“It’s the same fucking thing!”
He doesn’t answer. Just stands there. Jaw tight. Eyes distant.
“Why?” I demand. “Tell me the real reason. Not this noble bullshit about keeping me safe.”
Silence stretches between us, long and heavy.
Then he walks over to the edge of his bed and sits down. He looks at me. Like, really looks. And my pulse rockets under his weighted stare.
“Because I can’t lose you,” he finally says in a voice so thick with emotion that it makes my heart ache. “And if you stay, that’s exactly what’ll happen. Maybe not today. Maybe not this year. But eventually, this life catches up. Someone’ll come looking for revenge. Someone’ll use you to get to me. And I’ll have to watch you die.”
“That might not?—”
“It will.” His voice hardens. A wall goes up, eclipsing all of that emotion he just revealed. “I’ve seen it happen. To friends. To people I cared about. The ones we love become targets. Weaknesses. And you?—”
He stops and rake a hand through his hair.
“You’re the biggest weakness I’ve ever had.”
“That’s not weakness,” I say. “That’s love.”
“Same thing in my world.”
I stare at this man. This beautiful, infuriating, terrified man who killed for me. Who tore a city apart to find me.
And now he’s pushing me away because he’s scared.
“You’re a coward,” I say.
He doesn’t deny it.
“Maybe. But at least you’ll be alive.”
“I don’t want to live without you.”
“You’ll learn.” He stands, but he won’t meet my eyes. “I’ll have someone drive you wherever you want to go in the morning with the animals.”
“Just like that?”
“Just like that.”
He walks out.
Anddoesn’t look back.
I don’t sleep that night.
I pace the length of my room. I cry. I throw things at the wall.
Around midnight, there’s a knock on my door.
I yank it open expecting Declan. I’m so ready to scream at him.
But it’s Ava.
Her hair is loose around her shoulders, face free of makeup, and she’s in sweats. It’s a little jarring because she’s always model-perfect, photoshoot ready.
She looks at my tear-streaked face and sighs.
