“She knows more than you think she does,” I meet his eyes, “You think you’ve sheltered her, but you underestimate how smart she is.”
“Don’t pretend to know her more than I do,” He snaps at me, “I raised her.”
“You did, but Isawher.”
I’m asking for another beating. I’ll take it if that’s what he wants to do but I’ll turn back up tomorrow and the day after and the day after.
“Get the fuck out of here.” He moves to close the door.
“Just fucking listen to me!” I snap at him, my temper flaring. “Just fucking listen!”
He pauses and a stir of movement behind him draws my attention. Willow stands with her shoulder leaning on the wall and her arms crossed, listening.
“She fucking loves me, Sebastian, and this is hurting her!”
“Does she?” He challenges, “Because the last I checked, you fucking broke her heart.”
“For you!” I bellow. “Because I didn’t use my damn head and decided that what you did for me all those fucking years ago was more important than what I had with her! I thought I owed you but fuck, Bast, if I owe you for that I’m not sure I want it anymore.”
“The fuck?” He snaps, “You think I pulled you off that street to lord it over your head for the rest of your life?”
“No,” I sigh, “But you took me and Dean in when the whole damn world was against us and I betrayed you but I’m sorry, Bast, I pick her.”
“The fuck do you mean?”
“It means, you can block and beat and roar but you’ll have to kill me to stop me.”
“Don’t tempt me.” He warns.
“Then fucking get it over with,” I reach into my jacket and pull out my gun, flicking off the safety and hand it to him, “Put a bullet in my skull because it’s the only way this ends. If you don’t, I am going to do everything I can to make it up to her. I am going to get on my fucking knees and beg her to take me back. I am going to atone for the rest of my life for the pain I caused her. So, if you want to stop me, kill me.”
His hands remain at his side, the gun between us.
“Come on,” I coax, “Do it.”
“And if she doesn’t forgive you?” He asks instead.
“Then I’ll respect her wishes but I won’t stop loving her.”
His eyes flick to the gun and then back to my face, “You’ve made your choice.”
“I have.”
“You hurt her again,” He snatches the gun from me, unloads it with a quick turn of his hands until bullets rain onto the steps in front of his door and then hands it back, “Those bullets will find a permanent home inside your body.”
“I hurt her again,” I take the gun back but leave the rounds on the ground, “I’ll put them there myself.”
A loaded silence settles between us until a heavy sighescapes him and he steps back into the house without another word and closes the door.
It’s not right between us but I’m not dead and that’s progress.
I turn and head back to my car, the roar of the engine loud down the quiet street as I make a U turn and press on the gas so I can get back to the city as quickly as possible. I’m not waiting for another night to see her.
Fuck, I’ll wait on her doorstep all night if I have to.
I am hers. And if Savannah wants the world, I’ll give it to her. Whatever it takes.
Chapter Fifty-four
