Bastian stares at him. “You’re insane,” he says. His eyes flicker back to me, the grip on my wrist tightening until I wince.
I step against him, my other hand going around his waist so he can’t move away. This close, my neck has to arch so I can look him in the eyes.
“You’reinsaneto want this,” he murmurs down to me, the confusion in his eyes crushing my heart like a garbage compactor. “To wantme.”
“Makes sense,” I whisper. “Since I’m madly in love with you.”
The moment the words formed in my mind, I knew I wasn’t making them up.
This is right.
This issofucking right.
And that feeling just grows stronger and stronger.
Bastian goes completely still. “What?” The word splutters out of him, his eyes wide, almost frightened.
I’ve never seen him look this unsure, this uneasy, this…off balance.
“I love you.” My voice is ten times steadier now. “I think I have for a long time.”
“Haven…” His voice cracks. He slides his hands around my waist, pulling me so hard against him I gasp in surprise. “You shouldn’t say shit like that to me. You don’t know—what you’re saying isn’t possible. You can’t love?—“
His voice catches.
“I’m a fucking monster. You can’t love?—“
“You’remymonster, Bastian.” I reach up to cup his face, glancing over my shoulder at Kai. “Our monster.”
Kai is watching us intently, his chin tipped down so his green eyes are the dark of shadowed moss. “She’s right,” he says in a thick voice, before clearing his throat. “We’re not going anywhere.”
When I turn back to Bastian, he’s staring at Kai. But the moment he feels my eyes on him, he gazes down at me instead.
“You don’t understand—“ he begins.
I push onto my toes and kiss him.
It’s soft and gentle. Nothing like the desperate, hungry kisses we shared in bed this morning.
It’s a poem of a promise I could never articulate in words.
But Bastian understands every verse. I can tell by the way he cups my face and holds me in place so I can’t escape. How he grinds his body against mine.
I taste salt in our kiss, and the jolt of love that goes through me is so overpowering I melt into his arms.
“I don’t understand,” he whispers, sniffing. “How can you—after everything I just told you?—”
“Don’t question it.” I stroke my thumb across his cheekbone. “Just trust it.”
“I’ve never trusted anyone.”
“And then you met us.” Kai’s voice comes from behind me. I turn to find him standing a few feet away, his expression unreadable. “Trustus, Rooke.”
Bastian lets out a breath, blinking hard. “I don’t deserve this,” he says quietly. “Either of you.”
“How about you stop being a self-pitying asshole for one second, and help us figure out how to not go to prison?” Kai says.
“You’re ridiculous,” he says.
