The day I left, when I realized I was hopelessly in love with her.
The day I took her innocence in the maze.
She sat up and reached out, fingers shaking as they brushed across the thick, dark lines over my heart. “I can’t believe you tattooed my name on you.”
“I branded myself,” I said, watching her face. “You were already under my skin; I just had to make it permanent.”
She didn’t move or say a word, not even when I grabbed her hand and pressed it flat over her name.
“This is why I never took my shirt off around you.” I softened my tone for my next words. “I didn’t want to scare you. I wasn’t sure you could handle seeing it.”
She swallowed, her body still trembling.
“Avery?”
She looked at me with wide, unreadable eyes then looked back down at my chest. “What’s this one for?” She was pointing to a small octopus just under my pec.
“Your favorite animal.”
She shook her head in disbelief as her finger fell just below the animal, where the word ‘mine’ was scrawled out. “That’s my handwriting,” she said slowly.
I nodded once.
It even had a small heart for the dot of the ‘i’ she used. I’d gotten it from a sticky note she’d placed on a tub of cheesecake filling in the fridge years ago.
“This is so fucked up.”
She had no idea.
Her eyes darted lower to my ribs, and her lips parted on a soft cry.
Halfway down my ribs were slash marks, dozens of them, some more faded than others—years of self-inflicted punishment.
“What are those?”
I closed my eyes, willing myself to stay still as she ran her fingers over the ridges, touching the deepest, darkest part of my soul I could possibly offer her.
“I’ve been obsessed with you for a long time, longer than you know. It was the only way to convince my body all those thoughts and feelings were bad.” She met my eyes. “It was the way I kept myself from you. Every thought, every dream… another slash.”
Tears welled in her eyes. “Oh my… Rowen…”
“This was my newest addition,” I told her, changing the subject, not wanting to dwell on the wreck I was without her.
I moved her hands and pointed at the tattoo on my other side.
A kitten mask. Just like the one she was wearing the night in the maze, when everything changed.
“You’re insane,” she whispered, but there was a hint of a smile.
I grabbed her throat, forced her chin up, and brushed my mouth against hers. “Only for you.”
“This is not normal. This isn’t love. This is—”
“It’sdevotion.”
She didn’t get the chance to respond because I lunged for her, crashing my lips to hers, pushing her back onto the bed, grinding my hips against hers.
“You love it too, Av. Don’t lie to me. You know seeing your mark on me satisfied some deep, depraved need, knowing someone is this fucking obsessed with you.” I kissed her slowly. “You’re just as fucked up.”
