Forge took a step in my direction, sliding his knuckle under my chin.I held my breath as he tilted my head so that I was looking up at him.The heat radiating off his body made me shiver.
“I’m sorry.”Those two words came out gruffly.“I was scared, hurting, fucking messed up the other night.I shouldn’t have spoken to you like that.”
Warmth rushed over me.“It’s okay,” I replied honestly.Because I understood.
“No.It’s not.You, of all people, didn’t deserve that.”
“I shouldn’t have come out there.”
“You came because you cared,” he said with a fierceness in his tone.“And the fact that I wanted you there also terrified me.I don’t need females, Pickles.But I find that I am needing you more and more, and I don’t know what to do with that.”He lifted his chin toward the door.“And he may be your best friend, but I don’t like him taking you off alone.Getting that close.”
I sucked in a sharp breath.“But it’s just Calvin,” I whispered.
Forge tilted his head to the side and leaned closer to me.“Who you saved your virginity for, who you were secretly in love with.”He spoke in a low and purposeful tone.“You see why that might fuck with me?He’s threatening to take you away from me.Like he has the right.”
Whew.Okay.Breathe, Elsie.Breathe.Don’t take this the wrong way.He may not mean all this the way you think he does.
“He isn’t threatening anything,” I replied.“I—I mean, when it’s safe for me to leave.I don’t live here.He’s all I have left in this world—”
“No,” he growled through his teeth.“You have me.And I don’t think it’s safe for you to leave.Fuck what Oz says.You won’t be forced to stay inside these gates, but when you go places, I will be with you.I don’t trust the fucker who took your parents’ life, and I will be damned if he gets near you.”
He wanted me.Maybe not the way I wanted him, but he did feel something.Hope soared in my chest, and as scared as I was to allow it, I couldn’t stop it.
“But Oz didn’t say I could stay—”
“Elsie,” he said, cutting me off, “Oz isn’t my boss.He’s not anyone’s fucking boss.If you don’t want to stay here or if you feel unwelcomed, then we will go to my parents’.My mom would love to have you there.But you aren’t leaving me.”
Oh wow.I had not expected this.
“I don’t—I mean, when did you decide this?”I asked him, my voice just above a whisper.
The corner of his mouth quirked.“I don’t know.Maybe the first time I got a taste of your pussy, or, fuck, it might have been the moment I got a look at you.But I’m admitting it now.”He cut his eyes toward the house.“Fucker showed up and forced my hand.”He looked back at me.“I don’t have a name or label for this.I don’t make promises to females.I told you, relationships aren’t for me.That hasn’t changed.But I have to protect you.”He paused and inhaled deeply, causing his nostrils to flare.“And I can’t navigate things, what is to come, without you.”
He wasn’t claiming love, and that day may never come.But I loved him.In all his brokenness and darkness, I loved Forge Savelle.
Forty-One
Forge
The door opened behind Elsie, and my gaze shot up, ready to rip Calvin’s throat out, only to see my brother.
“Everything okay?”Oz asked, looking from Elsie to me.“Calvin is concerned.”
Calvin had better go fucking hide.
“It’s fine,” I told him.
“Elsie?”he asked, clearly not believing me.
She turned to look at him.“Yes.It’s fine.We, uh, needed to talk.Calvin doesn’t understand things.”
Oz nodded his head once after studying her to decide if he believed her or not.“I’ll tell him,” He replied, then shifted his focus back to me.“Easy how you handle this.”
His warning was clear.He wasn’t taking Calvin’s side.He was just making sure I remained sane.
“You might want to tell our cousin he needs to be careful,” I replied.
“I did,” he drawled out, giving me a pointed look, then went back inside.
