My body tightens at the tone.
Go on, baby.
Let it out.
Spit blood if you have to.
“I would.” He swallows, stretches his neck like it aches. “I would do the same. You. Noah. All of you.”
I slide my hand onto his thigh, grounding him. “I know.”
He exhales, finally.
Shoulders drop a fraction.
“I was a coward,” he says. “Thought if I crossed her, you’d get hurt. That she’d find a way to make you pay.”
Oh.
Oh, my sweet man.
“No one touches you like that,” I say. “Never again.”
I squeeze his leg hard.
“It shouldn’t have been you,” he says, eyes still on the road.
“Why?” I tilt toward him, eyebrow raised. “Because I’m supposed to be delicate?”
His lips twitch.
“I’m not,” I say. “I only played soft long enough to catch your sweet eyes. You and Noah? You’re the delicate ones. I get to protect that. Me. Callum. Reid. Orion.”
He glances over. “And Elliot?”
“In his own way. Less bat.”
He huffs a laugh. “I froze. I let her hit me. I let her.”
“You didn’t let her do shit,” I snap. “You gave me the opening.”
“If she’d gotten to you first…” he shakes his head. “I’d never forgive myself. Never.”
He stops at a red light.
I reach over, grab his face, force him to look at me for one second before I have to give his attention back to the road.
“Listen to me, Vitaly. Look at me.”
His eyes snap to mine. Wet. Terrified.
“I’m not breakable,” I say. “I don’t need you to be brave. I need you to be mine. And you are. You’ve always been.”
“But she could have…”
“She didn’t,” I cut him off, thumb stroking his jaw, careful of the bruise. “Because love wins. And now she’s never going to touch anyone I love again.”
He takes a shaky breath.
