“I’m sorry, baby. I swear to you, after the fight, we’ll put a plan in place for you to kill every one of them.”
He moves his hand to my cheek and strokes his fingers back and forth in a repetitive motion, his gaze far away and lost in thought.
“Are there women? Or only men?”
I nod and sigh, admitting the painful truth.
“There are women. My mother, my aunts. The women who not only allowed it but enforced it. And sometimes participated in my abuse.”
Killian watches me with an intense gaze. It’s compassionate and filled with emotion, but not judgment like before. I remember the words Carter spoke about him.
“He has always acted like a father, or an older brother, even though we’re obviously all the same age. When we found our mom, Knox and I fell apart. We started drinking a lot and got arrested a few times. It was bad. Killian is what saved us. I know he’s been a dick to you, and you have no reason to like him, but he's always been our anchor. I hope at some point he’ll show you the real man he is, because what you’ve seen so far isn’t it. Right now, all he sees when he looks at you is a threat to our family, and hopefully one day, he’ll realize he’s wrong.”
With a giggle, I say, “Will the real Killian please stand up?”
The laughter that erupts from his throat is beautiful and far too rare.
“You know Eminem but not Prince?”
“Abigail played it. She’s older than me and heard it at school before all the shit started. I don’t want to talk about my past right now. Is there music here?”
He taps his fingers on his temple, his lips lifting into a small, devilish smirk.
“Of course we have music here. What do you want to hear?”
My response rolls easily off my tongue because I’ve been curious since he first mentioned it.
“I want to hear Prince.”
He chuckles and turns me over onto my back before kissing my neck.
“Get ready to have your mind blown, baby.”
I watch his naked body move to a CD player on his desk, and he pops in a disc and selects number nine, clearly looking for a specific song.
It opens with a beautiful guitar, and I close my eyes as I listen to the words that I know mean something to Killian. I smile when I hear the wordspurple rain.
Kill places his arm under my back and around my shoulder as he strokes his fingers down my arm as we listen together. The song ends and I open my eyes to his boyish grin.
“Sorry, Killer. I don’t have Eminem.”
I lay my head on his shoulder and place my hand on the side of his neck, feeling the warmth of his skin against my palm.
“I don’t know if things will change between us tomorrow and go back to the way they were”-
Pausing, I take in a shaky breath.
“But thank you for tonight. This has been more than I ever expected.”
Turning onto his side, he presses his lips to mine in a quick but soft kiss.
“Tomorrow when you wake up, nothing will have changed. I will still be completely obsessed with you. I don’t go around telling women I love them on a whim. If I say it, I mean it.”
I turn into him and bury my head against his chest, wanting to ask a question but feeling terrified of the answer.
“How many women were you with while I was gone?”
With his free hand, he cups my chin and lifts my head.
