“No!” I snapped. “No.” I repeated, softer. “It’s not your fault.”
“It is. If it weren’t for me, it never would have happened.”
“You didn’t do it. It wasn’t you. It was all fuckin’him.”
He nodded, fingers so gentle on my face. “Yes. Because he was trying to get tome. Which is why I had to leave, so that you wouldn’t be between us. So he’d leave you alone.”
“No,” I croaked. “Come home. We’ll deal with him together.”
“I can’t. I can’t be the reason anyone else gets hurt.”
“But…” My heart twisted. Ached in a way I’d never experienced. “I need you.”
More tears streamed down his beautiful face. I didn’t wipe them away. “And I need you to be safe.”
“I’ll kill him for you,” I told him, and I meant it. “I’ll kill him, and then you’ll be safe. And you can come home.”
“No, Benny. He’s… too big. Too powerful. You can’t get close to him without destroying yourself. It’s too dangerous.”
“I. Don’t. Care!” I raised my voice, and the woods around us seemed to quiet as the sound of it echoed. “I don’t care about anythin’. Only you. I told you, you’re my everythin’.”
His face distorted as he sobbed. “You’re my everything too.”
My forehead rested against his. “Please.Please. There’s a way. There has to be. For us to win this, together.”
He sobbed again. “No. I have to do this alone.”
“I can’t survive losin’ you another time.”
“I’ll come back. When I find a way for us that won’t put you in danger.”
I shook my head. “No. I’m not leavin’ here without you.”
“You have to.”
I shook my head again.
“Benny. You have to.”
“No. I won’t. I’ll listen to you always. I’ll do anythin’ you say, always. But I can’t do this. I won’t.”
“You have to.”
“No.”
“Benny.”
“No!”
“Think of your ma, Benny. Think of Rachel. Are you going to put them at risk again over this?”
“That ain’t fair.”
“No, it’s not. None of this is fair, but it’s what has to happen.”
My body convulsed from the force of keeping in the tidal wave of emotions threatening to spill out of me. “Shady can help us.”
“Shady?”
