Rhys glances around like perhaps he heard it, too. He shakes his head and glances back down at me, something unreadable flickering across his face.
“Say something,” he says, low and controlled.
“You… You hid me.”
A wrinkle forms over his nose. “Of course. I would never let anyone hurt you.”
Despite the blood, despite the shattered glass, and despite the dead body on his floor, I feel safer than I have in years.
Because Rhys shielded me. Because he told me I was safe. Because I’m his.
“What did that man want?” My voice is soft and shaky as I claw for strength. He needs a strong girlfriend. Not a whiny baby. Not the girl who falls when running away. “Why did you kill him?”
Rhys’s gaze turns sharp with concern at my question, but when his eyes meet mine, I don’t flinch.
The plants in the kitchen rustle, though no breeze moves. I hear them whispering:
‘He belongs to you now, Fallon. He’s yours.’
“He wanted to kill me.” Rhys’s voice is cold and deadly. “I would never let that happen.”
“You protected me,” I breathe, my hands clutching the blanket to ground me. “Why?”
“Because you matter to me.” Fingers caked in blood, he strokes my cheek.
I want to touch them, taste the blood, but I don’t. Notyet. Not until he says I can.
“I haven’t mattered to anyone in a long time.”
Rhys swears under his breath and then wipes a hand across his mouth. He looks like he’s about to argue that I must matter to someone, but he doesn’t.
Maybe he sees it in my eyes.
“It’s late,” he mutters, voice low and steadying. “You’re fine. Go back to your flat.”
But I shake my head. “No. You need my help.” My voice trembles but grows stronger with every word, like I’m finally learning the language of my own heart.
I swing my legs around and get up to move around like none of this bothers me. Not all the blood.
This is our secret now.
“Why do I need you?” he asks, confused.
“Because I’m your girlfriend,” I whisper, leaning in so close I could count his eyelashes if he dared me. “We’re meant to be together. This proves it.”
I smile through the haze of adrenaline and madness. A sweet, trembling smile.
“You, Fallon, are not just my girlfriend.” Rhys’s jaw vibrates as he strokes my throat. “You are a witness.”
Chapter 15
Rhys
Fallon’s wide eyes take me in, standing over her covered in blood. Her breath comes in soft and shallow waves like she’s on the edge of fainting.
Except she’s not fainting. She’s smiling.
For a second, I don’t see the mess in my flat. I don’t see the corpse on my floor. I see Fallon Nova. Sweet and soft with a quiet beauty no man like me should touch.
