsemen froze when they saw me, an audible silence corrupting their previous conversation.
The tears wouldn’t stop coming. Hot on my cheeks. My chest clawing with something I couldn’t describe. Inside the room, Grim set me on the bed. I thought he’d leave, shut the door, and probably question his life choices.
Instead, he sat down next to me, pulling me into his lap.
He wrapped his arms around me, pressing my head to his chest. I don’t know how long he sat with me like that, silent, letting me soak his soft shirt with my tears. He dragged his knuckles along my neck, perfectly content.
“I don’t know what’s wrong with me,” I whispered, voice muffled by the soft fabricof his shirt.
“There’s nothing wrong with you,” he said simply. “You feel.”
I lifted my head, skin between my brows tugging as I processed what he said.
He lifted up my chin, swiping away my tears, then bringing the taste of them to his lips. “You see what no one else does. Youfeelwhat no one else does. The world wants to erase that. Your world, especially.”
My shoulders sagged.
Yeah. That’s it.
Emotions were always a shameful thing in my home. Having zero control of them? Unthinkable. As a little girl I was called too sensitive, toomuch.I don’t remember the exact moment I started hiding.
I peered at Grim.
I didn’t understand him. How he could keep secrets from me. How he could lie and rearrange my life, while also being everything I needed.
“Don’t you want someone, you know, not broken?” I asked.
Softness creased the corners of his eyes, but not with pity. He stared at me a long time—too long, so I felt like squirming. Then he laughed.Laughing?I pushed at his chest to get away, but he gripped my hands.
“You think I’m doing you a favor? I’m not. I’m selfish.” I stopped struggling, settling back into him. There was that word again.Selfish.Grim’s selfish wasn’t like my selfish. “I’m so fucking selfish I had a thousand opportunities to let you go, and I didn’t. I won’t.” With both hands he gripped my face, possessive and bruising, eyes searing. “I don’t feel. Or, I didn’t…until you.”
I turned away, unable to compute the sincerity in his eyes. “What if I’m always like this?”
“Good.” He dragged my gaze back to his. “When it gets too much, don’t hide. Let me help you forget. If I can’t, you hurt me.”
Hurt me.
The first time we met flashed into me. The strange, aloof boy who’d taken my nails against his neck. Who’d given me a brief taste of peace.
As if remembering the same thing, he placed my hand to his neck. “You hurt me as much as you need.”
“I can’t?—”
