I just couldn’t. Not when she stood there wrapped in that fragile mix of vulnerability and stubborn determination. She’d lit this fire inside me, and I had no idea how to extinguish it.
“Let me help you, please,” I said, and I heard the rawness in my own voice.
I don’t beg. I never fucking beg. And yet, for her, it was easy.
“You don’t know me!” she shouted, her voice breaking. “This is insane!”
“I know you can’t sit still for more than a minute,” I fired back, stepping closer despite the warning in her eyes. “I know you braid your hair when you’re thinking, because it drives you crazy when it gets in your face.”
“Oh my God,” she groaned, shaking her head in disbelief. “Do you even hear yourself? You’re literally listing off reasons why you’re a stalker.”
I ignored her bite, my voice dropping. “I know you hum when you draw, like you’re trying to drown out your own thoughts. You want people to think your favourite colour is pink,” I continued, “but it’s not. You wear purple when you’re happy, and yellow when you’re sad. Like you’re trying to convince yourself the world isn’t cruel by wrapping yourself in sunshine.
“I noticed you choose blue when you’re angry, and I know that when you’re angry, like really angry, your hands shake. But you never back down.”
She froze, the fight flickering in her expression.
“And I know,” I said quietly, “that you’re so fucking hopeful it drives me mad. You believe everything will work out, even when it shouldn’t. And because you believe it,”—I exhaled, the admission dragging out of me like a confession—“I almost believe it too.”
“Ryder…” she whispered.
“Don’t push me away, Violet,” I murmured, stepping close enough that she had to tip her head back. “You can hate me, you can scream at me, but don’t make me walk away.”
She looked up at me, eyes wet when she finally replied. “I… I’m scared.”
“I know.”
“I can’t let them hurt mum.”
“They won’t,” I promised. “But you can’t stay here. I’ve been watching this place for a while, and it isn’t safe.”
“How long have you known where I was?” she asked warily.
I hesitated, swallowing the lie that almost came out. “A while.”
She frowned, suspicion tightening her features. “Why ask where I was if you already knew?”
“Because I wanted it to be your choice to tell me.”
“But I didn’t tell you.”
“No, but you texted me back.” I dipped my head, my lips hovering over hers. Waiting once more for her to push me away. To make a choice. “Which means, deep down, you wanted me to find you.”
I waited a second longer for her to jerk back or shove me away like I deserved. But she didn’t. Instead, her breath hitched against my skin, soft and unsteady.
“You’re delusional,” she whispered.
I leaned in, brushing my lips over hers with the barest touch. Drinking her in like she was my oxygen.
“Only for you.”
Chapter 49
Violet
“What were you thinking?” Mum screeched, her voice cracking under the strain. She paced the length of the bedroom like a caged animal, her hands twisting in the hem of her sleeve. “We shouldn’t be here. It’s not safe. It’s never safe.”
She spun to face me, eyes wide and glassy.
